Snyder Community
Hale County, Texas
Mennonite Colony
Mr. & Mrs. Joel S. Guengerich
By Earl Guengerich
[Earl was the son of Joel and Lena Guengerich. This paper was submitted to the Snyder Community Project by Earl’s niece Belle Stoltzfus Boyts. Belle’s mother was Edna Guengerich Stotzfus, Earl’s sister. I have done only a little editing. Belle did not know when Earl recorded these memories, but he passed away in 1989. Bonnie Snyder Smith]
The Joel Guengerich Family
(sitting l. to r.: Joel, Harold, Glenn, and Lena; standing l. to r.: Willard, Albert, Edna, and Earl.)
My parents were born near Iowa City, Iowa in Johnson County. My mother was Magdalene Yoder. Her family, along with several other families, moved near Clarion, Iowa in Wright County. My father, a professional carpenter, helped build the barns and homes for these families. There he met my mother and they were married. They lived in this area for several years. We three older children, Edna (1901), Albert (1904), and myself (1903) were born in Wright County. We then moved back to Johnson County and on to LaJaunta [sic], Colorado. We lived in Colorado one year while my father helped build a sanitarium. When I was about 5-6 years old we moved to Texas and lived there about ten years. In Hale County three more brothers were born; Willard (1910), Glenn (1916), and Harold (1918).
We lived 7 miles south of Plainview in Snyder community. We had a 160-acre farm. We also rented some land from Smith and Schertz families who lived in Illinois. There was considerable open prairie and when we went to town or visited neighbors we would cut across country rather than use roads. Our crops were wheat, milo maize, and kaffir corn. We harvested wheat with headers, maize and kaffir heads were cut with knives or a hand-pruning clipper. Before fences, our cows were staked out with a rope tied to a mesquite brush. At first we had no telephones. Later several families bought 2x4’s, fastened them to fence posts, put insulators on top and fastened wire for a telephone line. This system wasn’t understood very well and the phones went dead when the lines became grounded.
We older children walked almost 2 miles to Snyder school. Later we got to drive a horse and buggy. We graduated from 7th grade which was the last grade before high school.
Albert and I helped with choring. We also brought in firewood which consisted of “dried cow chips.” We each tried to find the largest chip and get it in the little hand wagon unbroken. Sometimes our sister Edna would help. Dad put up a twin-wheel windmill, but it did not furnish enough water for much crop irrigation.
Most of our relatives lived in Iowa, but our neighbors were very helpful. Because of drought, dust storms, and prairie fires, people became discouraged and all the Mennonite families except Rastetter’s moved back to their former states. We left Texas and moved back to Iowa December 1918 at the end of World War I.
Some incidents I remember are a couple run-aways that dad had. Once while working in the field the team jumped and threw dad off the disc. The horses ran and crowded one into the barbed wire fence cutting him badly and as a result the horse died. Another time dad was taking some hogs to town in the wagon. He stopped to close the yard gate and then return to the wagon. He stepped on the wagon tongue to get up on the seat and the team started to run. He was thrown on the double-trees behind the horses. They ran in a big circle and back to the gate where they abruptly stopped. The wagon box with the hogs were thrown off along with my dad and he received a deep leg gash. We all saw it happen and mother was VEPY upset. She hitched the run away team to the carriage and drove 7 miles to the doctor in 35 minutes! She said if they wanted to run she would just give them that chance.
I remember when William Jennings Bryan came to speak at a Chautauqua in Plainview. Airplanes were a novelty at that time. We had a town gathering at which a pilot was invited to give rides to anyone who was brave enough to try it. He was alone on his last flight when the plane suddenly nosed down, crashed and killed him.
I went to Hesston, Kansas and took a 2-year Bible course. While there I met my wife-to-be, Myrtle Tompkins. We were married September 12, 1937. We have 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. We sold the family farm in 1972 and moved to Kalona, Iowa. However, we continue an active life style. I work in my brother Glenn’s electric motor shop and Myrtle does domestic work in Iowa City. We find time to travel south in the winters.
My mother died August 1928 and my father in January 1964. Texas still holds an attraction for us, as we have 2 sons and their families living there; one in Amarillo and the other in Ft. Worth. This would be 2 grandsons, 2 great-grandsons and 1 great-granddaughter of my parents. No doubt we will make more trips to this area while our health permits.
copyright ©
2007 Bonnie Snyder Smith
