Gruenkraut

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The Personal Story of Louise S. Bodrero

Another history in the records of Golden Rulon Andra.

“(Elsie Wagstaff Coleman read this history of Aunt Louise at our Reunion 21 June 1980)

“(Louise Sophie Wanner was born March 30, 1879.) I was born in Gruenkraut Germany. I can remember as little kids we stayed home. When we were I guess seven years old, we had to go to the Catholic school. There were no other schools around in those days. My Mother and Father didn’t always live in Gruenkraut. My father, John George Wanner was born in Hildritzhausen, Wuerttemburg, Germany, on October 18, 1845. His father was Johann Friederich Wanner, and his mother was Anna Maria Marquardt. My mother Anna Maria Schmid was born January 21, 1849 in Holzgerlingen, Wuerttemburg, Germany. Her father was Jacob Friederich Schmid and her mother was Salome Notter. In 1870 my father went to Russia to fight in the war. My parents were married the 6th. of June 1870. My Father died February 16, 1922 in Logan, Utah. My mother died December 9, 1929 in Logan Utah. The last days of their lives they lived in the 4th. Ward, and they are buried in the Logan Cemetery. My brother John George and sister Christena were born in Holzgerlingen, and my brothers, Johannes, Johannes Friederich, Frederich, Gottlob, and sisters Mary Magdalina, Pauline and Wilhelmina were all born in Gruenkraut, Germany.

Wanner Family about 1895, back (l-r): Mary, Christine, George, and Pauline; front: Anna, Fred, Louisa, Wilhelmina, Gottlob, and John Wanner.

“To continue with my story- – we did so many things in life. First of all we were poor and had not much to live on. The folks had to move from Holzgerlingen to the new place in Gruenkraut. I remember we didn’t have much land. Father got a job working on the street. The grass grew high on the side of the road and we had to help gather the grass for the cows. We had to do this everyday before father went to work.

“We were poor in those days. We had to be up at 5 o’clock in the morning when we were big enough to work for other people. We worked every day in our lives to make a dollar. I would go out and work for other people whenever there was work. Some people had lots of land and we got plenty work there. They would come and get us to work when I was seven years old. I remember we never wasted any time. I remember when we had to go to a place to get vaccinated. I know I sure suffered a long time because my arm was so sore. They do this so that it will last a lifetime in the old country against disease.

“I remember how we got warm for the winter. Father would buy a yard of wood in the forest and we had to cut it down ourselves and haul that wood home with the cows and wagon. Some were long trees too and we would haul all the limbs and everything home. I am telling you, we had the yard so full of wood that we had no room for anything else till we had it shaped down and sawed up and put in its place. You know that was a job and we had to do all this before winter set in. We had a little wagon and we went to the woods in the summertime too, to get some dry wood. We did this many times and would always take home a wagonfull.

“In the old country they had fences in the lucerne fields. We had to put them up so we could hing the hay on them to dry after it got wet from the rain, so it would not mold. When it was dry we hauled it home. I remember we did all the farming with cows, they had them work all day and then milk them at night. Father worked on the street job for many years and mother and us children did most of the farming and in the fall we went picking hops. We never failed to make a little money in them. They have fields of hops in the old country. We always earned our winter’s money there. They have acres of hops there. We never wasted our time in the field.

“Another thing we did was go to the forest and pick fruit and go and sell it in the city. The people would sure buy it because the city was a long ways from the country where we lived. We had to walk all the way to the city. We raised hemp and mother would spin half the night making it into balls. She would take it to the factory and they made clothes out of it. We used to have many yards and would stretch it out on the grass in the summertime. It would go white and thats the way mother made our sheets and everything. We have in the old country the shoemaker, and he come to the house and make shoes for us. We also had the dressmaker come to the house. Sometimes they would stay at the house a week or more.

“When the grain was but, we had to out and clean the heads of the wheat. We cleaned sacks full each day for flour and one time right in the middle of the summer, the soldiers came in with their horses on some maneuvers or something. The horses mashed the grain and trampled all our crops up. I knew there was a big field of grand and they went right through it. They stayed around about a month or more. It sure was terrible.

“After a few years father bought a new farm and house about two miles away from the old one. It was a bigger house and more land and that’s where we lived until we came to America. Our house was a long house. We had four rooms and an upstairs. In the farmhouses of the old country we had everything under one roof– the pig pen and the hay loft. There was a big place in the floor where we threshed the wheat and other grain and we pulled all the hay up in the loft towards the roof. For a long time we threshed the wheat on this hard floor below with a stick and using a big klap, four or five of us would thresh the wheat and then would sieve the wheat from the chafe. But later, I can remember that we hired a thashmachine and the cows pulled it after that.

