Individual Details

Immigration

Settled one mile southwest of Decada in Ozaukee Co., WI

Marriage

Ms. Lorscheider's booklet states 25 Nov 1860
JOSEPH WETOR was born in Canich, Luxemburg, on the 23rd of Augus t, 1834. He was the son of John and May Wetor, lived with his pa rents in Canich, a small town. They owned a little land on the o utskirts of town, where they raised their vegetables. His main o ccupation was herding the cattle.

The home was a two-story stone building, the walls and floor wer e cemented; the door leading upstairs was a heavy iron trap doo r and was fire-proof. The heavy outside door was sealed with a l ong iron bar. The roof was of straw tied in bundles and packed t ight to make it waterproof.

In the morning all the neighborhood children would take the catt le out to the community pasture, where all the children from thr ee to fourteen years old met. (They mostly all lived in town an d had their few acres in the country). FATHER says it was a lo t of fun; they would forget their duties and make the smaller ch ildren look after the cattle. They would go after grapes and app les, most anything that was in reach, not asking any questions o r asking if they might help themselves. It was a case of how t o get them without being caught. At the least sound or sight o f the owner they would run off like deer. They would catch mice , hitch them up with a cord and make them pull rocks as heavy a s possible.

GRANDFATHER WETOR worked in the Community Woods in winter and ev ery night he could take home as much wood as he could load on hi s shoulders. This he carried to the second floor of the house, w here all the fuel was kept.

GRANDMOTHER WETOR did all the housework, spinning and knitting . Their linen was made from flax which was raised on their land ; they thrashed it by hand with a "flevel". Two would be at wor k (men and women) with "Flevels"; one would strike the flax an d then the other, etc. After all the seed was pounded out the st raw was dampened, pounded again till it was fuzzy and ready fo r spinning. The mothers and daughters took care of this - some w as spun real fine for sewing thread and finer linens; others coa rser for mens' clothes and the like. The goods was woven by a we aver. Some was left its natural color and others was dyed.

Their clothes were washed about four times a year - it was soake d for three days in lye water, then loaded into a wheelbarrow an d taken to a certain place on the day appointed for their washda y. There they had big square troughs especially built for that p urpose. They pounded out the dirt instead of rubbing the clothe s - then they took them home to dry.

FATHER had one brother, Peter (better known as Fogel's Decken) a nd five sisters: Lena, Catherine, Susan and two sisters by the n ame of Mary. His education was mostly obtained in the old countr y and consisted of writing, reading and arithmetic. His teacher' s name was Mr. Linden. Later in life when he worked in Two River s, Wisconsin, he went to night school. He made his First Communi on in the old country and was confirmed in America, at Holy Cros s, Wisconsin, by Bishop Henny.

Our GRANDPARENTS journeyed to this country when FATHER was fourt een years old. He was one of the oldest at home and with no wor k in sight, so they decided to cross the ocean. Just at that tim e it happened that Michael Binkel came back from America to ge t his wife for whom he had made a home in the New Country. GRAND FATHER knew this man well and had confidence in him. He told GRA NDFATHER he would do well to join them and they decided at once , sold their little property and sailed to the free country of A merica (as they used to call it), not knowing where, when or ho w to find a home. This was in the year 1848.

They had a sail boat and since they had quite a bit of stormy we ather they didn't make much headway. Those times it always too k from fifty to sixty days to cross the ocean. FATHER says he wi ll never forget the many times the storm upset everything that w asn't fastened. After they did land, they felt as if everythin g was still moving.

They settled in Town Sherman, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, one m ile northwest of Dacada and bought forty acres of government lan d of which five acres were cleared and the rest was thick woods . There was a little claim shanty on the place where they took s helter till they built a little log house consisting of two room s, a bedroom and a kitchen.

FATHER then hired out to farmers and worked for board mostly, e arning about one cent a week at Michael Deckers, Funks and Mille rs. For a while John Gaspers and FATHER made shingles of cedar b y hand. When he was seventeen years old FATHER left home and wor ked at Two Rivers, Wisconsin, slicing bark off trees. This bar k was then used to color leather. One day while driving the mil l he froze one foot; he then went home and stayed on the farm. H is brother Pete had left the farm and GRANDFATHER could not do a ll the work alone.

