Tales from Schneider’S Creek

By Deborah Jane Ross

A Washington Territory family experiences love, loss, successes, challenges, and turbulent family dynamics in Tales from Schneiders Creek, the sequel to Deborah Jane Rosss novel Konrad and Albertina. Written as a set of nine tales, the book follows the lives, livelihood, and adventures of Schneider family at the end of the nineteenth century.



Advance praise:

Deborah Ross has pieced together an amazing collection of customs, property records, vital statistics, and news items to create very credible lives full of personal thoughts and interactions. Mark Foutch, former Mayor of Olympia and current President of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum.



Praise for Konrad and Albertina:

Ms. Ross has deftly integrated her historical research on the Schneider Family into a readable narrative written from different perspectives with a deeply human touch. Shanna Stevenson, historian and author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499065329

Deborah Jane Ross

Deborah Jane Ross lives in Olympia, Washington, with her husband Brian Hovis. She has been pursuing her interest in the history of Puget Sound after a career in law and energy policy. She is webmaster for the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. She and Brian are recipients of the prestigious Heritage Award from the City of Olympia. Deborah has worked closely with the Schneider family for over ten years to uncover their story.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Deborah Jane Ross.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014915311

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4990-6531-2

                Softcover         978-1-4990-6533-6

                eBook               978-1-4990-6532-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. The comments made by and actions of the characters should not be regarded as statements of fact.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Cover photos: Snyder Cove, photograph by Deborah Ross; Fourth of July logging contest, Courtesy of Washington State Historical Society

Rev. date: 09/11/2014

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CONTENTS

Preface

Map 1—Schneider Territory: Part of Mud Bay,including Schneider’s Prairie, around 1891

Map 2—Schneider Territory: Part of West Olympia, around 1891

The Schneider Family

Prologue: Konrad

Henry 1879

William 1879–1881

Fred 1881–1882

Maggie 1884–1886

Con 1887

Matilda November 18, 1889

August 1891

Molkina February 1892

Albert 1903

Epilogue: Albertina

Photographs

Appendix A Cast of Characters and Historical Events

Appendix B Updates and Corrections to Konrad and Albertina

For Brian

Preface

T h ree creeks in Thurston County, Washington, are named after the pioneer Schneider family. Schneider Creek ¹ in West Olympia cascades through a wooded gully, past homes and backyards that contain remnants of the nineteenth-century apple trees planted by the Schneider family. The creek empties into Budd Inlet at the foot of Schneider Hill. The mouth of the creek originally widened into an estuary before it entered the inlet. A bridge crossed over the estuary. Now that part of the creek has been diverted to the north and crosses under West Bay Drive through a culvert. Its mouth is visible in aerial photographs taken at low tide. In 1879, when our tales begin, Albertina Mansdotter Schneider was living by the side of this Schneider Creek with her younger children and her granddaughter, Maggie. Albertina, pronounced Al-beh-dee-nuh, was amicably separated from her husband, Konrad Schneider.

In the Mud Bay area, to the northwest of Olympia, is another Schneider Creek—a placid, sunlit stream, dappled by striplings and sedge. It is hidden from the view of passersby. A small sign at the edge of a field directs the seeker down a short, steep slope at the edge of Schneider Prairie. Here, in 1879, Konrad Schneider was living out his old age, close enough to Albertina that he could take a small boat around the top of the West Olympia peninsula to visit her every Sunday for dinner. Just down the road were his daughter Molkina with her husband Swan Solbeck and their infant son Clarence. The Schneiders’ eldest son, Henry, was living in his homestead nearby, south of Molkina and Swan’s place.

Finally, there is Snyder Creek, which was most likely named after August Schneider, the Schneiders’ second son, who owned land between the homes of the two Schneider parents, running across the West Olympia peninsula to the eastern shore of Mud Bay. Today Snyder Creek is a narrow brook that winds its way through the wooded campus of The Evergreen State College to a wide coastal indentation called Snyder Cove, a popular bathing spot for Evergreen students. The cove and the creek are the unnamed backdrop for the logging operation in Henry’s tale.

As with my first Schneider book, Konrad and Albertina, I call this a work of fiction, framed here as a group of connected tales, each focusing on a different member of the Schneider family. Almost all the tales are based on true events and real people. On occasion, I have rearranged or collapsed the chronology to make the narrative more readable. All of the newspaper quotes are real, although their placement in the narrative is not always true to their actual place in time. On one or two occasions, I have altered the newspaper spelling of names for the sake of clarity.

As with the first book, I’ve included a Cast of Characters and Historical Events appendix that provides brief accounts of what really happened. For readers of Konrad and Albertina, I’ve also included an appendix that updates, expands on, and corrects some of the material in that book.

