The John and Gertrude Milder Story continued...

Muscatine Iowa

John and Gertrude decided to move back to Iowa after 12 years of living outside the state. Gertrude referred to it as moving "back to good old Iowa".

Edward and Mary had gone to Iowa earlier and stayed with their grandparents, Ed and Rose Smith. They found housework and farm work to help support the family. Edward drove them in a 1923 Auburn. They were coming home for Christmas with the family when they wrecked his car on an icy bridge near Jefferson City.

John and Wilma came back in the spring to a farm east of Muscatine and planted a garden and crops. Louise stayed with Gertrude and the younger children until the end of the school year. Then John went down and moved the rest of the family and furniture. St. Mary's Catholic Church in Wilton became the family parish. The younger children attended a nearby country school. They lived on this farm for one year before it was sold.

House north of Muscatine on Highway 38

The next move was to a truck farm south of Muscatine. A town called Fruitland was located near there. The family raised cabbage, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and lots of tomatoes. The tomatoes were sold to the Heinz factor while the other produce went to various stands in the area. John thought that with lots of help this form of farming might be profitable. It proved to be more work than it was worth. The younger children attended a one room school at Fruitland. The older children worked away from home, doing housework or helping out as a hired hand on the farm. They attended St. Mary's Catholic Church in Muscatine. Another son, Leonard, was born in 1931. John and Gertrude had had enough of truck farming and decided that regular farming was their best bet.

Atalissa Years

In 1933 the family moved to a farm near Atalissa. It was in this year that another daughter, Patricia, was born. The younger children attended elementary school in Atalissa. There was no hope of sending the older children to high school because of the distance involved and the size of the family.

All four of the older children, Ed, Mary, Louise and Wilma, took jobs away from home and contributed most of their wages to support the family. The farm located more than a mile off the gravel road so traveling by car on mud roads was very trying at times.

House in Atalissa.

At this time the older children wanted to get out among children their own age. John took them to dances in West Liberty whenever they were home. Mary decided to follow her vocation and entered the convent at LaCrosse, Wisconsin. In August, l934 she got her white veil, and in the same year, a son, Eugene, was born. The family continued to grow and change.

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updated 9/14/2002 - Copyright© 2000-2002 Milder.org