A Memoir by Mary Sellinger
Regina, Saskatchewan
Edited by Acacia (Jonas) Stuckle, Hannah Schuler, David Mart, and Mary Sellinger
MY MEMOIRS
Mary B. Sellinger
My birth certificate states: Section 12, Township 23, Range 24, West of the
2nd Meridian, Saskatchewan, the 27th day of January 1923. I was born in the
sitting room which was also the bed room on the farm, mailing address, Dilke,
Saskatchewan.
I was the fifth and last child. My oldest sister Amelia, brother John and
sister Agatha (nicknamed Peggy) had to go across the road to Uncle Leo's
(Dad's brother) and Aunt Mary Eva (Mom's sister) who lived just across the
road, while Dr. H.J. Schmitt attended to my birth. It was a cold day and the
doctor had come early with his horse and sleigh from Holdfast, Saskatchewan
and stayed all night waiting for me to arrive on a Saturday morning weighing
almost 9 lbs. and Mom had a trying time with me. For my oldest sister Amelia
I was a doll to play with as she was 9 years of age. I had black hair and
lots of it. I was registered May 31, 1923, likely baptized on the same day.
My Godfather was Uncle Leo Selinger (Dad’s youngest brother) and my Godmother
Aunt Maria Ell of Holdfast, Saskatchewan, (Mom's brother Sebastian Ell's
wife).
There were four brothers living in the area, two on each side of the road.
Uncle Leo and Uncle George on the east side of the road, we lived across the
road on the west side from Uncle Leo and Uncle Albert and later Uncle Philip
down the road on a hill. We had a lot of cousins to play with, especially the
ones across the road, Amelia, Menrad, Katherine (Katie), Celestina (Sally),
Dorothy and Isabelle. My oldest sister Amelia got to be Godmother to Isabelle
when she was about 17 years of age.
We had no drinking water in our yard, had to get it from Uncle George's well
(who was now deceased), his wife Aunt Katie lived there with her four sons,
Albert, Ralph, Aloysius (Lucy) and Thomas (Tom), Many times carried 2 pails
just to balance it off. We did have a well in the yard but it didn't produce
much water (Alkali). Dad dug another well a quarter mile away in the pasture
so that we could water the animals - cows and horses. In the winter time it
was very hard especially when it was cold, gloves would freeze onto the
pulley and water would splash over the pail and then I would get all wet,
then have to walk home again in the deep snow (1/4 mile). However, in the
summer it was nice, used to play along the way picking flowers for Mom.
In the spring we used to carry pails of water from the sloughs to put down
the gopher holes and catch them when we drowned them out. At that time there
were so many gophers around that they paid the people a penny a tail. Also
dad would mix up some poisoned wheat for us to gut put on the wheat fields
away from the pasture land so the cattle would not eat it.
2
As we got older we had to help in the fields. Dad would binder the crops and
had made a special box along side the binder and sister Agatha had to shove
it off whenever it got too full. Later on dad got a catcher and string to
bind the bundles. We would walk along after him with Mom and set them up with
special care into stacks and let them dry. At threshing time I would help
brother John loading the racks and finally throwing the sheaves into the
threshing machine. Often when the wagon was full with grain I would drive the
wagon home with the horses and mother & I would unload the wheat into the
granary on the farm. When there was more wheat than what the granaries would
hold we cleaned a large place right on the field, where we threshed, and it
all went on a pile, sometimes we put a fence around it to keep the wheat in.
We only had a quarter of a mile to school. There were no school buses. We
walked most of the time. If we were lucky we could catch a ride by buggy with
someone or dad would take us. If the weather was stormy we followed the fence
home. During the winters, in the earlier days, we had more snow and very high
drifts. One year we had such a high drift on the north side of Two Tree Point
School that all the children would get to the top from the end of the snow
bank and slide down the side. What fun we had, also made a big ring in the
snow in the school yard and played "Ring A Rosie". Today I forget what the
rules were. In the summer, we played soft ball in the school yard. Our
teacher even had a spot for a garden and whoever wanted to plant seeds could
make themselves a garden. I had one and would draw the water from the school
well if it didn't rain. Managed to get a little of it - like peas, carrots
and maybe a flower or two. Sometimes the other children would get it before I
did.
