More Libraries

I have recently learned that we can add to the list of libraries where you can find THE TENNEY QUILT. They are:

• Ada (MN)
• Concordia College, Moorhead (MN)
• Fargo (ND)
• Leach Public Library, Wahpeton (ND)
• Moorhead (MN)
• Ortonville (MN)
• Willmar (MN)

Check out the list on the bottom of this page (by the book signing events) to get a complete listing of libraries where you can find the book. I will update it as libraries are added.

Hunting Party

I mentioned in my previous post that hunting, fishing, and trapping were common leisurely pursuits by Tenney folks. Just today I came upon this photo of a hunting party of Tenney men. I don't know when it was taken, but somebody could probably tell by the age of the vehicle. I am guessing it was sometime in the late 1930s. The men in the photo are (left to right) Louie Wittman, Pat Murphy, Arthur Kath, and John Polifka.

Louie Wittman had a garage/machine repair garage in Tenney, located just north of the Larson (later Hardie) store. He lived with his wife Minnie and children in a home right next to the Kapitans, behind the fire hall. Pat Murphy's real name was "Allen," but he always went by "Pat." He married Rose Durner, and they lived in Campbell. Art Kath was married to Edna. I don't know if they lived in Tenney, Campell, or in the country. John Polifka was my great grandfather. He ran the Tenney elevator as a young man, and was Tenney's rural mail carrier later on. He and wife Helen lived in a home in the southwest corner of Tenney.

One of the most interesting things to me about this photo is the fact that one can see the town hall (large building), as well as the fire hall (small building) in the background. And if you look closely, the town pump--such an important spot in town--is visible between those two buildings, complete with someone using the pump. This photo would have been taken in front of the Larson or Klugman Store. Considering the current condition of our little town of Tenney, I am always fascinated to see these wonderful old Tenney buildings in their prime. If you have any photos of Tenney's structures as they existed in the first half of the century, I am very interested in seeing them.

Can You See It?

Much has been said about the leisure activities, or lack of them, in Tenney over the years. In a prairie town of two square blocks, one might think it would be difficult to scare up any fun. But in the process of doing research for The Tenney Quilt, whether it be reading the newspapers of the time or talking with people who lived in Tenney during these years, the 1920s in Tenney were anything but boring. Keep in mind, also, that the population of Tenney peaked just after the turn of the century. In the 1920s, though it had already started its decline, Tenney still had 80 people or so, many of whom were children. The town’s energy was very different than it was even in the 30s, 40s and 50s.

The town hall was the site for many people to gather, whether it was for a school program, roller skating, a Friday night dance, election activities, a wedding reception, a pie social, a sing along, or a Royal Neighbors Masquerade Ball. Church events became community events—special services, choir concerts, Christmas programs, and ice cream socials where homemade ice cream was made out on the church lawn and the children got to lick the dashers. Kids played outside all day long in those days, thinking nothing of hiking across a field or two to get to their friend’s home in the surrounding countryside. Groups of young men and women would hike to Tintah or Fairmount to see a movie, or would find someone with wheels and go as a group to Wahpeton or Breckenridge to see a movie or a play.

There was a lighted, fenced tennis court right in town that was sometimes busy “from dawn to dusk,” according to a newspaper entry by Gertie Kapitan in 1928. The Pithey pasture, just across the railroad tracks, served as the town baseball field in the early years. The town even had a traveling horseshoe team that traveled from one town to another to compete. The high school-aged boys played basketball in the town hall, against teams such as Doran, Tintah, and Campbell. All of these provided great spectating opportunities for Tenney’s young and old.

Hunting, fishing, and trapping served not only as leisure activities, but often as a means of providing for a family. Jack rabbits, prairie chickens, ducks and geese, prairie dogs, hawks, weasels, and fox were prevalent in Wilkin County at the time. In 1928 Gene Shaffer, Jack Richardson, George Dopp and Louis Wittman went on an extended deer hunting trip to northern Minnesota. Hunting expeditions were even made to Wyoming and Montana. There were horse pulling competitions, running races and fist fights that never failed to gather a crowd. Special picnics and day trips were sometimes taken to Ten Mile Lake, Stocker Lake, or Shady Dell Resort.

In 1928 a community orchestra was formed, and a young people’s choir was trying to get organized. House parties of various sorts were held often, at a time when visiting neighbors was simply part of one’s daily life. The young people would gather at one of their homes to play cards, most commonly 500, Bunco, or Rook. The woman of the house often made a lunch at midnight, and the young people would make their way home late at night on the safe streets of Tenney. Bridal showers were community events for the womenfolk, and newly married couples were given a chivari. There were community Christmas parties and 4th of July parades.

