Great Uncle August Schmidt

Great Uncle August Schmidt

August Schmidt was born on April 13, 1889 in Shitomir, Volhynia, Ukraine  (or Bessarabia) to Ludwig Schmidt and Helene Mueller.  He was the third of three sons (Herman, Wilhelm, and August).

He left Bessarabia, probably with Herman, and the two managed to "escape" using the passports given to them by a woman who had lost two sons fighting in the Russian Army.  The German immigrants had been promised that they would not have to fight in the Czar's army, along with other promises that were not kept. Herman had previously tried to escape but was caught and returned.  The two were attempting to avoid having to serve in the Czar's army, and were finally successful.

They first probably went to Hamburg, and travelled by ship to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in 1911.  They spent  some time in Winnipeg, then moved to Birch Lake, Saskatchewan where Herman and his wife Mary Tobert acquired a homestead.  One of Mary Tobert's brothers also had a nearby homestead.

At some point both Wilhelm (Bill) and August changed their last names to Smith.  This was almost certainly to avoid the animosity of the Canadians toward the Germans during that time.  Bill told of being harassed in line while getting his homestead, with others pushing ahead in line, and getting first choice of land available.  He also told of having his hat pulled off and being called derogatory names.  When he finally got to the head of the line, he gave his name as Smith.

After some kind of family dispute, August left Canada and settled in Michigan, where he met and married Mariana (Mary) Pagel.  Mary had been married previously, and had children.  August and Mary had one child, Virginia,  together in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

His daughter Virginia Smith was born in 1926.

For many years after the family dispute, there was no contact between August and Herman.  However, there was a family chest that was maintained which reportedly contained pictures from the "old country" and documents that were kept secret from Virginia.  She was told to not get into that chest.  However, she did after several years take a look inside, and found photographs and Christmas cards that had been sent by Herman or Mary for several years, but never opened.  Virginia opened the cards and discovered that she had relatives in Spokane, Washington.  She sent a letter which was received by Herman and Mary's daughter Ruth.  Ruth and Virginia started a correspondence and became pen pals.

My parents, Ben and Alma went back to Glen Burnie by train for a visit, along with children Bob, Helen and George. I remember going by a one car trolley on a rail line from Baltimore to Glen Burnie where we met and spent several days with August and Family.  Subsequently, Herman and Mary went back and had a reunion with August.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, in my view, the nature of the dispute was never discussed, except that I heard that there was some giggles behind hands over the mouth, which may suggest that August may have gone "over the fence" in Birch Lake and thus got into trouble with the Tobert's and Schmidt's.

How I wish that I could see the contents of that family chest.  Mary also had one.  Virginia apparently never went back to look inside the chest.  After both August and Mary passed away, Virginia and her husband were preparing the home for sale, and temporarily place the two chests in an out-building.  While there someone broke in and stole the chests--undoubtedly just for the value of the chests, and probably dumped the contents as trash.  I contacted Virginia a few months after the chests were lost to see if she still had access to them and what might have been inside.  I was crushed to find out that they were gone without revealing the nature of the secrets, or what was in them or why they were kept secret.

August died in 1983 at the age of 94.  Both Virginia and her husband have also now passed away.  Virginia had a least one son.