THE DIRTY 30'S

I recently read a book "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy EGAN that was eye opening to me about the Dust Bowl years. 

Source: Amazon

Growing up in the wheat and cattle areas of Montana and North Dakota, I remember people mentioning the Dust Bowl and how it changed farming methods in the western plains.  But I never really connected it to my own family - after all, in the 1930's my parents and their families were in Lancaster County - the Dust Bowl was half a continent away.

After reading this book, and finding and watching the 1936 film, "The Plow That Broke the Plains" the light bulb suddenly went off in my head. My grandparents would have read articles in the newspaper and listened to news broadcasts on the radio that included references to the Dust Bowl. 

So... fast forward to 1960 when my father announced he was going to Bible college in Omaha, Nebraska, and he and mom would be moving.  To my maternal grandparents, this was not only an awful sin by removing family members from being within a few miles of each other, but for them (both from farming families) it would have brought back the awful news headlines they saw about the Dust Bowl.

It also explains to me why they made frequent drives from Lancaster County out to see us wherever we happened to be that summer: Montana, North Dakota, Idaho, or Nebraska.  Did we have enough to eat, what was our clothing situation, how far away was the doctor, etc.??? 

It explains Pappy talking to farmers in the area, looking and feeling the dirt, and staring at the wide distances of grass and sky.  He was fascinated with the openness of the prairies, Grandma found it very scary. Aunt Emma rode out with them one summer and could not believe we actually had running water and a toilet in our house.

I personally have many good memories of growing up "out West" during my childhood. The vastness, the blue sky, the wildness and individuality of people, the beauty of the plains and Rocky Mountains, etc. 

Yes, I saw the lack of trees. Yes, I saw the dirt blowing around on really windy days but to me the Dirty 30's were of little interest in my day-to-day life. But now I understand my grandparents concern about our life away "out West".

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

FRANK RESSLER'S SONS COMMENT ABOUT PTSD

FRANK RESSLER'S SONS COMMENT ABOUT PTSD

Frank & Bertha RESSLER had 4 sons: Clarence, Andy, Victor, and Charles and all saw battle - I believe in WWII. They all married, had jobs or their own businesses, and seemed to have adjusted to civilian life fine - at least from what I could see. None were drunks, drug addicts, wife or child beaters, etc.  They just seemed to be settled, responsible community members.

Source: personal collection

During my teen years in the 1980's when Vietnam and Vietnam vets were still spoken of as if they were curse words, I was privileged to overhear a few comments by my gr-uncles as they discussed "the war". 

When there was a break in their conversation, I quietly asked what did they think the cause was for the Vietnam vets coming back and having such adjustment problems back into "real" life? By the looks on their faces, this was something they had discussed among themselves before.  

Uncle Andy was the spokesman for the response, which started as "troop ships" and continued from there when I said I did not understand. Uncle Andy explained what a troop ship was and basically said that they blamed the majority of the "battle fatigue" (now PTSD) issue on the soldiers being flown back from the war and dropped back into civilian life and just told to adjust. 

They felt that the benefit of troop ships was that the soldiers were with others who had experienced the same or similar things while in the war, and because the trip across the ocean took a week or two, the soldiers were able to cry, weep, scream, be angry, be scared, occasionally have minor fist fights, etc. with others who completely understood.  

The soldiers were counseling themselves and able to get much of the emotions out before they were returned to "real" life. Was bringing back soldiers on troop ships a cure all? "Absolutely not" was the response, but they felt it was a big help to both the soldiers and their families when comparing WWII vets to Vietnam vets.

Source: National Archives

Another thing they pointed out was that America as a whole was proud of its' soldiers from WWI and WWII. Vietnam vets are/were looked at by many as being somehow not really soldiers or maybe even as just plain killers. The attitude was different, and they felt that also made it hard for Vietnam vets to adjust back into life.  

I wish I could have recorded the entire conversation. I never heard any of the four speak of their time in the military again and they are all dead now, but I am so thankful they took time to answer a curious teenager's questions about something that I really had no understanding of.

This conversation changed my view entirely about being patriotic to America and viewing all veterans as people and thanking them for their service to our country every chance I can.  

This is also why I refuse to watch NFL or knowingly buy products from their sponsors - those spoiled bratty NFL players would not have the right to be disrespectful to our country and our veterans if those same veterans had not fought so the NFL players could have the right to kneel during America's national anthem. 

Yes, it is a quiet protest, but they need to be thankful and respectful for those who shed their blood or gave their lives so that they can act like spoiled 3-year-olds fighting over toys in a toy box. 

