I will tell you about myself. Born in 1950, the 3rd child of George and Dorothy Accola, Granddaughter of John and Anna Zerbel Accola, Great-Granddaughter of Erhart and Anna Kindschi Accola. I live on the same farm that was settled by said Great Grandfather in the late 1800's. My plan is to update the history writen by the children of Erhart and Anna, my great uncles and aunts, and my grandfather..To Begin: my comments are going to be in italics...
All Through The Years
Andrew
As we were a large family at home, Louis Birgen, a neighbor living west our place (homestead on Swiss Valley Road) asked me to work for him a season when I was 19 years old. As is probably often the case with young boys away from home for the first time to work, I did not like it. At home, we worked in partnership, while here, I missed the companionship of the rest. Mother was not in favor or her boys working out; said she did not raise boys to work out. Mother had worked for Fritz Albertus as did many of the immigrants at that time; she reasoned that the boys would have more interest and work better if given a place of their own. The Thomas Ragatz farm was for sale (the current Mel Lohr farm) and to our mother's reasoning, that was most ideally located, being so close to the church that she loved so much. (The Salem Ragatz Church, also known as the Honey Creek church)
So, we bought the farm for 6000. in 1888, but it did not prove such a successful buy because first it was run down, secondly it was sandy soil and we were used to heavier soil, third, we ran into difficulty in getting the deal closed as Mr. Ragatz was a shrewd bargainer. He died in the spring of 1888 before they moved to town. The barn was small and poor, so we built a new one, but when we had a chance to sell, we readily took the offer in 1896, having it for 8 years, and resolved then and there never to buy a sand farm again! (His nephew, my father, did not heed this, as he bought a sand farm on PF 100 years later!)
When asked if he thought it a good idea to buy a farm for so young a lad, Andrew answered "Yes, as it teaches them young to take care of what they have; while if they rent, the renter or the owner does all the fixing up, or it is left undone, and the young people get in the habit of letting things go as they go.."
After selling the Ragatz farm, I worked for a year for George Astle. In winter, I went to the dairy school in Madison, which took the place of the Agricultural course now; although it was more like working in a creamery. It was here that I learned to test milk with the Babcock milk tester, and it's usefulness in trying out which are the most profitable cows to keep, and which are only boarders. (this is the precurser of milk testing that is done today in much the same manner!) We kept it up when I again started farming as feeding dairy cows was interesting. In this school, we also learned feeding dairy cows and the good use of a silo. Silos were not found on any farms then yet, and we built the first silo of two by fours (this silo was present yet in the 1950's, but burned down in the fire of 1965. It was located north of the steel buildings that are currently there.) To fill a silo with those green bundles of corn was considered extremely hard work. (I believe it was done with pulleys, and horse pulled the bundles up to the top of the silo where they were dropped in! This was before the silo loaders.)
As father did not feel that he could work the home farm any more, he offered it to me for 8,000. Jake Kindshi, John Hatz and Long Hanz Accola (grandfather of Harvey Accola) came to appraise the livestock. On May 18, 1898, Ida Jennewein and I got married at her home. She was a real help-mate, inside and out. Always a neat housekeeper, and always cooked tasty and nourishing meals. We generally milked from 15-19 cows, raised 50 to 60 hogs, and 200 chickens. We always attended the Stone church where Ida taught a young girls class for a number of years, while I taught the corresponding class of young boys.
As hired help was hard to get always, and Ida was working too hard, we decided to sell our farm in 1910 to John. (John H. Accola is my grandfather.)We had built ourselves a home and other necessary buildings on the hillside on the road going across the hill.(The current David Atkins Home, my home.) There, on a few acres, we had a herd of nice Guernsey cattle, and some chickens: in short, a miniature farm which Ida enjoyed very much. (I have raised my share of livestock as well...chickens, geese, goats, pig, ducks.)
As a sideline, I bought livestock in town; at first only as an accomodation for the old neighbors, but the business grew to considerable proportion and in time became a full time job. It included taking in the stock on Monday's and accompanying the shipment to Milwaukee in the stock train which was an all night ride with little rest. Then Tuesday was spent in selling the stock through commission men at the Milwaukee yard and returning home as soon as the returns came back from the commission firms. Then, the checks had to be sent to the different farmers. By 1916, the business had grown to such a size that a sort of Farmer's Shipping Association was formed or agreed on and Urban Mather was taken in as a partner and Maude Accola was engaged to help with the figuring. The livestock was handled on a commission basis or 5 % per hundred weight of livestock, that included taking in the livestock here at the Prairie Du Sac yards, one man to accompany the shipment to Milwaukee. The farmers liked this system of selling. Their livestock sold so well that it became hard for the old time stock buyer to compete. The Will Cook family had bought stock here in the Prairie community for about 30 years, so in 1920, I bought the George Cook home right across the street from the Prairie Stock Yards and my wife and I moved to town, much to her regret at leaving our little farm.
During the period of time between 1920-1930, the above association did an enormous livestock shipping business, shipping as high as 15 carloads, as livestock prices were high, and farmers bought lots of feed and grain to raise more stock. That induced me to buy the old grain elevator oce owned by the pioneer Holmes Keysar for buying large quantities of wheat in pioneer days. This elevator was so arranged that corn or grain could be shipped in by railroad. Large quantities of millfeed such as bran, middlings and dairy feeds. I also bought the feed and fuel sheds, and handled coal, cement, lime or anything that was needed by farmers.
But, here too, like with the livestock, the business grew to such proportions that it became too much of a burden, so I took on a partner by the name of Conrad Schoephorster. He was a young farmer and took the hard end of the work, while I did more less of the business end.
This partnership ran under the name of "Prairie du Sac Feed and Coal Co." (It was located whre the current Schwartz Insurance building is now.)and worked out very well until 1934. Mr. Schoephorster's son, Raymond, finished high school and went in partnership with his father, so our partnership was dissolved by about half. I took all theproperty on the East side of the street, while they took everything on the west side. I handled only grain and dairy feeds, no coal, cement etc. Johnny Kindschi, who had worked for several years for Jake, started working for me know. Me made a very good helper, and it went under the name of Accola Feed Store.
During the years of 1930 to 1933, hard times hit everybody. Livestock prices struck the bottom, hogs sold as low as 3.00/hundredweight, butter was .15-18/lb, eggs around .12/dozen and other things in comparison. Business soon felt the depression that the farmers were in, and suffered likewise, by extending credit to their customers and big book accounts that never were paid. These hit hard and took a long time to get back on a more stable basis. Although in 1937, I leased the business to Johnny Kindschi for 5 years, after which I sold to some other parties, but Johnny still rents it, and it goes by the name "Kindschi Feed Store". I still like to go and see some of my old customers and talk over old times. Also, I can still help out on the farm, here and there, during the labor shortage. Written by Andrew Accola in the 1940's.
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