“I remember one time a wagon run over me. I believe it went over my arm. I don’t know how bad I got hurt, but it was plenty bad enough.

“Well, later on in that place not far away they built a Lutheran church and a school, too; and there we learned to knit our own stockings and do all kinds of sewing and crocheting. Yes, they built a nice church and school. They were very strict in those schools. If you were late a few minutes you would have to hold out your hand and the teacher would hit you so hard that your hand could feel it for a long time. It was one of those hard wood sticks. It wasn’t always our fault because we had to take the milk to the creamery in the morning in the snow and ice, and we could not go very fast, but there was no excuse at all. We had a lot to do before school, and if we didn’t have the lesson ready we were scared to go to school, ’cause if we were late we would sure get hit, and when you held out your hand they would do just what they wanted to do and it didn’t hurt them any.

“In the old country they sure celebrated Christmas. We had two Christmas trees every year and nice ones at that. We had applies tied from the bottom to the top and the step and the tree sure looked pretty every year. We only had white bread for Christmas and Holidays. I can remember how good that white bread was. We never saw it very often. it was only the rich who could buy that. There was only one bakery in Gruenkraut that had good bread and cakes, but we could never buy any. This is how we made our bread: We had a box of wood. Of course, it was clean. Father worked the dough and made enough for two or three weeks. It was mostly rye bread. It was hard and dark but we had to eat it. When Valentine’s Day came around, Mother made up cakes and they sure tasted good.

“We all the time raised our own meat. We raised pigs and salted and smoked the meat. We had our own grease. Mother made her own noodles all the time. She used lots of eggs–they were sure good. We had our cellar so full of potatoes, apples of all kinds and barrels of cider and barrels of sauerkraut. I can remember our cellar was full of all kinds of good things to eat.

“Well, about our garden. We had the prettiest garden you ever saw in the old country. The garden was laid out in a square and we had a path around all over with the vegetables in the background and flowers in front and we could walk all over the paths with flowers on each side. We didn’t need any ditches, but had to pack water when it didn’t rain. We always had a beautiful garden with flowers of all kinds.

“On Saturday we always had to clean the shoes for the whole family — shine them up for Sunday. We always went to church on Sunday. We never worked on Sunday. We were not allowed to work on Sunday, because in those days they would fine you if you did. You could not even get your hay in on Sunday, even when you could see rain coming.

“Well, I guess about in the year 1890, in the summertime, the Lord sent a man along that street in Gruenkraut where my father worked, who was a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He talked to my father a long time and he told father of the new and true Gospel and about Joseph Smith and showed him the Book of Mormon. This man talked to my father in German as he was a missionary to German. Well, it was dinnertime and father took this missionary to our home and father told him–“We’ll see mother”–and from that very day on this missionary stayed at our place. His name was Zollinger from Providence, Utah. When his time came to go home, the missionary took my brother George to America with him. After that we had three more missionaries–one from Bear Lake, one from Providence, and another one from Salt Lake City, who couldn’t speak the language, so we helped him learn the language. He would tell us English words and we would tell him German words. There wasn’t anybody who would listen to the missionaries for miles around–just one other family from Ravensburg–and they were the only ones that believed the message like us. We had room for them everytime they came. There was no place else for them to go and we were glad to have them.

“The missionary from Salt Lake–his name was Hubbard–decided to go tracting one day. It was his first time tracting. He didn’t come home for so late that we thought maybe he fell into one of the wells with water that were here and there. It was late in the evening and dark, so mother decided to put a candle in the window. He soon came back and told us that he had been lost for a long time until he saw the light in the window. There weren’t many houses when I lived there, but in seventy years since, I guess it is built up all over.

“(About this same time Grandma was writing her history, Mrs. Herbert Wagstaff and son came to visit her from California. Herbert Wagstaff was the son of sister Mary Magdaline. The son had recently returned from a mission to Germany, where he had taken colored slides of the big house in Gruenkraut as it stands today. Of this evening of reminising Grandma said:) “It was sure nice to see my old home again and see it still stand in Gruenkraut. It was nice to see it again after seventy years.”)

