View source for Moehling family history

<center>'''MOEHLING FAMILY HISTORY'''</center>
<center>By Irv Moehling</center>


My father's family emigrated from Haste, Hessen Schaumburg, Germany into the United States in May 1849. They first moved into the rural area of Elk Grove Township; relocated in 1857 in Hanover Township, Lake County, IN and than moved back to the Des Plaines area in 1862. My grandfather was a seven year old boy when his family moved from Germany. 

My mother's family (Busse) emigrated from Bakede, Hannover, Germany in 1848 and settled in Elk Grove Township on a farm in what is now Mt. Prospect, IL. Both of my parents' families were originally dairy farmers who needed farmland and livestock for their livelihood. 

My great-great-grandparents, Johann Heinrich Moehling (1763-1824) and Catharine Dorothea Engel Marie Desenisse (1769-1837) were married 7/31/1802 in the Church of Hohnhorst, Colon #17, Haste, Hessen Schaumburg, Germany. They both were born and died in Germany. 

My great-grandparents, Johann Conrad Moehling (1804-1882) and Engel Maria Sophia Pohlmann (1806-1887) were married 11/18/1832 in Haste, Hessen Schaumburg, Germany. They emigrated in 1849 and purchased the present Farm from James and Margaretha Cleary on March 20, 1865 for $7,965.00. Articles of Agreement for Warranty Deed, dated 1/14/1865, stated $8,000.00 providing the deed will show 200 acres (if not, than $40.00 per acre will be paid). 

My great-grandparents are buried in the [[Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery]] on [[Rand Road]]. Their burial location is identified with head stones showing the above name and dates. Some years ago the cemetery was overgrown with bushes, tall grass and weeds. All of this was cleared at an annual spring cleanup over a ten year period. Vandalism occurred occasionally so my Immanuel friends and I reset all the small headstones and laid them flush with the ground. The cemetery is currently maintained by Wallace Busse, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Immanuel Lutheran Church. I believe that my great-grandparents are the oldest burials in the cemetery. 

The Farm has been operated continuously by four generations of the family for over 130 years. A Centennial Farm plaque was issued by the State of Illinois on 6/29/83. A Pioneer Certificate was given to us by the City of Des Plaines, dated 11/5/84. 

My grandparents, Conrad Moehling (1842-1932) and Emma Sanders (1856-1929) were married 11/25/1875 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Des Plaines. They lived on The Farm until my father and mother were married and needed a home for their own family. My grandparents moved into a house at 36 Park Place, Des Plaines, IL for their retirement until 1927. Then they moved back to The Farm and lived with us when I was a child. My father, Christ G. Moehling lived his entire life on The Farm. 

My Moehling grandparents are both buried in [[Ridgewood Cemetery]], Glenview, IL. There is a large Moehling monument that was originally located in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery but relocated in Ridgewood after my grandmother, Emma, died in 1929. Both grandparents are identified with a head stone showing the name and dates. I still have a receipt dated 12/16/1913 from the Eden Monumental Works, Robert Duthie, Proprietor, for "one Mont. & two headstones set-in Lutheran Cemetery". There was also a "mistake made in the figure O with a guarantee that it will last indefinitely as it is". I must remember to check the lettering next time that I visit the cemetery. 

My father and mother, Christ G. Moehling (1883-1957) and Martha L. Busse (1885- 1959) were married 6/7/1906 at St. John's Lutheran Church in Elk Grove Township. My mother often commented that the Cottonwood tree, west of the Milk House, was shedding cotton seed on her wedding day. I still remember this and think of her every year in early June when the same tree sheds cotton on the entire neighborhood. I also judge the summer season as to whether it is early or late based on when the cotton begins to fall. My mother's family had a large number of descendants. The Busse Centennial Celebration in 1948 exceeded one thousand family members. 

My father was the youngest of three brothers; John, Henry and Chris. My mother was the second oldest of six brothers and a sister; Alfred, Martha, Adolph, Emil, Otto, Fred, Gertrude and Henry. 