When FATHER was twenty-five years old, he, Joe Becker, Math Fabe r and Uncle Pete went to Missouri to work in a saw mill. As the y sailed down the Missouri River they made a stop for lunch. The n quite an exciting event happened. The four above mentioned wen t to lunch together. As they stopped in a big city there was a l ot to see. They passed a large iron-barred building. Their curio sity prompted them to investigate and by luck they spied a ladde r as high as the building, so they could look into the window t o see what it contained. Where mischief was to be done, they say , Uncle Pete was always the first and most daring one. So, of co urse, he was the first one on the ladder and the others followed . Uncle Pete was almost to the top when down below an Officer wi th Brass buttons on shouted at them and asked what business the y had on this ladder and shot off his gun in the air - for thi s was the State Prison. FATHER says they came down as fast as th eir legs would possibly allow and off to the boat they went, wit hout lunch, as they didn't have the courage to go to town again . They told the Captain of the boat about it and he said they we re lucky they didn't get fined or get locked up. It was fall whe n they landed in the south; they worked in the saw mill making l ogs, etc. till Spring. When it got warm and a southern fever bro ke out they went back to Wisconsin.

FATHER stayed at home then and worked on the farm that summer; i n the Fall he bought GRANDFATHER'S farm of forty acres.

That same Fall he married SUSANNA SCHMIT, a neighbor who lived o ne mile south of his place. The marriage took place at St. Nicho las first log church in Dacada, Wisconsin, on November 25th, 186 0. He was twenty-six and she was nineteen years old when they ma rried.

SUSANNA SCHMIT was born on October 25th, 1840, at Ellington, Lux emburg. She was the daughter of Nicholas and Kathryn Schmit, th e oldest of seven Children: three girls and four boys - Susanna , Nicholas, Kathryn, Frank, Dionisyus, John and Mary. All marrie d except Frank and John.

MOTHER was four years old when the family journeyed to America , and Settled down in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, one mile southw est of Dacada, in the thick woods. They started to clear the lan d and built a log cabin for a home. GRANDFATHER SCHMIT claimed f our times eight acres and after more settlers came into the sect ion, he was given forty acres by the government if he would giv e up the land he claimed.

GRANDFATHER SCHMIT was a shoemaker by trade; made shoes to orde r at home and went from house to house to mend shoes. The peopl e would purchase the leather and he did the repairing. First h e sewed the soles with wire. After pegs came out, he tried the m out on his own shoes, saw that they would last and used them , as it was a much easier job to sole shoes that way.

MOTHER got her little education in the District School, which co nsisted of German reading only. John Mueller was the teacher. Sh e received her First Holy Communion at St. Nicholas Church in Da cada. Father Becker was the Pastor. They wore their ordinary clo thes (Sunday best) for their First Communion.

FATHER and MOTHER were Confirmed at the same time by Bishop Henn y at Holy Cross Church, Wisconsin.

MOTHER spent most of her young life under the parental roof, onl y once in a while working by the day for neighbors, doing weedin g and hoeing at twenty-five cents a day. When she was eighteen y ears old, she and five other girls went to Chicago to do housewo rk. MOTHER took a job in a hotel, worked there for nine months a nd in the spring she came home for a few months.

One day GRANDFATHER SCHMIT sent MOTHER and Uncle Nic - they wer e seventeen and eighteen years old - to Cascade, Wisconsin, wit h a team of oxen, to have some wheat ground. Neither of them kne w the way; they left in the evening, drove all night; got to Cas cade in the morning; had their wheat ground; got their flour an d drove home the same day in the evening.

Another time they were sent to the woods at night to get the cat tle. No fences to lead them, the cattle could go as far as the y wished. That evening they failed to come home. GRANDFATHER hea rd them bellowing in the distance so they followed the sound no t knowing which direction they were going. They found the cattle ; drove them not knowing which way; the cattle went straight hom e, so they just followed them, as they were lost too.

MOTHER had planned, when she left the city in the spring, that s he would return in the fall. But during that time her friend JOS EPH WETOR had made different arrangements - he chose matrimony t hat fall. He knew he could get the parents consent when he aske d for their daughter, whom he loved, as he had won a soft spot i n GRANDFATHER SCHMIT'S heart.

The wedding took place on November 25th, l860, in the old log ca bin church at Dacada, the Reverend Father Hasenbauer, Pastor. Au nt Kathryn and Uncle Pete stood up for them. The wedding group , relatives and friends walked to Church and back, a distance o f one mile. The celebration, which lasted three days, was at th e Wetor residence. The second day Mass was read for the decease d relatives of the Wetor and Schmit families. The relatives an d friends went to the Mass and then back to the house for anothe r day of celebration, till sunrise of the third day - then the w edding was buried and all was over.

After a couple of days FATHER moved his bride to his home wher e there already was a family of five - Grandfather, Grandmother , Uncle Pete, Aunt Mary and Aunt Susan. Uncle Pete got married a nd Aunt Mary and Aunt Susan went to Milwaukee to work.

Here FATHER and MOTHER lived happily for four years and worked t heir forty acre farm and the fifteen acres near Random Lake, whi ch they later sold.