“Well, I lived in that community for 14 years. That’s when I graduated. We started to this country when I was fifteen, in May of 1893, and got here the 15th of June, 1893. We came by ship and docked first in Amsterdam, Holland, and then in London, England. And then from London, to New York City, where we went to a big high hotel. WE were 12 days on the ocean. We had a good time on the ship where we danced. One day there was a terrible storm which throwed water up on the dock and nobody could dance after that. From New York we boarded the train for Idaho. We were 6 days on the train. On the train we sang all across the United States. We couldn’t speak any English then nor for a long time. We got off the train on the 15th of June, 1893, in Franklin, Idaho, and my brother George was there to meet us. He had a wagon with three spring seats. Well, we never were so worried on our whole trip as we were in that wagon. That day the road was so bad–open ditches with water in, and the horses danced around before they would cross. I never say such a rough road in my life–hills and hollows, and then we saw a bunch of Indians. They were hanging dead squirrels on a line to dry. That was something new to us. Well, we got to the place where we were to stay. But father was as worried that he got off the wagon and walked all the way back to Franklin. Mother and the rest of us were so worried, because he didn’t come back for a few days. We stayed with some folks for about two months, then father built a place in Glendale, Idaho, and there we lived the rest of the summer.

“Towards fall there was a man who wanted to sell his place in Glendale and father bought that place. My father farmed in Glendale. Glendale had only a little meetinghouse and also a school. I went to school there that winter to learn the English language. From then on I worked wherever I could get a job. I worked washing, cleaning house and tending children. In a place where I worked their children got mumps and I got mumps too, and I suffered so much that I could never get better for a long time. When I got better I went to work again. One time in the winter I rode a horse to Preston, and I got the toothache so bad that I had to have it pulled out right there. I soon learned to ride a horse a lot–something I’d never done in the old country.

“I worked for Matthias Cowley in Preston one winter. I guess it was the year 1895. He used to take trips and travel in a buggy–he helped organize the Northwestern States Mission. Then I worked in Whitney, Idaho. They had plenty of sickness in homes there. In 1897 we moved down to Logan and to the 5th Ward. Then I worked in Millville and went to school there at the same time learning the language. After that I went to work in Logan. It was in the 3rd Ward one night in church I met Jeffrey Bodrero. We were married in the Logan Temple, March 16, 1898. My sister Wilhelmina married Jeffrey’s brother, Moses Bodrero, December 18, 1907. Jeffrey’s father was Domenico Marsiano Bodrero, and his mother was Maria Caterina Margherita Frank Bodrero. After we were married I went to work for Dominic Bodrero that summer, who lived by the courthouse, where I walked everyday from the 9th Ward and did washing by hand on a board up until the time of my first child. Later that year I tended to beets, but they didn’t grow very well because of too many wild oats. Jeffrey went to the canyon about every day to get lumber and to make a dollar. These are the years when I lived: Gruenkraut, German: 14 years; Glendale, Idaho: 5 years; Logan 9th Ward: 30 years; Logan 4th Ward–where I became a relief society teacher. I also did a lot of temple work.

“In the old country we had known a family names Speth for a long time. We used to go back and forth to each others homes all the time. There was a big dark forest between our two places, and we were sometimes afraid to go through it because it was dark, even in the day time. Father would send us kids over in the evenings too. Sometimes we went twice a week to see them. We always had to walk of course. We had no car. I can see it now and I will never forget it. They were really friends to us. The old people never joined the church, but the boys came over to America and settled in Providence and then joined the church. My granddaughter married a Speth grandson.

“My children’s names are: [Rosalie] Marie, John George, David Wanner, Eva Margaret, William Jeffrey, Parley Lorenzo, Louise Mary, Edward Theodore, Llewellyn Grant and Evelyn Jane.

Bodrero Family (l-r): Louisa, Louise, John, Parley, Rosalie, Jeffery, Jeffery, David, Eva

“My folks went to conference everytime there was one. We never had the chance to go because children had to stay home and do the work. I remember it was in the winter once and it was so cold my parents couldn’t go to the conference. They sure liked this Mormon Gospel from the first day my father met the missionary.

Wanner Reunion, Anna Schmid Wanner sitting, standing (l-r) Mary Carter Wanner, Wilhelmina Wanner Bodrero, Mary Wanner Wagstaff, Regina Nuffer Wanner, Louisa Wanner Bodrero, Christine Wanner Nuffer, and Rebecca Hicks Wanner

“(Louise Sophie Wanner Bodrero died February 1, 1967 in Logan, Utah)

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Letter from George Wanner to Clara Bodrero

Back l-r: Laura, Wilhelmina, Floyd, Kenneth, Ivan, Earl, Hazel, Barbara Bodrero; Sitting: Moses, Wilhelmina, Clara Bodrero

This is a copy of a letter transcribed and in the records of Golden Rulon Andra.