We had all kinds of animals on the farm, horses that Dad worked the fields
with. Tractors came much later. Cows had to be milked every day. Mom would
help us, the kittens would be waiting along side and we would give them a
squirt every now and then. When the milking was done it was separated and the
cream kept cool, hung it in the well until it could be shipped away in a
cream can which dad would take to town (Dilke) whenever it was full. The
separator was washed after every use, taken apart and put back together again
for the next time. Left over milk was fed to the baby calves, dogs, cats and
pigs. We used the remaining milk for drinking, cooking and baking. We churned
our own butter. Mom had a butter form and some tissue paper which was wrapped
around the butter before it was taken to town to be sold. Mom made cottage
cheese and a German-style cheese heated in a pan, cooled and cut into pieces,
very nice on bread. Extra butter and eggs were taken to Dilke to Sam Side's
Grocery Store to exchange for sugar, coffee and other food. There were also
chickens, geese, turkeys and pigs. I remember eggs were 10 cents a dozen
3
Soap was made by adding lye to lard rendered from fat from butchered pigs.
Butchering for pork and beef was done in the fall. The blood from the pigs
was saved and it had to be stirred continually so it was well mixed. This was
used when they made blood sausage. Uncles and cousins would come to help and
it was an all day event, especially, when they had to put the butchered pig
into the barrel of hot water to get rid of the hair on the skin. The casings
would be turned inside out so that all the waste was out and then washed
clean and put in a pail of water to keep moist until used. I would help mom
clean them with a spoon as the inside had to be scrapped clean and no holes
put into them. These were threaded on to a grinding machine specially made
for making sausages. Dad would premix his meat from the pigs which had been
ground up fine and made into blood, liver and bread sausage. Then there was
the head which had to be cleaned and cooked for head cheese (schwardamacha)
and packed in cheese cloth and pressed flat with heavy stones laid on it. The
meat of the pig was cut up, some of it was put into the smoke house, this
gave it a nice flavour. Meat was canned in jars and kept in the root cellar
to keep cool.
We had a cellar under our house and to enter it we lifted up a trap door made
in the floor of the kitchen and steps to lead down into it. Here Mom kept all
our preserves, also stored the potatoes and other vegetables. Sometimes in
the dark while getting potatoes I would get hold of a small lizard now and
then but they were harmless. They also kept the sauerkraut in a large crock
and in it would be layers of watermelon, cucumbers, carrots and cabbage
leaves. This would have to be kept clean and well covered so nothing could
get in. Carrots and turnips would be stored in the sand. To get any of these
vegetables we carried many pails of water from a nearby slough. When the
slough froze over in the winter we would slide along it. Mom was a very good
cook and made good use of anything she got from the garden. All fruit and
vegetables were preserved. She made very good bread, which was just delicious
with butter and Roger's or Lily Brand syrup on it. The jam-jam cookies and
kucha were never enough to go around especially at threshing time.
Potato beetles seemed to come every year and we either picked them off or we
had to spray the plants to kill the bugs. Cabbages would get powdered with a
white powder.
The sunflowers were so tall one year, and did we have a lot of seeds. When
they were ripe we had to bang the seeds out with a stick. When the seeds were
dry they were stored away and we ate them all winter, a good pastime.
In the summer when there were so many flies and mosquitoes we had to make a
smoke smudge for the animals and even for ourselves if we wanted to be
outside.
In the evenings we would say the rosary, mostly during Lent and Advent. Dad
would lead and we all prayed, guess that was penance: My knees used to get
sore on the hardwood floor. During summer months we attended catechism for
two weeks.
4
The first radio we had was a battery operated Marconi which was used
sparingly for the news and yes, to get the barn dances and Wilf Carter. That
was a treat.
Of course Easter was always a special religious occasion for the Catholics.
We would also color eggs and I remember not having a basket so I used dad's
cap which I left for the Easter Bunny and sure enough the next morning there
it was filled with goodies. It seemed on Sundays after coming home from
Church we always had chicken noodle soup and chicken, sometimes even had pie.
The remainder of Sundays, beside doing the routine chores, we used to lay on
a blanket behind the house out of the sun and watch the clouds roll by. We
would pick out different forms of animals or whatever we thought it looked
like. Some Sundays we would have company drop in or walk two miles to Last
Mountain Lake (Long Lake) visiting or going swimming.
To heat the sitting room we had a small, pot belly stove for which dad went
to the town of Dilke to buy some coal for it. Wood was also used.
