From: Emmental, Bessarabia
1 November 1912
Dear Staats-Anzeiger:
Thank you for clearing up all the subscription issues and that I am in regular receipt of it again! I will gladly continue to write now. It is my second year as a reader of the paper and I first received the wall maps as a bonus. This year, I would love to get the Regensburg Virgin Mary calendar. (*Publisher: It will be mailed promptly.)
In my correspondence of August 20, I wrote about the rain. It continued on and many folks are not even finished with their threshing now. A lot of the corn had to rot in the fields, since it could not be harvested. As our valley is already quite rich in water, the continued rain caused much water damage, Yesterday, a Bulgarian from Gangor came to our steam mill. When he reached the upper end of the bridge, he found that the road was no longer passable. He decided to go through the ditch, but the vehicle became stuck. So there sat the man, in rushing waters, stuck with his horses. The man decided to lighten the load and tossed out the sacks of grain, which made matters worse. The flood now jerked the wagon and the poor horses backward almost under the bridge, where the horses sank. The man worked his way to the shore and hollered for help. When people came with ropes from the village, one could hardly see anything of team and wagon. They did manage to fasten the ropes and pull out the wagon and the horses. Two of the horses were still alive. One horse and the grain were all lost. It is hard to lose a horse in bad times like this. The animal was worth at least 150 rubles.
Man has to be prepared for anything.
Freshly begun and not hesitated, move away obstructions in your path!
Look for what you are lacking and learn about order, my child.
Out of bed and do not falter
Do not dream the day away. First the work and then the play
After the journey comes the goal!
The following weddings were performed: 28 October 1912 - Paulus Bauer and Ottilie Mass; 6 November 1912 - Johannes Miller and Emilia Kopp; Peter Gross and Marianna Paul; Thomas Blotzki and Elisabetha Mass. I will be taking the father's place for Emilia Kopp. I wish all of them the very best in matrimony.
I sent a letter and a portrait to my cousin Peter Krenzel and have not received an answer.
If someone out there has the address of my brother-in-law, Barnabas Steiert, I would be deeply grateful. He last lived in Morton County, North Dakota.
I would also like the address of Thomas Hack. His brothers-in-law asked me to find out.
Greetings to Cousin Anton Gedak in Krasna and brother-in-law Melchior Weber, who could write a note to the paper as well!
Old widow Elisabetha Müller died on October 22. Her son Jakob Miller [Müller] is in America and I hope he will be informed of this.
Greetings to my dear mother, my brothers and all readers of this paper!
Zachäus Kopp
Son of Martin
From: Colonsay, Saskatchewan
4 December 1912
I am already writing, so I may as well pen a note to the Staats-Anzeiger! My husband is still busy threshing flax and has no time. We have read the letters all year long, but not responded at all.
The paper writes much about the Virgin Mary calendar, so we would like to get one as well. (*Publisher: We will check our lists and will send it if you are entitled to it.)
Our weather is not ideal. Many are not finished threshing yet, but the harvest looks good so far. The yield is 20 bushels of wheat per acre, 35 bushels of oats per acre and we are not done with the flax yet. An early snowfall brought it to a halt.
Greetings to all the readers, and especially our friends in North Dakota!
Mrs. Jakob Brückner