Immediately across Highway 94 from the log barn was the Liberty Tree. This tree is designated as the largest Chinquapin Oak in Missouri (Figure 23). The trunk of this oak is on display in a floral garden south of the Agricultural Hall on the University of Missouri campus, Columbia. The reader may recall the old German custom of holding clan meetings in groves of oak trees like the one destroyed by Charlemagne in 764. Perhaps this fixation with large oak trees remains intact to the present day! Since the primary route to the the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE was via Highway 94, these sites were almost daily occurrences to us. Herman and Sophia Ahmann acquired other properties and by 1877 were located about two miles east of Marthasville within a mile of the Missouri Evangelical College, a steam powered saw and grist mill and a site designated as an Indian grave yard. The Warren County Historical Atlas of 1877 shows Sophia Ahmann as the owner of 80 acres of this holding. These holdings were very close to the farm later owned by our Uncle John and Aunt Gussie Schake.

Farming in Charette Township during the mid-1800´s was more than plowing corn and milking cows. One morning after returning from a turkey hunt Herman Ahmann heard the pigs squealing in an unusual manner after Sophia had fed them. He continued holding his rifle while making his way to the pig pens but at first had difficulty discovering why the shoats were disturbed. Glancing into a gully he glimpsed the head of a bear. The bear was charging in his direction although apparently it had not seen Herman, but when it did it went up into a nearby tree. That day Herman Ahmann killed two turkeys and a bear. Herman Ahmann also supplemented his farm income by delivering produce of his and his neighbors to the markets in St Louis and returning with supplies for the local stores -- today´s version of a ´back haul´ in the trucking business. So successful were these ventures that he eventually had $ 2,000 worth of gold hidden in old shoes in his home.

Otto Ahmann would marry Elise Henrietta Hillebrand on August 14, 1868 and by January 27, 1869 our grandmother Maria Lavina Ahmann was born in her grandparents home east of Marthasville. Elise came from Lengerich (Lengereich), Prussia as a twelve-week old baby with her parents in 1850. The Hillebrands first settled on a farm in St Charles County but by the time Elise was fifteen her family moved to Charette Township and by 1877 had acquired 359 acres of farm land north of Marthasville within three miles of the farms of Jobst Ridder, Otto Ahmann and Kurt Schake. The Karl Rocklage farm would have been four miles to the south of the Hillebrands. Otto and Elise lived with his parents for seven years after their marriage on one of the Ahmann farms east of Marthasville, and then moved to their farm located immediately west of Marthasville on the bluff, affectionately referred to as ´The Hill´ by family members.

In 1902 Mary Rocklage moved from Sunshine to Marthasville with her seven children in a horse drawn wagon. Flora O. Rocklage was born near Sunshine in 1898, but today only Sunshine Lake, an oxbow lake of the Missouri River, remains as a landmark of this rural Missouri community. Upon arrival in Marthasville the Rocklages lived with the Otto Ahmann family on ´The Hill.´ Later the Ahmann family built a modest two bedroom house for their recently widowed daughter a short distance to the east of the Ahmann home near the bluff in Marthasville. The house was actually rebuilt from a home on one of the Ahmann Charette Creek bottom farms. This is were Flora O. Rocklage grew up and experienced the exceptional kindness and support of her grandfather Otto Ahmann and his family. Since his daughter had seven children and no means of income he not only provided a home for them, but all other essential support for the family. Almost everything was shared -- milk, meat, vegetables, clothing -- even a monetary allowance was provided by grandfather Otto Ahmann. Mary also had her own garden and chickens and her children all worked outside the home at early ages. The outcome of this form of family welfare resulted in very close family ties and a commitment to help one another whenever the need arose. Later the marriages of Amanda Rocklage and Frank Schoppenhorst, and of Ida Rocklage and Walter Rottman would be held in this home, as well as the reception for newly weds Clara and Chris Lix of the Lixburg community and a surprise 60th birthday celebration for Mary Rocklage in January of 1929. Later she would die in her sleep in this house while attended by family members. Aunts Anna and Martha Rocklage continued to live there for many years following her death in 1954.