“Preston, Idaho

“Feb. 4th, 1941

“Dear Clara,

“I just ran into your letter of last Dec. Sorry I did not tend to it sooner.

“Well, my father was born October 18th, 1845 in Holzgerlingen, Wurttemburg, Germany. He served in the war in 1866. He also served in the war against France in 1870 and 71. He received the Iron Cross for Bravery.

“After the last war, he moved to Grunkraut, Ravensburg. He got a job from the goverment as a Strassenwarter (road overseer in English). He held that job until 1893 until he immigrated to this country, or until he joined the church.

“I don’t know much about his early life, but I believe he was a weaver of cotton goods. He also had a small farm, and I did most of the work on it.

“In 1893, 21st of June, I think, they all headed to Mapleton, Oneida Co., Idaho. He bought John Nuffer’s farm at Glendale (now Franklin Co., Idaho.)

“Later, he bought the Jed M. Blair farm in Whitney, Idaho. Started to raise sugar beets. (Your mother can tell you the rest.) My father was a sucessful farmer.

“In Jan. 1900, he moved to Logan City, Utah, and did a lot of Tempel work, until his death, which was Feb. 16th, 1922. He was buried in the Logan Cemetary.

“John G. Wanner

“179E. 1st So. St.

Prestn, Idaho

John George Wanner Jr

“P.S. I don’t know anything about the family bible. I know there were a lot of dates and information about the family. I was not present when the furniture was divided.

“I did not get any of it.

“J.G.W.

“This above letter was received by Clara Bodrero, 495 W. 5th No., Logan, Utah, several years ago. John G. Wanner was her grandfather.

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Jacob Friedrich Wanner

I received this history a few years ago.  I will provide it as it is written (only minor edits).  I have written before regarding Fred’s parents Johann George (John George) Wanner and Anna Maria Schmid.

Back(l-r): Eva, Carma, Bert Wanner; Front: Lyman, Fred, Eva, Stanley Wanner

“(This History is written by Jacob’s daughter – Eva June Wanner Lewis – with the information sent in by Brother Fred, and Sister Mary Ann, and  her own sweet memories as well as information from Histories of Brothers and Sisters.)

“Jacob Friedrich Wanner was born January 14, 1881, in Gruenkraut, Germany, the 7th child of Johann Georg Wanner and Anna Maria Schmid.  They had a large family consisting of five boys and five girls.  They were quite poor so Grandfather went to work as a road overseer.  This left the farm work to Grandmother and the children.  They used the milk cows to do the farm work and then would milk them morning and night.  They also got wood from the forest for fuel.

Back(l-r): Mary, Christina, George, Pauline; Front: Anna, Fred, Louisa, Wilhelmina, Gottlop, John Wanner

“It rained a lot in Germany so the out buildings were connected to the house.  One time Grandma went downstairs to get some fruit.  She reached over and touched something hairy – she thought it was the devil!  It was a cow that had wandered down from the barn.

“Dad didn’t talk much about his life as a child but he did say he got a drum for Christmas and then it would disappear about New Year’s Day and he would get it for Christmas again the next year.  He may have been joking.

“The family belonged to the Lutheran Church and was very religious.

“In the summer of 1890 the Lord sent a man along the street in Gruenkraut where Grandpa worked.  He was a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He talked to Grandpa a long time and showed him the Book of Mormon.  He spoke in German.  When it came dinner time Grandpa took the missionary home and said,  “We’ll see Mother.”  From that day the missionaries stayed in their home and the family was soon converted.  They joined the church in 1891.

“Uncle George was baptized in July 1891 and went to America with one of the missionaries, Brother Terrell from Providence, Utah.  Brother Terrell helped him find a job to provide for himself.  He got a job with Fred Nuffer in Glendale.  Grandfather and Grandmother and the three oldest girls were baptized in October 1891.  Louise and Pauline were baptized in June 1894, Gottlob in June 1895 and Wilhelmina in August 1896.  Dad was baptized in Preston or Franklin, Idaho, on June 7, 1894, by Lars C. Larsen and confirmed a member of the church by Austin I. Merrill on June 7, 1894.  He was ordained an Elder by George C. Parkinson on September 27, 1903, and was married by Thos Morgan on September 30, 1903, at the Logan Temple.