Then came the call for FATHER to serve his country, which had be en at war for four years. He then had two children - a daughte r Mary, born on October 23, 1861, and a son Jac born on August 1 6, 1863. He was one year when FATHER left. FATHER was not drafte d till toward the end; he served nine months when peace was sign ed under the apple tree that Palm Sunday. At the beginning of th e war they could buy a man in their place for five to seven hund red dollars, but towards the end they were short of men and thos e called had to go, married or single. FATHER always said Presid ent Lincoln did not deal fair when he didn't make exception fo r those needed badly at home and who had a family to support. Wi sconsin had paid out their men so they were not drafted till alm ost the end and they were to serve for one year only, so that wh en some came back others left; they were coming and going when h e left. His brother-in-law, Uncle Frank, offered to go in his pl ace but they would not accept him, the one called had to serve . It wouldn't have been nearly so hard on him as he was a singl e man and never did get married.

FATHER left in November, 1864, after he had willed all his prope rty to his wife and children. It was a very sad morning when h e took leave of his home and family; MOTHER, the two children an d GRANDPARENTS WETOR, not knowing if he would ever see them agai n - for he was going to war.

After he had kissed them all and said good-bye he left by the fr ont way, but he couldn't leave so he walked around the house, wa lked in the kitchen door again, grabbed son Jac out of his cradl e, hugged him; then again took leave of his family. He walked t o Jac DePiesse's place - he took him along to FonDuLac where the y go their uniforms. He sent some of his clothes back with Mr. D ePiesse. From there they left for Virginia where they were put t o fight with no training whatever; put into old regiments with g uns and swords to fight. There were six men whom he knew with FA THER and they stayed in the same camp. They were Noc Leider, Fra nk Minnet, John Schneider, Peter Miller and John Dicke. They wer e together about a month when John Schneider was wounded. Late r John Dickie was wounded; Peter Miller sprained his ankle. Nic k Leider fell against FATHER in the battle and died in the field . There were only FATHER and Mr. Minnet left of the six and the y stayed together to the end and came home together.

FATHER was in five battles. The only time he noticed a bullet ne arly hit him was when he heard it go by so close to his ear tha t he never was able to hear as well with that ear. Another tim e he was deadtired marching and thought he could not go any furt her so he fell out of line and laid there for a few minutes, whe n he saw the enemy aiming at him. He thought of his family, too k all the strength he had left and caught up with his regiment a gain. The last time he nearly was played out was when they had t he enemy in front and had to march after them for one hundred ei ght miles with little food and almost starved and dead tired the y landed on a hill - when orders came that they lay still till f our o'clock, that there was hopes that peace would be signed. Th ey waited patiently with watches in their hands and all at onc e from a distance they heard the sound "Hurrah" like a storm com ing closer and closer - Peace had been signed. The soldiers wer e wild with joy, some waved their hats in the air; others thre w their hats on the ground and stepped on them from joy that the y had won the way and all was over - on April 9th, 1865. Then th ey went on a march again where the food supply could not be gott en to them. FATHER offered fifty cents for a cracker but could n ot buy it. They picked up corn that the horses dropped from thei r feed sacks, boiled it and at it - to keep from starving.

This was April and it took till the 19th of July till FATHER an d Mr. Minnett got home. They marched to Washington, D. C. wher e they were honorably discharged. Most of the tracks were torn u p so they couldn't move the soldiers till new tracks were laid.

A few days before he came home MOTHER had a letter from FATHER s aying that he wasn't well. She thought he might be in a hospita l so she made up her mind to go to see him. So she went to Por t Washington because soldiers were arriving by steamer every day , to see if she could find someone who knew FATHER and could tel l her where and how he was. There she heard some soldiers talkin g about things FATHER had written about, so she inquired and b y luck they knew him well by name and also said that he wasn't v ery sick and was able to come home; that a boat was due there a t 2 A. M. and that he might be on it or on one due the next day . So MOTHER went to the hotel. She heard a boat whistle during t he night so she rushed to the pier. On her way down she met a so ldier who had two guns on his shoulders. It was a very dark nigh t. She asked him if JOE WETOR was on this boat. As soon as he sp oke she knew him - it was Mr. Minnett. He told her that "JOE" wo uld be coming in a minute and he came up out of the dark. Ther e MOTHER and FATHER met again after the war. As there was littl e hope of ever meeting again when he left, imagine their happine ss in meeting after nine months of worry. Since they were not ex pected there was no one there to meet them with a team; so the y walked home together. At daybreak they stopped at Holy Cross ; had something to eat; rested up and again went on their journe y. The next stop was at Frank Minnett's where they had breakfas t and from there they started for home. Knowing if they went t o and through the Village of Dacada they would never get home, a s everyone would want to talk to FATHER, they cut across on th e corner, through the woods, came out at GRANDFATHER SCHMIT'S ho use where Aunt Mary (Mrs. Medinger) was at home all alone - th e others had gone to church.