Rocklage Farm
Initially the family of Karl Wilhelm Rocklage resided near Washington, Franklin County and later they farmed (possibly rented) near Dutzow. On February 29, 1884 Charles (Karl) William Rocklage would purchase his 200 acre farm in Charette Township for $6580 from Ben Hillermann. The deed reflects that he did not sign his name. The farm was about one mile south of Marthasville with its southern boundary on the banks of the Missouri River. Of all the family farms this one undoubtedly possessed the most fertile soil as the entire farm was located in the Missouri River bottom. The deed further reflects that originally this property was part of the Ramsey survey (Robert Ramsey of the 1812 Indian massacre) and was once owned by Alexander McKinney as was the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm. To the immediate west of the Rocklages were their neighbors the William Ahmann family, son of Herman and Sophia Ahmann. William Ahmann was a brother of Otto Ahmann whose daughter young Karl Heinrich Rocklage would marry in 1887. Also, this farm was very close to three early Missouri historical sites: the Village of La Charette, Marthasville Landing where so many of the early settlers first set-foot in Warren County and Callaway´s Post which provided protection to early county residents during Indian uprisings. The first two of these sites have since been consumed by the Missouri River. On the 29th of April, 1899 Karl Wilhelm Rocklage declared his last will and testament shortly before his death. This document of six hand written pages outlines instruction to sell and then divide his rather extensive personal and real properties among his many heirs and that his friend Henry A. Schoppenhorst was to serve as executor of the estate.

Ritter Farms
Jobst and wife Sophia Ritter and their family lived on an 80 acre farm immediately south of New Boston and adjacent to Kite´s mill to the east. This was home to Sophia Ritter before being orphaned and eventually marrying Adolph Schake. Following the death of his parents Charles (Karl Simon August) Ridder would own this farm sometime before 1877. Charles and his wife, Marie Ernstine Schake Ridder, reared their family here to include William Ridder, father of Edwin and grandfather of Glenn Ridder. Around the time of the death of Fritz Schake in 1914, William Ridder would purchase the Schake-Ridder farm, which was then also known as the ´Bill Ridder Place.´ Old Highway 47 passed one-half mile to the east with the road to Holstein passing through the northeast corner of the this 80 acre Ritter property.

Schake-Ridder (Ritter) Farm
Eventually the Ridder farms would join the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm on its entire eastern boundary. The booklet Historic Sites of Warren County, Missouri (1976) documents that one of the oldest houses in the Marthasville area is the ´Old Schake Place,´ later known as the ´Bill Ridder Place´ (Figure 24). This 111 acre farm was purchased by Kurt and Friedericke Schake from the Wyatts for $1750 in 1856. It is adjacent to the Wyatt farm, a little north of Marthasville. The Wyatts and their slaves helped the Schakes build the original home. The structure, built prior to the Civil War, had two rooms each fifteen by thirty feet, a dirt floor, and a loft. Kurt would farm here until his death in this house in 1890. Fritz Schake and family were the last Schakes to live on this farm. During the 1960´s Glenn and Yvonne Ridder would live the early years of their marriage in this structure before razing the old home in the 1970´s.

Here Fritz and his brother Adolph had a thriving butchering business and sold meat to various markets during the latter 1800´s. Crossing the Missouri River with a skif, or sleigh when frozen, to tend to business in the warehouse in Washington where pork was cured and stored was a routine. Live hogs were often driven to St Louis in order to obtain better prices for them. To the right of the log house in Figure 24 is a shed where most of the butchering was done. However, when the Schake brothers´ hams spoiled as a result of a new curing method which failed to properly preserve them, the partnership was dissolved in bankruptcy. The new ham curing process was a liquid cure injected directly into the ham, a technique which today is widely applied. Because Adolph had a larger farm than Fritz, it was Fritzs´ demand that Adolph should retire a proportionately larger portion of the debt. This episode resolved, Fritz continued a local butchering business; Adolph Schake turned to farming. In 1997, 95 year old Edna Baumhoefer Buescher of Columbia, Missouri, step-granddaughter of Fritz Schake, recalled a visit to the Fritz Schake farm in about 1916. While there she remembers the extremely long hours of hard work undertaken by the entire family when processing pork. She further recalls her mother saying, "I never want my children to have the experience of a step-father, eventhough she was a widow by 36 with children of 16, 12, 10 and 9 years of age." Edna continues, "Mom didn´t talk much about life with the Schakes except that Grandpa made them work so hard with the butchering business and (that) her life there was unhappy. I remember Mom saying one time that she thought the reason Aunt Alvina (Offel) was so stooped was because of the hard work and lifting she did as a teenager."

According to the 1880 U.S. Census of Charette Township (2) Fritz Schaake was given as the head of the family living in the Old Schake-Ridder house. Johann Cord Christoph Schaake and wife Friederike of 71 and 67 years of age, respectively, were shown as boarders in the home. Adolph, brother of Fritz, was 35 and single at the time. Also living in the home were Walter Helman, a 20 year old single black laborer and a single 20 year old neighbor woman by the name of Sophie Ritter. All of their parents, except Helmans´ were claimed to have been from Prussia while his were listed as Africans. By August 31, 1882 Adolph and Sophia were married and moved to the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETE farm to start their family. [the reader may notice several errors and inconsistencies in this paragraph since information is given directly from the census without corrections. Examples include the spellings of Schake, Sophia and Ridder and the ages of Fritz and Adolph were either 45 or 46 and 37 or 38, respectively, dependent upon actual date of census. The 1860 census carries similar exceptions (3)].

