Part 5....Interesting anecdotes.
These human interest stories are not recited to belittle or to redicule in
any way. They are recounted because they shed light on some of the human
traits of Simon Trefzger.
1. Besides learning the bakery trade, SImon also learned surveying. However he
was not able to use this knowledge when he arrived here due to his lack of
English. He did apply himself studiously and soon learned to read, write and
speak English. He practiced long hours with his signature so that it would
be legible in the English script.
2. As a youngster Simon played a large brass born, known as "wald born" or
"French horn". He also was kwown for his fine bass voice.
3. A double wedding took place when Simon and Katharina were married. It is
not known which brother or sister were marr1ed at the same time.
4. The first appearance of the name Trefzger appears in the directory for the
year 1858 when the name of Anton "Trefsger" is listed as a plasterer, living
at the Union House. Simon's name first appears in 1860 as "Simcon Triftzker."
5. Travel was rugged in the early days. At the time of the first return trip
to Europe, because the trains had boards for seats, one of the jobs assigned
to son, Adolph, was to carry cushions in a bag which served as the baby's bed.
6. On the trip over in 1867, Adolph and Charles amused themselves aboard ship
with the following prank. It was the practice to hang beer bottles out of the
port holes to keep them cool. The two youngsters, to their amusement and on
that of other passengers, would get empty bottles and throw at the hanging full
ones, which hung on the side of the ship. Natually they would break on contact. Some of the other passengers even joined the boys. Then they would
casually stroll down below and wait to see the owner of the bottle pull in the
cord only to find his bottle broken. The owners of the beer thought that fish
had done the damage .
7. During 1867 and 1871 while living in Wehr, Simon Trefzger operated a notion
store and made enough to provide ample for his family needs. Before and after
school and on Saturdays the children helped arrange things in the store in
order to keep Simon off his feet as much as possible. The family lived upstairs in an apartment.
8. As there were no furniture stores in town, Simon had his furniture specially
made. At the time of his departure he had a sale of this furniture. It was in
great demand and Simon realized more at the sale than the original cost.
9. One day while in Germany, Charles was helping an uncle place tile on a roof.
One piece dropped and hit Charles on the head. When he regained consciousness
he was lying at the shore of a creek with his uncle bathing his head with water,
10. Groceries cost more in Germany than in neighboring Switzerland. An aunt
would take the children hiking into Switzer1and and on the return buy groceries.
Each child held a bag whose value was within the allowance of duty free.
11. Uncle Felix was the life of the party. He knew where wild strawberries could
be found and also knew where to find frogs. So, when they went out "hunting"
he would leave a few live frogs in the bottom of the basket. Then. when the
girls reached down in the basket they would touch the frogs. It was hard to
tell which were more frightened. This was fun for the boys and Uncle Felix.
12. During the winter months they had to go up in the mountains for wood. The
logs would be loaded on sleds and all would coast home .On one occassion Mary
wanted to go along. She sat on the sled before the descent began. When the boys
arrived at the bottom of the hill, Mary was not to be found on the sled. There
behind the sled she was discovered. She had coasted down the hill on her stomach.
SHe had been able to grab part of the sled as she fell off and hung on
for dear life.
13. Simon would sometimes buy a tree with its fruit. Then all the family
would have to pick their own fruit and bring it home. Once one of the boys
ate too many cherries. It is sad to say that nature intervened before he had
a chance to come down from the tree.
14. There were so many Trefzgers in Wehr that in one catechism class there
four Mary Trefzgers and none was related to the other.
15. On the homeward trip Charles was assigned the task of keeping his eye on
little Annie. She was at the walking stage and continually would get away from
the folks, Charles was kept busy running after her.
16. Also on the return trip, while waiting for the train at the depot, Adolph,
who again was given the task of carrying the sack of pillows as he had on the
wayover, gave a hefty swing to place the bag on his shoulders but in doing so
hit a man who stood behind him. The hard blow so infuriated the man that he
grabbed the bag and threw it some distance away. Adolph, unperturbed, walked
over and picked it up as though nothing had happened.
17. When Katharina had a baby Simon would undertake the job of doing the washing but he never ironed anything. Once a neighbor laughed at his wash as it hung
on the line. He asked what was wrong. She told him he hung his shirt by the
cuffs which was the wrong way to do it. He enjoyed telling this about himself.
18. Son Fred remembers that as a little boy, Simon had a run-a-way accident
with the horse and bakery wagon. The wagon was overthrown and Simon was dragged
a long distance before the horse came to a stop. This resulted in an open sore
on Simon's leg which did not heal for a number of years.
19. Same year after Simon's return to America, the ulcer on his leg made its
reappearance. In Germany Simon had met a doctor who gave him some salve which
really did cure the ulcer. He wrote this doctor for more salve and when he re-
ceived no reply be contacted others in the community. He found out that the
doctor was discovered to be a quack and was in jail. The relatives obtained
the prescription and sent it to America where Simon had it filled by a local
druggist. His ulcer healed again.
20. Simon would take Mary and Emma to dances and during the dance sit in the
corner and fall asleep. When it was time to go home they would awaken him, and
home they'd go. In this way he made up for lost sleep.
21. One Saturday Anna took a letter which had just arrived from Germany, in hand
to read. Then with the letter still in hand, she proceeded to go dmm town to
do some shopping. She lost the letter. This so exasperated Simon that he
called all the women folks together, including and maid and the grandchildren
who were there. He lined up the entire group and gave them a stern lecture
on losing things. He then gave strict orders that from that day forward each
dress they had or would buy must have a pocket in it. Then no more letters
would be lost.
