Matilda Koeller-2A transcription

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Abstract

Part three of an interview with Matilda Koeller. Topics include: What it was like when her husband's mother died. His parents' involvement in politics, church, and social clubs. Work his family did on their house. Her husband's education, the work he did and his desire to fight in World War I. The social clubs Matilda and her husband belonged to. ; 1 MATILDA KOELLER: No, no. He did mostly home construction, repair work, you know. And Uncle Charlie worked. Uncle Al worked with him but they couldn't agree, so Al went on, on his own. DONALD KOELLER: And what was Uncle Al… he didn't become. he was a carpenter and remained a carpenter? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. Yeah. He remained a carpenter, but one of his last projects was at the Chicago Filter Plant at the foot of Grand Avenue, that great, big filter plant there. Um, I think you can go through it, 'cause we went through it. He worked there and he made big money. DONALD KOELLER: So there were five children? MATILDA KOELLER: And he waved the check in front of Dad, you know, when Dad wasn't working and never gave him a cent. DONALD KOELLER: When you say "Dad". MATILDA KOELLER: My-my husband, your father. And-and, uh, Al was going to treat Dad to a state dinner and that never. DONALD KOELLER: Was that a close family? I mean. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, very, very close. Yeah, very, very. they all looked pre. DONALD KOELLER: But not very friendly though? MATILDA KOELLER: Well, that was, uh, that was. remember, when Al was 60 years old and, uh, he had his own family, but the family was very close. They-they looked out for one another very, very much. They were very close, uh, uh, that, that was taught by his mother. DONALD KOELLER: By Clara? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, by Clara. DONALD KOELLER: And you said earlier Clara died. MATILDA KOELLER: She died. She took sick and they rushed her to the hospital and within a week, she was dead. And it was a terrible blow, not 2 only to the family but to the neighbor, Mrs. Lawrence. She'd been. DONALD KOELLER: The Mrs. Lawrence that I knew, that we knew in here? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a terrible big blow. DONALD KOELLER: Why? Was she especially liked in the neighborhood? MATILDA KOELLER: Well, she was well liked in the neighborhood, and Dad and Freda were out to Walton League during that Sunday night, you know. Anyway, she had so many. those days, you had the coffin in the house and they were afraid the house would cave in. There were so many people in there. You know, they were. DONALD KOELLER: In those days, the Koeller family in that neighborhood was popular. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. DONALD KOELLER: I mean, I remember differently as it… MATILDA KOELLER: Well, no. Well, see, that was a different class of people. Then it was mostly Swedes and Germans, see. And they all. well, of course, too, Clara belonged to a fraternity and they all came. That was her only relaxation, too, was this fraternity. They had a picnic there once a year. And that flock of people came to see her, plus the neighbors. DONALD KOELLER: So then Frederick Koeller went back to Germany to get his mother? MATILDA KOELLER: Mother. DONALD KOELLER: And she then finished the rearing of Walt. MATILDA KOELLER: No, she didn't. Walter at that time was 18 years old. Your father was then 18 years old. And it was a case of he had to learn to cook, or starve. He always said, "Because Dad was a very good cook." DONALD KOELLER: You mean he did the cooking at home? Who was home? You mean he cooked for his father? 3 MATILDA KOELLER: Well, he had. yeah. They all chipped in, cooking and washing clothes. And Freda got married. I don't know now whether Freda was married. Mae was married. Now, Freda, I think, got married and they lived in the home but they couldn't get along so they moved out. Then Walt was left alone. DONALD KOELLER: With Charlie? MATILDA KOELLER: Well, Charlie then, he left home because there was no room, you know, and he left the home. And then he came back. DONALD KOELLER: He left to join the service. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, he left to go to service, and I guess he didn't come back home. I know there was no family when Grossmother died. Then him and Frederick, Charlie and Frederick, lived together. DONALD KOELLER: In the old house. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, in the old house. And then when we got married, when Dad and I got married, Mae and your father and mother would always go home on Sunday and cook a nice meal. Charlie was then the cook and he used to make a good meal for the whole family. And then we chipped in a dollar each to help pay for the food, you know. But Charlie would make mashed potatoes and put in half a pound of butter. You know, he was a good cook. And fruit salad, boy, all the fruit that. you know, he would open cans and cans and then buy bananas and different kinds of fruits and it was. DONALD KOELLER: Let's go back, just a couple of general questions. Did Dad ever talk about. what was the church background to Frederick and Clara? Were they members? MATILDA KOELLER: Well, they were. Frederick was confirmed in the Lutheran faith. I got their marriage certificate. Now, whether Clara was confirmed in the Lutheran faith, that, I don't know. But the church that they were brought up moved on Fullerton and. well, I don't know. Fullerton and they somehow or another4 then went to [unintelligible - 00:07:09] Church. And there is where Walt was confirmed. I'm pretty sure there is where Walt was confirmed. DONALD KOELLER: Were they active in the church beyond attending in any way? MATILDA KOELLER: Uh, the parents, no, none. DONALD KOELLER: Somewhat like your family then where they send the kids. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. They sent the children there. DONALD KOELLER: Was Frederick and Clara at all involved in politics or in city activities or any.? MATILDA KOELLER: No, no. Dad Koeller. DONALD KOELLER: You said Clara was part of some kind of guild or. MATILDA KOELLER: No. Frederick never was, but Clara belonged to a fraternity. Now, which fraternity, I don't know. And they had summer picnics. And they used to decorate the members' graves. So evidently, that must have probably. the group that Clara belonged was all passed away. Whether it continued, that, I wouldn't know. DONALD KOELLER: Where are Clara and Frederick buried? MATILDA KOELLER: At Concordia Cemetery, but it is changed. The name is changed now. Too different, too different, and it's. I think the name now is Oak Forest or Forest Oak. And there is where I want to have the graves taken care of. DONALD KOELLER: They need perpetual care. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, perpetual care. DONALD KOELLER: Who else is buried there? MATILDA KOELLER: Well, there is Grossmother and Clara and Frederick and Uncle Charlie – four. And the four graves that are next to it is where Uncle Al and Maude and two babies of theirs, they were removed from a different grave and put in two graves on this lot. DONALD KOELLER: With Al and Maude. 5 MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. DONALD KOELLER: What can you tell me then now about Dad's childhood? It would be nice if Dad was here to answer all these but. MATILDA KOELLER: You mean, you mean. DONALD KOELLER: I mean, my father. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. Well. DONALD KOELLER: He was the youngest of five. MATILDA KOELLER: Well, as much as I know. he was the youngest and him and his mother were very close. And he used to go to the store, do most of the grocery shopping. He became a very good meat buyer. You know, he knew all the meats. When we got married, he knew all the different cuts and he knew just what he was buying and always the good cuts of meat, you know. And he used to have to walk [unintelligible - 00:10:28]. There was the grocery store or a dry good and grocery store and he used to have to walk quite a distance to go to that store and do shopping. DONALD KOELLER: Did Dad ever talk about the time they moved to Race Avenue? Could he remember that experience? MATILDA KOELLER: No. If you want to know something about. Walt was the youngest and Al was the oldest. And they dug out. Grandpa, Frederick Koeller decided he was going to open a wood and coal shop. By that time, he had horses and wagon. That's why that garage was really a barn because that hayloft is where they kept the hay for the horses. DONALD KOELLER: The old garage? MATILDA KOELLER: The old garage. DONALD KOELLER: What we call the old garage? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. You remember those big two doors, you know. DONALD KOELLER: That was a big barn. 6 MATILDA KOELLER: Well, then they dug out the back part of the basement, and every Sunday, Dad's friends came in and worked and they put this. added on and dug out and I know that Al was just a kid and that's all they had to do was work, work, work, you know, because Dad was a real. DONALD KOELLER: And when you say "Dad," you mean Frederick? MATILDA KOELLER: Frederick, yeah. And Clara, Walter's mother, used to have to serve a big meal for all these workmen that came in because that's the way they did things those days. Friends helped friends. DONALD KOELLER: And that was when they built the back room, the kitchen, what we know as the kitchen. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, and the basement. Yeah, and they dug that all out, you know. And it was quite. not only hard for Al because he had. he didn't have freedom. He had to work hard. But also for your grandmother who have to do so much cooking. DONALD KOELLER: And then for youngest Walter, he was running around, bringing everybody water, huh. MATILDA KOELLER: I suppose. [Laughs] But I mean, you know, he did a lot of delivering the milk. All of that was before, see. They didn't have. DONALD KOELLER: So they gave up the cow and all that when they came to Race. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, yeah, gave up all that. DONALD KOELLER: Did he actually get a coal business then, too? MATILDA KOELLER: No, it never panned out. See, that's why they had the front entrance, and that was going to be, I guess, the office. It was that big room in the front. It never panned out to be a coal and wood. Then he evidently must have gotten a carpentry job or something or. it never panned out. DONALD KOELLER: Did Dad ever talk about special places they went or things they did in his 10, 11, 12-year-old time? 7 MATILDA KOELLER: Well, the only thing that I can remember is that they went to this fraternity that she belonged and they had a very good friend by the name of Sanders and visited back and forth. And the Sanders are buried down in the same cemetery, and I know that your father and I used to pass the Sanders' grave and it was sort of pathetic because the whole family was gone and nobody to take care of the graves. But they have stones on that. DONALD KOELLER: How did Dad describe himself when his mother died? You said he was very close to her. What was he, 16,17 at the time? MATILDA KOELLER: He was 18. DONALD KOELLER: Eighteen. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. He took it pretty hard and he always promised to. let's see. He promised his mother to take care of the finances for his father, see. And so, Dad's name was on his father's bank book and took care of all the finances because Dad bought notes, home notes and things like that. And of course, he lost practically all of that with the Depression. DONALD KOELLER: Dad was a very bright, young man. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, your father was, yeah, very. He knew finances and he always read finances. And another thing, you know, he used to read so much of the newspaper. I used to swear that he read it from front. from the beginning to the end because when we got married, you know, he sat there and read paper, and I wasn't interested so much in newspaper. I would sit there and maybe chat or something and he would sit there and first thing you know, I started crying because I felt I was neglected. The paper was more important than I was. That was the first year we were married, you know. DONALD KOELLER: Boy. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. 8 DONALD KOELLER: You should've hit him. MATILDA KOELLER: I should've, you know. But that was his way at home. Before he was married, he promised that. I think he promised his dad that he wouldn't. or he promised himself he wouldn't get married until Grossmother was passed away. DONALD KOELLER: I have a little problem now. Let's just check dates. You may not be able to do this. If Dad was born 1898 and was 18 when Clara died, that would mean she died in 1916. World War I started in 1914. MATILDA KOELLER: Oh, no, no, no. Clara died in 19. wait, 1916. Yeah, something like that. DONALD KOELLER: So then when he went to get Grossmother, World War I was going on then? Not the United States. I mean, Germany was fighting Great Britain. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. Yeah. DONALD KOELLER: And the United States wasn't involved. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. DONALD KOELLER: So then there was risk that they would be sunk, depending on what kind of ship could get out of Germany. Well, that would be something that. who would know stuff like that? I mean, if you. I mean, who left. MATILDA KOELLER: There's nobody in the family that would know, except on the notes that dad has in the family tree on his side. Now, whether he has anything written there – because I kept saying to dad, "Get your family tree together, please," you know, and he just lacked ambition. And I said it to him. I said it to him between four and six months before he died. He used to sit by the front window and just do nothing, just sit. And I said to him, "Why don't you fix the family tree?" not thinking that he would die, just so that he would have something to do. 9 DONALD KOELLER: Or somebody could have come and sat with him with a tape recorder. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. Yeah. DONALD KOELLER: But anyway, Dad's school, how far. as I recall, Dad did not go very far with schooling. MATILDA KOELLER: Well, Dad graduated. He went to college for two years. DONALD KOELLER: Oh, he finished high school? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. Oh, yeah. DONALD KOELLER: And two years of. where did he go to school? MATILDA KOELLER: Well, what was that school on Milwaukee there? Carl Schurz, I think. I mean, Carl Schurz. well, you know. DONALD KOELLER: That was the high school? MATILDA KOELLER: That was the high school there. DONALD KOELLER: Can you see. do you know where he went to college, what college he went or what he studied? MATILDA KOELLER: I don't think he went. I'm sure he graduated from high school. But I know that he took up—what do you call it—economics, because he knew a lot about economics, so he must have taken that up some. other than high school, some college or some night school. DONALD KOELLER: What did Dad say or remember as his first job, you know, apart from working for his dad? MATILDA KOELLER: Well, the only thing that he used to talk a lot about. he was a salesman for a while. DONALD KOELLER: Yeah, I've heard him talk about that. Tell me about his job as a salesman. MATILDA KOELLER: Well, he got a job selling the rubber covers for the typewriters. Did he ever tell you that? DONALD KOELLER: Oh, yeah. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. And then he went to Indiana and… Dad was like. people took to dad. So he got into this office and I guess they 10 didn't want to be bothered with him but he says, "I'll let one of the girls try it in the office." And she liked it. I don't know. He sold everybody a set of those basically. DONALD KOELLER: What was the purpose of the rubber tip? MATILDA KOELLER: The rubber tip would be easier on the fingers and less noise on the typewriter, I think. DONALD KOELLER: So he traveled from office to office, peddling? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, peddling these and he. DONALD KOELLER: When would that have been? MATILDA KOELLER: Well, that would have been in the early '20s, the '20s or somewhere around there. DONALD KOELLER: Dad was too young to go to World War I. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. DONALD KOELLER: He was too young. MATILDA KOELLER: He was too. and they. DONALD KOELLER: Just barely, though, right? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. And they said, "Oh, you're underweight." So he went home and ate bananas, bananas and drank water, bananas and he didn't. he didn't gain an ounce. [Laughs] DONALD KOELLER: He did want to join. He did want to join. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, he did want to join. Yeah, he wanted to join. Because I guess living at home wasn't so, you know. with his mother gone. DONALD KOELLER: Well, it was a pretty glamorous war, the way they're describing it, a patriotic thing to do. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, yeah, it was a very patriotic thing. Because Oscar, you know, your uncle, he always regretted that he couldn't serve because he had to support his mother, you know. And he always felt a misfit. DONALD KOELLER: And the war was over then before Dad was old enough to.11 MATILDA KOELLER: To go. And he was. and in the second place, he was underweight. DONALD KOELLER: Under. yeah, he must have been because if he was. 1898, well then by 1918, he was 20. That was old enough to go. But he was underweight. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, but he was, but he was. DONALD KOELLER: Was he a healthy man, a healthy boy, or.? MATILDA KOELLER: No, he had a speech impediment. He had kind of a speech trouble. Because his mother didn't know that, you know, living with him until he was to talk at, I think, the graduation or something. Then she realized that he had an impediment in his speech and that held him back, too. DONALD KOELLER: But he overcame that. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, he overcame that. DONALD KOELLER: Do you know how? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. Well, I suppose as. I think how he overcame it, probably joining the Walton League because he used to get up and talk and you can't. and he did stutter once in a while because I remember, you know. he didn't know me but I knew him. DONALD KOELLER: So you met Dad in the Walton League? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. Well, he belonged to the Walton League and I belonged to the Walton League. DONALD KOELLER: And this is at Bethlehem Church? MATILDA KOELLER: No, this is at Christ Church. DONALD KOELLER: Christ Church. MATILDA KOELLER: But in those days, if you were a year. as much as a year younger, you were a shrimp. And that is why they had the Senior Walton League and then the Younger Walton League. DONALD KOELLER: Junior Walton League. 