The present Glenn and Yvonne Ridder farm represents the consolidation of three farms. The Edwin Ridder farm (previously owned by the Johannaber family) which boarders the north bank of Charette Creek, the Old Schake-Ridder farm and the Wyatt farm (Figure 19) to the north with the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm boarding on the west. Apparently the Ridders and Schakes were also neighbors within several miles of one another in Lippe.

McCord-McKinney-King-Schake Farms
This is the Schake farm with the Stone Age Osage Indian village-farm nestled within the south and eastward meanderings of Charette Creek and the sentinel bluffs of limestone. Elizabeth McKinney, daughter of John McKinney and his wife of Mexican (Spanish/Indian) descent, came to Warren County in 1809 from Kentucky and married John King who settled near Marthasville according to the 1876 report of Bryan and Rose. This was the Harrison, John C. and Betty King family who owned the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm from 1825 until 1878 (an 1877 Historical Atlas of Warren County, Missouri gives the owner of the property as E. King as shown in Figure 19). Harrison King and his family are listed as owning 2,000 acres of land in the 1850 U.S. Census. The 1840 census documents that John and Harrison King maintained 17 slaves to assist them with their large farming enterprises. Betty (Elizabeth) McKinney King was the sister of Aleck McKinney who delayed the plowing of his corn the day before the Indian massacre of the Ramsey family in 1815. Mr. Adam McCord surveyed and owned the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm before John McKinney purchased the property on April 1, 1825. McKinney first came to Missouri on a prospecting tour in 1805, settled there in 1809 with his family but returned to Staunton, Kentucky with most of his large family to avoid the Indian Wars around 1815. In Kentucky he had served in the American Army during the Revolution, taught school and later returned to Missouri to live at the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm. He continued to travel back and forth from Missouri and Kentucky the remainder of his life trading in land and land warrants. The partnership of Fritz, Louise and Adolph Schake purchased this 200 acre farm in 1878 for $9,750. Later on March 30, 1897 Adolph would buy out brother Fritz to fully establish his family home at the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE. Upon the death of Adolph in 1931 the Schake family arranged for Martin and Flora to purchase the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm, by then slightly over 200 acres, for $20,000. John A. Schake was the estate executor and expedited a loan from his Schaper brother-in-laws to allow for the purchase of the farm. On May 25, 1946 Martin and Flora Schake made the last $10,000 loan payment. That was a blessed event, especially for Flora Schake as she abhorred debts. Adjacent properties to the south and west were eventually purchased from Oswald and Helene Knoerschild (F. Schulte place) and from George and Armella Holland which brought the total acreage to 450 by 1970. As of 1994 Al and Mary Jacob purchased the original McCord-McKinney-King-Schake homestead and most of the remaining portion of the farm from the heirs of the last generation of Schakes to have been reared there -- Dorothy, Helen, Virginia and Lowell . Lowell and Wendy Schake lived in the rent house on the Schulte-Knoerschild farm from June 1960 to June 1961.

The house that the King (and possibly the McKinney and McCord families) family lived in was a log structure with several additions which served as the residence for the Adolph Schake family until 1903. This house burned due to a faulty stove. Martin C. Schake and his sister Amanda Schake (Roloff) were the only ones at home and ran to the nearest neighbors for help but by time the Schulte family arrived the fire had consumed the home. No doubt the Schake family lost a great deal of our material heritage and documentation to this fire. This house was located immediately north of the present home. Access to this home site was from the northeast via Old Highway 47. The house was on top of the second tier of hills from the Charette bottoms. To the east, at the foot of this hill, was a fresh water spring providing water for livestock and household needs. Lowell Schake also recalls removing bricks from an old cistern at this home site which undoubtedly served as another source of water. After the fire the family quickly built a temporary home to live in while the present day white frame house was constructed in 1904. Four Schake generations lived in this new home -- Adolph, Martin and his family, granddaughter Roberta Jane Simons and husband Ed, and grandson Glenn Meyer. To the authors knowledge two deaths occurred in this home -- Sophia and Adolph Schake in 1913 and 1931, respectively, and one birth -- Lowell Martin Schake on June 6, 1938. Grandmother Mary Rocklage assisted Dr. Garcia as midwife at Lowell´s birth. Later it was Lowell´s privilege to serve as one the grandson pallbearers for her funeral on November 18, 1954. The funeral service for Sophia Ritter Schake was conducted in the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE home on March 1, 1913. Weddings, receptions and baptisms were also held in the home. Fred and Hulda Preul and James and Dorothy Meyer were married there, a wedding reception for Lowell and Wendy Schake and the baptism of Glenn Meyer, performed by our Uncle Raymond Roloff, a Methodist minister, were each some of the less common events which transpired there. The present owners have completely restored the home to its original elegance to include period antique furnishings.

Other features of this farm home site included a log barn of the wooden peg construction with additions on three sides. In all likeliness this was the original home on the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm when Adam McCord settled there in the early 1800´s as it was the custom to first build a log cabin for the family, and later relegate it as a barn when a larger home was subsequently constructed. In more recent times it served as a feed grinding-mixing facility and as a barn for finishing cattle and hogs until about 1948 when it was razed. Here hog, turkey and chicken feed was mixed and sacked by hand, then delivered to the hogs, the hen house, brooder shed and to the turkeys on the range. Probably one of Lowell´s first lessons in nutrition was instructed here. His usual job as an 8 to 10 year old lad was to hold sacks being filled with feed, open gates and help run errands. Lowell Schake remembers asking his father why he added limestone, cod liver oil, tankage and bonemeal to the concentrates, to which he explained that the nutrients of calcium, phosphorus, Vitamin A and B-Vitamins were too low in the concentrates to meet the nutrient requirements of the chickens, turkeys and pigs, hence the need to add those nutrients from other sources. During this same time Lowell was paid $.05 and .10 for each mouse or rat that was caught in this old barn. Eventually this income, plus that from the sale of Trixie´s puppies and other ventures was used to purchase a $48.50 saddle from the Sears & Roebuck Catalog for Rex, the horse he had ridden bare back until that time. A corn crib constructed to the north of the present one was a long narrow structure of split rails and sapling logs. It is our impression that the barn replaced by the present one and the hen house were all of Schake, not McKinney or King, construction. The older log barn and the remaining machine shed were of McKinney or King construction. In fact, most structures represented a combination of old and new materials. The present barn of 52 by 94 feet and the 40 by 160 foot confinement turkey facility were both constructed from logs harvested from the woods rendered into lumber and then combined with materials from previous structures.

Another structure of Adolph Schake construction was a circular underground silo located close to where two large metal grain storage bins presently exist. Martin Schake explained to Lowell that this method of storing silage was a technique brought with the Schakes from Lippe. Ensiling fresh forage and grain crops in earthen trenches was actually first employed by Egyptians 3,000 years ago, about the same time Germans sometimes lived in earthen dugouts. During the Dark Ages many Germans lived in homes partially dug into the ground. Today no visible sign of this circular underground silo remains as it has been filled with dirt, although earthen trench silos are still used extensively to store feed for livestock. Other small structures remaining from the Adolph Schake era included chicken houses, hog sheds and a combination wash and smoke house used for clothes washing on one side and the smoking of meats, such as hams and sausages, on the other side. Only a few rail fences were present into the 1940´s.

The remains of a stone foundation were still visible in the 1950´s on the eastern end of the field on top of Schakes Bluff. Martin C. Schake explained that Adolph Schake previously maintained a sugar camp there to process maple sap like many of the early settlers had done. Materials from this and other dismantled structures were always stored behind the corn crib for future use. A favorite expression of Martin Schake was...."There is a place for everything, and everything should be in its place." We remember uncles Edwin S. Schake and John A. Schake competing for bragging rights as to which of them worked the hardest securing the timber from the woods to construct the house (the logs were sawed into lumber at the Martin Kite saw mill.) Discussions of this nature were common during the 1940´s, 50´s and early 60´s on holidays and family get-togethers, to include in-depth debates on the relative virtues of Fords vs. Chevrolets vs. Plymouths. The work ethic was so deeply entrenched in everyones mind that to be lazy was a cardinal sin. Extending this logic to the obvious extreme was to conclude that very hard work would secure one a place in heaven. To be sure much hard work was accomplished and enjoyed by most in the community. Hard work was often set aside when the family would socialize with relatives and friends to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays and other events, but the Sunday afternoon visit was most common, often including a large meal. Another alternative to hard work and socializing was to combine both into shared activities with neighbors and relatives to include such events as threshing wheat, quilting, canning, butchering hogs, baling hay plus many others. These events usually took on a festive atmosphere providing opportunities for jokes and pranks causing tempers to flare on occasion. The Ritter family was acknowledged as one to be somewhat frugal, even to the point of scheduling arrival of the threshing crews after the noon meal to avoid feeding them. Regardless, these were great times to start or catch-up on gossip. Dorothy Schake Meyer recalls her youthful responsibility of keeping flies off of the food served on tablecloths spread on the ground for the threshing crews by waving a small branch over the food. These events involved everyone as they were essential elements to the farm business and to one´s social life.

After Martin and Flora Schake retired the debt on this property many improvements and changes were implemented. Post World War II was profitable for Martin and Flora Schake. They were excellent business farmers. Their farming skills were the combined results of modern technology gained via education blended with the hard work and intensification concepts of production agriculture brought from Germany, including stall-feeding of cattle (1). By the late 1940´s electricity was obtained, the home was insulated (6 inch studs were discovered rather than the usual 2 by 4´s), an oil burning furnace and a deep well installed, running hot and cold water came with indoor "facilities," new tractors and machinery were bought, a new barn and turkey facilities were expanded and modernized, new fences were built and painted by all members of the family and a grand adventure into breeding of purebred Polled Herefords was undertaken. This was a shared dream of both Martin and Flora in which Lowell Schake was privileged to participate. All of these undertakings were quite exceptional for a young couple starting their married lives, family and purchasing of a farm during the Great Depression -- a fact we children were never allowed to forget.

The purebred Polled Hereford herd started with the purchase of the 1946 Missouri State Champion bull named Harland Domino 16th for $700 and a $350 blue ribbon heifer. Subsequent purchases were mostly bred heifers from Mississippi, Illinois, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Missouri, but bulls were also necessary. One calf of 4 days of age was purchased from Robert A. Halbert of Sonora, Texas and Miller, Missouri for $2,500. We transported HHR DW 23 194th (the name of the calf) from Miller to Marthasville while tied in the back seat of a 1952 Chevrolet with Mom, Dad, Aunt Clara Lix in the front seat, and Uncle Chris Lix, Lowell Schake and the calf in the back seat. This bull later proved to be sterile! We negotiated a satisfactory adjustment with Mr. Halbert about 18 months later. Lowell showed (exhibited) these cattle at Missouri and Illinois State Fairs, numerous Missouri Association Shows and Sales from 1950 until 1962 and by that time Schake Polled Herefords had earned the reputation as the winningest herd in the midwest. It was a winning experience for Lowell as well as a great deal of self discipline and esteem through competition was learned.

Flora developed an advertising slogan for the herd which was used in formal ads in the Hereford Journal, the Polled Hereford World and on our calling cards, as follows:

Schake
Cattle
Have
All
Key
Elements	. . . . . .	Size
		Conformation
		Hornlessness
		Ability
		Kingly kinsmen
		Everything

Naming of the cattle for registration purposes was always an important and interesting aside from the routine. We chose to name all the calves produced with a name prefix to distinguish our cattle from those of others. Sch was the chosen prefix, selected to associate it with the Schake name and because it was unique. Cattle names such as Sch Domestic Duke, Sch Royal Woodrow, Sch Domestic Lamp 6th and Sch Advance A09 were assigned to bulls with heifers receiving more feminine titles such as Sch Sweet Duchess, Sch Miss Domestic Lamp and Sch Royal Princess. Most of these lines of cattle no longer exist because we later learned that some carried the recessive dwarf gene. This forced us to liquidate a large portion of the herd at greatly reduced prices.

Visitors to the farm were not all that frequent but in the summer of 1953 we sponsored the Missouri Polled Hereford Association field day the year Martin was elected association president. About 200 people attended and without exception they would remark as to the well maintained farmstead with its exceptionally beautiful views. Likewise they could not believe that our family and Arlie Berg -- a classmate of Lowell´s -- did all the farm work that year. Everyone helped with cropping, mowing the lawn, garden work, housework, painting fences and buildings, caring for poultry, livestock and more. During this period the farm address was Route 2, Box 44, Marthasville, MO.

D. Churches and religion

The German Evangelical Church was organized in Marthasville in 1864 by Herman Schulte, Henry Hilgedick, W. Ottermann, E. H. Suhre and others. This church changed its name several times and today is the St Paul´s United Church of Christ. Flora Rocklage Schake attended St Paul´s most of her life. As children we attended the German Methodist Church in Marthasville with the John A. Schake family, the Walter Ottermans and others in the community (Figure 25). This church was established in the early 1800´s and was replaced by a new structure in 1927. This church, a member of the Smith Creek-Hopewell-Marthasville circuit, closed in 1945. Aunt Gussie Schake taught Sunday School for the youngest children. Martin Schake taught Sunday School there in his early twenties as acknowledged by one of his pupils, Luvisa W. Currier, who upon learning of his death in 1976 established a memorial in his honor. This church closed in 1945 after which we joined St Paul´s where Dorothy, Helen, Virginia and Lowell Schake were each confirmed. Marriages of Helen and Virginia were held their as were the funerals for Martin and Flora Schake.

Church affiliation involved the usual Sunday school and church services plus an array of social activities to include choir practice, church picnics plus adult and youth groups. The family was a religious one but probably not as strict as many. Yet our ties to the Reformation of the 1500´s and 1600´s were obvious. The greatest social disgrace for our parents would have been for one of their children to marry Catholic. One of our cousins experienced the heart break of a broken romance over this very issue. It was customary to offer a prayer before meals... "O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, Amen"... was chosen by our parents because it would be easy for the children to learn and repeat. We always had live-in hired help for the farm and almost without exception they were Catholic. While we said our prayer they would cross themselves and offer their prayer in silence. Occasionally Uncle Edwin Schake, Uncle Fred Pruel or Uncle Raymond Roloff would visit us for meals and then we would have a major recitation as they were all men of the cloth by professional training -- all Methodist. Uncle Charles Rocklage was equally eloquent in offering a prayer, although he was only able to obtain a few semesters of business training at the University of Missouri before the Great Depression disrupted his plans. Uncle Raymond and Uncle Fred were active in the ministry, mostly in Iowa while Uncle Edwin Schake obtained teacher certification before teaching school in Augusta and Greenville, Missouri and eventually retiring as a substitute teacher from the San Antonio, Texas school district. His career as a minister was never realized as he refused to participate in a required apprenticeship before being ordained.

E. Community and neighbors

Floyd and Ethyl Hulsey were the neighbors we possibly saw the most frequently as they lived to the north, which required that we cross their farm as we walked to school. Ethyl had attended Cedar Grove School in her youth with Aunt Amanda Schake serving as one of her teachers. Ethyl was a Stephens College graduate, a great granddaughter of Jacob Heinrich Ahmann, and taught at least one year each for Helen and Virginia and first grade for Lowell. Little did he know that he too would marry a Stephens Graduate some years later. We also shared a great many farming activities with the Hulseys, especially haying and silage harvesting. Floyd was always a fun loving person and made these events interesting. When we would help them in return the meals were always exceptional, especially to any hard working, fast growing youth on hot summer days. Lowell would always get teased about his ability to consume any extra desserts.... "Those apple pies were too good not to be consumed when hot and fresh !".

Since our farm was bounded by the Charette Creek on the south and west we had less interaction with neighbors in those directions which left the Ridders to the east and the Peters family as renters, to the west on the Old Schulte farm. Contacts with the Ridders were less frequent than with the Hulseys since the farm roads were not developed in that direction because of the Fallen Timber Branch and other streams, hills and ditches. We did have a very good relationship with the Edwin Ridder family as friends, family and neighbors as we shared in the repair and maintenance of boundary fences, exchanged family visits as well as other interactions. The Peters family were our neighbors for a short span of time and we too shared in some fence repair work, cutting apples for apple butter and visits with them. All-in-all it would not be very unusual for one to remain on the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm during the summer for days at a time without outside contact.

Some machinery was jointly owned with Uncle John A. Schake plus the sharing in numerous farm chores such as butchering of hogs, cutting fire wood, silage harvest, and other projects. The John A. and Gussie Schake farm was located east of Marthasville between Daniel Boone´s farm and his burial site on Tuque Creek. Projects such as canning, cooking of apple butter and sewing were shared by the ladies in the community. Grandmother Rocklage would often spend time at the farm helping with house work during a busy season. On other occasions she would devote the entire day to mending and sewing of clothes. These shared activities became less frequent after the 1950´s because of changing customs and advances in farming practices which required less labor. Farming activities became more labor efficient and single family oriented, yet it was obvious that a wonderful element in community sharing was less prominent, and less essential -- in some ways -- than it once was.

Martin Schake knew a great many people in St Charles, Franklin, Montgomery and Warren counties as he sold hybrid seed corn for the Dekalb Seed Company during the winters of the 1940´s. During some farm visits farmers would tell him in no uncertain terms never to come back to try to sell them any of that ´evil´ seed corn. They were convinced it would ruin their soil! Many of these farmers were very good friends and later came to purchase cattle. Some of the unique names of these clients of almost certain northwest German origin were Schweissguth, Schweppe, Schoppenhorst, Schneider, Schlapper, Schotte, Schowe, Schomberg, Schulte and Schowengerdt. Uncle Chris and Aunt Clara Lix were also seed dealers and on the days when farmers came to pick-up their seed orders the Schake and the Lix families would also help each other.

