My parents were John Henry Boldt, born in Memrick, Russia, and Elizabeth Funk born in Samara, Russia. Mom and Dad met and married in Paraguay. My siblings were Jake, Elizabeth, Helen, Anna, Johanna and a half sister Tina. Tina’s mother – our father’s first wife – and Tina’s three sisters died in the typhus epidemic. My father helped deliver me at my birth in 1936; there were no doctors, nurses or midwives in our village at that time.
I remember helping Mother with the laundry when I was about five years old. Doing the family laundry was a four-day procedure. On Monday, day one, the laundry was soaked outdoors in a large tub filled with cold water. On day two, water was heated in a three foot high barrel, which sat outside on a circle of cement blocks. The fire material was either peanut straw or logs, depending on the time of year. We grated our homemade soap and added it to the water. A Stuckmaschine (hand-held agitator) was used. On day three, the previous day’s procedure was repeated. Then the laundry needed to by wrung out by hand and put into five tubs of cold water to rinse. On day four, the laundry was hung to dry. If it was raining, one needed to wait for the next day. Day five was ironing day. Heated coals were put into the iron; this heat lasted about two hours, enough time to do the good shirts, etc. The bedding was ironed with two mangles.
We lived in Village #6, Fernheim. A wide street ran through the centre with seven houses on each side. Each family’s land was located behind their homes. We grew peanuts, corn, cotton, manioca, sweet potatoes, watermelon, muskmelon and white beans. Whenever we were out of food mom prepared sweet potatoes and as a result I dislike them to this day! Dad was a distributor for these products, took orders and delivered them by wagon. Purchases were weighed on a scale. Two days monthly Dad picked up flour and yard goods at the end of the rail line called Enjbon.
Village #6 had no electricity at that time. We filled deep saucers with used tallow; heavy side seams from old work pants were saved and used for candlewicks. If one had good eyes and sat near a candle, one could read in the evening hours. On quiet evenings, the candles were used outside.
Mother had epilepsy and needed assistance whenever she had a convulsion. There were no medications available. I remember an occasion when Mom had a convulsion while she was bathing baby sister Ann. At that time, tongue depressors were used on epileptics. By that time, Doctors Neuschwander and Schmidt worked at the Leper station but it was too distant for us as we travelled by cow and wagon.
We had three Mennonite denominations in the area, namely Alliance, which our family attended, the Mennonite Brethren, and the General Conference Mennonite. On the first Sunday of every month, the people in our village travelled to the Alliance Church in Village #11 where Reverend Schartner was pastor. We took our noon lunch with us and socialized during the afternoon. On the second Sunday of every month services were held in our village of Fernheim. On the third Sunday, the young people gathered in different churches; on the fourth Sunday each village had services in their own schoolhouse. In this way, we became acquainted with a large group of people.
Father was in charge of area funeral arrangements. After a death, he needed to cut down a bottle tree, whose shape and size were ideal for coffins. Firstly, the tree needed to be cut in two lengthways. The tree’s interior was pulpy and could be hollowed out by hand. Then the open ends were closed with boards. If the family could not afford to dress the corpse in a good outfit, they were simply covered with a sheet.
Homes were built of wood with grass roofs. Our home had two rooms which consisted of one bedroom for the parents and one bedroom for the children. All cooking, eating and entertaining took place outdoors. Later, Father added a storage area. Screen doors and windows were not affordable for all families. One night we heard our mother screaming because a rattle snake had crawled into their bed. Our family was fortunate that we were never bitten by a snake. We could tell the age of the snake by the number of rattles it had. Our homes had mud floors. We mixed milk from a cow that had recently calved with cow manure. This mixture was spread on our floors, producing a glossy finish.
The school was in the centre of our village. We had about 25 students in our school. I remember that David Vogt was our teacher; the teachers were always men. We had big swings outside. Lessons were instructed in High German with a one-hour Spanish lesson per week. Low German was spoken in the home.
Cows were butchered every week in Filidelfia. It was a half day’s drive away. Families ordered the meat ahead. It needed to be cooked immediately, put into pails and lowered into the well to keep cold. In 1946 Dad built us a kitchen with shelves for milk. Butter was made outside and needed to be stored in the well or sold immediately.
Our dad was a well-digger. First, the wooden form was built; the digging was done by hand with a spade inside this form. As the digging progressed, the form was lowered. The soil was put on burlap and raised when full. After about 60 feet, water would appear. If it had a salty taste, the entire process was futile. There were two wells in our village until Dad dug one on our property, making it three. I remember one day when a neighbour came to say that Mr. Klassen had been buried in a well. My dad and brother Jake went to help dig him out but it was too late.
In 1953, our family left Paraguay. First we travelled to Filidelfia with horse and wagon, then in a truck to Argentina to our Uncle Jacob Boldt’s, then down the river on a water plane to the airport. We flew to Toronto, Canada and took a train as far as Chatham, Ontario where Bill Neufeld’s family picked us up and took us to Leamington. We moved into a house on North Talbot Road. Bill told us to speak English only. Bill and Dad were first cousins.
Three years later, when I was 20, our family moved to St. Catharines. Brother Jake was going to Bible School there and found a house for our family. Father opened a Christian Book Store in our home.
In 1961, I met Gary Toews of Leamington. We married in 1962 and raised three children. Today we have seven grandchildren.
AK 2008
