Letters From Home, a World War II Story

Peter Christian Adolph Cramer, my first cousin three times removed, arrived from Denmark in the early 1890s.  Anna Clara Lowe, another first cousin three times removed, arrived from Germany about the same time, becoming a member of the LDS Church.  It was likely they met after coming to the United States.  They probably met in Utah within a few years of their arrival.   They married in Salt Lake City in 1895.  

                                 Region of Germany where the Lowes lived

Anna Clara's family came from a mountainous area of Sachsen, Germany, close to the Czechoslovakian border.  This region of Germany was heavily mined for silver and tin, but most mining had ceased by the late 19th century.  Life was not always easy for many of those who lived there.  As things often were during those times, one child came to the United States, and one stayed at home in Germany.  Anna Clara came to Utah, where her uncle lived, while her brother Emil remained in Germany.  

                    Early Silver Mining in Saxony's Ore Mountains, public domain

Emil and Anna Clara wrote letters back and forth, but only a few of Emil's letters remain for us to examine.  Little did they know, as they corresponded, that their letters would hint at the unimaginable things that would transpire in the world ten years later.  Letters between December 1934 and 1945 highlight a shift in mood exhibited by some Germans pre and post-war.

 

Apologizing for not being able to send financial assistance to his sister Anna Clara, Emil states, "We may not send money out of the country as all is wanted to build up our new empire and pay our debt…  We have been brought down by misgovernment of a gang of international jobbers, robbers, thieves and traitors, who for fourteen years filled their pockets out of our work and savings. "

 

Emil goes on to thank his sister for her words regarding his leader.  In December 1934, he described the leader as the most honest, straightforward man, a hard fighter for the truth and righteousness amongst the nations.  "I showed the letter to some friends and officials, who were so pleased with it, I had to copy it for circulation in all offices, clubs, schools and party organisations.  I decided to send the original to the Fuhrer and received, after 3 days the following reply:" (in translation)

 

"Reichskauzlei:  Dear Mr. E. Lowe

By order of the Fuhrer and Chancellor, I thank you for notice heartily.  The letter of your sister has been taken notice of with great interest as the contents prove, your sister must be an especially brave and religious woman.  To such people the work of the fuhrer cannot but make impression.  The leader requires you to send greetings & best wishes when you write to your sister again.  Heil Hitler!  Dr. Thomson Government Councellor."

 

In 1935 Emil described working conditions at the Wanderer Works factory where a relative worked.   Christmas bonuses and paid days off are given to every man for special occasions such as christenings and weddings, and employers encourage employees to talk about their grievances.  He tells his sister that the factory, which initially employed 2000 workers, now has 5200.  Emil assures his sister that he doesn't understand the concern over the Jews as "not a hair on their heads has been disturbed."

 

Later, in a letter from 1939, Emil reminds his sister of how difficult life had been in this part of Germany only 10 years before, with unemployment, foreign debt, strikes, and too many political parties.  He feels that by 1939, all who can 

work are working and that conditions are vastly improved. The single-party control of the government, in his view as played a part in this improvement.  He states, "I wish I could write a book about the lovely wonderful time we experienced since our great leader has taken over the government."  

 

In an undated letter after the end of  World War II to other family members in the United States, Emil describes the results of the war.  "We have gone through a terrible war.  Most of our cities are smashed and burned down to a great extent. At the boundery of our place the soldiers made the last hopeless stand for 3 weeks.  During the air raid I had my hip damaged and was laid up for 6 weeks."

 

Few could have foreseen the changes the post-war world would see with the horrors of the extermination of the Jews, the defeat of German armies, the trials at Nuremberg, and the Marshall Plan.  In letter after letter, we see the world tumbling inextricably towards the abyss of war, though Emil did not let on or see this was happening. For many of those who lived then, some things were just unimaginable. From our historical perspective, we can see what had been unfolding.

      Peter Cramer and Anna Clara Lowe and Family, courtesy of the author

Emil died in 1955, and Anna died in 1940 before America joined the war.  Emil continued to communicate with family in the United States through the 1950s.

                                 Obituary for Anna Clara Lowe, Newspaper Archives

 

Emil Lowe Letters, Cramer Connections, The Cramer Family Newsletter, Editor David B. Oswald, Layton, Utah.

Originally published in Generations, a newsletter of the Southwest Colorado Genealogical Society.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Western Surveyor, Map Maker, and Explorer, Hubert Page

Hubert DeForest Page is my great-grandfather.  He was born in 1865, three miles from the shores of Lake Ontario, in Richland, Oswego County, New York.  By age five, he had moved with his family to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he attended school.  After high school, he started working in the office of county surveyor H. I. Bliss. This was to be the start of his career as a noted surveyor, map maker, and civil engineer.  

