Henry, my grandfather, was a farmer by trade. He raised cotton as the money crop. When he was still living at home he helped his dad with the farming. On one occasion he had taken a bale of cotton to get it ginned and he brought the seed back home as it was used to feed the cattle. As he approached the gate with his wagon he saw Fred his step brother near by. Henry not wanting to get off the wagon yelled at Fred to open the gate. For some reason Fred did not want to open the gate and most likely didn't as Henry gave Fred, according to uncle Arthur, a good threshing. I suppose that meant a good beating. Needless to say this irritated Henry's new mother very much and she took up for her son Fred. Henry was not happy over this incident so he thought it over and told his dad he wanted to leave home. He ventured by horse to Kyle, which is about a 40 mile trip. After he arrived in Kyle he was interviewed by J A. Heidenreich for a job. The job that Henry got was to dig post holes. The holes had to be 2 ft. deep and he would be paid 1 cent per hole. This of course meant lots of hard work since the Heidenreich farm was very rocky. The first day on the job Henry dug 100 holes so he made a dollar plus his meals. Don't you know Grandpa was tired at the end of that day. I figured he was around 24 at this time. Grandpa also worked for other men in the community. No one seems to know were he lived. Maybe Mr. Heidenreich gave him his room and board. After he was in Kyle for sometime Henry started dating Mary Heidenreich daughter of J.A. Heidenreich. Their courting days were mostly spent in the living room of the Heidenreich home. but many times they were interrupted by Uncle George and Aunt Lydia. In 1890 at the age of 26 Henry married Mary Heidenreich.
Grandpa along with men from the church built a house 2 miles east of the Immanuel Baptist Church. This place is known as the Fritz Germer place. He cleared this land with two yoke of oxen and a lot of hard work. In fact one day he had worked the oxen so hard that when they came to some water the oxen just lay down in the water. It seems as if Grandpa was truly a hard working man--- a characteristic that has been passed on to his children and to quite a few of his grandchildren.
After living near Maxwell for 14 years Grandpa decided to move to higher ground. He bought 275 acres of land which currently is where Uncle Walter & Aunt Minnie Jo live. He bought this land from the Mitchell Brothers and paid $35.00 per acre. To purchase this land Grandpa sold the 100 acres at Maxwell for $51.00 per acre. This made a good down payment and the remainder was paid when the crops were gathered. In order to build the two story house, Grandpa went to the Kyle bank to borrow the money. Mr. Gross at the Kyle Bank evidently was unable to make a $2000.00 loan so he recommended the bank in San Antonio were his brother worked. The money was borrowed from the Gross National Bank in San Antonio and was paid back the following fall.
Most of the children of Henry and Mary were born in Maxwell with the exception of Mary, Charlie and Esther. They were born in the two story house near Kyle.
Grandpa was a very strict man. His children knew they had to obey. No talking was allowed during meal time and plates had to be cleaned. This not only went for the children but hired hands as well. In fact one day Grandpa scolded the hired hands for leaving the crusts of bread on their plates. He told them, My children eat the crusts and I expect you to too.
One of the biggest occasions in Grandpa and Grandma’s lives was when they celebrated their silver wedding anniversary in 1916.
In 1917 at the age of 45 Grandma passed away. In 1918 Willie and Arthur were drafted into the army This was all very hard on Grandpa. First loosing his wife and then having two sons to leave home to enter the service of their country. Uncle Willie and Uncle Arthur stayed together the entire time they were in the service.
Grandpa was a sincere Christian man. He was a Sunday School teacher for the young mens class and also served as deacon. He believed in obeying the Sabbath. He did not believe in selling anything on Sunday. He made one exception to this rule and that was to sell milk if parents needed it for their children. A number of people at that time did not have an ice box to keep the milk so it was necessary to buy it each day.
Grandpa owned a 1921 Buick but never learned to drive, although he did accomplish the shifting of the gears. He enjoyed this car very much. His sons drove him were he wanted to go. The boys liked to use the car but hesitated to ask permission for it, so they put their baby sister up to the asking. Esther would go to her dad and sorta stand around and right away he knew she wanted to ask him something. He would call her by one of his favorite nicknames and ask what she wanted. “Esther what was that nickname?” One time Grandpa was quite worried about his car getting damaged by a hail storm. One of his sons had borrowed the car to go to a recital at the Hemphill School. “Uncle Emil would you like to comment on this now or after the program?”
In 1920 Grandpa remarried. His new bride was Martha Jureges of Greenvine, TX. In 1924, at the age of 59 Grandpa passed away. I think we can all be proud to have had this man as father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

Dorine Losh
Given at the Schmeltekopf Reunion 1977

Most of this information was obtained from Uncle Arthur, Uncle Charlie visited with Uncle Arthur and took notes during their conversation.