Growing Up in the Toews’ Home

Having heard Grandpa and Grandma Toews’ 50th anniversary testimonies and observed a little bit about their wedding, it is time to consider a little about the home that was established after their wedding. We have much information from Oma’s memories, some of which can be found in Tell Me Your Story, Grandma (a beautiful, updated copy of which can be ordered from https://www.prestophoto.com/bookstore/371489-Tell-Me-Your-Story-Grandma-Photo-Book). However, another interesting account comes from Oma’s youngest brother, Willard. Uncle Bill was one of two of Oma’s brothers who changed the spelling of the family name in the hope that people would actually pronounce it correctly. They found it to be a vain hope, at times!

You will notice Bill mentioned doing a regular chore with his sister Marie. That is Oma!

Even while being intrigued with what Bill has to say about his experiences, what I especially appreciate about his account is how it ends in a tribute to his dad, Grandpa Toews. It is the highest tribute any person can give or receive.

Bill recounted what you find below in 2002. He prefaced it by saying, “The kids asked I write this,” speaking of his daughter Wendy and son Rick. With minor punctuation and spelling revisions, here is what he wrote:

Hi, 

I am Bill Taves as known by all my friends and family. I was born June 23, 1930, in a small town in southwestern Minnesota called Mountain Lake. At the time I was born there was no mountain or lake in the area, and my birth certificate says I was named Willard Toews at birth. So what else is new? 

The first 18 years of my life I lived on a small farm about five miles north of Mt. Lake. Both of my parents were born in Mt. Lake. Dad, Jacob J. Toews, was born February 22, 1894, and died September 6, 1976. Mom, Agatha Franz, was born February 23, 1896, and died April 9, 1975. 

My Grandmother on my Dad’s side, Helena (Lohrenz) Toews, was born in Alexanderthal, Russia, on June 19, 1868, and died August 4, 1967, in Mt. Lake. For her the ONLY language was German till the day she died. She thought it was terrible that I and my brothers all married girls that didn’t speak German. 

I have a very faint memory of my Grandfather on Dad’s side. I do remember the day of his funeral I stayed with the Eitzens. Marlowe and I rode our tricycles on the sidewalk in front of their house. That was April 8, 1935, when I was five years old. 

My Grandfather on my Mom’s side, Peter Henry Franz, was born December 31, 1859, and died March 27, 1945. He was born in Elisabethtal, South Russia, and at age 16 in 1875 came with his parents, Henry & Margaretha Dick Franz, to Mt. Lake, Minnesota. They arrived on July 6th of that year. They settled on a farm 4 1/2 miles northeast of Mt. Lake. 

I remember him because of several things. He had a Plymouth Coupe, and he would drive out to the farm quite often and bring Marlow Eitzen, my cousin, to visit us. The other thing I remember is that he was very regular in attending the Alliance Tabernacle. He lived about a half block from church, and he would walk to church and walk down the aisle to “HIS” seat in the second pew, left hand aisle and the seat to the right! 

I have no recollection of my Grandmother on my Mom’s side. 

The fateful day of December 7, 1941, I will never forget. We had a family gathering at Grandma Toews’ house. Some of us cousins were playing on the couch in one of the bedrooms when the announcement was made that we had been attacked at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. 

Most major Holidays we would meet at her house. Dad was the oldest son, and Grandma depended much for his advice and help. We were the only family that was not Mennonite in our beliefs. We attended the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church. It was originally known as “The Gospel Tabernacle.” It looked like a big lumber yard shed. I remember running up and down the aisles that were sawdust! My parents accepted the Lord as Savior in 1931. 

We lived on a farm five miles north of Mt. Lake. My earliest recollection was a chore I and my oldest sister, Marie, did. We had a hand-powered milk separator that would separate the cream from the milk. That machine had about 25 disks and had to be washed and dried each time it was used. That was our job. 

Around age 10 my dad and I went by car to some land we rented about 5 miles away. We were getting our tractor back to the farm. He got out of the car, told me to drive the car home! Since I had never driven a car before, it was a definite “learning” experience! When we got home I told him I had never driven before. He thought my brothers had taught me. 

We had a beautiful shepherd dog named Sport. A great cattle dog and a real friend. 

On my 12th birthday Dad had to go to town. I thought he told me to rake the new-mown alfalfa. I raked the entire field and finished just before he came home. He was not happy because it was still too wet and green to rake and put into the haymow. For the next several days I had to rerake the long line so the alfalfa would turn and dry. What he had said was NOT to rake it, but my ears didn’t hear the NOTl 

In the early years we had a two-seater outhouse. Every so often we had to dig a new “site” for it. Sears catalogs were the “Tissue Paper” of the day. Then we got modern and had a five-gallon pail with a seat on it that was kept in the“Bathroom.” Later we got the regular“flushing”toilet after we got electricity. Dad and I dug the septic tank hole and the drainage field by hand with shovels. Up to then it was Kerosene lamps and lanterns when it was dark out. 

The only language spoken in our home during my early years was German. 