Personally, it is my right to state that if the NFL players cannot be respectful to this country and our veterans, then I think they should be fired.  Believe me, they are lucky to be in America because no other country would tolerate their crap.

It cannot be stated enough: Thank the veterans you know for the rights you have and for their sacrifices to maintain your rights.

All the content writing and photos of this post is my own unless I state otherwise.

RESSLER, JACOB - HIS WILL

1843 - PG. 1

1843 - PG. 2

Source: METZGER, Madeline M.    The RESSLER Family: descendants of Johann Heinrich ROESSLER, born in Germany ca. 1730.  Published 1994.  This book is available from the LDS Family History Library or I physically was able to use it for research at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society in 2017.

RESSLER, JOHANN (JOHN) - HIS WILL

Source:
METZGER, Madeline M.  The RESSLER Family: descendants of Johann Heinrich ROSSLER, born in Germany ca. 1730  published 1994. This book is available thru the LDS Family History Library, or I physically was able to use the book for research at the Lancaster Mennonite History Society in 2017.

BREIDENTHALL LETTERS CONCERNING RESSLER FAMILY

1970 pg. 1

1970 pg. 2

I found the above translation of a letter about the RESSLER family in among Grandma Garner's papers.  Over the years I have also seen it in other places.  I have never seen the letter that this is the response to or the original German version. I believe Grandma had this because she helped her cousin Nina BREIDENTHALL gather together all the documentation that Nina needed to join the DAR back in the 1960's.  However, in the same envelope were the following pieces of paper, obviously some kind of continuing correspondence regarding family history. Remember to click on the image to make it easier to read.

GARNER, REBA - HER LIST OF BIRTHDAYS

My grandma, Reba (RESSLER) GARNER was great about remembering birthdays and holidays of friends and family - she sent cards out for all of them.  I found this list among mom's papers, but it is Grandma's hand writing.  There is no date or greeting.

The list covers birth dates for my Pappy's (Ralph GARNER) siblings, parents, and paternal grandparents:

Benjamin GARNER & Cora Mae GROFF married April 14, 1906

Ralph Groff GARNER   Aug. 5, 1906
Mary E GARNER          Dec. 29, 1908
Ella Mae GARNER        Nov. 29, 1910  (my note: married name ROOP)
Clyde J. GARNER         July 25, 1913
Lester C. GARNER       May 28, 1915

Benjamin Franklin GARNER       Aug. 20, 1885
Cora (GROFF) GARNER                   Aug. 13, 1887

Ben's parents:
Charles GARNER 1863 - died 1943
Elizabeth Musser (MUSSELMAN) GARNER 1864 - died 1925  (my note: MUSSER was her mom's maiden name)

GARNER, RALPH - HEALTH ISSUES 1967

As I was going thru the boxes of letters and photos trying to organize it, I ran across a letter written by Pappy (Ralph GARNER) to mom (Pauline APPLEBACH). I had never seen him write anything so this letter was special simply from that perspective.  I also found the letter from mom (Pauline APPLEBACH) that Pappy (Ralph GARNER) was responding to.  Thought I would put both on here simply to share.  I remember Pappy reading the newspaper and his Bible without problems, obviously writing was not easy.

Mom's letter to her folks was four pages long, below is the paragraph asking about Pappy's health. It is dated 10 May 1967. It's hard to read because of the thin paper and being written on both sides:

"In June's letter (meaning June KANN, sister of Jim APPLEBACH) she said she stopped at Watt & Shand's (Lancaster department store where Grandma (Reba GARNER) worked) to see you Tuesday and you weren't there. Another saleslady said Daddy (meaning Ralph GARNER) was sick....How is Daddy? Was he sick or is he sick? What is wrong? Get one of the kids to write if you can't."

Pappy responded on 20 May 1967:

"Dear Pauline.....I am Felling [feeling] Better naw [now] I was at the Dactar [Doctor] Friday and he said that I could go to work Monday = 22 He said brake [broke] a blood vesell [vessel] in my nose they did treatedit [treatment] with a electric rod At [at] Dactar [Doctor] Harnish office felling [feeling] much better naw [now] hope this find[s] yous all well naw [now] the wether [weather] here is 70 To day mother (I think he means Reba) can walk better naw [now] with ______ Daddy my test all came out ok no Hart[heart] trubell [trouble] my blood cant [count] all right sais [says=] Dr = Atkins"

A side note: around this time, grandma fell and broke her hip so I think that is what is being referred to "mother can walk better".