“The family left Germany to come to America so they could worship the way the pleased.  It was a long, uncomfortable trip.  They took the train to the Rhine River and then boarded a boat and traveled up the Rhine, a journey of about 3 or 4 days.  Then another train took them to the North Sea where a ship sailed them to Amsterdam, Holland, and then on to England.  At Liverpool they boarded a ship and were on the ocean for 13 days.  Dad was 12 years old when they crossed the ocean and told us of the rough sea.  He had to hang on to his bunk with both hands to keep from being thrown to the floor.  He said he sure got sick of eggs.

“They arrived in New York and stayed there for 2 days.  Then they went to Chicago for a day and a night.  They then rode a train straight through to Franklin, Idaho, which took six days.  They arrived the 18th day of June, 1893.

“Uncle George and Fred Nuffer (the man he worked for) met them with a buggy and wagon and took them to Fred Nuffer’s place in Cub River.  They stayed for a while with the Nuffers and purchased a farm from John Nuffer in Glendale.

Gpa Wanner

“When Grandpa and Grandma moved to Whitney they sold the farm to Dad.  I don’t know if Dad or Grandpa build the sandstone house.  It had a kitchen, two bedrooms and a pantry.  It had a hand pump that pumped water from a spring.  Mary Ann and some of the children were born there.

“Dad met and married a lovely young girl, Mary Elizabeth Carter on September 30, 1903, in the Logan Temple.  They lived in Whitney, Idaho, until they bought the farm.  They worked hard to improve their farm and many times she helped him in the fields.  They built a three bedroom brick house that stood for many years until fire destroyed it years later.  Dad had a Delco generator in the garage so we had our own electricity.

Fred and Mary Elizabeth Wanner

“They had a lovely family, five girls and three boys:  Laverna C., Fredrick D., Lorin C., Florence E., Joseph J., Erma C., Mary Ann and Grace C.

“IN 1923 – Elizabeth died leaving seven children.  The youngest was almost 2 years old.  Laverna got married so that left Erma and MaryAnn to take care of the baby.  Erma would go to school one day and MaryAnn the next.  It was hard.  They tried to leave her with Aunt Ethel Barrington in Riverdale, but she got so lonely and cried all day so they went and got her.  Then Dad hired Eva Christensen to come and work as a housekeeper.  As time went on Dad and Eva (my mother) fell in love and was married June 26, 1925, in the Logan Temple. They had five children:  Carma C., L. Bertus, Eva June, Lyman G., and Stanley C.  We had a happy family life and dad always saw to it that we went to church and did what we were suppose to do.  He went when he could.  He always paid his tithing and other offerings.  He was honest in all his dealings.

Fred and Mary with (l-r) Laverna, Fred, Lorin.

“Dad was the first one in Glendale to buy a car.  We children were used to horses so we would say,  “Gid up, Gid up” when we got in the car.  About this time Dad was struck by lightening but was not harmed.

“Dad owned or had a share in the thrashing machine.  They would go around to all the farmers in Glendale and thrash the grain.  Then we would fix a big meal for all the men.   It was a real fun time for the children but a lot of work for the adults.  Dad worked as an oiler or on the thresher and had part of his finger taken off.  When we were little he told us a fox bit it off!

“Dad was a good farmer.  He took pride in all his work.  He raised hay, barley and wheat.  He always had 10 or 12 dairy cows.  He also had horses, pigs and chickens.  For many years we separated the cream from the milk in the old separator.  Then Dad took the cream to Preston to sell it along with the eggs.  In later years we had the milk truck come and pick up the milk so we didn’t use the separator anymore.  He also bought a grain chopper and prepared his own feed for the animals.  We had a big raspberry patch and used to sell raspberries for 8 quarts for a dollar.  Dad always had a big garden and a big potato patch.  He had a root cellar to keep potatoes, carrots, squash and apples over the winter.

“In the early 1930’s Dad bought silver foxes.  He built a high fence so they couldn’t get out.  He took great pride in his fox furs.  They were always excellent quality!  I remember watching him cure the furs and he took great care to make sure they were done right.  Dad always kept his barnyard as well as the rest of the farm in good repair and very neat.  His fences were always mended.

“Dad always took time out of his farm work to go to Franklin to celebrate Idaho Day on the 15th of June.  We would take a big picnic lunch and spend the day.  We rode the carnival rides and had a good time.  He always took us kids to Downata to go swimming when we finished first crop of hay.

“Dad liked a good joke… I remember how he would laugh.  He loved the radio and his favorite programs were Gang Busters, The Old Ranger and of course the news!  We all had to be quiet when the news came on.

