Letter 10
Date: November
18, 1871
Sender:
Harmen Jan te Selle
Address: Firth ‑
Lancaster County, Nebraska
Addressee: Mrs. Dela te
Selle‑ten Damme (mother)
Derk Willem te Selle
Lancaster, Nebraska
November 18, 1871
Much beloved Mother,
Brothers with wives and children. We let you know that all of us are quite well,
we hope we may hear the same of you. If it were otherwise, it would grieve us
very much.
For a long time we have
expected a letter from you, but have not yet seen it up to now. I shall
therefore write you once a letter, hoping that you may receive the same in good
health.
First of all, what concerns
the crops, it is this year quite good. However, the wheat is not so very good.
The wheat yielded from 7 to 13 bushels per acre, thus this cannot be considered
the best. Corn is very good, of this we should, I believe, have 800 or 900
bushels. Rye 900 bushels, having planted 21 acres. Oats we have planted 25
acres. That is not as good as I had expected.
Many here had 50 bushels
per acre, but I planted it too late, but we could not do it earlier because we
were not here so early in the year. Of oats we had 4 acres and a half. Potatoes
are also good, and we have over 200 bushels. Now the prices of the same, the
wheat is from 80 to 90 cents, oats from 15 to 20, corn about 20 cents a busbel.
Potatoes 25 cents. We have here an overabundance of life supplies but making
money is not the best.
Hogs we have 10, 6 for
fattening, and 4 to keep over, but this is also very cheap here, from 3 to 5
cents per pound. But I think the prices will go up (duurder worden). lt is still
too warm here to salt it away.
I let
you know also that for some weeks, we have gained a young son,
September 23. All is well here. Now we have two men and a maid, if they stay
well. But they can even so suddenly be taken away. This we have seen for a few
weeks in the neighborhood.
Sunday, October 15, we went
to the church, the wind was then blowing very, very wild, but this became worse
further along in the day. When we got out of church we saw smoke in the
distance, because the prairie was on fire. Here, there is (prairie) grass which
is still unoccupied. When this becomes withered or dry, it can stir up a big
blaze. This may have been started, or at least it had started to burn. It can
burn for miles away. When the grass is gone, then the ground is bald. The soil
does not burn.
So I
wanted to say, that when we got out of church, we saw the fire. A man, named
Niklaas Vandervelde, saw that the fire was not far from his house.
He was in church with his wife and two children. Three children were at home; a
girl of 11 or 12 years, one of 8 and the other of 5 or 6.
So, he ran as quickly as he
could to reach home, but what did he see? His house lay entirely in ashes. Hay,
standing grain and 4 pigs were all burned, but not yet the worst. He saw in the
distance something white lying on the ground, thinking it was a calf. But when
he got closer he saw it was his oldest girl lying burned on the ground, and upon
investigation, the other two were in the house, entirely burned. Thus a tragic
situation for that man. Also, there were some more misfortunes caused by that
fire, and at many other places. There were big fires. Big cities almost entirely
burned down.
Beloved, the paper is too
small to write more. Greetings to all the brothers. Now greetings from us all.
H.J. te Selle
Write back soon.
.
"Young
son" was William "Bill" Te Selle, born, September 23, 1871. (He died in
1936.) Wife was Clara J. Bade.
.
Norma
TeSelle-Prophet:
“Vandervelde
lived on the farm adjoining Jan Hendrik te Selle’s
homestead. The Vandervelde farm was subsequently owned by Gerrit Jan te
Selle who emigrated to the USA in 1873. My aunts. Helene Te Selle Obbink and
Minnie Te Selle Dietz, had written to me around 1959 about this fire. lt was
a story that was told to them by their father. Descendants of the other two
brothers had also learned about the story from their parents or grandparents”.
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