Historical records matching Lizzie Ehrhardt
view all
Immediate Family
-
husband -
-
son -
-
daughter -
-
-
father -
mother
About Lizzie Ehrhardt
It is my understanding that my grandmother Eva Elisabeth Hanschu born to Elisabeth Hanschu (and Jacob Faust), was born out of wedlock. My grandmother "Lizzie" told me that she thought her mother was really her sister for most of her life. It wasn't until she was much older, that she realized she was her mother. It was then, her "grandmother" decided she needed to go live in America. Her Uncle Fred sent for her and she took the trip to the United States.
She came to the United States on the SS Hanover from Bremen Germany leaving on Jan 21, 1909 and arriving in Galveston, TX on February 13, 1909. She celebrated her 16th birthday on the ocean. She did not speak any English. Some nice German nuns took pity on her and helped her find the right transport (railroad) to Kansas.
She was to be the ward of her cousin Fred Hanschu in Lost Springs, KS. Fred could not go to the depot to pick her up, so he asked his neighbor, George Ehrhardt, if one of his sons could pick her up. George said yes, and Sam (his eldest who spoke German) drove the carriage to the train depot and picked up the young girl. She was not accustom to men chewing tobacco...the only men she had seen doing so were black men in Texas. Sam had chewing tobacco in his cheek and took a spit and she was in shock to see the spit was BLACK. She thought only black men spit black...since the very first black men she had seen were the men in Texas.
She later became a nursemaid to one of Fred Hanschu neighbors Fred Vogel, who was a widower with four children (some the same age as Lizzie). Lizzie had to take care of feeding, cleaning and caring for the house and farmer.
A couple of years passed, and George Ehrhardt told his sons that he wanted them all to get married. It was now 1911 or 1912 and his boys were getting on in age. They needed to find wives to help out on the farm. His wife was getting old and needed help. He gave each of his sons some land with the promise they would get a wife. All the boys went looking and came home with a wife....Sam marrying Lizzie (the neighbor girl he had met a few years earlier at the train depot). In 1913, they had their first son, Ezra. All the wives helped their mother in law as well as being nurse maids for each others children. While one or two women stayed inside cooking and caring for children....the others would work out in the field.
In 1919, around the time of the dustbowl...the and after the death of George Ehrhardt (her father in law)...the Ehrhardt brothers all agreed to sell their property in Kansas and move to California where other family and Kansas friends had moved and the weather and prospects for life were better. Only one brother was unable to make the trip due to his property not selling (last minute person reneged on the sale). So one Ehrhardt remained in Kansas while the rest all moved to Lodi.
They worked for a number of people, doing farming and crop-sharing. They also lost a farm, had their home burn to the ground and various other hardships. They later moved into the town of Lodi in the 1940s. The A&W was built right next door...and Lizzie got a job washing bottles and opening up the store (stirring vats and making sure their fires were lit under the vats of rootbeer). She did this for approx. 20 years. In the 1960s she retired when the gentleman who owned it sold the store to someone else. She was still given "back door" priviledges to get rootbeer whenever she wanted.
Lizzie made quilts for each of her grandchildren. Many got another one when we got married too. She also gave us either a sewing machine or money to buy one when we got married. She also was a wonderful cook...though she did not have any written recipes. I learned to make her Butterball Soup from my father (the left handed cook she would not let into her kitchen). I've been told my soup comes pretty close to hers...which is a huge compliment to me.
view all 11
Lizzie Ehrhardt's Timeline
| 1893 |
January 31, 1893
|
Tscherbakowka, Volga, USSR
|
|
| 1913 |
March 12, 1913
|
Ramona, Kansas, United States
|
|
| 1915 |
April 27, 1915
|
Ramona, Marion, KS, United States
|
|
| 1918 |
June 15, 1918
|
Ramona, Kansas, United States
|
|
| 1920 |
July 24, 1920
|
Ramona, KS, United States
|
|
| 1926 |
August 28, 1926
|
Lodi, CA, United States
|
|
| 1935 |
July 31, 1935
|
Lodi, CA, United States
|
|
| 1984 |
February 5, 1984
Age 91
|
Lodi, California, United States
|