Fifth Generation

48. Anna Marie WESTPFAHL was born on 9 July 1901 in Adrian Township, Monroe County, WI.^50,54 She appeared in the census in 1910 in Adrian Township, Monroe County, WI.¹⁵ She appeared in the census in 1930 in Ridgeville Township, Monroe County, WI.³² Anna died on 30 July 1965 at the age of 64 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, WI.^{50,54,140,141}

The following is an excerpt from a 100-page manuscript that she wrote about some remembrances from her youth:

"My Friends at NorthTomah

The Rollie and Mattie Vandervort barn dances were a source of Saturday night entertainment for us.   Their barn had been ruined by a tornado and was being built up new again.  When the barn floor was laid, the first of a series of barn dances began.  The public was invited and huge crowds gathered there every Saturday night from June 1st to October 15th.  The money collected for this entertainment helped Vandervorts pay for the loss of their 2nd barn in five years, and yet a third time the new barn was ruined by a tornado, all in about a ten year period.  People felt sorry for them because the continuous rebuilding took a lot of planning and headaches. 

These barn dances were attended regularly by our entire family.  I had to help serve hot coffee and sandwiches every Saturday night, and Albert (her father) helped patrol the premises watching for small fires from cigarette butts, drunkards lying in the parking lots, and guarding the basement constantly to keep rovers out.  We never paid for a dance ticket.  Our children had fun, my baby slept on a plank in the luncheon booth and I enjoyed these dances, meeting all the North Tomah people and people from Pleasant Valley, Purdy Valley, Diamond Valley, Watermill, Benjaminville, Tunnel City, Greenfield, Kirby, Star Valley, Plainview (East of us), West Warrens, Mather, Valley View, Dannavang, LaGrange, Union Valley, and our North Tomah gang. 

These people came in groups or clubs, as many of these listed had already organized a Home Makers Club and as the news spread of Vandervort's tragic losses, these clubs collected small sums of money among themselves and on a Saturday night the whole club would go dancing in the Vandervort barn and present their donations to the stricken family.  I had worked as a young girl in the Kirby area, Pleasant Valley, Tunnel city, Valley View and Union Valley and had met many folks at Larkin's Clubs and community gatherings there. 

My good Vandervort neighbor introduced me to those that were strangers.  I soon made many friends because I had belonged to the Utopian Homemakers Club at Ridgeville and had been a delegate at Tomah meetings where some of these ladies also came for their lessons on art work.  Before the summer was over, I knew all the groups and to which valley they belonged. 

Every woman wore a common dress.  I wore dresses to these dances sewed from print feed bags.  Some of the white dresses I served in were only white “Chick Feed” bags, and feed bags Albert brought home from the Co-operative Elevator.  Colored bias tape and rickrack made these into pretty dresses.  Everyone wore these kinds during the hard years when we couldn’t afford anything better.  Right on the dance floor we exchanged patterns of these dresses that we had cut from newspapers for our friends.  I also wore these dresses on shopping trips to Tomah and to club meetings once a month.  We were so glad we had material to sew a dress with. 

I recall exchanging feed bags at Club meetings to match some prints others had and they in turn gave me those that matched my prints.  Two feed bags would sew a sleeveless dress.  These were 54 inches square.  The boys and Albert’s short sleeve shirts were all sewed from colored print feed bags and gray salt sacks.  Mine and my daughter’s petticoats, panties, night dresses and pajamas were always made from feed bags.  Albert would bring home all the empty feed bags others left lay at the Elevator.  I opened them, washed them, bleached out the Brand name, and then took 4 bag squares to make a bed sheet.  I had about two dozen sheets from feed bags.  A bag was just right for a pillowcase.  I also made dish towels.  The material was a good grade chambray and cambric. 

I also made luncheon cloths, napkins, aprons, curtains for the windows, drapes for the pantry shelves, coverlets for the children’s beds and even quilt covers.  Yes, I’d sew until late into the night by kerosene lamp light because there was no electricity on the farms.  My sewing machine was operated with a foot pedal.  The Homemakers groups had demonstrations on these garments all made up of this material and they gave out patterns too. 

I hope my children’s families will never need to live through depression years like we had.  We had to make the best of a bad situation but I was lucky to have material to sew clothes for us to wear.  There was no money to buy new clothes.  The boys got one new overall when school began in the fall and washed by hand on a wash board on Saturday to be put on again on Monday morning.  The patched pants were worn at home after school and on weekends.  There were two changes of shirts for each one and stacks and stacks of underwear.

A woman living in the North Tomah neighborhood (across from the Vandervorts) sent me a large market basket full of these feed bag materials each spring to use for my family.  Some were even wool remnants.  They lived on the west side of Highway 12 while we lived on the east side.  They gave Albert 20 acres of timber to cleanup for them.  A tornado had gone through this woods and uprooted many trees and broke off limbs.  We got it free by making pole wood and hauling it home.  It was enough fuel to last us for four years.  We couldn’t afford to buy or burn coal to heat our house. Railroad ties were also gathered each spring after the crew finished laying new ties.  These were creosoted and made good fuel for our furnace.  The North Western railroad tracks ran across one of our 40 acres so the railroad left the ties in that section of the railroad for us to use for fuel."

. She was buried on 2 August 1965 in Tomah, Tomah Township, Monroe County, WI.^50,54 at the Oak Grove Cemetery.

Anna Marie WESTPFAHL and Albert Herbert ZELLMER were married on 2 June 1920 in Tomah Township, Monroe County, WI.^54,140 Albert Herbert ZELLMER, son of Friedrich Wilhelm ZELLMER and Louisa Emilie GIESLER, was born on 12 June 1891 in Ridgeville Township, Monroe County, WI.^{62,138,142,143} He was baptized on 5 July 1891 in Ridgeville Township, Monroe County, WI.¹⁰¹ at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church. He appeared in the census in 1900 in Ridgeville Township, Monroe County, WI.²³ Albert was confirmed on 8 April 1906 in Ridgeville Township, Monroe County, WI.¹³⁸ at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church. He appeared in the census in 1910 in Ridgeville Township, Monroe County, WI.¹⁵ He appeared in the census in 1920 in Ridgeville Township, Monroe County, WI.¹⁷ He was living with his parents. Albert appeared in the census in 1930 in Ridgeville Township, Monroe County, WI.³² He died on 11 January 1951 at the age of 59 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, WI.¹⁴² He was buried in Tomah, Tomah Township, Monroe County, WI.⁵⁹ in the Oak Grove Cemetery.

Anna Marie WESTPFAHL and Albert Herbert ZELLMER had the following children: