Mary Fredette of Wisconsin shares about childhood

I am running a similar series here in Central Wisconsin. The following story was in my column here. I found it quite interesting; thought you all might enjoy it too.

The story for our series this week is written by Mary Nevinski Fredette of Vesper, Wisc.:

Marilyn, I can relate to your story, as well as those of Sally Winkels and Ruth Cline and decided to submit my story to you.

I was born to Polish immigrant parents. My dad's parents and their seven children came to America from Niewino, Poland in the year 1900 on the ship MS Norddutscher Lloyd Bremer after a two week voyage. My dad was eight years old at the time. They homesteaded a farm in the Town of Norrie, Hatley, Wisc., where six more children were born.

My mother's parents and their three children immigrated from Lucajie, Poland arriving at Ellis Island in the year of 1902 on the ship Botary. My mother was 6 years old. Her memory of Poland was crying at the dock when they were ready to board the ship. She recalled going to a "big room" to eat their meals and her recollection of Ellis Island was a "great big building." A granddaughter had her name engraved at Ellis Island. Her parents homesteaded a farm in the Town of Reid, Bevent, where three more children were born.

As was the custom in Poland, marriages were arranged by the parents, and so the custom continued. On October 29, 1912, at the age of 16, my mother was married to my dad at St. LadisTaus Catholic Church in Bevent. Again as was the custom, they lived with his parents until they could afford a place of their own. They homesteaded a farm in the Town of Norrie, where 12 children were born, nine girls and three boys, I am number 11. We all attended the one room Woodland School located about two miles from the farm. One teacher taught all eight grades. It was the duty of the boys to daily bring in water from the outside pump. I can vividly recall the huge potbelly stove, with all of us sitting around it during the winter months, and the teacher would place a huge pan of water on the top of the stove and we would put our jars of cocoa to warm for our lunch. We would put on a play at Christmas with all students participating. In summer we would have a huge picnic, playing baseball and other games. Parents, relatives and neighbors attended both events. At about the age of 12, in addition to our household chores, we began helping with the milking and field work, picking rocks before planting, shocking oats, husking corn, picking potatoes, etc. My basic job was driving the team of horses during the hay season, including unloading the hay in the loft. When I see the Amish with their horse and buggy, I'm tempted to stop and ask to take over to see if I could still manage to handle a horse.

We took turns preparing the meals while working in the fields. It seems like I always got stuck with the meal of chicken, which meant you caught the chicken, chopped off the head, stripped the feathers cleaned and cooked it. We had a huge lawn we mowed with an old fashioned push lawnmower. Our garden was large which we hoed by hand, canning everything for the winter months.

The Plover River ran through a part of our farm. It was our bathtub in the summer and our playground in the winter. Our older sisters bought us ice skates when they obtained jobs. We would go skating every evening, building a bonfire and roasting potatoes.

A rare trip to Wausau was like going to Chicago. During the summer months, Hedtke's Grocery Store would show a free movie every Friday night on side of their store. We could hardly wait from one week to the next.

All of the men in the area, including my grandfather and dad, helped build St. Florian's Catholic Church, hauling rocks from their fields for the foundation. The entire population of the area was Catholics, with the exception of the owners of the grocery store. We hold our family reunions at the church picnic which is held the last weekend of July.

The farm is the place where everyone gathered, where grandchildren would spend the summer and where special memories will remain with us forever.

The Nevinski claim to fame was that the gangster, John Dillinger slept in our barn. Our uncle, John Gorski, owned the Glass Hat bar in Wausau. During the depression, moonshine was made by almost everyone, including my dad, who sold his supply to Uncle John. In November 2008, an article appearing in the Wausau Daily Herald titled "Glass Hat goes back to past" reveals the renovation process of restoring the tavern to its once proud glory by its present owner. A story of the renovation was published in the Wausau City Pages in January 2010, confirming the rumor that Dillinger frequented the bar on his way to the north woods and slept in our barn. The bar had upstairs room for rent as well as an apartment. Dillinger often rented a room. My sister and her husband rented the apartment at one time. She recalls Uncle John running copper tubing below the bar floorboards, connecting it to a moonshine still, where patrons would order "sarsaparilla" if they wanted moonshine. Present owners found the barrel with copper tubing, as well as jars of a clear liquid, which they assume was moonshine, but lacked the courage to sample it.

Old timers would talk about gangsters and prohibition. Uncle John heard someone say they would shoot Dillinger if he came to the bar. Not wanting any trouble he drove Dillinger to our farm where he slept in the barn overnight. Eating supper and breakfast with our family, giving our parents $100 dollars for the stay. Other times Dillinger would arrive by train to Eland, which was the transfer station. He would arrange to have a car pick him up for the trip up north. If no connection was made, he would walk on certain roads staying at a neighbor's place on more than one occasion, leaving him $100 each time. Elmer said he insisted on sleeping in the barn for a fast getaway in case the feds came.

I was only 3 or 4 at the time, so I have no memory of Dillinger. When our son comes home this summer, we plan on visiting the Glass Hat to see the completed renovation, donating a wedding picture of Uncle John and Aunt Antonia Nevinski Gorski.