The John Henry Weintraut Family Farm

Weintraut family members pictured here are:
Top Row: Left to Right; Clara, unknown, unknown, Frank Philip, Mathias, Marie, Willie, Arthur and Earl.
Bottom Row: Left to Right: Charlie, John Henry, Mary (Thibow),
Linnie and unknown.
Picture kindly donated by Phil Weintraut

The Farm in Indiana

The Farm house was moved later on after I grew up,
if anyone knows when this occurred, please contact us.

Waldron was a little town just outside of Shelbyville,
which is south East of Indianapolis.

There was a long lane leading up to the Farm House
of about a half mile.

My Dad and Mom took us out to the farm every so often.
All three of us went there together
when we were little,
Wanda, Buddy and me.

When we went to the farm,
we took a train called the inter- urban??
from Indy to Waldron, because neither
grandpa or gramma had a car or could drive.

John Henry was tall and built very well
and Mary (Thibow) was short and stout.

All of the Weintrauts had brown eyes,
I don't think that there were any blondes.

John Henry and Mary lived on the farm alone,
as all of their children were grown and gone.

Gramma Weintraut died in 1938 when I was twelve years old,
grampa had died several years before.

They both spoke only German at home, never English.

I used to go with Old Shep to bring home the cows.

Some of the animals on the farm that I remember were:
cows for milk and beef, chickens for eggs,
a few pigs, dogs to herd and horses to pull the plows.

But there were no pets allowed in the house,
it was immaculate and you could have eaten
off of the floors it was so clean.

There was a Natural gas well which was
used for cooking and for lighting the house.

Like all farmers, my grandparents got up before dawn.

The apple orchard was on both sides of the lane
that led to the front of the house.

There were acres and acres of corn.

The Weintrauts were the "Corn Kings of Indiana",
a name which was passed down through the families
for years and years.

They raised all of their own food to eat
and sold corn, milk, apples, butter and cream.

A big tanker used to come to get the milk.

The Weintraut Farm House
Picture kindly donated by Phil Weintraut

It was a big, very pretty, white,
2 story house with a porch on three sides.

At the back of the house there was a summer kitchen
where they processed the milk which was put into a
separator and the cream was churned into butter.

The cream, milk and butter were sold,
except for what they kept for their personal use.
This was also where they did most of their canning
and meal preparation during hot weather.

There were gas lights by each door way.

When we stayed overnight at the Farm,
we all slept in a big feather bed
that you had to step up to get into.

John Henry was very serious and stern
and she was too, she was also a great cook.

Most of the Weintraut family were devout Catholics.

As far as I remember, John Henry was always a farmer
and they both stayed home.

I have heard stories that he may have owned
a Bank in Shelbyville, but cannot verify this yet.

Walking with the Alligators