In the winter snow would be melted in boilers on the stove for washing
clothes, used a wash tub and wash board. Later on dad made a machine that
could be turned by hand and much later made one with a motor on it. Dad was
very inventive and made many useful things for use on the farm.
Had a small water reservoir at the back end of the kitchen stove and it was
kept hot with the stove fire. The stove was heated with wood plus cow chips
which we picked during the summer months after they were dry. Would pick them
up and put into gunny sacks. When full they would be left for Dad to pick up
with the stoneboat. They would be stored to keep dry for the winter. If it
was not too far we would carry the gunny sacks home on our shoulders. Mom was
with us most of the time. Sometimes Dad made chips with the manure from the
barn. We would trample it down with our bare feet. When it was good and dry
dad would cut it into small pieces so it could be burned in the kitchen
stove. Gave off very good heat.
We had a small attic on top of our house which we had to climb a ladder to
get there. Mom kept it to store extra dishes and other things that she did
not use very often. Sister Agatha (Peggy) crawled up when she was small and
fell down. After that she had problems speaking but in time she was alright
again.
Roger and Lily White Syrup pails were used as our lunch pails for school and
when working out in the fields. Since the one gallon pail had a handle it was
also used when picking saskatoon berries. Dad would drive us to Grand View
Beach to pick them. Often we followed the railway track which led to Regina
Beach. We enjoyed eating them and at times more went into our mouths instead
of the pail. A belt was slipped through the handle of the syrup pail and hung
it across the shoulder or around the waist. The berries made lovely pies, and
fruit which Mom canned for winter.
5
In the 1930's we had a lot of thunder storms and some of them pretty bad,
more lightening and thunder and no rain. We never went near the windows to
watch, everything was closed tight. I remember ore year the storm had just
started and Mom asked me to put the hen and her small chicks into her little
pen which was under the wire clothes line. When I lifted the wire on the pen
the lightening struck Aunt Katie's yard and hit the granary. I let the wire
fall and ran into the house pale as could be. It took a couple of days to get
over the electrical shock I got from the lightening strike.
I remember Dad going to an auction sale in the late 1930's and pulling home
an old car with his two horses. He made it into a truck, and we used it, our
first car. Dad did a very good job on it. I used to drive it to the other
quarter section of land. We did get to town once in a while with it.
The wagons were used to haul grain. In the winter they were put on large
runners for sleds. This was pulled by two horses and was our family
conveyance to church which was ten miles. Dad would heat up some bricks to
put at our feet when it was cold. We would be well wrapped in featherticks
and extra warm blankets. Later we had a two horse drawn caboose with a small
stove in it. It was better traveling this way, as it was covered over.
Chamomile tea was used as a home remedy. Sometimes we used peppermint drops
in tea. Sloan's liniment was used on a small teaspoon of sugar for stomach
ailments and mustard plasters for severe head and chest colds.
We did have a black curly dog called "Nigger" that we would harness to the
sleigh to bring home the water from Aunt Katie's well. After he died we had a
collie dog for many years but had to watch him when riders on horseback went
by on the road. He would always run out and nip the horses in the back of the
heels so many a weekend he would have to be tied up. The road that passed our
farm also went to Long Lake and on weekends a lot of traffic went by.
I remember getting a doll from Santa Claus at a Christmas concert, her name
was "Cuddles". Her face was cracked from the cold, but that didn't matter to
me, it was the nicest gift I could get. I also remember playing one of the 3
kings at a school concert. Mom helped me with the making of the crown of gold
paper and a cape of some sort of material.
Mother was a good seamstress and made most of our clothes, when we were young
on a Singer treddle sewing machine. I also did a lot of sewing on it. Later
years Agatha bought a Singer electric sewing machine and on this one I sewed
for her, Mom and myself. Mom also showed us how to crochet and hook rugs.
Years later I got into doing petit-point, needle-point, cross stitch and
tatting.
When I turned 16 to obtain a driver’s license I had to buy one at the
Treasury Department. That is how I got mine and to date have not had to take
a driving test.
6
Dad and brother, John, would go for wood in the winter to Strasbourg which
was across Last Mountain Lake. They traveled by sleigh and horses and was an
all day trip. The wood had to be chopped, cut and stored away. In the winter
they would also go fishing on Last Mountain Lake for white fish, pickerel and
tulibee with special nets. The tulibee would be packed in sacks and shipped
away to people that had ordered them. We scaled and cleaned many for our own
use and Dad would smoke them and dry them. Fish and chicken would be canned
in jars which would take up to six hours to cook.