Saturday nights were especially busy in Tenney. Folks came in to town from the surrounding countryside. Women gathered at the Larson Store to buy groceries and visit while the men gathered at Cliff’s Tavern for card playing, pool, and a glass or two of beer. Children played games in the streets and begged their parents for a nickel to buy ice cream at Cliff’s.

So yes, as the years went by and the young families moved out of Tenney, it is true that Tenney’s streets became much quieter. That is why it is fun to close our eyes and imagine a Tenney teeming with life and energy and the voices of children. Can you see it?

America's Pastime Didn't Bypass Tenney

I heard today from Bill Kath, who'd recently found this website. He is the son of Edward Kath, grandson of William and Anna, and grew up on a farm at the intersection of highway 75 and highway 55, just west of Tenney. Bill was kind enough to send this photograph of a youth baseball team in Tenney. Bill estimated, based on his father's appearance in the photo, that this photo was taken in about 1924. If that is the case, this photo was taken four years prior to the year in which the Tenney Quilt was made. Kind of a cute little bunch, wouldn't you say? From left to right, these young men are: Robert Prichard, Herb Janke, Paul Roser, Andrew Larson, Edward Kath, Ralph Larson, Warren Kapitan, Robert Schmidt, and Orval Wittman. Jimmy Sheik is sitting in the front. If anyone else has identifiable, old-time Tenney photos to share, send them to me at tenneyquilt@yahoo.com, and I'll share them.

Available in Libraries

You don't have to purchase The Tenney Quilt to enjoy it. The following libraries currently have the book in circulation:

• Breckenridge Public Library
• Thorson Memorial Library, Elbow Lake
• Fergus Falls Public Library
• Hancock Community Library (will have soon)
• Mildred Johnson Library, North Dakota State College of Science
• Morris Public Library
• Pelican Rapids Public Library
• Perham Area Public Library
• Wheaton Community Library

It seems to be a long process to get the book into libraries. Please request the book at your local library if you find they do not have it - and - let me know if you see it in any libraries other than those listed above. I don't always know!

Life On The Prairie

The people in this great photo are my maternal great grandparents, Helen and John P. Polifka, Tenney pioneers. I love the way Grandma Helen's arm is comfortably draped around her young husband's shoulder and the way her head is gently tilted and leaning against him. They don't have big smiles, as was usually the case in these old-time photos, but don't you agree they look rather pleased with themselves and each other in a gentle sort of way?

In 1908, Grandpa John and Grandma Helen were operating a general store in Tenney in a building that was in a lot very close to where the "O'Laughlin house" stood. The post office was located in that store and "Johnny" served as Tenney’s postmaster. In addition, he managed one of the two grain elevators in town. He was a busy guy. His good friend, James Hannon, managed the other elevator in town.

During that year of 1908, John Polifka could no longer quell his desire to own his own farm and till his own land. Like many immigrants before him, Johnny was ready to stake his claim, move his family, and make a living off the land. John and Helen had four children at the time: LaVanche, at age nine, was the oldest, and Myrtle was the youngest at age two. Audrey and Clifford fell somewhere in the middle. With his wife and family at his side, along with good friend James Hannon, Johnny moved to his claim near Bison, South Dakota, 60 miles from the nearest railroad at Lemmon, South Dakota. All provisions including wood, household, and farm supplies had to be hauled from the railroad to the homestead by horse and wagon.

The family arrived on the barren prairie late in the fall of 1908, but there was time enough to build a 14 x 24 one-room sod house. John and James built a structure with a wood floor and roof, and the inside was lined with corrugated steel. Sod was then stripped from nearby ravines with a walking plow and used to construct and fortify the remainder of the building. During the raging winter snowstorms, snow sifted in between the walls and the roof but, for the most part, the house was warm and cozy according to daughter LaVanche, who vividly recalled those years on the prairie.

Johnny was able to clear 10 acres of land that fall before the snow fell, and in the spring of 1909, cleared 20 more acres. He and Helen established a fruitful garden of watermelon and muskmelon. They purchased some stock and dug three wells. Things looked promising.

But 1910 brought a change. There was very little rain and their crop was meager. The land was parched, and times were difficult in many ways. They held out through another winter, but 1911 brought no relief. Their three wells went dry, as well as the watering hole for the cattle. There was no crop. Johnny saw no way that his family could survive another year. In July of that hot, dry summer, Johnny packed up his family, left his claim, and moved back to Tenney. He had tried valiantly to make it, but Tenney must have needed Johnny and Helen more. How different our family story would have been written, had Mother Nature been kind to the Polifkas out on the South Dakota prairie!