“Dad was very active and was always working except on Sunday – there was never any work done on Sunday except chores.  He loved the Sunday paper.  He always bought the Denver Post.  It was a real shock to us when he had his heart attack because he was so active.  It happened one day when he was working in the barn.  We were all frightened and I called the neighbors to help us get him to the house.

“After that he had to be very careful so he sold the farm and moved to Preston.  They lived just down the street from MaryAnn.  He seemed to miss the farm and would putter around the yard.

“He died at the age of 74 on August 25, 1955.  He was buried in the Preston Cemetery.

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Wanner-Schmid Wedding

Jakob and Salome Schmid are pleased to announce the marriage of their daughter Anna Maria to Johann, son of Johann and Anna Wanner.  Johann and Anna were married 6 June 1870 in Holzgerlingen, Böblingen, Württemberg.

Anna Maria Schmid was the third child of three born to the marriage of Jakob Frederick Schmid (he went by Frederick) and Salome Notter on 21 January 1849 in Holzgerlingen.  Solome was 38 years old when Anna was born and died two and a half years later in Holzgerlingen.  Anna’s father, Jakob, then remarried to Agnes Margarete Hasenmaier in 1852.  Unfortunately, Agnes passed away a year and half later when Anna was barely over 3 years old.  Jakob remained single as far as we know and raised the two girls and boy on his own afterward.  Jakob was a weaver.  Anna likely had few if any memory of either of her mothers.  Anna was christened the same day she was born.  Below is a picture of St. Mauritius’ tower in Holzgerlingen where Anna was christened.  This tower has been there since the eleventh century.

St. Mauritius Church in Holzgerlingen where Anna Schmid was christened

Johann Georg Wanner was the fourth child of five born to the marriage of Johann Friedrich Wanner and Anna Maria Marquardt on 18 October 1845 also in Holzgerlingen.  He was christened the next day in the same church as Anna.

St. Mauritius

St. Mauritius from the nave looking toward the chancel.  Inside this church is where Johann Wanner was christened

Holzgerlingen is a small town and it is very likely that Johann and Anna knew of each other growing up if not more personally.  Johann and Anna were married 6 June 1870 in the same church in which they were christened.

The altar of St. Mauritius in Holzgerlingen where Johann and Anna were likely married

The altar of St. Mauritius in Holzgerlingen before which Johann and Anna were likely married

Johann and Anna welcomed a baby boy named after his father on 29 October 1870.  Young Johann Georg was christened the next day in the same church, likely before a congregation seated in the below nave.

The chapel/nave of St. Mauritius where family sat for generations if not hundreds of years attending church

The chapel/nave of St. Mauritius where family sat for generations if not hundreds of years attending church

Johann and Anna welcomed Christina Wanner 30 March 1872 in Holzgerlingen.  She was christened on 1 April 1872.

The train platform at Holzgerlingen

The train platform at Holzgerlingen

Between 1872 and 1873 Johann and Anna moved to Grünkraut, Ravensburg, Württemburg.  This is about 50 miles to the south.  We don’t know why they moved to this tiny town.  It was in Grünkraut that Maria Magdalena Wanner was born 12 September 1873.  She was christened 14 September 1873 but I do not know which church the family used in Grünkraut.

Johannas Wanner was born 23 June 1875 and christened the same day in Grünkraut.  He died later that year on 5 November 1875.  He was buried at Atzenweiler according to family records, but I cannot find this place so it must be an area nearby Grünkraut.

Johannas Frederick Wanner came 28 July 1878 and was christened on 3 August 1878.  He died 12 November 1878 and is also apparently buried at Atzenweiler.

On 30 March 1879 Johann and Anna welcomed Luise Sophia Wanner.  Christening followed 6 April 1879 in Grünkraut.

Jakob Frederick Wanner appeared 14 January 1881 with christening 23 January 1881.

Fred told a couple of stories I think proper to share here.  I cannot verify accuracy or the time frame.  “They left the farm work to Grandfather and the children.  They used the milk cows to do the farm work and then would milk them morning and night.  They also got wood from the forest for fuel.  It rained a lot in Germany so the out buildings were connected to the house.  One time Grandma went downstairs to get some fruit.  She reached over and touched something hairy and she thought it was the devil!  It was a cow that had wandered down from the barn.  Dad didn’t talk much about his life as a child but he did say he got a drum for Christmas and then it would disappear about New Years Day and he would get it for Christmas again the next year.  He may have been joking.  The family belonged to the Lutheran Church and was very religious.”