The Western Producer was our paper and we would look forward to getting it as
every week they would put in all the words for songs that were on the hit
parade. Dad also got the "Courier", a German paper and a paper called the
"Craik News" with all the local news in it.
At the school dances Dad played the violin, Uncle Leo the clarinet and Uncle
Philip the accordion. The smaller children were all taken along to the dances
and when they got tired were laid on top of the desks, which were pushed to
the end of the room. This was done to make room for dancing. At home brother
John played the guitar and we would all sing. A lot of our relatives were
very musical. In our family we could all play something but were not really
that good at it, but we could entertain ourselves. Sister Amelia learned to
play the piano in her senior years, she could also play the violin, so did
the rest of us.
Our games consisted of playing cards with the family and relatives. As we got
older we all learned to dance which we enjoyed. There was no electricity back
then so had to read and study by the coal oil lamps.
We were fortunate to have a crank type telephone which hung on the wall and
was also a party line.
When the snow came early in the fall and the moon was bright, our cousins
would come and we would play Fox and The Goose and roll around in the snow.
In the winter we would catch rabbits and prairie chicken and Mom would make a
great stew with them. In the 1930's food was not so plentiful and we had to
have other means of getting food. These stews tasted pretty good. Brother
John would skin the rabbits and put them on a form to dry inside out. These
he would sell for a few cents a pelt- One day he came home with a skunk which
he had skinned and mother would not let him into the house. Had to stay
outside, remove his clothes and bury them. He finally was allowed in. He
never skinned another skunk.
7
Went to Central Collegiate in Regina, Here I stayed with my oldest sister
Amelia and her husband Aelred Hall in a one room apartment. I was 16 years of
age. In 1945 I started working at Regina General Films. During this time I
played Softball for Eilers Vic’s. Mr. Eiler had a Jewelry Store on Scarth
Street across from Victoria Park, he was our sponsor. Played exhibition games
with a team from Moose Jaw at places like Regina Beach, Indian Head and Fort
Qu'Appelle. In 1947 we took the Saskatchewan Championship which was played in
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
February 1947 I started working for the Provincial Government, Saskatchewan
Hospital Services Plan. In 1953 transferred to the Saskatchewan Cancer Clinic
where I remained until I retired 1982.
My teen age years were during the depression, 1930's. It brings awareness of
the difficult times our parents had raising us. There were no gifts and I
remember cutting out my toys to play with from the Eaton's and Simpson's
Catalogue. These catalogues were used for mail-order shopping from Regina and
Winnipeg. When the catalogues were outdated they were used in the outhouse
which was a small wooden shanty. The seat had two crude holes cut in it one
large and one small, take your pick: This was set over a huge hole in the
ground. The house was moved to a new hole as required. A good hiding place to
get out of doing dishes.
During World War II era, 1942, worked at the Regina Industries for a few
months drilling holes into bullets. It was shift work and my transportation
was walking back and forth to work, no other way.
Beside playing Softball also bowled five and ten pin. In 1966 I won the
Provincial Ten Pin Bowling Singles Championship which was held in Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan.
Did volunteer work for 25 years for the Saskatchewan Auxiliary Territorial
Services Club, until 1980. It was a Club to serve War Veterans in need of
assistance at the Wascana and General Hospitals in Regina and the Sanitarium
at Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan.
Being an avid sports fan I have supported the Saskatchewan Roughrider
Football Team since 1952.
Mary Barbara Sellinger
November 7, 1992
8
Johannes Seelinger
& Anna Maria ?
Johann Michael Seelinger
& Anna Maria Schneider
Johann Peter Seelinger
& Eva Maria Teutsch
Johann Peter Seelinger
& Barbara Schlindwein
Johann Jakob Seelinger
& Maria Appolonia Vest
Jakob Ell
& Veronica
Philipp Ernst Seelinger
& Katharina Fuchs
Menrad Selinger
& Agatha Gartner
?
Vincent Ell
& Theresia Reichert
Ignatz Ell
& Agatha Fischer
Raphael Selinger
Marianna Ell
Amelia Marion Selinger
John Gregor Sellinger
Agatha Marguerite (Peggy) Sellinger
Maria Barbara (Mary) Sellinger