Glimpses of Family History by Truman Hertzler~#2

Phil requested the following story from his father.

Uncle Gene was an enterprising man.
He was Levi's second son which made him my father's brother.
He went with his cousin, Levi Yoder, to Slidell, Louisiana, where they worked as butchers. Levi was also just as hard-working as Gene. I suppose it was through Uncle Christ that Gene got a farm in Michigan.
He did alot of hard work there building the farmstead.

He would come home to Tennessee for the winter. One time as he was coming through Detroit, he saw a line of people along the street, and assumed they were lining up for free soup. He got in the line to get some soup, but as he got to the end, he found that Henry Ford sitting there recruiting workers for his car factory. When he sat down, Henry Ford said to him, "Well, what can you do?"
He answered with a certain amount of self-respect, "I can hitch up a six horse team as fast as anybody."
Henry responded, "You're not far from a fool."
Uncle Gene's quick reply was, " About three feet."
This evidently impressed Henry Ford and he said, " I want you to build generators for me. We're going to have to put self-starters on these cars for the women. "
So Uncle Gene worked for Henry Ford that winter.

Later, Uncle Truman, Levi's oldest son, and his wife, Kathryn, came to visit Uncle Gene on his farm and stayed there for awhile.
The flu epidemic occurred during this time and they all got it.
When they were trying to decide which one of them was the least stricken and could go to the barn to do the chores, Uncle Gene lowered his temperature on the thermometer so it would look like he wasn't as bad off as the others, and he went to the barn. But, Aunt Kathryn told me that he was so tired that he stopped to rest on his way to the barn.

I believe Uncle Gene went to Michigan full of self-confidence, gladly doing his own cooking and washing as well as the farm work, but after enjoying Aunt Kathryn's cooking and not having to mix that in with the farm work, he probably became aware that having a wife was a pretty good idea. He went back to Tennessee and found a young lady named Roxy Buffalo. To the best of my understanding, the name Buffalo was given to her father, because as a Cherokee baby, he was left on a doorstep wrapped in a buffalo robe.

Uncle Gene and Aunt Roxy went to Michigan. Aunt Roxy was startled when the neighbors came around the house and shot off their deer guns, which was their way of welcoming a new bride. They lived in Michigan for a number of years and had two little girls, but the Michigan winters were hard for Aunt Roxy. They sold out and moved to Pennsylvania near to where other family members lived.

Uncle Gene said to his wife and daughters, " I don't think it would be good for you to join the Amish-Mennonite Church. Just go to a church near to where we live. " So they went to the Ebenezer Church near their home. Uncle Gene was actually a member of the Amish church and his family was hoping that he would connect with their denomination, but Uncle Gene just went to church with his family, and did not formally join that church.

Uncle Milford, his youngest brother, remarked, "Everywhere Gene went, people liked to do things for him. " He rented a farm from a man named Lohr and they became friends. Mr. Lohr lived in a section of the farmhouse but we didn't see much of him when we visited Uncle Gene's. When it came time for Mr. Lohr to dispose of his farm, he wanted to will it to Uncle Gene, but his lawyer said that the family wouldn't be happy with that, so the farm was sold and Uncle Gene's family moved to another farm near Pine Swamp E.C. Church, and the family attended there.

They were always friends of the pastors who were rotated every five years in that denomination, but one pastor named John Bixler, somehow stayed longer and they became dear friends with him. When their daughter, Norma, got married, Pastor Bixler performed the ceremony.

This farm belonged to a Philadelphia lawyer named Baker, who grew up as a farm boy and liked to come and help at thrashing time. He would work hard pitching sheaves and get pretty stiff after doing the work he wasn't used to. Uncle Genes were good friends of the Bakers.

I guess the Baker farm was sold and Uncle Gene finally bought a farm near Pottstown. He became friends with the owner of the farm next to him and they worked together. One Sunday, our family and Pastor John Bixler visited them there.

One time, my father asked Pastor John Bixler to go with him to visit a neighbor on his deathbed, and they led him to the Lord. I was away at the time. It was probably when I was in PAX Service. (PAX is Latin for 'peace', but that's another story.) Pastor Bixler told me this after my father's death.