Communications within the community were also maintained by telephone and the local news papers -- the Warrenton Herald, The Warrenton Banner and The Marthasville Record. The June 23, 1949 Banner reported (actually re-reported from The Marthasville Record) that Mr. and Mrs. M. C. Schake and children were in Mascoutah, llinois, Sunday to attend the silver wedding anniversary of Rev. and Mrs. A. W. Hoelscher and also stopped in St Louis to visit Shaw´s Garden and other places of interest. The Marthasville Record of June 10, 1927 carried an article listing names of those from Marthasville who attend Central Wesleyan College for the summer; included were Helen Rusche, Raymond Roloff and Flora Rocklage, among others. The same edition carried an article on "How much is the wife of a farmer worth ?" The article suggested that the actual value varied from nothing to about $4,000 a year. One farmer´s wife estimated that she served 235,425 meals, made 33,190 loaves of bread, 5,030 cakes, churned 5,450 pounds of butter, swept, washed......over the thirty years of her marriage. By April 1 of 1927 The Record reported that Martin Schake and his sister, Amanda, were in St Charles on Saturday. While there they traded their Ford for a new Willys Knight Six. The October 22, 1926 issue acknowledged that Gus Ritter, Martin Schake and Arthur Roewe attended the funeral of John Ritter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ritter at Higginsville Saturday. To the immediate left in the next column was an article announcing that Mr. F. J. Haberthier of Case was in the vicinity last week taking orders for ´the Fuller Brushes.´ He intends to canvass the town next week. Die Washingtoner Post of July 14, 1899 reported the July 9 death of Carl Rocklage, a former citizen of Washington. On December 24, 1896 physician and surgeon Dr. Schmidt advertised his practice in Peers and indicated that calls would be promptly attended while Mr. W. Landwehr was encouraging farmers to come to his business in New Holstein for farm implements, this according to vol. I., No. 3. of The Marthasville News. These items plus deaths, births, wedding among others were reported and read in detail by most subscribers of these weekly papers.

In the early 1930s Martin and Flora Schake would provide assistance to orphan children residing at the Central Weslyan Orphanage in Warrenton. As a means of helping these orphans acquire employment skills while living with families in the community, they were assigned to various families to assist with summertime farm and household chores in exchange for room and board. This not only benefited the children while providing child labor for the host families, but also reduced the cost of maintaining the orphanage which at that time was experincing fiscal problems. Today Ella Ahmann, granddaughter of Otto and Elsie Ahmann, recalls playing with a young girl and boy participating in this activity at the Schakes of La Charette farm. The identity of these orphans is not known, but similiar relationships continued for several summers.

During the late 1940´s electricity was becoming available to most rural farmsteads in Charette Township made possible by a federal rural electrification program. Wood and coal burning stoves, kerosene lamps, battery powered radios, and wax candles to decorate Christmas trees were still used until that time. A few years after we had electricity Uncle Edwin Schake gave the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE their first television set in 1952 and what a lifestyle change would follow. However, some farmers did not want electricity because the utility poles would interfere with the activities of farming their land.

The community of Marthasville was probably typical of other small rural areas in Missouri during the mid-1900´s. Most were apparently content with their progress in life and happy to live their life in the community. In reality many have continued to live there but travel elsewhere to work, or engage in work other than the once primary industry of agriculture. Others of us have been called by the wanderlust in ourselves to seek out other opportunities elsewhere. Possibly the best alternative for any one individual must be based upon what one is looking for and where it may be found in order to have a fulfilling life.

REFERENCES
1)History of St. Charles, Montgomery and Warren Counties, Missouri. 1885. National Historical Company.
2)The Westfalians. 1987. Kamphoefner, W. D. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 3)National Archives Census Data. 1860 & 1880. La Charette Township, Warren County, Missouri (microfilm). Washington, D. C.

8. Wandering-In and Wandering-Out (Einwanderung und Auswanderung)

The study of global human migration patterns has developed into a science with its own language and methodologies (1 & 2). These scientists are intrigued by the fact that man is a mobile creature, capable of questioning, susceptible to suggestions and endowed with imagination and initiative as he selects his home. These basic capabilities have endowed man with the ability to wonder if his wants may be satisfied, or even improved, by wandering elsewhere. Natural forces such as these have allowed us to populate the earth, and in many cases to populate only to populate once again. At one time or another those of us who have lived in the large white frame house on the sentinel hill at the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm have experienced the same thoughts and emotions as those proceeding us. The Native Americans, the first explorer, the first settler, the slaves and the McKinneys, the Kings and the Schakes -- each has experienced unique fascinations with this special place, held dreams and expectations and endured the usual routine of their lives -- births, graduations, training, work, love, worship, challenges, joy, wandering ....among many, many other successes and failures, and eventually death.

Of the seven Schakes from Humfeld, Lippe who came to Charette Township in Warren County only Sophie Dorothee Friederike left Warren County to live most of her adult life in Osage County where she is now buried. Even though she arrived in Warren County after rest of the family in 1855, by June 23, 1857 she had married Henry Noltensmeier in Marthasville and then lived near Holstein, Charette Township in Warren County until the birth of her second child in 1860. Eventually they had 9 children prior to his death in Osage County, Missouri in 1875. She then married Daniel Hoffmann who had 7 children from his prevoius marriage. Daniel and Sophie had one child of their own resulting in a family with 17 children, two of whom married on March 28, 1889 - Theodore Hoffmann and Fredericka ´Rike´ Noltensmeier. The remaining six Schakes lived most of the remainder of their lives in Charette Township, Warren County, Missouri. The two children of Sophie Wilelmine Amalia Schake Schowengerdt were baptised at the Methodist Church of Pinckney, but later they lived closer to Warrenton outside of Charette township.

