So people often ask me, “how many letters are there?” and I let them know there are well over 300. I think I need to do an FAQ to explain all of this.
Anyway, today’s letter comes from my favorite, great-uncle, Oscar Nunning. If you are new here, Oscar married Marie, my grandma’s younger and only sister, in 1932. In these letters, Oscar is courting Marie and telling us all about life during that time. I ran into Oscar’s son, David, last weekend at my mom’s 80th birthday party. I told him that his dad was quite a character and he said that his mother knocked it out of him. I had a chuckle.
Howell, IN
Feb 22, 1931
Dear Friend Al,
I received your letter Friday and was glad to hear from you, so I am writing you a few lines to let you know that I am still alive, last week I worked 3 days and made 4 loads to your old town Rockport, IN at the corner of Fifth and Sycamore. Only a few blocks from your old loading house. Ted was at Rockport yesterday and came back in 48 minutes. All of us were at John Kern’s birthday party last Sunday night and had a hot time plenty of you know what? But this week the bootleggers are catching hell. My friend’s Bill Schauss and George Grim of St. Wendel are in the storm. Bill is under $2500 and George $5000 so that is tough for the bootleggers, but they didn’t get 1% of the boge and didn’t find all for it was buried in the ground by the barrels.
The negro and I were to Sking Watterman’s house to deliver some cement and boy we got some HEIMGEMACHT and plenty of it. We now have lent so we will have to play cards and carry beams instead of dancing but we can still have our homebrew we also can drink peanuts and eat brew and go to church twice a week. We have had lots of rain now it sprinkles every once in a while.
Well Al, Oscar was very selfish with the other letter he wrote to you he had it all ready to mail didn’t give us a chance to put a word in but this is the time I tell you Al don’t worry about Elma. I taken good care of her at the birthday party last Sunday I won’t let another fellow look at her less dance or give her a sweet kiss that is all for you. Mr. Nunning says hello hoping you are having a hot time while you are away. Theodore isn’t home but I will just say hello for him too.
So that was a word from mom, pop, and Ted. All are well and hope this finds you the same.
From your old friend,
Oscar
My comments:
Oscar is at it again. First of all, Rockport. Just for context, 5th street in Rockport is now the Ohio River Scenic Byway. I couldn’t really find more info about what was there before. I did realize that these letters were written during Prohibition, which was very much alive and well. It seems like all of my relatives were making alcohol, trying to get alcohol or drinking alcohol. He used a slang word,”boge”, to refer to the bootlegged alcohol. That word now, Norwegian in origin, literally means bow, but is used to refer to THC cigarettes or joints.
The top of Oscar’s letter was marked Howell, IN. Howell was a city/village, separate from Evansville in the southwest part of town, delineated by the railroads, Louisville and Nashville or L and N. It was named after the local freight agent, Lee Howell. Mainly, the railroad workers lived there. It was annexed by the city of Evansville in 1915. Prior to that it was known as a Sundown City, in which African-Americans were not allowed after dark. This designation was popularized in the movie “Green Book”. Growing up, I knew Howell as the place where my dad’s side of the family, Hickses and Burdettes, lived. I always thought of Howell as a low-lying place near the railroad tracks.
Oscar refers to Ted. Who was that? Theodore Nunning or Ted was Oscar’s older brother by three years.
I was going to gloss over “the negro” comment, but I think I need to address it. I am sure that in 1930 this seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to call an African-American, but today that seems appalling. As it turns out, the Ku Klux Klan or the Klan came to Indiana by way of Evansville. The west side of Evansville, where Bassemiers and Weinzapfels lived, was almost 100% German Catholic at this point and although African Americans could have lived there, they likely did not.
Again with the heimgemacht! I’m convinced this is their German slang for homebrew. The direct translation is homemade but in this context I am certain they are referring to homebrew.
Lastly, in this letter, we hear from Oscar’s parents, Henry and Anne. I like how everyone was making sure that no one else even looks at Elma. They were a tight-knit group.