Three Cents

 Funny how today there is talk of getting rid of the penny.  However, 140 year ago a penny was rather common. A penny for your thoughts? Well, if you read this you will get some of my thoughts at no charge. In any event, in 1877 three cents could buy a first class stamp. A pound of rye flour at the time was 4 cents; a pound of corn meal was half the price of a pound of rye flour, meaning you could buy a pound of corn meal for less than the cost of a first class stamp. Five cents could get you a quart of milk, and double that value ($.10) to obtain a pound of fresh pork. In 1880 a farm laborer’s average monthly wage was $11.80 (which works out to $141.60 for 12 months), although room and board was also provided. Today, a farm laborer annually is said to make about $33,000 in wages with an additional $5,000 for benefits (Bureau of Labor Statistics). I doubt room and board is provided. This post follows an earlier post titled “One Hundred Forty,” which was about the union in Holy Matrimony on January 30, 1877 of my great grandparents, Hovel side. That post recounted their marriage and move from Wisconsin to an Iowa farm. This post will deal with a few other parts of the common day existence on the plains of the northcentral Iowa prairie in the latter part of the 19th century.

Martin and Amelia Hovel
Photo from Michael Hovel

The August 21, 1952 edition of the Manly Signal contained an article that gave a look at living conditions present just after the founding of that community in 1877. In one article, the newpaper noted that “Their simple homes portrayed a love of cleanliness and beauty.” This is generally consistent with the words of historian John Shover who described Midwestern farm homes of that time as "unpretentious."  While the grand homes of Europe were all the rage, the United States would see its grandest home construction during and following the gilded age, which began about the same year as my great grandparents were married. Back then most farm houses were of simple of wood construction.  Some would be heated by a wood stove, others by coal burning stove.   My great great grandfather, Josef Hovel, who remained in Wisconsin in 1880, sold 23 cords of wood in 1879, from which he earned $46. Martin and Amelia would build a simple white clapboard house on their farm. This house type, as described by Shover, would have had low ceilings would always seem crowded.   Water was likely from an outdoor well and cast-iron hand pump.  There also would have been an outhouse.

The farm and house would later become property of their youngest child, my grandfather Rudolph James. The white two-story home may not have been their first farm house in Manly, but I do know that both my grandfather and my father were born in the same house. If their house was decorated inside like others described in the 1952 Manly Signal article, the home would contain a handmade rug for carpet, underlain by straw. Every spring, giving meaning to the term to spring cleaning, the rug would be pulled up and patched, and the straw replaced. Obviously, you would not want this near the wood stove. The kitchen would contain a wood stove, for baking, cooking, and of course warming hands and feet.   Stover has noted that the nucelus of the Midwestern from home was the kitchen and adjoining dining room, a radius determined by the heat thown off the wood burning stove.

Hovel Farm House, Town of Lincoln, Worth County
Just south of Manly, IA.
My Dad is on a rocking horse in front of the house
Photo from archives

There was little free time. If my great grandparents had the same practice as my grandfather, only necessary chores were accomplished on Sunday, the day of rest. The rest day of Sunday was earned by the work accomplished the other six days of the week. In the home, they made their butter, baked their bread, and preserved much of their food. And of course, they lacked the wash machines and dryers of today, so if laundry, and its associated ironing, is a difficult chore today, it was doubly (or more) so in the late 1870’s. As difficult as the laundry chore was, my great grandmother would do the laundry of others in order to earn money to purchase first class stamps to correspond with her relatives in Sun Prairie, WI (this information came from Carol Ryan  in an email in which she transcribed an article from a 19777 Manly Signal celebrating Manly’s 100th birthday).  Amelia took on the chores others wished to avoid in order to retain contact with her relatives. Showing the differences of the time to present day, she was dependent upon the U.S. Postal Service for contact.