12 MATILDA KOELLER: Junior Walton League. See, I was three years younger than Dad. And by that time, Walt was well established in the Walton League. He went to conventions and he gave reports, and I used to be there at the meeting but he never knew me. DONALD KOELLER: So he was deeply involved in. MATILDA KOELLER: Very deeply involved in Walton League. Yeah. DONALD KOELLER: And the church in general? MATILDA KOELLER: And the church in general. But he. DONALD KOELLER: What kinds of things did the Walton League do in those days? MATILDA KOELLER: Well, they used to go on hikes and picnics and, of course, they had bunco then. DONALD KOELLER: Bunco. What's bunco? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah. But then, you know, it got so out of hand, you know, that. from Saint Louis, it. DONALD KOELLER: What was bunco? MATILDA KOELLER: Bunco was playing with dice. Bunco was playing with dice and you know, and. well, the first dice was thrown, then you were to work on that one. you know, if one was thrown, then you had your two dice and you throw it. Well, if you didn't get a one, then the next party would try. And whoever got a three once, that would be bunco. DONALD KOELLER: And what would that do for you? MATILDA KOELLER: That means that whoever. your partner would get a mark on their tally, see, and if you threw three twos or three threes or something, that would be counted as five. And whoever got 23 first. your partner and you got 23, then that would be the end of that game, of that until. you would play maybe an hour and a half. Then they would give a prize. But it got so out of hand, that that's all they wanted to do, was play bunco. DONALD KOELLER: This was the young people? MATILDA KOELLER: This was the young people. 13 DONALD KOELLER: These weren't the old folks like… MATILDA KOELLER: No, no. DONALD KOELLER: This was the young people come together and have a good day. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, yeah. And we raised money, a little money, that way. For what, I don't know, you know. DONALD KOELLER: Then all of a sudden, the church. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, the church started to put a clamp on it and then of course, eventually, it. because we used to. it wasn't only done down at church. We'd hire a big hall. DONALD KOELLER: This was the Walton League? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, this was the Walton League. DONALD KOELLER: [Laughs]. Did you have dances? MATILDA KOELLER: No. No dancing. DONALD KOELLER: Why not? MATILDA KOELLER: Well, why not? [Laughs] Because your body and his body would be up against and that was temptation. DONALD KOELLER: Oh, I remember. Of course, I remember. MATILDA KOELLER: Of course, now, [Luz] Church. They had a dance in Luz Church And she wrote and she says, "Just think: What we couldn't do, we're doing now." [Laughs] DONALD KOELLER: "Letting our kids get away with." But when you went to Walton League, you went to these bunco things or the picnics and. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, yeah. But that was. I belonged to Talitha Club. DONALD KOELLER: The what? MATILDA KOELLER: I didn't go too much to Walton League because I was. not that I want to make myself younger than what I. but I never was taken for my age. I was always taken. and once I worked with the Revere Electric and I. the fellow, he fell for me. And when I told him. actually, he tried to guess my age and keep going down. I was then going with your Dad and I was 25 and 14 he says, "Well, I'll start out with 22, and 21, 20." Then he went back to 22 again and 23. And he said, "Well, you're not that old, you know." He says, "You're older than 18." I was actually 25 and he wouldn't believe me. So you can imagine when I was 18 that I probably looked like 15, and so. DONALD KOELLER: But the Walton League then really was for people in their young 20s. MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, yeah. DONALD KOELLER: Well, what was the Talitha Club? MATILDA KOELLER: Talitha was a girls' club of sewing, where we would get together and sew every other week. And then, of course, then later on, too, they got into the bunco business. So between the Walton League and that, it was just way out of hand, you know. DONALD KOELLER: And this was in the early '20s? MATILDA KOELLER: Yeah, this was. DONALD KOELLER: What job did Dad have when you first met? MATILDA KOELLER: Well, Dad had this job of transporting automobiles from Janesville to Chicago. He had what you would call a trailer./AT/mb/ee