Ozaukee County News Articles

The following is an article that appeared in the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL by Lewis C. French of the Journal Staff dated Monday, August16, 1948

Maechtle Family Reunion

Waubeka, Wis. - Sunday in this Ozaukee county village,the Maechtles held a centennial family reunion.

Thereupon was unfolded the saga of the century old story of Wisconsin, and a mightysermon of plain people who loved their God and church, the new freedom of America,the soil.

More than 200 descendants of the German immigrants came here to pay tribute and respectto the sturdy pioneers, those who made this reunion possible. Some were from California,others from as far south as Georgia and from 28 different Wisconsin cities.

All started the day by attending the Evangelical United Brethren church in Port Washington.

Then they went to Waubeka, the Indian named village, under cloud?less skies to pauseat the original Maechtle farm, a few miles out of Port Washington. Not a sign ofthe pioneer buildings remain. The log cabin, rail fence, towering pines and hardwoodshave disappeared.

As you sit in the orchard shade near the pleasantbrick farm home, with Its cultivated fields, machinery and good cattle, you can hardlybelieve the accounts of what this modern farm was like a century ago. The harvestthis year on the homestead place has been bountiful. The 100 acre farm is run byWalter Maechtle, 62, a grandson of the founder. The 30 acres in oats yielded 2,266bushels, the mow is full of hay, there's a mountain
of clean straw for bedding, and a fat corn crop is coming along. It's a scene ofsecurity and plenty, thanks to electrical power and machinery.

The descendants were amused when the Rev. LowellMaechtle, formerly on the staff of the University of Indiana and now with St. Olaf'scollege at Northfield, Minn., traced the lineage back to 1520. There was a title,an estate and a family coat of arms, but the titled Austrian had to sell the estate.His descendants settled in Diefenbach, Wuerttemberg, Germany.

John Maechtle decided he could not support a familydecently on one or two acres. America beckoned. The poor had no chance in Germanyand the rich were domineering. So John, his wife and John, jr., 5, left in 1945 forthe United States. Indiana was their objective.

A baby daughter was born aboard ship and died in Cleveland. The Maechtles had nomoney. A hotel keeper provided burial for the child. John Maechtle worked for threeyears in Cleveland as a shipping clerk at 50c a day to earn money enough to buy land. . a homestead grant in Wisconsin.

The grant, on exhibit at the family gathering, had been signed by President JamesK. Polk, Feb.10, 1848.

The Maechtles arrived at Sheboygan by ship and hired a wagon to haul them and alltheir possessions to the wooded farm of 80 acres. Farm is the wrong term, for itwas solid woods, the trees so thick you had to look up to see the sky. All they had,except for trinkets in two hand forged iron chests and four wooden chairs, was rawcourage and faith.

Grandmother Maechtle often told her children ofthe "forsaken place," bitter cold and bleak, the raw new, land in Wisconsin.

The log cabin with the floor of split logs cost $10.

"The roof was so poor that when the boys got up after a blizzard they had toshake snow out of their trousers. There were no tools, oxen, nor food," recountsMrs. Arthur E. Sylvester, 2414 N. 41st St., Milwaukee, one of the historians.

John Maechtle walked through the woods to wade the Milwaukee river and work for the"lazy Yankees" across the stream. To a thrifty German, anyone who hiredlabor rather than do it himself was lazy. For pay, he received "due bills,"good for trade in flour, bacon, turnips and barley.

His wife picked berries and walked the winding trail seven miles to 'the "Port"to peddle the berries for 1 1/2 c a quart to pay taxes. When not hired out, JohnMaechtle hewed out a field around the cabin to sow wheat, which his wife and sonJohn cut with a sickle and flailed for grain. It was a start.

After three years there was $30 to buy a cow. Maechtlewalked clear to Milwaukee and drove the animal home, the whole family gleefully welcomingboth. There was one milking and a feast, and that was the 'last drop of milk thecritter ever gave', for grandfather had been "rooked" by a city sharper,who had sold him an old stripling. It went to the butcher for $9, a net loss of $21.

Maechtle borrowed $100 at 20% interest. This bought a pair of oxen to clear moreland.

There were more children, 11 in all. Two died of diphtheria.

There were no candles or lamps, not even a lantern. Every night the sons whittledfagots and shavings so their mother could read the Bible aloud. Simple things counted.The children feasted their eyes and imaginations on the few colored cards that hadbeen brought from Germany. Only on especial occasions, mind you, and only with cleanhands, Sunday, Easter and Christmas.

Gradually the farm emerged from the wilderness.There were plums by the tubful at threshing time. During the Civil war Maechtle sold500 bushels of wheat for $2 a bushel, a fortune he brought home in a bag to pay debtsand buy more land. After the war the grandchildren remember Mrs. Maechtle sellingspringer chickens to the hotel keeper for 10c each.

The ambition of father Maechtle was to leave each son 40 acres of land. He almostmade it before he died, gnarled and crippled from working so long and so hard inall kinds of weather, grubbing out that woodland farm that now enjoys such a fatharvest.

Grandfather John Maechtle died May 26, 1875, and his wife on Mar. 29, 1900. Manywent over to the family cemetery Sunday to pay their silent respects.

The children carried on well. Most of them were people of the land, but others venturedinto the ministry, the stores and professions. At one time there were so many Maechtlesalong the road that county trunk "K" was Maechtle road.

Descendants told how a brother of grandfather Johncame over from Germany expecting a life of ease. Most certainly any one with 80 acresof land was rich, he thought, and all they had to do was walk around an estate witha cane. He was startled to see how they worked, and "not even wine in the cellar."

The others explained they had freedom, priceless to them, and a chance to get ahead.

The descendants of Jacob, Jacobina, Henry and Catherine Maechtle, brothers and sistersof John, the pioneer, were present to contribute the reunion history carefully recordedby Mrs. Sylvester of Milwaukee. Her mother was the youngest child of John Maechtle,jr. In all there are 248 direct living descendants.

Everybody brought food, and then some. There were potatoes, salads, baked beans,meats, pickles and relishes, thick pies and cakes and good strong coffee.

The descendants looked over the reunion exhibits, including one of the original fourchairs, the fancy cup and saucer brought out from the iron chest only when the preachercame, and the hand stitched baptismal dress grand-mother Maechtle made for the firstson born on the farm. Many still honor this fragile dress, using it for their children.

They thumbed through thick al?bums to pause at theold tintypes of stern faced women and men, the women with bustle skirts and lacecollars. They looked at pictures of sons and daughters who wore uniforms in the lasttwo wars.

The oldest direct descendent was George Maechtle, 78, now living in Saukville. Andthere was Mrs, Lois Maechtle, 84, who lives with her daughters in Milwaukee and PortWashington. She is the widow of Jacob Maechtle, who died in 1934, leaving eight childrenEight Maechtles, all grandchildren , who used to gather on the farm to sing and werein the choir, stood up and sang the old hymn, "In the Garden." Then thegreat-grandchildren sang. The teen agers often seemed a little bored. The couldn'tquite understand why people
paid so much to the past and its oxen when airplanes roared overhead.

Out in the grove hack of the hall one of the ministers of the family, the Rev. WesleyMaechtle of Batavia, Wis., closed the reunion with a prayer in which he said:

"They braved the hardships, and, with God's blessing, built a land of free people,honest and honorable citizens. We should be worthy of their sacrifices."'

Contributed by: Louise Thompson, Stevens Point,Wi
4-4-2004