1880 Federal Census has him as age 53 born abt 1827 rather than abt 1822 from 1870's.

Residence: Bet. 1870 - 1880, Town of Wauwatosa, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Henrietta is now younger at age 41 in 1880, b. abt 1838.

Marriage: Abt. 1863

Augusta lived all of her life on the Anton Schmidt farm on 76th and Capital. She and Herman Gruett bought if from the Schmidt estate.

A sweater, kinder person could not be found than Aunt Gustir. True of all the Schmidt girls, folks said they were gentle, quiet, loveable and loving, with patience often equal to a saint. Herman Gruett was a good man; yet there was tragedy in this family. July 4, 1930, when Arthur learned of his mother's terminal cancer, he committed suicide by hanging. Then in 1952, with apparently everything to live for, some undue pressure caused Emerette to hang herself at age 48. After Herman and Augusta quit farming, Emerette's husband, Emil Krueger, started a hardware store at the corner of 76th and Capital Drive. The entire corner, where the buildings stood, in now a shopping center.

Marriage: 31 Mar 1894, Milwaukee County Vol. 26, p160, Wisconsin

Occupation: 1900, Saloon Keeper

Residence: 1900, 24 1/2 St., Milwaukee Ward 20, Ed 184, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Occupation: 1910, Grocer - Groceries

Marriage: 22 Apr 1899, Milwaukee County Vol. 31, p160, Wisconsin

I am short on specific information on this family.

I would estimate Uncle Fred's birth year as being 1867 (Dad was born in 1871 and he told me that Fred was 4 years older). Exactly when Fred came to America I don't know. It was, however, before Dad's coming. He settled in Milwaukee.

It would appear that Fred's marriage to Elizabeth Gruett was in 1890 or 1891. I also understand that the Justmann home at 489 39th Street was built prior to 1900.

There were 3 children from this marriage (Ervin, Fred Jr. and Hattie).

I know that Uncle Fred died at a rather early age, probably the aftermath of an accident with a Soo Line passenger train. During the years of 1915 to 1918 I was a student at a public school about 2 blocks from the Justmann residence. Many times I had noon lunch with Aunt "Lizze". She was already a widow in 1915.

In 1927, Fred Jr., Frieda and I drove to Manistee, Michigan in Fred's car. My return trip to Milwaukee was by train (Manistee to Niagara Falls, Cleveland and Chicago).

In the years following the Manistee trip, I was away from Milwaukee much of the time. Accordingly, I just got "out of touch".

If my memory is correct, Fred Jr. passed away in 1935 or 1936. I don't know about Erv or Hattie.

ELMER JUSTMANN

Marriage: 11 Jul 1891, Milwaukee County, Vol. 23, P227, Wisconsin

The youngest of Anton Schmidt's children was Laura. Her youngest daughter, Mildred, wrote a brief story about her mother. Mildred wrote: "She had such a wonderful outlook on life that nothing was ever so bad that it couldn't have been worse. It certainly seems to help ease the hurts -- be they large as death of a loved one, or small as a scratched knee. She made us believe that behind each dark cloud there was always a silver lining, for God watched out for each one of us.

Laura (my mother) married Emil Gruett (my dad), a brother of Herman. This made Aunt Augusta's family and our family especially close. Also, to add to the closeness of the families -- Dad's youngest brother, Charlie, married Uncle John Schmidt's daughter, Laura. This made her our aunt and everyone else's cousin. Trying to explain this relationship to outsiders, even our own husbands, was just too complicated; and children couldn't understand who was who in the Gruett/Schmidt relation.

Dad was a farmer most of his life. After renting quite a few farms around the area, he bought the old Gruett homestead on Lisbon Road and 100th Street. (Uncle Chas later remodeled the house into a flat and moved it to the road where it still stands). It was only 20 acres, but Dad always rented a few other small farms around. We never had a tractor, for he insisted that "the tractor will never replace the horse, for it wrecks the soil". But the folks made a pretty good living even doing everything the hard way. Why Dad decided to retire at the early age of 55 years, I don't know, but real estate was selling well and they sold the farm and it was subdivided.

Two years later, Uncle Fred Schmidt built us a new home in Wauwatosa on 81st and Wright Street. Dad only lived three years to enjoy this new home and retirement, as he died at age 60 years. But he enjoyed sitting in the sunroom and had neighbors, young and old, over to chat. To my knowledge Dad never had any hobbies besides farming, so he just sat all winter and in summer did a little gardening or help some friend on a farm.

My folks were members of the Old Friedens church on 124th and Capital Drive. Dad was the treasurer as long as I can remember. Mother was always busy with Ladies Aid. Marion played the organ. Harold later took Dad's post as treasurer. Sunday morning meant Sunday School and church. I don't think they ever worked on Sunday, except to do the chores.