My father and mother built a new dairy barn in 1910. I still have the original quotation and paid receipt. The quotation was dated 3/28/1910 and the paid receipt was dated 8/24/1910. John Huebner was the contractor and he resided at 228 Park Place, Des Plaines, IL. The contractor used some of the original hand-hewn oak timbers from the old barn in the new construction with an allowance of $10.00 on a total contract of $1,889.00. The quotation stated, "this bild don't call for roof board cause you said you had that yourself. And also don't call for no painting no cutters no collmum no masson work". 

The old barn was located west of the Triangle, adjacent to Rand Road and on the east side of the present apartment building on Princeton Ave. Location reference: Conrad Moehling's Subdivision, Survey and Subdivision dated 11/10/1904. Several years ago the brick-lined, hand dug well for the old barn was exposed after years of decay of the wood and dirt back fill. 

My father and mother are both buried in the Moehling plot in Ridgewood Cemetery. Their burial lots are northeast of the Moehling monument. My wife, Eleanor Schutz Moehling died in 1976 and was buried in an adjacent lot. Head stones identify the burial locations of all of the above. 

The house on The Farm was already built when the homestead was purchased in 1865. The oldest portion of the house (current guest room and dining room) had floor joists of 6" diameter oak logs with bark intact. We estimate the original construction to date back to 1840. It is my recollection that my father excavated a portion of the basement by hand after the house was built. He did this for potato storage before hauling the crop to the Chicago market in Jefferson Park, IL 

The dairy was discontinued in 1927, but the dairy barn is still standing and is used as a storage building for soybeans, machines and equipment. The large white barn was painted in 1995, and it is in excellent condition. 

The Farm and farm buildings are a constant source of compliments from friends, neighbors and even strangers who stop to inquire and comment. Our pride and appreciation of the family heritage are reflected in the care and maintenance of the property. The layout and location of the house, barn, accessory buildings, mature trees and open field with its 1,650 foot frontage visibility from Rand Road (US 12) is a credit to good planning. 

All of this has taken time, effort and money. My family and ancestors worked hard and long and saved their money to make all of this possible. I'm sure that their hard work and frugality were not for my current enjoyment; it was just a way of life! Farm families would scrimp and save to buy more farmland so that their children would have a farm of their own to earn a livelihood. Farming has not been a hobby! 

Dairying was discontinued in 1927 after 50% of the farm was sold. The remaining land area was too small to support a dairy herd. The farm operation changed from dairy to truck farming after the sale of the dairy cows. Truck farming is defined as the growing of various local vegetables and selling them in the Chicago wholesale markets. The vegetables were sweet corn, onions, tomatoes, melons, pickles, peppers, cabbage, green beans, grapes, squash and pumpkins. My father harvested and sold potatoes prior to WW1 when he was still in the dairy business. 

Field operations changed after WW1 from slow manual/ horse drawn activity to faster tractor-powered plowing, disking and seed bed preparation. Truck farming was also assisted by purchase and use of trucks to haul the fresh produce to the Chicago markets, mainly Randolph Street and the South Water Street Markets. We still own a 11⁄2 ton Diamond T truck, purchased in 1935. 

My sisters, Sylvia Tagge and Erna Gniot (both deceased), assisted in the dairy farming as teenagers. My brother, Elmer and I helped with the truck farming. This was continued until World War II, when both my brother and I volunteered for the armed services. My father and mother continued truck farming on a reduced basis and changed to grain farming on the remainder of the land. 

My father and mother grew up in a period of horse and buggy. Farming was done with horses and by hand. Everything was slow and required heavy labor. Manual labor was the norm, but conditions were changing rapidly. The first farm truck was bought in 1918. It was a Diamond T with solid rubber tires and a hand crank. We had to "tickle" the carburetor (depress the float for extra fuel in the bowl) and set the spark before hand cranking. Occasionally it would back fire and reverse rotation. The truck was built and assembled in Chicago, IL. 

I still remember our first tractor being delivered in 1924. It was a 10-20 McCormick- Deering with heavy steel lugs on the wheels. It was equipped with cups above the cylinders and required priming with gasoline before crank starting. We would crank, start and operate the heavy steel tractor when we were 9 or 10 years old. My father would just specify the next field to prepare for a seed bed and continue planting. We would run the tractor, hook up the equipment and go into the field for a day's work. 

Electricity was installed on The Farm in 1926. In 1938 we bought a F-14 Farmall tractor on rubber tires. It required a demonstration to convince my father that it had the traction to pull two 14" plows. 