My parents are the keepers of a precious family photograph taken out on that prairie. The three oldest Polifka children and a few children of neighbors who had moved to the area are standing in front of a building out on that barren prairie which served as its school house. Also present in the photo is the children’s teacher, James Hannon, Johnny’s friend from Tenney. It is a photo that speaks of the heartiness of the first- and second-generation immigrants who came to America seeking a better life. Hardships abounded, yet they made the most of whatever situation God handed them. A visitor who worked at the Swedish Emigrant Institute in Vaxjo, Sweden, saw this photo hanging on the wall at my parents’ home in New London, Minnesota in the 1990s. A family history trip to Sweden with my father and brother in 2005 was special—for many reasons—not the least of which was the experience of seeing a copy of that photo of the Polifka children displayed at the Swedish Emigrant Institute museum. That the Polifkas did not come to America from Sweden was not important. What mattered was the photo’s eloquence in reflecting the immigrant experience of so many who left Europe and made their way to the western frontier to start a new life.

I reflect now on the strength and courage of Grandpa John and Grandma Helen as they stepped into the unknown to follow their dreams. As it turned out, those dreams were only partially realized. They came to understand that sometimes God has an alternate plan. When I think now of how Johnny and Helen, and their children LaVanche, Audrey, Clifford, and Myrtle, became such a part of the fabric of Tenney for many years after their return, I know that the little village of Tenney was the place they were intended to be.

Once back home after South Dakota, the family lived on a rented farm for a period of time, then moved in to town to the home where Helen would live until the 1960s. Johnny went on to establish Tenney’s 26-mile rural mail route and became Tenney’s first rural mail carrier. He passed away in 1947, so I never had the chance to know him. I do remember, however, visiting Grandma Helen in Tenney several times, and in my mind’s eye I can visualize her home, inside and out, on the southwest corner of Tenney.

Grandma’s eyesight became so poor in her later years that independent life became difficult for her. Before she finally went to live with her daughter LaVanche in Glenwood, the Bertsches, who lived next door to her in Tenney kept a good eye on Grandma Helen. They even rigged up a bell system in which Grandma would press a button if she needed help from her neighbors. Marsha (Hardie) Nater mentioned to me that in her later years Grandma Helen would hide money around the house in order to keep it "safe." Then, because her eyesight was so poor and her memory wasn’t much better, she’d call up Opal Hardie to send Marsha over and help her find it :-) Marsha told me that Helen was her favorite person in Tenney.

Bless you, Grandpa and Grandma, for being such an important part of Tenney's history and in the lives our family...

More Voices From Tenney

I recently had the pleasure of participating in some email conversations with Rev. Chuck Cooper, who served the Tenney [and Norcross] congregations from 1978 to 1980. He had the distinction of following Rev. Vern Schendel, who was an “institution” at the Tenney Church for 40+ years. Rev. Cooper had fond memories of Tenney, and shared some of them with me. He stated that the “foreign” car he brought with him to Tenney – a Datsun – was met with a certain degree of suspicion, and no one in the area could fix such a vehicle, so he had to bring it to Willmar. He comically reflected on congregational meetings which consisted of him, as the minister, officially presiding, and the others listening as “the 2 Als” (Al Manthie and Al Hungerford) basically conversed back and forth and conducted the church business.

I have also visited with Elaine Humann when I had a book signing at the Victor Lundeen Book Store in Fergus Falls. Elaine, a delightful person, is a cousin of Idella (Voss) Vorwerk, and was in the Campbell class of 1937 with Victor Kath. Elaine reminded me of four other people (besides the names I mentioned on a previous post on this blog) whose names appear on the quilt and who are still living. They are Lois Wittman Tracy, who lives in Fairmount, ND; Doris Janke Wawers, who lives in Breckenridge and Arizona; Elaine Grans Halls, who lives in Arizona; and Gereta Kath, who lives in Breckenridge.

Elaine also helped me solve the mystery of one of the names that appeared on the quilt. The name that appeared on the quilt appeared to be Esther “Hanberg,” when in fact it was Esther “Hassberg,” who was from Campbell. This occurred with several names during the course of my book research. The names are either unclear as written (embroidered) on the quilt, or are simply spelled wrong by the person who did the embroidery. In a time when most communication was done verbally rather than in the written form, it was not at all uncommon for people to not know how their own neighbor’s name was spelled—only what it sounded like.

Shirley (Pithey) Schlecht, daughter of Harry and Mae Pithey, told me that she was in first grade in the Tenney School when she moved out of the area with her family. She shared that she had so many fond memories of Tenney and its people. I heard from Durelle Pithey, who was married the James Pithey, also the offspring of Harry and Mae Pithey. James is now deceased, but Durelle enjoyed reading about the names that he mentioned so frequently from his years in the Tenney area.

