Max August Quandt
QUANDT, BLUNK, MESECK MESSEK, BOECK, BRAASCH, PETERSEN
Posted By: Angel Jepsen (email)
Date: 6/9/2023 at 23:56:35
Friends, family mean life to Max Quandt
Money may buy the husk of things, but not the kernel. It brings you food but not appetite; medicine but not health; acquaintances but no friends; days of joy but not happiness.
Happiness is the art of never holding in your mind the memory of any unpleasant thing that has passed. This has been the predominating factor in the life of Max Quandt of Denison, who at the age of 80 is spending the sunset years of life at his home on the outskirts of the city of Denison.
Much of the happiness in his life has been formed by the friends he has made along the way, the caring for his family, the assistance he has freely given to others outside the family when sickness occurred when' the road ahead seemed rocky or any way he could help.
He has found that by giving and doing for someone else, much of life's splendor depends and is the making of true friends. He has always been responsive”?” to the dreams and aims of others and showed sincere appreciation for the contributions others have made on that has enriched his own life.
There have been disappointments in his life, sorrow and heart aches, things that come to everyone but always he has striven to meet these things with understanding and carried on. By so doing he has discovered that most of the shadows of life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine. By thinking of your work as being a help to someone always makes your, task a happier one.
Max Quandt was born Dec. 19,1880 in Pomern, Germany. He was the son of Herman Quandt and Albertina (Messek) Quandt, both of whom were born in Germany.
His parents were educated in the common schools of Germany. His father learned the blacksmith trade in his native land. After his parents marriage they heard of the possibilities in America so together with their three sons, Max, Otto and Emil they came to America when Max was six years of age.
They located on a farm five miles from Charter Oak and he ran a blacksmith shop. Later on his father purchased 80 acres of land at $25 an acre.
His scanty education was received in a rural school for he was needed at home to assist with the work. There were no grades then, you just progressed from reader to reader, using the McGuffey readers as text books. He had to walk 1.5 miles to school when he went.
He remembers Lillie Shafer as one of his teachers. Later on he attended German school and was confirmed by Rev. Charles Runge, pastor of St. John's Church, when he was 15 years old.
For 12 years he worked as farm hand receiving $12 per month for the first year, $14 per month the second year. His highest wage was $18 per month.
Feb 17, 1907 he was united in marriage to Dorothea Blunk, daughter of Mr and Mrs John Blunk. The wedding took place at St. John's Lutheran church in Hanover township, with Rev Charles Runge, officiating.
They were the parents of four children, Mrs. Carl (Edna) Boeck of Odebolt, Mrs Henry (Mildred) Braasch of Denison, Mrs. Richard (Caroline) Petersen of Charter Oak, and Herbert Quandt of Denison. There are 19 grand children and 12 great-grandchildren.
They began housekeeping on the Simmons farm in Hanover township staying there 5 years before moving to a farm 5 miles west of Charter Oak This was their home for 40 years.
Mr and Mrs Quandt attended church Sunday Aug 15, 1954. After church they decided to go to Maple River north of Carroll to fish. Returning home they were involved in a car accident. A car hit them and Mrs. Quandt was killed. After the crop was harvested in the fall he moved to his present home near Denison.
“There were no fences at all, when I first came to Crawford County, or roads either, we just found our own way from place to place, driving through creeks,” recalls Mr. Quandt.
He remembers the Indians would come at Christmas time, put up their teepees 1.5 miles from their home and stay for a month, when he was a boy they would spend their time hunting and when they left there was no rabbits or prairie chickens left. Often they felled a deer.
The squaws stayed in the teepees and the men hunted all day. They had 27 dogs with them and would fatten them up with the rabbits and then eat the dogs.
“They would invite us to eat with them but we always refused to,” related Mr. Quandt. This particular tribe would only take a hog or a beef if it was just killed, they were offered animals but wouldn’t take them if they had been dead too long.
Besides practicing general farming he raised both hogs and cattle. Once he received 1.25 cents per pound for hogs. One time he took hogs to market and the buyer wouldn’t buy them so they were taken to the Missouri River and dumped in the stream. His highest price for hogs was 18 cents.
Cattle prices ranged from 4.5 to 20 cents a pound. Sometimes you had to sell the cattle cheap to get rid of them for Mr. Quandt stated, “it wasn’t what you wanted it was what you could get for the cattle.”
He picked corn for 1/25 cents per bushel and sold corn for 15 cents a bushel. Fuel was high, corn was cheap so they burned a great many bushels of corn to keep them warm.
Elements of weather affected his farming. One year he lost his entire crop by hail, another year one half of the crop was destroyed by hail.
Believe it or not Mr. Quandt is a good cook and does his own cooking. His mother passed away when his brother George was three days old and he did all of the cooking and baking too for the family. Now that he is a lone this experience has proved helpful.
He has been quite adept at water witching and still does some “witching.” Of 49 attempts he has only failed nine times which is a good record. He does not use a twig for his craft but uses a steel wire.
His hobby is fishing, and he loves to fish. Any one of his friends, that comes along and says, “Max, let’s go fishing,” he is always ready. He isn’t too fond of fish but eats them occasionally, his fun is in catching them.
A lover of nature he enjoys the music of the birds, the wild flowers of the fields, the strength which comes from the hills in the silence of the night and the radiant color of the roadsides.
The article has an image with the statement: “Having made Crawford county his home for 74 years, Max Quandt of Denison at the age of 80 years looks back on the happenings of the past years. Paved roads, fenced fields, modern farm homes and buildings, electricity, modern farm machinery together with radio and television make him wonder what the next 30 or even 20 years will bring.
By RUTH BURNSIDE
Denison Review, Tuesday, September 27, 1960
Additional Notes: The “present home near Denison” was located in the Ampride / Fareway area.
Transcribed by great granddaughter, Angel Quandt Jepsen
Max Quandt Reflects On Life 1960
Crawford Biographies maintained by Kris Meyer.
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