I am so grateful to the many people who have helped me along this journey. As with Konrad and Albertina, descendants of the Schneiders have been uniformly supportive, helpful, encouraging, and understanding. These include Ron Secrist, Judi Hambrick, Fran Bonnema, Dena Valley, and Robert Hastings, as well as other relatives who have shared photographs and stories through the Ancestry.com genealogy website. The staffs of the Washington State Library, Washington State Archives (Ben Helle and Tracy Rebstock in particular), Timberland Regional Library, and Washington State Historical Society have gone out of their way to help and encourage me. Shanna Stevenson, director of the Washington State Women’s History Consortium, helped with information about Mary Olney Brown and other prominent women of the day. Patricia Pyle, staff member of the City of Olympia, gave me the impetus and idea to use the Schneider children’s lives as a vehicle for exploring Thurston County’s early industrial and agricultural environments just before they were transformed by the advent of logging railroads and steam power. Llyn De Danaan, author of Katie Gale: A Coast Salish Woman’s Life on Oyster Bay, steered me toward some photographs of Konrad’s Squaxin neighbors in Mud Bay that had been taken by an early ethnohistorian and attorney for the Squaxins, James Wickersham, The Alaska State Library helpfully provided copies of these photographs, which helped me visualize the Schneider’s Prairie potlatch of 1891.

Many thanks to Sandra Worthington, who agreed again to be my reader and gave me many valuable suggestions for improvement. (Incidentally, Sandra lives a stone’s throw from Snyder Creek and Snyder Cove). Mark Foutch, former mayor of Olympia and currently president of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, read an early draft and provided many helpful comments and corrections. Thank you to Ann Colowick, copy editor extraordinaire.

In researching and writing this book, I found the character of August Schneider particularly hard to develop. Richard Brandt-Kreutz, a licensed professional therapist, agreed to look at the historical record, as well as an early draft of the book, and provide some insights into August’s personality. These were extremely helpful in creating a fictional character whose actions are consistent with the historical August Schneider’s behavior and activities.

Finally, most of all, thanks to my husband, Brian Hovis, for creating the maps and family tree, for his encouragement, and for listening patiently and enthusiastically to these stories of discovery.

I want to say a word about the relationship between the Schneiders and the Squaxin tribe. By contemporary newspaper accounts, as well as family lore, Konrad and Albertina Schneider and their children were close friends with neighboring tribal members, so much so that one Schneider descendant was teased about it as a child, generations later. There are hints that Konrad may have had an intimate relationship with a member of the tribe after he moved to Schneider’s Prairie, but this has not been verified in existing documents.

The attitudes toward Native Americans revealed in the newspaper articles reproduced in this book are not ones we share today, and the evidence is that the Schneiders didn’t share them, either. I felt it was important to include those articles, to give today’s readers a sense of the prevailing views of the time and the ways they contrasted with the Schneiders’ relationships with their Indian neighbors at Mud Bay.

schneidersprairie.jpg

Schneider Territory: Part of Mud Bay around 1892

Map created by Brian Hovis. See note in preface regarding spelling of place names.

westolympia.jpg

Schneider Territory: Part of West Olympia around 1892

Map created by Brian Hovis

FamilyFinalDraft8.jpg

Prologue: Konrad

M ud Bay, living up to its name, was almost emptied of water at ebb tide, isolated pools of water sparkling on the oyster flats in the early morning sunlight. Mount Rainier was still hidden, but it was sure to emerge in its snowy glory once the clouds dispersed. Konrad Schneider, sitting in his porch rocker, lit his pipe and surveyed his property critically. The cabin out on Schneider’s Prairie was not fancy, but he kept it tidy and clean. True, the pig had stirred up and trampled the grass around the house so that only a few blades were tenacious enough to grow there. But Konrad was not like some of his neighbors, leaving buckets and casks and discarded wheels lying about the prop erty.

Nevertheless, there was work to be done before he would feel that the place was ready to receive today’s visit from city folk. He was glad he had asked his neighbor Louisa to come by early to help prepare for the wedding. He had suggested she bring along her two younger brothers as well, to help with chores. Konrad’s son-in-law Swan Solbeck would be by later on to help arrange the tables in the barn. So Konrad could sit and relax for a few minutes, knowing all would be taken care of.

A wedding of a child is a good time for reflection. Deena and I may not live together, but we’ve done all right with the children, he thought. All alive, by the grace of God, except poor Catherine. The older boys were out of the home already and not giving their parents much cause for concern. Well, I had doubts about Henry but he has found May, or rather May has found him, and they will do all right. Now if we can find someone to settle August down a bit, I won’t have any worries about the others.

There was a stirring in the woods at the edge of the yard, and Louisa emerged along a narrow path, bringing her brothers with her. Konrad enjoyed getting to know Louisa’s many siblings, speaking to them in the common Chinook jargon and sharing songs and stories from his native Germany.

Ho, boys, good morning. Are you ready for a little work? The boys nodded.

"I want you to catch that pig and pen him up. Then you can start in on tidying up the yard. I want it looking spotless when those cultus whitemans² come in their big boat later on. Understand?" The boys nodded again.

And, Louisa, when my daughter Molkina gets here in a few minutes, you and she can help make everything nice in the barn and spruce up the cabin a bit, maybe with some flowers. Louisa nodded her understanding and assent.

All right, then, rally, rally. I will be here smoking on my pipe and watching you, so no horsing around, clear? The boys nodded. Neither of them had spoken a word since they’d arrived. Konrad would greatly enjoy watching the boys try to catch and pen that pig. If they were lucky, it would be done before the wedding guests arrived. In the meantime, he thought he might take a short stroll to Schneider’s Creek.

Henry

1879

From the Olympia Transcript:

Schneider’s Prairie Poet:

The grouse hummeth

The pheasant drummeth

The rain commeth

The boys bummeth

Only on Sunday

H enry! Are yo u up?

Of course I’m up, Molkina. It must be seven o’clock. What are you doing with your face at the window? Come in.

Molkina leaned her free arm on the sill and peered down at the remnants of Henry’s breakfast, a bowl of oats with molasses and milk. Her other arm was crooked around her baby, Clarence, whose blue eyes gazed solemnly at Henry. Molkina was so tall that she had to bend slightly to put her head through the window opening. Papa got his name in the paper again, and he’s pleased as can be. Read his new poem. Henry’s sister thrust the four thin pages of the Transcript through the open window to Henry, who was sitting at his table, nursing a cup of coffee.

A fine poem, sister, and very true.

Only today’s not Sunday, and you are bumming. I’m surprised that August hasn’t stopped by to see why you are not out scouting trees with him.

Oh, no, he said he’d give me a day off.

I’m joking, Henry. Of course you have the day off. It’s not every day that you get married.

Well, Henry went on, without acknowledging Molkina’s remark, I figure I might just stay here awhile and enjoy my solitude.

Oh, so you think this is the last day you will have any? You might be right about that!

That’s not what I meant. I just want to get my thoughts in order and make sure everything is ready. Henry looked around the single room of his cabin, and he felt as though he was seeing it properly for the first time. It was tidy, but the walls were rough and unpainted, and there was only a threadbare carpet on the wooden floor. Henry’s small bed was separated from the main part of the cabin only by a sheet hung from a rope, not a wall like a married couple’s home should have. He was suddenly aware of the smell of stale tobacco, muddy boots, mildewed clothing, and years of greasy food. He wished he had taken the time to add just one or two improvements that would show his bride she was welcome. How had he neglected that?

Molkina reached through the window and picked up Henry’s coffee cup, peering into it as though she were seeking Henry’s future there. Now, Henry, don’t worry too much about what May Campbell thinks. It’s you she’s marrying, not your house. She will have plenty of time to add a wife’s touches, and I believe you won’t recognize it in a few months. And, you never know, you might need space for three before long.

That last remark gave Henry a funny, almost queasy, feeling. The few times he had thought about it, he hadn’t been sure how he had gotten to this wedding day. He had met May at a dance in Olympia, and the two of them had gotten along reasonably well. May had invited Henry on excursions with some of her lively Olympia friends, sometimes to picnics at Butler’s Cove or for drives out to the waterfall at Tumwater or to the parklike Catholic mission on the other side of town. Before long, their friends assumed they were engaged, and here they were with a wedding all arranged before Henry really knew what was happening. Now Molkina was hinting there might be babies in his future, a possibility that hadn’t occurred to him until then. He felt quite foolish and unprepared.

Molkina snapped her fingers in front of Henry’s eyes, putting an end to Henry’s thoughts about marriage and babies. Henry, are you daydreaming again?

Sorry, what did you say?

I said, I suppose you are taking the cart over to Papa’s.

Why shouldn’t I walk over, as always? Henry asked.

Don’t be silly. May is bound to have at least one trunk full of clothing and linens with her, and, even if she doesn’t, you wouldn’t want her to walk all the way over here in her fancy wedding dress, would you?

I guess I hadn’t really thought about it, but you are quite right. I’ll hitch up the cart as soon as I finish my breakfast. Do you and Clarence want to ride over to Papa’s with me?

"No, I need to get back home and get ready. Papa and Mutti are expecting me to bring my kransekake, and I will want to wear my best Sunday clothes and make sure that Swan is properly dressed, too. You men don’t seem to think about these things. I’ll see you at Papa’s around eleven, all right?"

All right, he replied, feeling a bit dazed as Molkina turned and strode off toward the Solbeck homestead, Clarence on her hip and her petticoats swishing about her ankles like a rough sea. Henry wasn’t sure how he would spend his time between now and eleven. With Henry not having to go off to work, the morning would stretch on forever. He sat a few more minutes to savor the last sips of his coffee. It was cold and bitter now, though. Will May like coffee? he wondered.

He decided to try to clean up the cabin a bit. He fetched a board from the shed and built a shelf over