Hundrup

THANKS TO ANN ANDERSON
In March of 1913 Ida (Peters) Hundrup and Joseph Henry Hundrup came from eastern Nebraska by train to Logan County, Colorado to homestead 160 aceres seventeen miles north of Sterling. At this time they had five children - Mildred, John, Gertrude, Agnes, and Inez. Inez was only six weeks old. My parents were tired of renting and wanted a place to call their own.
They arrived at a small town called Winston, which was three miles east of their homestead. They were met by friends and stayed with them until they could build something of their own. Their furniture, machinery, a few horses and cows were shipped here by train.
They first had a water well dug; then they constructed a one-room building of cement and rock. They lived in this until thier house was built. The interior of the house was finished after they moved into it. The one-room building was later used as a chicken coop.
They got their mail at Winston, until later a Star Route was established from Padtroni. Deliveries were on Monday, Wedensday and Friday.
Padroni was a small town seven miles south and east of them. It had a bank,lumber yard, grocery store a train depot and a few other establishments. Horses and wagons being the only transporation, only a few trips were made into Sterling for supplies. People depended a lot on sending catalogue orders.
Two miles south of the homestead was a one-room country school called Valentine. First grade through the eighth were taught. We children either walked, drove a horse and cart, or rode a pony to school.
By 1918 there had been two more children born into the family - Anton and Anne (myself).
Two and a half miles south and west of our place was a church called Bethlehem. I remember of times, especially in the winter, when our family would dress warm, take blankets and drive our horses and wagon to curch and school programs. When we were ready to come home, our parents would bed us down in the wagon in warm blankets. We would lay and listen to the wheels of the wagon making a crunching, singing noise as they rolled through the cold snow. We would be asleep when arriving home.
Our parents bought their first car in 1925. It was a "Star." It had snap-on curtains with isinglass windows.
Dad was good at carpentry and blacksmithing. Over the years he constructed many buildings on the place. They were all constructed of cement and rock walls. The rocks were hauled by horses and wagon from hills north of the place. He used barbed wire and scrap iron to re-inforce the cement around windows, doors and corners. He repaired and rebuilt his farm machinery with his forge and tools in his own shop.
One of our fall crops for several years was red, Burbank potatoes. Many sacks of these were sold to neighbors and grocery stores for $1.50 per hundred pounds.
Mother raised ducks and geese for several years. The feathers were picked to make feather beds and pillows. She had two gardens from which many vegetables were canned each fall. She baked all of our bread, and made butter from our cream. They did all their butchering of hogs and cattle for our meat. They built a special building with two compartments; one side for rendering lard and making soap andthe other sied for smoking the hams, link sausage and bacons. Excess cream and eggs were sold at the depot in Padroni. This money nearly paid for the groceries we would need to buy.
Homesteading was certainly a challenge. It took lots of faith in God, determination and fortitude to accomplish their goal. After all teh ups and downs, it was a great life, shared and remembered by all the family. Many winter evenings were spent by the famly playing different games around the dining room table, looking at pictures through the steroscope or listening to our mother play here favorite hyms and songs on her German mad Honer accordian.
The 1930's were trying years for everyone. They were known as the dust-bowl days. There was also a great plague of grasshoppers. Even so, my parents managed to acquire more land.
Our saddest experience was when our son and brother "Tony" (Anton) was killed in June 1, 1944 near Rome, Italy. He had married a Kentucky girl named Marian Hudson, in August 1943.
We girls all married and went our own way. John remained single and lived with our parents here on the hnomestead and continued the farming. Mother passed away August 31, 1956. Dad passed away November 20, 1964.