I enjoyed hearing the reminiscences of Doris (Janke) Wawers, who was the daughter of F.G. ("Jim") and Myrtle Janke, who farmed just west of Tenney. It was particularly fun to hear of her stories of my grandfather’s store, The Larson Store, in Tenney. Doris recalled the times when she went in to the store with her mother to buy groceries. My Grandpa A.N. would allow Doris to write up the grocery slip and add up the numbers, I suppose to make Doris feel very important, as well as to give her some practice with her reading, writing, and arithmetic. Doris said that, one time after they had returned home from the store, she recalculated the prices and learned that she had made an error. Horrified, she and her mother went right back in to town that moment and took care of the situation and Doris was mighty relieved that my grandfather took the situation in stride.

Doris reported that her mother Myrtle was an excellent seamstress and made all of her clothes. She never owned what she referred to at that time as a “boughten” dress until she was a sophomore in high School. Doris recalled her mother sewing dresses for some of the other girls in town such as Lois Wittman, Alice Jacklitch, and Lillian Iler. When the Tenney Ladies Aid was working on a particular project to make articles of clothing for the poor in Africa or some other benevolent activity, they would say, “Myrtle, you make the first one, and we’ll all copy it.”

Dawayne Novak, son of Fritz and Leona Kath Novak, recalled going in to the Larson Store where there was a gumball machine. If the kids putting the coin into the gumball machine were lucky enough to get a yellow gumball with red stripes, they could turn it in to Mr. Larson for a free nickel treat.

Thank you so much, all of you, for these and many other reminiscences of our little town of Tenney. Please keep them coming!

Tenney's Moment of Fame

Pardon my hiatus from blog-writing. The craziness of balancing a demanding full-time job, a home, family, and a boat load of book promotion events resulted in the need for a little get-away, so my husband and I have been vacationing in the Caribbean over the past week. The cruise was great, and we had some great snorkeling adventures. For those of you who have been on a cruise, you will understand when I say that the floors of my house are still moving, and this morning I felt as if the entire church was afloat. I am hoping my land legs return soon.

Marsha (Hardie) Nater was kind enough to send me a DVD copy of the May 1989 “Good Company” show which highlighted Tenney’s ten residents. Marsha likened the buzz that’s been created by my book, The Tenney Quilt, with the buzz that was created on May 23, 1989 when Tenney was declared as “the smallest town in Minnesota.” The little town of Funkley in northern Minnesota had officially been declared as such by WCCO Radio (Minneapolis-St. Paul); however, KSTP-TV found out that Tenney was truly the smallest, and decided to make amends.

The TV station sent a limousine out from the Twin Cities to pick up the entire population of Tenney, whom I have to believe were jittery with excitement at the time. There was apparently a “send-off” in Tenney for those departing in the limo, though it would have had to be other family members and friends doing the sending off, since the entire population was in the limo.

The Tenney bunch was wined and dined in the Cities, then appeared on the “Good Company” television show which aired from the Valley Fair Amusement Park in Shakopee. First, the group ate in their own private dining room at the Radisson St. Paul Hotel. They were then given a tour of the Summit Avenue mansions in St. Paul, they stood on the steps of the state capitol, they wandered through the sculpture garden at the Walker Art Center, and then had a ride on the “Josiah Snelling” river boat on the Mississippi River, traveling from Harriet Island to Fort Snelling and back. The Tenney folks saw the Metrodome and toured the Minneapolis lakes area in their limousine. Governor Perpich declared that day “Tenney Day” in Minnesota, and the group was presented with a plaque to commemorate this declaration.

Al and Lou Manthie, Opal Hardie, Al Hungerford, Lorraine Church, Willie Rossow, Marian Harrington and Leo Berg were given quite a bit of air time on the TV show, an event that is priceless now to those of us who are always seeking ways to learn more about Tenney, its people, and its history. Several of the Tenney folks answered the question about what they liked about Tenney with “it’s quiet.” The men, with their plaid shirts, sport jackets and seed caps, and the women in their blouses, polyester slacks and sensible shoes, honestly looked a bit dazed by all the hoopla.

The event lives on in the memory of many people who remember the “buzz” that it created. Many of you may also be aware that the pint-sized population of Tenney is memorialized in a photo of the group taken on the steps of the Tenney Church [which appeared in the book, Our Smallest Towns: Big Falls, Blue Eye, Bonanza and Beyond by Dennis Kitchen-1995). That photo now hangs in the Lake Wobegon Store in the Mall of America.