The Hovel farm house was moved to Manly, and is still present today
Obviously additions have occurred.
Photo from Carol Ryan

But, she did more. As noted in the prior post she did here share of farmwork, and she likely took care of the chickens and harvested the eggs (60 dozen in 1879).   In an August 21, 1952 edition of the Manly Signal, Martin and Amelia’s oldest son Joseph Hovell (his wife decided to have the family add the second “L” to the last name), the only child to live in Worth County his whole life, recounts “how his mother prepared the wool and spun the yarn for all the stockings, mittens and great, warm mufflers for all the family.” The spinning wheel Amelia used was on exhibit for the 75th Anniversary celebration, and is still in the family today. Amelia also sewed clothes for the family. The same article has a photo of Joseph, at what is reported to be age 17 “wearing his first boughten suit bought especially for the occasion….” The occasion being a family photo taken at the Kirk Studio in 1895.  The newspaper refers to it as "grand day for young Joe."   A copy of the studio photo from that day was loaned to the newspaper, by the JJ Hovel family, and was printed with the article.  The suit cost $8.00 and was purchased at what was referred to as the Knowles Bros. store.  That store was built by A. Harris in 1877, who was also its first proprieter. It was probably at that store where Martin and Amelia would purchase necessary supplies as they first farmed the deep rich soils of Iowa.  The news article goes on to report that the other two sons “Rudy and Ed being but little fellows, are wearing suits which their mother made.”

Spinning Wheel owned by Amelia Hovel
Still in the family
Photo from Carol Ryan

Free-time was valuable, and it was often used to offset, what the 1952 Signal article referred to as the “deadly monotony.” Perhaps they too lived for holidays. Memorial Day would see children walking up and down the rail track in search of Sweet William and other flowers in which to decorate graves. The fourth of July saw orations, milk shakes, lemonade, and of course everyone’s favorite—fire-crackers. Fathers, the newspaper reported, would often take their sons to see the circus when it visited Mason City. Lack of free-time, however, should not be associated with lack of caring and the customs of the day.  Persons would call on new arrivals, and if they were not home, calling cards would be left. The same article would go on to say that “loaves of bread and plates of cookies were taken to friends, and in case of sickness there were sympathizers and helpers galore.” This level of care harkens to the famous “frontier hypothesis” of the well-known University of Wisconsin historian, Frederick Jackson Turner which talked about the equality of the populations on the frontier. This level of equality makes me think of the comment made by the highly regarded Czech composer Antonin Dvorak who on visiting Iowa (he spent time in and near the heavy Bohemian settlement of Spillville, only ten miles from Festina, where my paternal grandmother was born) in the later part of the 19th century noticed that in American democracy the porter and the millionaire addressed each other as “Mister” with “no difference except for the millions.” As I noted in my 2010 work: “Community cooperation was important in the early communities whether it be for corn husking, barn building, or school and church building.” This time period in Manly would seem to not only help prove Turner’s hypothesis, but also follows on the observations by Alexis de Tocqueville in his seminal work Democracy in America.

1895 Photo from 1952 News Article
 (L to R) Rudy, Martin, Amelia, Ed,
wtih  Joe, in his store bought suit,  in back
Source: Newapaper archives

Papers of the past often recorded common day occurences: persons visiting or who was visited. Lacking phone connectivity, much less social media of the present, connection was often in person. For example, accodring to the Mason City Globe Gazette, Amelia was a caller in Mason City on a Monday in early May 1915. It does not say who she may have visited. The Wisconsin State Journal reported in its Sunday, May 10, 1931 paper that "Mrs. Amelia Hovel, Manly, Ia, is a guest of her son and family."  A traveling widow was she.  That same paper also reported on 13 August 1931 that Amelia along with Mr. and Mrs. E. Duscheck and Addie Every took “an auto ride into Iowa last week returning Tuesday.” It reported the group visiting friends and family in a few towns, and noted that Mrs. Hovel went to Manly, Iowa where she would be staying for a longer visit.” I would guess it to be for a longer visit, as she lived in Manly; perhaps it was her return trip after visiting the family for the summer.

