Grandpa and Grandma Spader

Official U.S. data, 1920 U.S. Census. Grandma Rita's mother was Margaret Spader.

The Spaders

By Rita Wysong

(Note: from Spader Ancestry Book)

Peter Spaeder (Spader) and Mary Knappe Applegate were my mother's parents.  They were born in Germany.  Peter came to America at age 20, Mary came in 1888.  They were married April 17, 1893 in Plattsmouth, Nebraska.

Mother's parents came directly from Germany. Grandpa was Grandma's second husband.  Her first one had died.  They eventually settled in Howard, South Dakota. The old German ethic of hard work was very strong. They built a great big house, barn and other buildings. I don't know much about their early life or Mother's childhood. I used to ask about the Grandparents but got practically no information from Mother or Dad.  I do know they were hardworking, not given to frivolity.  I never remember hearing them speak In German, even to each other.

The head of the Spader clan was always my grandfather.  My grandmother died when I was about 12,  and I have little recollection of her, though I do think of her as a very quiet and mild person.  I remember her trying to thread a needle and she couldn't.  I was thinking how old she was, though I think she was relatively young when she died.  She just seemed old to me.  I do remember her favorite special dinner, delicious chicken and dumplings. 

At night, when I'd go to bed while staying there, Aunt Helen and Uncle Leo would get a big box of matches and light the little lamps on the way up the steps of a circular stairway (which was attached to the wall).  How I loved that soft bed with soft quilts and pillows (probably goose down).  However, if I had to go at night, I'd have to out to the privy.  Just knowing that would make me have to go.  I would come down the stairs, pitch black, go out to the kitchen, and to the toilet outside, with never a thought for a light. I don't think they had electricity until much later.  I remember the smell of the sulfur from the big matches and hearing Grandpa talk politics downstairs to Leo or visitors, and the strong smell of his pipe.

Once a friend of the family visited with a grown son in a wheelchair. Aunt Evelyn was there and couldn't bear the thought of looking at the boy, (falling over in his wheelchair, not able to say distinguishable words, and with little coordination or control), so she went upstairs and pretended she wasn't home. I was about 12 and was thinking of joining her, but decided I wouldn't.  I stayed downstairs when the lady came in.  She hugged me and kissed me and said how much she loved Mother.  The young man was a pitiful sight to me, but Grandpa  talked to him for hours in the dining room, just as if he were completely normal and insisted that the boy knew exactly what he said.  I really loved my Grandpa for that, and felt good about myself for not running upstairs like Evelyn.

Grandpa Spader lived in the family home in Howard with Leo and Helen.  I would visit for a week every summer.  

I'd ride with the mailman out to the farm.  He'd leave me off at Grandpa's mailbox and I'd walk the mile to the house.  The sunflowers were real high, crowding the corn.  The grasshoppers were thick and it was hot but I didn't care.  Once Leo and some neighbors were threshing as I walked into the yard.  Helen would call me "Hon" and I liked her fresh baked bread, honey and peanut butter that stuck to the roof of your mouth, for snacks between meals.  I'd go out to the fields and ride the horse, with the dog running along, and round up the cows in he evening.  It never occurred to me to be afraid of horses.  I just rode them.  I knew about trotting the horse to the mailbox each day for the mail, but I also would gallop them down the road.

The State of South Dakota.

Aunt Helen would greet me with a big hug.  It was usually so hot, that I would lie on the cold tile floor and listen to the phonograph.  I still remembered the operatic songs, even to adulthood.  I especially remember one called "Ramona".

  Grandpa used to make and bottle his own root beer, and I can still taste it. I remember the sounds of bottles exploding and breaking down in the cellar. 

Root beer is made from a common weed, called Sassafras.

When he came to our house when I was 7,  he wanted early spring dandelions for wine, so we kids picked a lot and got 10 cents a bag for them. 


When Grandpa visited us, he would tell us scary stories about the Black Forest and we were petrified.  

The Black Forest in Germany, far from South Dakota. 

Then, we'd beg him to tell us more. He was such a nice guy. He used to take me to Howard on Saturday, to Rafferty's Drug Store and buy me a double dip ice cream. 

A Model T Ford.

1930's wringer washer
(also called a "mangle"
for obvious reasons.)

Some other memories of Grandpa Spader.  When Minna was 3, she got her finger caught in a washing machine and was severely injured. Grandpa wheeled her in a buggy all the way from his farm to Howard.  It was before he had a car.  

At one time he had a Lincoln which was rarely used and a Model T.  I was going to church and finally got to ride in the Lincoln.  On the way, we saw a tipped over Model T and Helen's hat on the ground.  They had minor injuries. Normally I would have been riding with them.   I also remember a big hole in the wall leading into Grandpa's dining room.  Everyone knew that it happened when Grandpa was cleaning his gun and blew a hole in the wall.

1925 Lincoln

Grandpa would always drive the 40 miles from Howard to Mitchell for Corn Palace week.  It took so long that he would stop halfway and sleep in the car.  He was my favorite.  He even drove down for our graduation from high school.

When Grandpa was dying, I was sent up to Howard to "sit" with him.  I think he was about 75.