John Vogel

The following is from the book "The Vogel Family: The Life and History of the Sons of Feike and Grietje Vogel a Family of Immigrants From Holland" , printed March 1975:

    John, the third son, married Anna Runia on December 7, 1917, on a farm north of Allendorf, Iowa.  Anna tells the story of their meeting like this:  My folks and I moved to Sibley, Iowa and in that summer my father heard that John Vogel and another young man by the name of Charles Smithstra were farming west of Bigelow. My father wanted to know more about the Vogel family, since his mother married John's grandfather after my father had left Netherlands at the age of 19 and emigrated to America.

    Father invited John to come over some time and he accepted the invitation one Sunday afternoon in July.  As my brother and John got the horse and buggy ready to go to the Young People's Society in Sibley, he asked me to come along also to the meeting, and this is how our courtship began.  he would come over every two weeks to visit an afternoon or evening.

The next spring, when it was very busy on the farm with spring duties and the days were very long, John did not come for about six weeks, as it was too hard for the horses to work hard all week and then make an extra trip on Sunday. John was then farming with his father's family 6 miles east of Bigelow, Minnesota, where they rented a big farm, coming from Orange City that March. in those 6 weeks letters had to do. We were glad to see each other again.

    In our first year of courtship in the horse and buggy day we had church services once a day on Sunday afternoons.  john would come quite often on Sunday morning.  We spent quite a bit of time at the organ singing hymns with my brother and sister, which we enjoyed on the Lord's day.  In March of 1917 my family moved near Bigelow.

    On December 7, 1917 John and I were married at my parents' home. Someone drove to Bigelow to get the minister from the train, having traveled from Worthington that day, in about 20 degrees below zero weather, with snow.  Five of John's brothers played musical numbers on their instruments, with Al on the organ, which was beautiful.

    Although John was an apprentice baker in the Netherlands, he chose to take up the family's newly-adopted career of farming on various rented farms near Bigelow, Minnesota and Sibley, Iowa for 30 years.  In those years the family was blessed with four sons.

    After 32 happy married years, John died of cancer in 1950, at the age of 57, the first of the adult brothers to pass away.

    John was a busy and active member of his church also, and spent 20 years off and on serving as elder in the consistory.

    The following is from the book "The Vogel Family; The Life and History of the Sons of Feike and Grietje Vogel a Family of Immigrants From Holland" Printed in March of 1975.  Recollection of Albert by James, Andrew, and Howard:

    John, as all the bothers, finished grade school at the age of 12. Soon, possibly a year later, he was selected to learn the baker's trade. This was arranged with the owner of a village bakery.  This meant that he was away from home for a length of time, possibly a month at a time, working mostly during the night, just the kind of work and situation that a young person from the age of 13 to 18 is trying to avoid.

    At that period of time many families were moving to America in search of a better way of living and especially more elbow room, and the people of Berlikum were not exception.  America was a favored topic of conversation, and many left for the "promised land".

    For John it meant something like a release from prison.  Try to imagine John's situation:  boxed in a rather small (always to small for comfort) hot bakery, mostly at night when other people were sleeping, six days a week starting Monday morning shortly after midnight, and that year after year with little hope for a change, except for a change of place at the end of the year, maybe!  A boy was hired for a year at that time, and to walk away from a job was severely frowned upon in those days.

    John with his brother Al left for America in 1911 with tentative plans forming for the family to follow.

    John went to Iowa and worked for Ed Mulder on his farm 8 miles south of Orange City and he made $32 per month plus board.  John had farming in mind, and lived the best part of his life on farms.

    To own a nice-looking, fast-moving horse and buggy with a nice harness was the dream of any young man and John had them.

    John did much of the pioneering, going to Bigelow, Minnesota, renting a farm, and in another year most of the family followed.  The moving at that time was done by railway.  The household goods together with 2 cows, horse and carriage, were all loaded on a box car at Orange City and in a day or two arrived in Bigelow and went to the big farm 6 miles east of Bigelow on the state line.