Pauline Wanner arrived 1 April 1884 in Atzenweiler and was christened 10 April 1884 in Atzenweiler.

Gottlop Wanner showed up 18 June 1886 in Kronhalden with christening 29 June 1886 in Atzenweiler.

Lastly, Wilhelmina ended the caravan on 12 September 1887 in Atzenweiler and was christened 19 September 1887 in Atzenweiler.

During the summer of 1890 LDS missionaries visited Grünkraut.  The missionaries apparently visited with Jakob, Anna’s father.  The missionary showed Jakob the Book of Mormon and Jakob took the missionaries home with him.  The missionaries lived with the family for a time and the Wanner family was converted.  Johann Georg Jr was the first to join the LDS Church on 11 July 1891.  Johann Sr, Anna, Christina, and Maria were all baptized 16 October 1891.  Jakob, Anna’s father, joined 22 February 1892.

Johann Jr emigrated to America with Elder Theurer.  They went to his home in Providence, Cache, Utah.  We don’t know who Elder Theurer is, but he helped Johann Georg, now John George, find employment with Fred Nuffer who lived in Mapleton, Franklin, Idaho.  Elder John Theurer had converted the Nuffer family in Germany, so it was likely a sibling of John who helped find John Jr his employment.

In 1893, the family emigrated from Germany.  John, Anna, Christina, Maria, Luise, Fredrick, Pauline, Gottlop, and Wilhelmina all departed Liverpool, England on 3 June 1893 on the Arizona.  They arrived on 13 June 1893 at Ellis Island in New York, New York, New York.  Immediately, the family caught multiple trains through Chicago and Salt Lake with the last stop at Franklin, Franklin, Idaho near where John Jr met them with a wagon.  The family arrived at Franklin on 18 June 1893 where John took them in to Preston.  It was in Preston that Luise, Fred, and Pauline, were baptized 7 June 1894.  Gottlob followed on 6 June 1895 with Wilhelmina 6 August 1896, all in Preston.

The family immediately began to integrate with society.  Christina married Charles August Nuffer 1 February 1894 in the Logan LDS Temple.  John Jr married Eliza Stirland 14 November 1894 in the Logan Temple.

Wanner Family about 1895,

Wanner Family about 1895.  Standing (l-r): Maria (Mary), Christina, Johann (John but went by George), Pauline.  Sitting (l-r): Anna, Jakob (Fred), Luise (Louise), Wilhelmina, Gottlop, Johann (John).

Maria, now Mary, married William Addison Wagstaff 17 June 1896 in the Logan Temple.  Luise, now Louise, married Jeffery Marcelin Bodrero 16 March 1898 in the Logan Temple.  John Jr remarried after divorce to Regina Frederike Nuffer 31 August 1898 in the Logan Temple.  Jakob, now Fred, married Mary Elizabeth Carter 30 September 1903 in the Logan Temple.  Pauline married William Henry Crossley 14 December 1904 in the Logan Temple.  Wilhelmina married Moses Bodrero 18 December 1907 in the Logan Temple.  Gottlop married Rebecca Hicks 16 November 1908 in Preston.

The Wanner family purchased a farm from John Nuffer, a brother to Charles and Regina, near Glendale, Franklin, Idaho.  Fred purchased the farm from them around 1910.  John Sr and Anna moved to Logan where they were living at 791 North 500 East when the 1910 Census was taken (the whole family was in Preston city limits for the 1900 Census).  On the 1920 Census I believe they lived at 304 East 500 North, but the census is unclear exactly what street 304 is on, but going from the pattern of the census taker I believe it is the address I have listed.

Johann Georg Wanner 1921

John died 16 February 1922 of pneumonia in Logan.  Anna listed their address as 272 East 400 North in Logan.  He was buried on the 19th in the Logan Cemetery.  She also died of pneumonia but on 9 December 1929.  She was living at the same address when she passed away.  She was buried 12 December 1929 next to her husband.

Anna Schmid Wanner

by

Christine Wanner Nuffer

Back (l-r): Ida, Joe, Louise, Clara, Anna, Fred, Bertha  Front: Christina, Laura, Preston, Charles

This is a biography written of Christina (Christine in her record in the first line) Wanner Nuffer by her daughter Louise.  I have maintained her grammar and spelling in the biography.  I have written of Charles and Christina previously.  Here is August’s autobiography.