Before the 10-20 tractor it took three horses to pull one 12" plow at a slower pace. Two horses would pull a one-row cultivator very slowly and rest on each end of the row. The F-14 was equipped with a two-row cultivator and was capable of running at four miles per hour. It was even equipped with a large sun umbrella that caught everyone's attention in the summertime. During WW2 my father bought a second tractor, a Farmall H, this had a hydraulic system for lifting and setting the cultivator. I think he thought he was in heaven! 

My farming activity was disrupted in 1942. During WW2, I was a pilot in the Air Force. I was shot down over Italy, spent 20 months in a prison camp, qualified for the GI Bill, decided to attend Northwestern U. and received a Degree in Mechanical Engineering in December, 1948. 

After graduation, I was employed by Reynolds Aluminum, McCook, IL for six months. The aluminum plant was built by Alcoa during WW2 and sold to Reynolds after the war by the US government to break up the pre-war Alcoa monopoly. Reynolds incurred a cash flow problem in June, 1949 and laid off their entire Engineering Dept. (sounds familiar even in 1996). 

I started as an Engineer for Clayton Mark & Co. in September, 1949 and retired as a VP, Mark Controls Corp., April 1983. This was a 33 1⁄2 year span but I started and retired in the same office and plant location, Evanston, IL. The company ownership and management changed from a family operation to a corporate organization of world- wide, multiple plant and sales offices. Frequent business travel was required in the United States, Europe and Asia. Mark Controls Corp. is listed on the NYSE. 

Eleanor Schutz (1921 - 1976) and Irv Moehling were married on June 22, 1946 at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Park Ridge, IL. A daughter, Lynda Carol, was born on 7/2/47 and a son, Robert Irvin, was born 10/2/51. We lived in the Edison Park and Norwood Park area of Chicago, IL while I was attending Northwestern U. In 1949 we bought a house at 1704 [[Algonquin Road]] and relocated in Des Plaines, IL. After my mother died in 1959, we moved back to The Farm and I have been living here ever since. 

My father and mother retired in 1951 after condemnation of 12 1/2 acres of The Farm by the local school board for a new K-6 school. They also decided to give a portion of the remaining farmland to their four children: Sylvia, Erna, Elmer and Irv. These real estate gifts were assigned in 1951 as one undivided parcel to Sylvia and Erna and a second undivided parcel to Elmer and Irv. 

The undivided parcel for Elmer and Irv included the large white dairy barn, a brick Milk House and the brick Pig House. Farming was resumed by Elmer and Irv in 1951 on a part time basis. Both of us continued to be employed at our regular full time jobs. We would use our weekends, vacation, holidays and after hours to plow and disk the fields to prepare a seed bed. We would also plant, fertilize, cultivate, hoe weeds and harvest corn and soybeans on The Farm. 

This continued for about four years. In 1955 we finally decided that our personal time was limited and was also required by our young, growing families. We leased the land to other local farmers. In 1955 we still had farmers as neighbors in Des Plaines, IL. 

My father died in 1957 and the house (homestead) was willed, with a restricted lifetime interest for my mother, to my brother and myself. My mother died in 1959 and I purchased my brother's half interest in the house and triangle. 

I was able to lease the farmland from 1955 to 1990. The tenant farmers were: 

*Wallace Busse, Des Plaines, IL 
*Ray Lindeman, Des Plaines, IL 
*Erv Geils, Des Plaines, IL 
*Erv Ahrens, Palatine, IL 
*Harry Knoll, Buffalo Grove, IL 

At this time it is no longer possible to attract a tenant farmer. The area is too small, and the area is too far from the next closest farmer to justify hauling his equipment back and forth. This is the last farm in the middle of an urban area that has developed and spread completely around The Farm and the original homestead. 

I estimate the distance to our closest farmer neighbor at 20 to 25 miles. The distance to the Sears building in downtown Chicago is 18 miles. We are located five miles north of O'Hare Field, the world's busiest airport with 68 million passengers in 1995! 


I have been farming the land again since 1990. This required the purchase of used tractors and equipment including harrows, disc, field cultivator, 6 row crop cultivator, grain drill, pulverizer, rotary hoe, sprayer, combines, grain wagons, grain auger, etc. Each piece of equipment is unique and performs a special task. All of the machines are in excellent condition despite their age. 