A great day in our lives came when the REA (Rural Electric Association) strung electric lines past our farm and hooked us up. We had lights in the house, barn and chicken house, as well as a “yard light” so we could go from the barn to the house without a lantern. 

We got a radio and found a station that had the Blackwood Brothers quartet singing on it. Mom said to turn it off so we could stop it until we got Dad in from doing chores so he could hear it too. 

Electricity meant we no longer had to pump water for the animals and our water for use in the house, now we only had to carry it from the well to the house. The wood stove was replaced by the electric stove. That wood stove had helped bake a lot of food and heated lots of water for our baths that were taken in a large round metal container put on the kitchen floor every Saturday evening, whether we needed it or not!!! Clothes were no longer washed by hand and dried on the clothes line. Now we had a washer with a wringer on it that squeezed the water out of the clothes. It was a real hazard, since it didn’t know the difference between clothes and fingers! 

Until now our Christmas tree was in the living room every year. It was decorated with real candles (a terrible fire hazard). Now we got electric lights for it. The only time we were allowed in the living room was to see the tree and when we had company. Otherwise the double doors were closed. 

Christmas was special. We kids did the chores and breakfast dishes, while the folks put out the presents around and under the dinning room table. We each had a bag full of peanuts, candy, an apple or orange and a gift or two at our setting. We had to wait in the kitchen until all was ready, then they would open the door and we could come in. 

Life as a farmer was not easy. Many times Dad would have to take a pig or calf to town and sell it in order to get enough money to buy food and pay other expenses. 

Many afternoons after school and Saturdays were spent “herding cattle” in the ditches along the road. It served two purposes. First it supplied fresh food for the cows and second, it kept the grass and weeds down so they weren’t a fire hazard. That was where I memorized three sets of verses from A-Z from the Bible for D.V.B. Sport did most of the “control” work keeping the cows in the ditch so cars wouldn’t hit them. Never lost a one! 

I attended a one-room country school that was about three miles away. We rode to school in an enclosed buggy pulled by my favorite black horse, Roy. Clent was the other half of the pair of horses we had. However, he was not as tame. Roy was very dependable and needed very little advice once we were on our way. His only fault was that he was afraid of trucks when they passed us or if they were coming towards us. We had to make sure we were safely in the ditch when they passed, or else he made sure we were in the ditch no matter how. In the winter we would bundle up and just have the two slots for the reins to go through. It was not unusual to have temperatures in the minus 10s & 20s. 

The school building was probably 30’ by 50’, and grades 1 to 8 were all taught by one teacher. My teacher was Mr. Carl Gossen until about my 6th grade when he retired and Toews, (no relation) took over. 

The main thing I remember about those years was that the government decided to supplement the school food program and came out with products made from soy beans. I vowed if I ever survived those meals I would never eat anything made of soy beans the rest of my life. That promise has been pretty well kept. 

Jesus Christ became my Savior in July of 1944 at summer camp in Medicine Lake Camp Grounds, just outside of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul. It was a Monday night after the evening service. I sat down behind a large tree just beside the Auditorium and asked Him into my heart and life. I was baptized October 8,1944, in the ICE COLD waters of the lake in Mt . Lake by our Pastor, Wayne W. Carr. 

Devotions were held every morning and evening. There was no work other than basic chores on Sunday. Church Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday evening prayer meeting. Friday night was Young Peoples night. Rain or shine we stopped work early enough on Wednesdays and Fridays to make it to church on time. 

Once I started to High School, I had to milk two or three cows before the bus picked us up and took us to the Mt. Lake High School. I would put on my school clothes and then put on my chores clothes over them so when I was through with the milking I could strip off the chores clothes and still catch the bus on time. 

After school I would do field work if needed and after dark do whatever chores were left. 

The reason our church had their Young Peoples meeting on Friday night is because that was when our High School played their football & basketball games. Believing that sports were evil, they had activities for us to keep us busy. 

I played second chair French Horn in the school band and therefore was also in the “German Band,” which was a smaller group that played at the pep rallies and games. Thus I was able to attend most of the games during High School. Our Basketball team went to the State Tournament all four years and won several State Championships. They were held in the Twin Cities. 

The other experience I treasure was the opportunity to sing in the boys quartet. We went to the State music contest and won second place two years. We also sang in most of the churches in the area. 

Dad used to spend evenings reading the Epistles. I always wondered how he could spend so much time in them. Evening devotions were usually from them. He would go to bed after the 10:00 news (for many years with Cedric Adams), and he usually got by with 4‐5 hours of sleep. Several times I got up shortly after he did, because I wondered where he went and what he did. 

He would go into the hayloft in the barn and had a place in the southeast corner where he spent time with God. He would read and pray out loud and often cry to God for his family. He upheld us to the Father on a daily basis, prayed for each of us individually and besought God to save his descendants to the third and fourth generations. 

It was as though Dad and God had a covenant that God would do that. He claimed that as a promise from the Lord. Any wonder his descendants are mostly believers! 

Dad was the most Christ-like person I have ever known.