PART SEVEN Oral Histories and Family Memoirs - Mountain Light ...

John Scheuerman‟s wife was Marie Ruhl. They had a total of eight children but six died in
infancy. Only Peter and Matilda lived to adulthood. George Fox‟s parents returned to Russia in 1911 after
John Scheuerman died since he seemed to hold the group together. He said, “My bones will be laid to rest
in Russia,” so he returned to Russia with his wife and two youngest children. His daughter, Anna Fox,
decided to remain in South America and she married Alexander Smith. But the family has never been able
to establish contact with them despite attempts through the Red Cross. All the rest came up to Amreican
and all settled in Endicott, Washington, or Calgary. My folks left Buenos Aires in April 1911 and arrived
in Endicott on May 13, the entire trip taking thirty-three days. Mrs. John Scheuerman had come about
three weeks before to Endicott through Mexico. She later married her former husband‟s brother, Henry B.
Scheuerman. The rest of the group came through Ellis Island in New York.
We first went to South America after hearing some kind of land agent in Europe tell about all the
opportunities for work in Argentina so that is where they decided to go. I grew up speaking Spanish and
had some trouble with the kids in Endicott when I first came because of it. Of course we only spoke
German at home. Our group in Argentina lived in a small colony and hired out to a big rancher to do the
farming. To do any business they went into neighboring Buenos Aires and usually did so every Saturday.
One day while working in the fields a plow broke down and John Scheuerman and John Getz
began quarreling about how to fix it. John Scheuerman apparently couldn‟t get any cooperation out of
John Getz so he had to lift the heavy plow by himself to put the iron wheel back on the axle. He was a
big, strong man but the strain caused his left shoulder to either break or dislocate. The injury worsened
with time and a large growth appeared on the affected area. The doctors advised amputating the entire
arm but he insisted that it would be “better to die a whole man than live as half a man.” His health
continued to decline and at the age of 42 he died, the growth grossly affecting his appearance.
In Argentina we worked for a Catholic family but one, either the husband or the wife, was
German and the other one Spanish. Our family lived near a blacksmith shop. The ranch was mostly for
raising cattle but the Germans did farm work, raising vegetables and the like. Our most common food was
Geesaw, like Texas hash, and was made of ground beef—which we had plenty of, onions, unboiled rice,
and a few potatoes although good spuds were in short supply. Sometimes when the men went to get
groceries it was difficult for them to get the storeowners to understand what they wanted. So they resorted
to an embarrassing routine of acting things out like the time somebody wanted to buy some pork and had
to act like a pig squealing and dying after getting its throat cut in order for the owner to get the message.
They used to get quite a laugh out of telling these stories later.
It was more expensive for young bachelors to get ship far to the United States than families so
somebody decided that I would be the “daughter” of John Stumpp for the duration of the journey and
another girl was the “daughter” of John Morasch. Everything went fine until we got to Ellis Island and an
official inspected everybody‟s papers. John Stumpp had declared his intention to go to Canada but we
were going to Endicott so my folks told the immigration official that John‟s wife had recently died and
since my mother was John‟s “sister,” they both agreed it would best for her to raise me. They repeated a
very similar story about John Morasch‟s “wife and child” and that coincidence seemed more than the
officials could believe. He called some others together and they consulted for what seemed to be an
eternity. My mother died a thousand deaths in those next few minutes, convinced that they were going to
take me away from her for lying and send us all back, but praying we all be released safely together.
Suddenly the fellow turned and gave everyone permission to go through with their own children. After
that my mother always told us to never, never do a thing like that again when children were involved—it
would be much better to spend a little extra money and have a good conscience.
I remember when were coming into New York we saw “Darkies” (Blacks) come up alongside the
ship in canoes hoisting fruit up in a big basket, expecting customers on ship to send money back down for
what was taken. After seeing an empty basket return several times they got smart and began sending an
empty basket up first and then after the money was put inside they would fill it with fruit.
My dad‟s brother John [Fox] went back to Russia from Argentina with his parents about 1911.
After the First World War, however, he decided it would be much better to come to America. Since there
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