Going into farming also requires "know-how". This would not be possible without prior experience and exposure to all the variations of what, when, where, how, who, etc. My major regret is the lack of farmer neighbors for mutual comparison, assist and problem review. I have a sense of isolation farming in the middle of a metropolitan area! 

I appreciate the daily contact with my good friend, Art Amling, who was a florist and understands and can relate to various farm problems. My brother, Elmer, is only a phone call away and is a source of reliable agricultural information. 

The area of The Farm has been reduced thru condemnation or threat of condemnation and the sale of farmland involving my sisters' interests. The family has been involved in seven separate cases of condemnation: 

*1951, Cumberland School. 
*1959, Chippewa School. 1966, Chippewa Park. 
*1966, Cheyenne Park. 
*1966, Sioux Park. 
*1966, area north of Princeton & Stratford, intended for a park but not purchased. 
*1976, Metropolitan Sanitary District, proposed pumping site. 

Beverly Sinclair Bower and Irv Moehling were married on July 30, 1994 at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Des Plaines, IL. Beverly sold her home in New Milford, CT and moved to The Farm. Beverly has three children; Pamela, Steven & Philip, from a former marriage. Bev and Irv presently live on The Farm in the original Moehling homestead in Des Plaines, IL. 

Farm families prior to WW2 were relatively self sufficient in producing food. Local stores existed but they were small family operated units with limited supplies. [[Jewel-Osco|The Jewel]], National Tea, A & P, Kroger, etc. did not appear until the 1930s. They were small and were all located in the downtown Des Plaines area. The local population and general economy could not support the large super markets that we know today. Selection was limited, cereal came from Kellogg's or Quaker Oats. Fruit was bought in a fruit store, meat in a meat market, bread in a bakery, flowers from a florist, milk from a milk station. Food stores carried canned goods and staples, butter came from a tub and was hand weighed, coffee came as a bean that was ground fresh at home, lunch meats and cheese were bought in a delicatessen. 

My mother and teenage sisters would do all of the canning that the family required for an entire year. Canning was done when fruits and vegetables were in season. Sugar was purchased in 100 lb. bags, coffee beans in 50 lb. bags, oranges (for Christmas) were bought by the case on the wholesale market and split among two or more families. Sauerkraut was homemade in 5 gallon crocks and stored in the basement. Potatoes were raised in the garden and stored in the basement for the winter. City families bought potatoes by the 100 lb. bag from the farmers. 

My mother made grape jelly from our own Concord grapes. The jelly was stored in quart size jars and it was delicious. I think we consumed a quart of jelly a week. Karo corn syrup was bought in 1 gallon pails. The empty pails were used for coffee containers for a 9:00a & 3:00p break in the field. The first chore that I can remember was to carry a pail of coffee and a sandwich to my father in the fields. He would share his sandwich with me and we would talk for ten to fifteen minutes. I enjoyed this chore and I think he enjoyed my company. 

Farm families worked hard physically and had good appetites. I don't remember anyone worrying about their diet. Milk was considered the perfect food. Sausages were fat and salty. Fresh fruit and vegetables were limited to the summer and fall seasons. We had pits in the ground to store carrots but the frost got to them by Christmas. Vegetables in winter were all canned. We had a special room with wide shelves to store all of the canned goods in the basement. What a sight! 

Families in the city had ice delivery, milk delivery, fruit wagons, etc. This type of service did not occur in the country. I do remember a home delivery of spices and vanilla extract on a seasonal basis. I believe the company name was Rawleigh. We always welcomed a fresh fish delivery for a change in diet. The fish was White Fish from Lake Michigan, delivery was once a month. We enjoyed the fresh fish but also purchased a smoked fish as a taste treat. My first experience with an appetizer! 

My mother would order baby chicks in the spring and delivery was by parcel post. At one time we had three brooder houses to raise and feed 1,000 chicks. Each chick was picked up by hand and given individual sips of water upon arrival. Mortality rate was very low considering the extended time and method of delivery. The chicks required warmth which was furnished by a brooder stove in each of the 10' x 12' houses. The stoves require attention and were fired with hard coal. My mother would get up during the night to attend to the chicks and stoves. This was in addition to milking, cooking, baking, cleaning, dish washing, laundry, ironing and raising four of her own children. 