From there they went home. On the way they met GRANDFATHER SCHMI T coming from church. He had heard in the village that they wer e on their way home. At about nine O'clock they arrived at thei r home - by noon the house was full of visitors. GRANDPA SCHMI T hitched up his oxen and got a keg of beer. After that was gon e they got another and then they wanted to order another, but we re told that MOTHER and FATHER were too tired to celebrate all n ight and needed rest.

FATHER did not do any work that season. He was under Doctor's ca re as he had stomach trouble.

Late that fall they bought an eighty acre farm about half a mil e from their place; there they stayed for two and one-half years . Brother John was born there.

GRANDFATHER SCHMIT died, so GRANDMOTHER SCHMIT wanted them to bu y the homestead, which they did. They sold their eighty acres a t a profit - got again as much as they paid for it. There they h ad their first horses. The first time they hitched them they ra n away from them in the deep snow. The horses ran till they wer e tired; then they hitched them to the sleigh. After they were s ettled on the Schmit homestead FATHER built a little log cabin f or his parents about a half block from their home, on the east s ide. There they all lived until GRANDFATHER WETOR died and the n GRANDMA WETOR moved in the house with them. FATHER used the ol d log cabin for a grainery - before that they had to carry the g rain to the third floor of the house - into the attic. Now the o ld log cabin is used as a horse barn on Brother Frank's farm (th is is 1924).

SISTER ANNIE was the first one born in the old homestead. Ther e were eleven people in the family then - GRANDMA SCHMIT and he r three children; FATHER, MOTHER, MARY, JAC, JOHN, ANNIE and GRA NDMA WETOR. The three Schmit children were Uncles John and Diony sius who went to work soon after; Mary, only fifteen years old s tayed two years and then married John Medinger.

In 1880 both Grandmothers died - GRANDMA SCHMIT on March 28th an d GRANDMA WETOR on October 27th, 1880. GRANDMA SCHMIT had been a iling all winter with pain in the side and heart trouble, but wa s able to get around. On Tuesday after Easter both Grandmother s wanted the Priest so they could make their Easter duty. That s ame night at ten o'clock GRANDMA SCHMIT died, She had been faili ng but they did not expect this. FATHER was at a wedding to MOTH ER sent Brothers Jac and John to Franck Siebenallers to get him.

GRANDMA WETOR died of Typhoid fever; she was sick only two weeks .

Now for the first time since they were married on November 25th , 1860, FATHER and MOTHER were alone.

They were blessed with eleven children: Mary, Jac, John, Annie , Susan, Katherine, Frank, Elizabeth, Peter and Joseph; and Fran cis who died at one year and five months.

FATHER and MOTHER celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary a t Dacada on November 25, 1910, with their children, grandchildre n, relatives and friends. They had a Mass sung at St. Nicholas C hurch. followed by a dinner in their home. They were presented w ith a gold handled cane and umbrella by the grandchildren beside s other gifts.

The family, then consisting of MOTHER, FATHER, Elizabeth, Pete r and Joseph moved to Random Lake where they ran the General Sto re under the name of Wetor Bros. Co. for many years.

FATHER died on February 2nd, 1915 at the age of eighty years. Th e family had been living in Random Lake for some time so he wa s buried from St. Mary's church there to St. Nicholas Cemetary i n Dacada.

The following is an excerpt from the obituary published in the R andom Lake Paper: "His passing it to be much regretted and his p resence will be missed by all who knew him. His friends were leg ion and many people used to journey to his home to hear the age d man tell of his experiences in the past years, which were vari ed and many. He was highly respected by the entire community an d his death removes one of the most venerable of the old guard f rom our midst. A leaf from the life history of Mr. Wetor, wherever it is taken , will show that he was always an industrious worker, a man wh o believed in treating his fellowman with fairness and kindnes s and who never failed to lend a helping hand when it was needed . It is to be regretted that a more comprehensive review of hi s life cannot be given here but space and time forbid and, as h e through life lived for all that was good, so shall his memor y live after him."

MOTHER outlived FATHER by eighteen years - she died on March 1st , 1933 at the age of ninety-two years. She also was buried fro m St. Mary's Church in Random Lake, and to St. Nicholas Cemetar y in Dacada.

Burial

Funeral at St. Mary's, Random Lake, WI

First communion

Fr. Becker was Pastor

Confirmation

Bishop Henny Presided