22. On one occasaion employees of the Light Company laid cable on the sidewalk
while making repairs. Simon walked along the sidewalk and stumbled over
the cable and fell. He broke his glasses in so doing. The workmen rushed over
to him and offered to take him home. He said he could manage by himself. A
short time later an adjuster from the Light Company came to make a settlement.
Simon would take nothing, saying he was not hurt. The adjuster said, "but you
broke your glasses." To which Simon replied, "I couldn't see with them anyway."
23. Anna had a dog for which Simon had no great love. The dog's name was
"Princely." At times it was necessary for Simon to let the dog out late in the
evening. When it was necessary for him to do so he would go to the door a short
time later and call Princely. But most times, Princely would not come when called.
Then a short time later there would be a scratching and whining at the door,
Simon would go to the door and as Princely entered, Simon would swing his foot
with great force to Princely's posterior and with one sweep of the foot would
catapult Princely all the way from the door to the dining room. Poor Anna
would then feel so sorry for her poor Princely.
24. On one occassion, Katharina while taking a bath, hung her shirt over the
radiator. Somehow or other, Princely got into the room and chewed off the tail
of the shirt. Simon got a big kick out of that and asked his wife, "Did you
have it on at the time?" which exasperated her, but he chuckled over that a
long time. Maybe because Anna's "beloved" Princely was the culprit may have
added humor to the occassion.
25. At the age of 70 years, Katharina learned how to play cards. She was
taught to play 500 by her Cincinnati friend, Mrs John Berger. Card parties
were the "rage" at 108 S. Monroe. Mary would always have a prize for everyone.
26. Further in regard the "Stammtisch" as related one page 3, it was costumary
when they met at August Meyer's to have Mr. Meyer furnish them with brass
saucers containing hot water in which they could immerse their steins of beer.
At Fauser's, Mr. Fauser would heat a poker to red hot heat which would be taken
to the group and immersed in the cold beer. This took the chill off for Simon,
who then would quaff it with gusto and great satisfaction saying, "Now that is
just right." At these gatherings all subjects were discussed from politics
business, economics, international problems to matters of their own family
circles. At times the discussion waxed heatedly but they never reached the point
where they forgot they were gentlemen and good friends.
27. Sunday was visiting day. After Mass and dinner when friends and relatives
came, Simon would hitch up the horse and go visiting either with the company or
after they had left. A visit to the Trefzger home was one always looked forward to by the
Weisbruch boys, as recounted by Joseph Weisbruch, as they always
received cookies when they went to Trefzgers. Simon loved to go to picnics.
When. attending band concerts it was necessary to pack a picnic basket. Then
all the family Would go out to the park to hear the music. At band concerts with
the grandchildren, Simon enjoyed taking the children to the "ice cream saloon,"
where he lavished them with ice cream and pop corn.
28. Simon was a lover of fireworks displays. When these were held on the river
bank he would take the family down there to witness the spectacle.
29. On Easter the family gathered for Easter egg hunts in the back yard.
30. Each Thanksgiving Simon was host to the family for dinner. The main course
consisted of turkey and sauerkraut. After that everyone had to "sit" for pictures which were taken, mostly by Charles who did his own printing and developing. A grandchild, Florence, daughter of Chlarles, has quite an assortment of
these pictures in her album.
31. On Christmas morning most everyone would go to 5 o'clock Mass at Sacred
Heart Church. Then breakfast would be served at 108 S. Mbnroe. The principle
course on that day would be fried pork sausage. Then it was time to open gifts.
Mary always had a gift for everyone but would not wrap them saying, "too much
trouble." Charles always had a bottle of perfume or toilet water for each of
the women folks. Mary would somehow manage to get to the box first and get
first pick. Emma was always last and was satisfied with whatever she got.
32. The fame of his bakery spread across the land. The advance men for the
various big circuses would contact Simon betore the day of arrival in town of
the group and Simon had the task of baking for the circus help. As a result,
he became personally acquainted with Buffalo Bill Cody, P. T. Barnum, Mr.
Baily, Mr. Forpaugh and other notables. On one occassion while walking down
the street with his son, Frederick, Simon pointed out Robert Ingersol to
his son saying," When you get older you will hear and know all about him. "
33. A booklet published by Sacred Heart Church in celebration of its 75th
anniversary, tells of Simon Trefzger selling property to the Sisters. Also that
R. G. Trefzger had the plumbing and heating contract for the rectory in 1895.
In 1896 he had the "plumbing and gas fittings.' contract for the school. Mention
is made that Simon Trefzger was appointed on a special building committee for
a new church in 1904. The Peoria Journal of May 21, 1905 contains an account
of the laying of the corner stone and mention is made that the names of the
committee (listing them) including Simon Trefzger, were placed in the stone.
34. Aaron Wilson Oakford, a member of a pioneer family in Peoria, is compiling a history of Peoria including the pioneer leaders. This is what he has, in
part about Simon Trefzger: "Beside his enjoyment in his home and church, Mr.
Trefzger had two outstanding interests. He attended practically all of the
World Expositions, such as Paris, Philadelphia, Omaha and St. Louis, taking
members of his family with him. He was enthusiastic also about the various
saengerfests, or song festivals, which were so popular among German-American
citizens in the Middle-West. One such great conventions of music lovers was held
in Peoria in 1873. That year a large one-story frame auditorium was erected
on the upper side of North Adams Street, between Fayette and Jackson, to
accomodate the huge audiance. That auditorium was later known as the Acadamy
of Music, and after a few years was demolished." (Note. He also attended
the World's Exposition in Chicago. Anna kept a diary of the visit there which
gives details of items they saw and places they visited.)
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