Sundays were company days. Not many Sundays went by without someone visiting. Even all summer, some city cousin would spend the summer with us, or we would go to Aunt Emma and Uncle Fred Boeshaar's (or some other aunt) for our vacation. Those vacations at Aunt Emma's were the high light of my summer. Their home ran on such a routine compared to ours. Every morning the ice man came, the milkman came, and then Aunt Emma would take her basket and we would walk to the butcher, grocery, and fruit store. Dinner time was so different than the farm. We ate in the dining room with a white tablecloth, good dishes and silver. One thing I remember especially. Uncle Fred always was set two cups and saucers, as he liked his coffee cooled. At night, his evening was spent playing solitaire, cracking nuts and eating fruit. He would give me a nickel each evening to be spent at the Rainbow Sweet Shoppe. (This was next door to the Rainbow Nickel movie house). One of the big things each time we went there, we would run to the sunroom where we would run our hands down the sides of Uncle Fred's nap chair, and always come up with a few coins.

Harold worked for years for a livery company as a professional chauffeur. This company had a contract with most funeral directors, so most of Harold's work was driving for funerals. Even though he retired in 1973, he still drives almost every day. His wife, Edna, is also semi-retired but works a few days a week at Drews Variety Store. They have two sons. Glen is married to Mary Jane, a former teacher, and he works as an electrical engineer at Allis Chalmers. Wayne lives in Illinois and is working for his commercial pilot's license. His wife, Eileen, was a secretary, but both girls now have new babies to keep them busy.

Marion married Harold Funking, a Wauwatosa fireman. She had worked at Marshall Fields for 16 years. They are both retired and enjoying their hobbies. Their daughter, Pat, was a teacher until her marriage to Rowland, 'Rich', a programmer for the State of Pennsylvania. Their home is in Mechanicsburg, PA. Two lucky, little twin boys were adopted by Pat and Rich. Donald followed his father's footsteps and became a fireman (in Milwaukee). His wife, Joanne, works at Marshall Fields. They have two grade school children.

My family includes my husband, Walter Jensen, who is a maintenance foreman at the A & P warehouse, and our two children, Laurel and Brian. Laurie (named after her grandmother) works in an office and was married to Bruce Ellenson, October 18, 1975. Bruce works in a local bank. Brian, still in high school, wants to go to W.C.T.I. to train to be an auto-body man. We have lived in Waukesha for most of our married life. Wally says, "I married a farmer so I had to move to the country," because our home is on the outskirts of town; but he loves it as much as the children and I do. Although I am just a housewife now, occasionally I work as a bookkeeper, the job I had before I married.

Life has been good to my whole family. Even though bad times and disappointments have come to us, we always remember Mother's outlook and feel things could have happened worse. I thank God that he gave me such wonderful parents.

Burial: Jan 1944, Pinelawn Memorial Park, Milwaukee

Marriage: 12 May 1904, Milwaukee County Vol. 35, p486, Wisconsin

Burial: Feb 1953, Wisconsin Memorial Park, Brookfield, Wisconsin

Occupation: Farming-Music Store

Laura and Charlie Gruett started married life on the old Gruett homesie at 98th and Lisbon Road, then moved to the Boorse farm on Wauwatose Ave. and Hampton. What was so special about living on the Boorse farm? Perhaps I would never have heard of it, if it hadn't been for the Big Auto Races in Milwaukee in 1912. The race track went along the side of Laura's farm. The whole family had ring side seats. These races left an indelible impression on Elmer, then ten years old, who spent the whole week with his sister Laura, to watch preparations and all three days of the races. About 1914, Charley moved to the Vogel farm on Highway 100. They lived here until 1924 when they gave up farming to start a music store in Milwaukee. Charlie did carpentry and finally went to work at the Falk Corp. After several moves, they came back to the old Gruett home, where they started a roadside business of flowers and vegetables. Laura was naturally gifted with artistic talent, proven by her floral arrangements and cross-stitch aprons she made. (Gilbert's son James must have inherited some of this talent for he has his own floral shops in Maryville, Ohio.)

Charlie, although by nature a farmer and hard-worker, loved to visit. His jovial good-nature attracted and held customers at their stand. Laura's home was always a popular congregating center in our relation. There was always good meals, music and good times at the Gruetts. Charlie built a new house on the old homesite shortly before he died in 1953. Laura moved to an apartment in Oconomowoc. She died of an accidental fall at Loretta's house while on a holiday visit, July 4, 1970.

Levi, the oldest son, officially changed his name to LeRoy, when he started high school. LeRoy was a talented young man in engineering, music, photography and many fields. He died at age 44 of a heart attack.

Burial: Jul 1970, Wisconsin Memorial Park, Brookfield, Wisconsin

Marriage: Abt. 1905