The chickens were a source of fresh meat and eggs. Eggs were also sold at our back door to our new neighbors in Cumberland and customers off of Rand Road. Pan fried spring chickens were a taste treat. There is no comparison to anything today including chicken in restaurants. Talk about diets, we use to enjoy egg kuchen made from egg yolks, fried in a pan and topped with fresh strawberries or cherries. We had so much food that it was my daily chore to feed the leftovers to the barn cats. Can you believe 15 to 20 cats? We always had a dog as well as cats and the cats dominated the dog! 

I can just barely remember the dairy. Fortunately I was too small to have to milk the cows. This is a twice a day chore but this is every day! No holiday, no vacations, no weekend, no day off, no sick time. Cows would graze in a pasture but still require feeding in the barn especially in the winter. This is a constant cycle of milking, feeding and cleaning. My family was very religious but they took turns with my teenage sisters to attend church or take care of the cows. 

The milk would be chilled with constant pumping of cold water into a holding tank for the milk cans in the Milk House. The galvanized steel cans required daily washing and sterilizing before use as a storage container. Milk was delivered to the Mt. Prospect railroad station for shipment to Chicago. The milk train was on a slow schedule with numerous long stops to load the milk cans. During the later period, milk trucks made pick ups on the farm yard or along the road right of way. 

The dairy farm required the entire grain and hay crop for feed for the horses, cows, pigs and chickens. We also had ducks and geese as well as a few sheep. I think the sheep were intended for grazing the grass on the current lawn area. The sheep would be shorn to obtain wool but this was not very productive. I sense a certain emotional approach to farming in the past because not very thing was productive. We kept the horses when they were no longer required or useful. We kept feeding chickens when they stopped laying eggs. 

We raised pigs for our own consumption. Pigs were slaughtered in the winter for the hams, chops, ribs, pork loin, bacon, lard, and sausages. This would be an all day activity. Fresh pork, sausages, bacon and hams were stored in the smoke house. This was a simple walk-in freezer in the winter. Occasionally, the family used smoke fires for curing the fresh meat. Lard would be rendered and ladled into 5 gallon crocks for storage in the basement. Lard was used for cooking and baking, it was preferred in making pie crusts. Normally 4 to 6 pigs were raised and butchered each year. 

Corn was husked and picked by hand. Individual cobs were thrown into a wagon and the horses would advance the wagon down the row on verbal command. A wagon load would be unloaded into the corn cribs. Cribs were designed for natural air drying with open slots in the side walls. Corn was shelled as required with a small sheller cranked by hand or engine powered. The time and effort required to harvest corn compared to today's combining operation is unbelievable. 

Small grain such as oats, wheat and barley was raised on the farm. Wheat was ground into flour at local mills for baking bread, cakes, coffee cakes and sweet rolls at home. Oats were feed to the horses, chickens preferred wheat and corn. All three grains were ground into a mash mixture for the cows and chickens. 

Harvesting required a grain binder to cut and bind the standing grain. The bundles would be stacked in shocks to air dry before threshing. Threshing was a multi-farm operation with neighbor farmers working together to gather the sheaves on wagons and pitching them into a threshing machine. The thresher was driven by a long flat belt from a steam engine or later gasoline tractors. 

The straw was blown onto a straw stack and the grain was bagged to transport into a storage bin, usually on the second floor. Nothing was easy including the preparation and feeding of 10 to 20 hungry men, four meals a day. This included meat and potatoes, vegetables, apple sauce, bread and butter and don't forget the pies, cakes, coffee cake and coffee for dessert! 

I'm amazed at how hard everyone worked just fifty to one hundred years ago. This was not just my family, it was almost everyone. A simple thing like laundry was a weekly all day chore. Imagine; no automatic washer or dryer, no electricity, no automatic hot water heater, no detergent and a stack of dirty dusty overalls! 

Dishes required washing and drying after every meal. Most of the clothes also required ironing. Food and meal preparation was a continuous effort. I don't recall the family going to a restaurant for a meal until WW2. When we went swimming or on picnics, food was prepared at home and carried along to the recreational activity. If those were the good old days, I would choose to live now!
[[Category:Family histories]]