My Mother, Christine, Wanner was born 30 March 1872 in Holzgerlinger, Germany.  She was the daughter of Johann Georg Wanner and Anna Maria Schmid.  She was the second child of a family of ten children.  Mother started school at the age of seven in 1879 and graduated at the age of fourteen in 1886 in Greengrant (Gruenkraut), Germany.

The gospel message was brought to her parent’s home in Germany by the Mormon Missionaries.  My grandparents joined the church and came to America 18 Jun 1893.  Mother was twenty-one years old then.  She was baptized on the 26th of January 1894 in Mapleton, Idaho by Heber Taylor.  She learned to speak English by talking to other people.  Her parents settled in Glendale, Idaho.  There is where she met my father Charles August Nuffer, he was living in Mapleton with his parents.  Mother did some housework for people before her marriage.  She didn’t get much money, what she earned she had to give to her parents.  My parents were married 1 Feb 1894 in the Logan Temple by W. M. (Marriner Wood) Merrill.

Father had built a rock house and they moved right in about all the furniture they had is what Father had made from boxes and other wood.  In those days they got along fine with the few things they had.

Mother always made the best of everything.  She also believed the best of everyone.  She was kind and loved her children very much.  Mother was a good homemaker and did all the sewing and knitting for her family.  She loved to do things for others.  She believed in bringing up her children by teaching them to pray and by always taking them to church.

Father was busy making a living for the family, he worked hard to secure the necessities of life.  Wood was used for fuel and Father had to get this from the canyons.  Kerosene lamps provided the lights for the house.  Father and Mother often visited the sick and sat up nights with the dead and helped lay them away.

They lived in their first house over thirteen years and seven children were born there.  In November of 1907 they moved to Preston.  For the first few years they had much sickness, Father, Clara and Annie had Typhoid Fever.  This worked a hardship on Mother as she had a young baby also.  Mother promise the Lord that if He would bless her husband to get better that she would let him go on a mission.  She was true to her word and in the spring of 1910 he left to go on a mission to the Eastern States for two years.  Mother was left to care for nine children including Laura who was the baby only two months old.  This took much courage for Mother and was a hardship but she never complained.  With the Lord’s help and the help of friends and relatives she got along the best that she could.  When Father came home from his mission they had to start all over again, by borrowing money to buy a farm.  It took a long time for them to get out of debt.

Father and Mother always took the time to go visiting relatives in the early days.  They would travel by horse and buggy.  They also liked to go fishing.  When her sister Pauline died they took Cyril (Crossley) the youngest boy and took care of him for two years.  When Annie died 25 Jan 1928 there came another big responsibility for Mother that of taking care of her two youngest children, the twins Barbara and Beverly.

Mother was set apart as a Relief Society teacher 30 April 1916 by N. S. Geddes and she retained this position until the time of her death and she was faithful in her duty.

She and Father worked on the Genealogy Committee for years going into the homes helping people prepare their family group sheets for their own use and to sent to Salt Lake.  They were very interested in Temple work and made many trips to Logan doing this work for their ancestors and others.

Father and Mother were active in their German Speaking Latter Day Saint organization until World War I.  Racial feelings at that time made it necessary for the organization to be discontinued.  Many times our parents used to practice singing Germany Hymns in the home.  Preston and Laura were born in Preston, Idaho and the rest of us in Mapleton, Idaho.  Mother died 10 August 1940 on my sister Clara’s birthday.  She is buried in Preston Cemetery.

Funeral services for Christina Wanner Nuffer were held August 14th, at 2:00 P.M.  The pall-bearers were Donald Hansen, Max Hansen, Keith Winn, Devon Winn, Donald Cummings, & Leon Nuffer.  Admiring friends and relatives assembled at the Second Ward Chapel to pay a final tribute to Christina W. Nuffer.  Scores of floral tributes were added testimony of her many admirers.

Services were conducted by Bishop Howard Hall and interment was in the Preston Cemetery.  Mrs. Christina Wanner age sixty eight died Saturday August 10th at her home of a tumor of the spine.  She had lived in Preston for thirty three years.  Surviving are her husband, three sons, and five daughters, six brothers and sisters, George and Fred Wanner of Preston, Gotlob B. Wanner of Inkom, Idaho, Mrs. Louise Bodero and Mrs Mina Bodero of Logan, Utah, and Mrs. Mary Wagstaff of Ogden.  Mrs. Nuffer reared two of her grandchildren, Barbara and Beverly Cummings with the help of her daughter Louise Nuffer Roberts.