Martin Charles Schake will have been the only Schake to be born and die on the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm. Born in the McKinney-Schake house and living most of his life in the white frame structure of today, he spent his entire 78 years there before his accidental death caused by an overturned tractor on the banks of the Fallen Timber Branch in 1976. Of his four children, two reside in Texas and two in Missouri. The two Texans collectively have lived in California, Connecticut, North Carolina and New Jersey. Presently none live on the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm although one lives nearby in Pinkney Township. We have shared in an experience that has served us well as we wandered to and from this place which was once our home. Today the two Schake grandchildren who carry the Schake surname live in Texas and Alberta, Canada. The youngest great grandchild with the Schake surname is Hannah Christine, also of Alberta. Collectively they have lived in Texas, Virginia, Connecticut, Kansas and Alberta, Canada. The Schake trunk which was part of the baggage for Kurt Schake and his family in coming to America in 1855 is now in Alberta, Canada, its third country. Therefore, as a nuclear family, we have documented the ageless custom of wandering-in and wandering-out. In our generation more of us have wandered-out than in. It must be fully acknowledged, however, that we have made the decision to wander on our own volition, not by force or in bondage. Thus the dream of our ancestors to be free and pursue ones individual aspirations has been more completely realized today than was the case as they left Lippe and Prussia, or when others left Eurasia or Africa for the Americas.

We have also seen that regardless of what ones heritage may be their tribal ancestors lived very similar lives, and that they all participated in wanderings in search of improved living conditions, then and now. Each entered into recorded history at different times, under vastly differing circunstances and all have contributed to each others vision of life, to culture and to the modern world. In fact it is highly questionable if any one group could have fully progressed to its present status without the presence of the others.

Our ancestors left Germany to seek a better life, however that may be defined. While we expect they accomplished this goal for themselves and for us, we also must acknowledge that they held on to some special aspects of their German past which have influenced each of us in some manner. These ancestors came to a hilly fertile region of loess soils with a climate and topography somewhat similar to that present in northwest Germany. Exclusively they were farmers or farmers and blacksmiths, often attempting to specialize in the crops and animals they best understood in the old country. These attractants were further supported by the fact that many other Germans had previously settled in Warren county suggesting that others should join them. Most chose to retain their native tongue, especially as related to church, school and family affairs. They were often looked upon as clannish and would marry within their own community as our grandparents and parents chose to do. Traditions such as the passing of businesses from father to the youngest son, the dominance of the father in family life and the helping of ones neighbors were all retained to at least some degree. Eventually these traditions would also change, yet others seem to persist such as the conservative mentality and the "Hard Headed German" behavior. They were also confronted with resolving social and moral conflicts in their lives as we all must. Pregnancy and marriage as a result of youthful passions and the decision to cease speaking German, among others, were each managed according to individual and societal dictates. Retrospectively we only hope we have retained the better aspects of our heritage, borrowed strengths from others and discarded those considered as unfit as a result of our cultural mixings and this grand opportunity to wander.

Of particular interest to everyone would be the knowledge gained by the wanderings of all of the other individuals who passed through this very special place but of whom we know so little. Where have the Osage Indians gone and what do their ancestors know of their village home? Have they retained their ethnic identity and the oral history tradition of their ancestors? Have the Helmans and Prices as well as the unnamed King and McKinney slaves been able to retrace their roots to Africa? Are any of these people still engaged in agriculture? Do the McKinney and King families of today have any recall of their Missouri heritage? Have any returned to see and visit this portion of their past? How many states and countries are represented by our collective wanderings and most intriguing, of course, is the question, where will we next be going, and will we make the correct choices? Regardless of the answers to these questions we may be assured that the next trip taking us to our new home will be an adventure. An adventure in life destined to continue with neither complete nor logical answers.

Collectively we document that since the late 1700´s at least five distinct nationalities have arrived, lived and later departed (only the Native Americans arrived much earlier) the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE farm. In chronological order they would be, 1) those of Native American heritage represented by the Osage Indians, Paul Ramsey, Franklin Schake and Wendy Schake, 2) English and Old Southerners such as Adam McCord, John McKinney and Harrison King, 3) Spanish/Mexican Americans as was Elizabeth McKinney and her mother,4) Africans such as the King and McKinney slaves, Walter Helman and Ervin Price, and 5) Germans as are we Schakes. Thus it becomes apparent that as we wander to and fro we stir the mixing pot of cultures, deliberately or otherwise. The social strength of this grand America experiment in cultural mixings has been demonstrated, challenged and enhanced many times over, just as it has been at the SCHAKES OF LA CHARETTE.

REFERENCES
1) Human Migration. 1982. Lewis, G. J. St. Martin´s Press, New York.
2) Migration and Settlement. 1992. Rogers, A. and Willekens. D. Reidel Publishing Company, Boston.