Amelia and Martin by home in Manly, IA  they would purchase
and move to after retiring from farming
Photo from Michael Hovel

Of course, some visitors were not relatives or friends. We know that Indians were still present, and in an article in the 21 August 1952 Manly Signal, Marcella Rossiter, a long-time Manly resident whose grandparents moved to the area in 1871, takes the standard view and prejudice of the time and says in her article that “Though Grandfather and Grandmother were not molested by Indians as most pioneers were, they did see tribes of them pass by on their way to Plymouth….” Rossiter notes that her grandparents would also provide food to the Indians.  My Aunt once told me a story of how my grandmother’s family owned a general store, and my Aunt said that it was not uncommon for Indians to stop by and for my great grandparent Pitzenbergers (my paternal grandmother side) to provide food or other items, and sometimes a meal. She also noted that she had never heard of the Native Americans causing any trouble.  It was the least that could be done.  The Native Americans after all did not ask to be removed from their land.  Care for others was part of the way of life.

1890 Book of Saints owned by Martin Hovel

Caring and helping the less fortunate is/was a common aspect of humanity and Christianity. Care on the frontier was provided to those in need that set a standard for providing comfort. As then, it is still customary to provide food for a family who lost a loved one, although I think that custom is not as common place as in the past.  Local religious denominations were visited on Sunday, the day of rest. Amelia and Martin likely traveled to Mason City for Sunday Mass, as Catholic Church in that community was in place in 1864. The church in Manly would come later. The only item I possess that belonged to my great grandfather Martin is a book of saints printed in German. I see this book as a testament to the importance of faith in his life.

Inside of book, Martin's signature in pencil is barely visible

Bohemia, was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire when Martin departed for the United States. Martin was multi-lingual due to an Empire that demanded use of German. Say what you will about the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but unlike many others at the time, starting with the reign of Maria Theresa, education was mandatory, Martin would end up knowing not only German and English, but also likely Czech. He was multi-lingual before it was fashionable. Multi-lingualism was not uncommon for first and second generation Americans.  Immigrant labor was critical to the growth of the United States during this start of the gilded age, and one does not all of a sudden learn to write and speak a language, much less understand the colloquialisms and nuances of a learned language. It was not uncommon for the native tongue to be spoken at home and at ethnic-centered events.  After all Martin and Amelia had two strikes against them: first, the predominantly Protestant nation was not keen on Roman Catholics, and second Eastern and Southern European immigrants were also faced with prejudice.  In some corners it dies hard.  And some places still have a strong ethnic base.  It was not that many years ago when attending mass in Armstrong Creek that the priest would say some prayers in Polish.

Original Martin Hovel family farm in present time
Photo from Carol Ryan

This was the world of north central Iowa just after the arrival of my great grandparents. Martin and Amelia would raise three sons on their farm, all of whom would also go on to farm: Joseph (born on 26 July 1878), Edward (born on 28 February 1881), and my grandfather Rudolph (born 21 July 1887). Each of the three would go on to have families of their own. Joseph would remain in Worth County and the Manly area for his whole life; Ed farmed a few miles south in Cerro Gordo County, but not far from Manly. My grandfather would see his first child born in the family homestead near Manly, but in the 1920’s would move and farm in the Town of Bristol, just north of Sun Prairie. My grandfather would bring the family back to that part of Wisconsin from which his mother hailed when she met Martin.

Their Three Sons, children  of Amelia and Martin Hovel
Photo from Michael Hovel

The late 19th century is a time long gone. Cars have replaced horses and passenger trains; email is negatively affecting the postal service; and farming is more mechanized than ever before, but still can be hard and tedious. If farming practices in 1920, as Stover says, were closer to 1720 than present day, one can imagine what it was like 40 years earlier before tractors and even more mechanized equipment. Even with the difficulties of farm work at the time, those pioneer residents still took time to socialize and foster direct connections, leaving calling cards, rather than using Facebook, greeting with cookies and bread.  The pioneer plains of Iowa, in spite of or because of the difficulties of life on the prairie, fostered a sense of community and friendship. Connectivity to family was also important, even if one had to launder clothes of neighbors in order to earn sufficient funds to send a three cent first class letter back home.

1952 Article
Newspaper archives

“It’s about the meanest business I have ever experienced. It’s all fact—solemn fact – no romance, no poetry, no joke. It does seem to me that all this sort of work ought to be done by machinery or not to be done at all.” Charles H. Smith, writing of farm work in 1892.