 

Hubert married my great-grandmother, Emma Kaiser, in Box Elder County, Utah, in 1890.  My great-grandmother was a seamstress, making her wedding dress and most of her other clothing.  She made a lovely dress for a dance she was going to attend and this is where she first met Hubert. 

      

                                             Emma Kaiser and Hubert Page Wedding

                                                          Collection of the author

Their union would lead this couple and their eight children on years of adventures around the western United States.  Their first son, Hubert, was born in Vancouver, Washington.  The rest of the children were born in Utah and Idaho.  The 1890 census shows Hubert as being a surveyor operating out of Brigham City.   

 

Returning from an 1892 survey for the government in the Blue and La Sal mountains of southeastern Utah, Hubert said, “he is deeply impressed by the future possibilities in the La Sals and predicts great mining activity in that section.”  An 1896 newspaper article from Salt Lake City notes the return of the family from California, “where they have been living for the past few months.”  Another article notes that H.D. Page was running the field crew in 1896, surveying a route for the Salt Lake and Pacific railroad into Deep Creek territory in western Utah, along the Nevada border.  This was a short spur route going into the gold fields surrounding Gold Hill. 

                                                        newspapers.com

In 1899, Hubert Page and James Lentz were subdividing the southeasterly most township in Utah.  While completing the survey in the area of the Four Corners, they discovered the original Chandler Robbin’s monument for the corner was broken and disturbed.  Page and Lentz marked and set a new stone in the original location of Robbin’s marker.

 

                                                           Four Corners Marker

                                                        Creative Commons Zero

By 1902, the family had moved to Salt Lake City, where Hubert was listed in several city directories as a civil, hydraulic, and mining engineer. He went to San Francisco in April to submit a bid for the grading of the Ogden-Lucin railroad cut-off west of the Great Salt Lake.  The work was expected to cost $350,000.  Later, in 1902, Hubert was surveying various mining claims in the Deep Creek region, where he had been involved in developing the spur railroad line.  He describes a find of a high-grade lead-silver deposit in the region of Dutch Mountain.

                                                                Hubert D. Page

                                                           Collection of the author

In June 1905, a large article was printed in the Salt Lake Herald regarding the opening of the Uinta Indian Reservation.  The article was technical in nature, referring to various legal descriptions of the area.  It was some time before I realized the map that was printed with the article was the same map I had framed on my wall.  He would later sell copies of the map to settlers for 55 cents. The map was made to facilitate opening Ute land to white settlers. 

                                                      Page Map of High Unitah

                                                        Collection of the author

 By 1906, Hubert was involved in a very large project called the Payette-Boise Irrigation Project.  This included building the New York Canal.  Hundreds of men and some women were employed on the project. Total costs for the project were expected to exceed $7,800,000.  Funding for this project had always been problematic.  The original private developers ran out of money, and the federal government did not pay their bills in a timely manner.  My great-grandfather had to get some of his payment through a special congressional bill shepherded through Congress by his senator. 

                                                                 New York Canal

                                                           Collection of the author

Page Camp Cookhouse

Collection of the author

Hubert had been to Washington D. C. several times pursuing claims against the U. S. Government for lack of compensation for the Payette-Boise Irrigation Project.   C. C. Calhoun was his lawyer during these disputes with the government.  He wrote letters home describing his trials and tribulations, including his deteriorating health.  He also kept a small journal.

                                                   Page 1913 Journal                                                     

                                           Collection of Hubert "De" Page

A frustrated and worn-out Hubert died on his final trip to Washington on the 21^st of June 1913 with my great-grandmother, Emma, by his side.  He was 47 years old.  Hubert was a 32nd-degree Mason.  My great-grandmother enlisted the assistance of the Masons in procuring transportation by train back home to Idaho, where he was laid to rest in the Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise.

                                                                    Page Family

                                                            Collection of the author

I used dozens of newspaper articles to flesh out the details of Hubert's life.  Hubert became a true Westerner.  He rode by horseback to many of his assignments and camped under the stars while he worked.  He would be gone for many days, even months, while he pursued his work, leaving Emma at home alone to raise their children.

Longevity in my Danish Line of Women

This group of women with their roots in Denmark is a remarkable line.  Longevity must be in the genes, or at least for my sake, I hope it is. 

Last week’s blog was the story of my Danish 2^nd great-grandmother, Anne Elizabeth.  She was born in Denmark in 1849 emigrating when she was twenty-five.  She stayed active until quite late in life, interacting with her community as long as possible.  She died in Utah, dying at the very respectable age of 99.

Anne Elizabeth center, Emma Marie far right

Emma, my great-grandmother, was born in Denmark in 1868.  She emigrated with her mother, Anne Elizabeth, when she was six.  She married and had eight children with her husband.  When her husband died in 1913, she continued her work as a seamstress to support the family.   By 1930, the children were gone, and she and her mother lived together in Utah until her mother died in 1948.   In the following years, she lived with several of her children in Arizona and California.  Her life ended in a nursing home where she required total care, living blocks from two of her daughters.  She died at the age of 103.

            Emma’s daughter, my grandmother Gretta, was born in 1896 in Utah.  She grew up in Utah and Idaho.  She moved to Seattle, where she married.  After the birth of a child, the family moved to San Francisco.  Sometime between 1930 and 1932, she divorced and married again.  Gretta, her daughter, and her new husband lived in Colorado and Arizona.   She traveled extensively, both on her own and with her sisters.  Her final move was to California.  She lived in her apartment in a senior residence until she fell and broke her hip, eventually dying at 103.

L to R, Emma Marie, Gretta, Anne Elizabeth, child Gwen

            My mother, Gwen, was born in 1919.  While growing up, she lived in Washington, California, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona.  Following her marriage to my father, we lived in Morocco, Spain, and England.  She lived for many years in the southwest after my father’s retirement.  After my father’s death, she moved into an apartment in a senior living facility.  During the last three years, she required a high level of care, but she still knew her family and friends until her death at age 96.

          

Author’s mother, Gwen

 

        This remarkable group of women lived long, full, independent lives.  I take from each of these women lessons for my life.

 

Anne Elizabeth, Early Utah Midwife

    Anne Elizabeth Cramer, courtesy of the author

    

 

    Anne Elizabeth Cramer Kaiser, my second great-grandmother, was born in a small village in Denmark in 1849.  In 1874, Anne brought her family to the United States of America. They sailed on the Wyoming, a ship built in 1870 in Newcastle, England.  This three-week transatlantic voyage could not have been easy for the mother of three young children.  She brought her younger brother and two elderly parents on this journey. They sailed to the port of New York and traveled to Utah via the new transcontinental railroad.  Her husband, Carl Anton Kaiser, arrived at Castle Gardens, New York, the following year in 1875.  

                                                            

The Wyoming

Before Carl arrived, the family settled in Huntsville, Box Elder County, Utah, in 1874.  They became Latter Day Saints in Denmark and followed their faith to Utah. Carl farmed, and Anne raised the children and carried on the tradition of the women in her family by providing midwife services to her community.  By 1875, the family was living in Brigham City.  Both husband and wife led very active lives within their community and church.  Anne joined the choir and continued to sing with them for thirty-five years.  She sang with a combined choir at a special conference where she heard Brigham Young give his last public speech.

     Carl became a citizen in 1882.  He worked in the historic Baron Woolen Mills in Brigham City.  He acquired a passport in 1889.   According to church records, he returned to Europe, going to Bohemia in June of 1890 for his Mission.  He and another Latter Day Saint were arrested and imprisoned there after a false report that they had been ready to perform a baptism. Finally, on October 7th, 1890, he was released and allowed to return to the United States.

                                                                

                                                    Carl Anton Kaiser, courtesy of the author

     Anne continued her work as a midwife and furthered her studies, obtaining her degree in obstetrics in April of 1893, three years before statehood.  While Utah was still a territory, she received her license to practice midwifery from the Board of Medical Examiners in Salt Lake City.  

                                         License to Practice Obstetrics, courtesy of the author

She continued to practice for another thirty-eight years, delivering family, friends, and children of the community.  She delivered some 2000 babies, many of them in Box Elder County.  Her records are held by the State of Utah as some of the first birth records in the area.  She delivered my grandmother and most of my great-aunts and uncles.  

                                          Birth Record, courtesy of the author

She was a member of the Business and Professional Women's Club of Brigham City.  In 1934, she was made an honorary lifetime member of the club.  My grandmother told me Anne traveled in all weather, walking, bicycling, riding a horse, driving a buggy or bobsleigh in the winter, and riding the train to carry out her profession.  This brave working woman reminds me she is the reason I am here.  She died in Brigham City in 1948 at the age of 98.

                                                                    

                                            Anne Elizabeth Cramer, courtesy of the author