This Old Paper

When glancing through A brief History of David D. & Sarah (Miller) Schlabach, and the Family at the Hartville Thrift Shoppe, the names of two cities jumped out at me: Kokomo, IN where I was born and Hartville, OH where I currently reside. Ten cents later, it was mine. I found close matches at Amazon and at WorldCat , the word ‘brief’ left out of the title. Amazon states the title is out-of-print, limited availability.  WorldCat links to the Mennonite Historical Library of Goshen College in Goshen, IN, whose holdings may be found in the catalog of the Harold and Wilma Good Library.

David D. Schlabach and Sarah N. Miller were both born in Ohio’s Amish Country  - Holmes County, OH. Both migrating to Kansas when they were single, they married in Reno County, Kansas in 1887. After ten years there, they began a series of moves, ministering and farming the while.

In fifteen pages share the journey of David and Sarah as they move from Kansas to Minnesota near the town of Worthington, to Oscoda County, Michigan near the town of Fairview, to western Oregon near the town of McMinnville, to Indiana near Kokomo, to Stark County, Ohio near Hartville, back to Indiana near McGrawsville where David passed in 1935. Sarah, with her daughter Anna and her husband Adam Miller and family, made one more move – to Iowa near Kalona, where she passed away in 1945. David and Sarah had fifteen children – Noah, Katherine (Samuel Beachy), Anna (Adam A. Miller), Susan (Menno I. Miller), David, Sadie (Moses Sommers), Lizzie (Ammon Miller), Lovina (Jeff Gingerich), Levi, Abigail (Allen Miller), John, Joas, Mary, Mattie (Emanuel Hochstedler) and Freddie. All the children lived to adulthood except Mary and Freddie, who both died in infancy. This family history booklet, authored in 1960 by Adam A. & Anna Miller with a cover date of 1964, concludes with a poem:

This poem here to undertake,
Is not an easy task.
It may not rhyme all properly
So patience I must ask.

Will jot some thoughts on childhood days
That often come to mind.
I wish and long I could be more
Like children be inclined.

I fondly recollect those times,
How care-free, unconcerned
We’d do the tasks assigned to us
That we were taught and learned.

Our playthings were not up to date
Nor very highly prized.
With dish rag, broom and garden hoe,
We daily exercised.

We had no modern handies then,
Like we’re enjoying now:
We had to work and earn our bread,
With sweat upon the brow.

The motto was, get up and work,
And milk the cows by hand,
And get the horses harnessed too,
To plow and till the land.

The tractor was a luxury,
And not used on the farms;
The power most dependable,
Was strong and muscled arms.

Who ever thought such modern cars
By millions would be used;
The good old horse and buggy then,
Was highly introduced.

The radio was then unknown,
To flash the news around;
No airplanes to fly over seas,
And land upon the ground.

We oft were hired out to work,
And bring home every cent
With wages low, no dime was left,
For us to leisure spend.

And when I ponder how we roamed
Through all the U.S.A.
I thank God for His love and care,
And blessings to this day.

Our parents dear, have left this world,
Their earthly path is trodden;
The discipline they gave to us,
Is not yet all forgotten.

I have no feeling of resent,
‘Twas meant for our best,
To mould and shape our characters,
For that eternal rest.

They’re now retired from their work,
When shades of twilight fall;
They’ve entered to their last repose,
They’ve said farewell to all.

And yet I see them in my dreams,
I often wonder why,
Perform the duties of the day
As in the years gone by.

We too are getting up in years,
We’re aging day by day.
When I think back it seems to me,
I’ve wasted time away.

This present age we’re living in
Is moving on so fast;
A few more years, or maybe less,
And we’ll be gone and past.

Such wonders of wonders this age does unfold,
We never had dreamed, with eyes to behold,
We frankly agree with the prophet of old,
“We’ve spent our years as a tale that is told.”

The many questions that are raised when contemplating the further adventures of this large family may be answered in the 95-page title by Ivan I. Miller, possibly the son of Susan and Menno:  The Handclasp: Ancestral History and Family Record of David D. Schlabach and Sarah N. Miller, 1860-1980.  Although this title is also out-of-print and currently unavailable for sale, it is mentioned on the following sites:

Open Library – connect with libraries that have this title.

Holmes County Today and Yesterday: A View of Life in Holmes County Ohio Now and in the Past  - find here genealogical information, including family history bibliographies and cemetery photos, thanks to The Holmes County District Library reference librarian Susan Corl. Susan’s personal blog, ”What I Meant to Say”, dovetails neatly with This Old Paper, featuring book commentaries and personal happiness-factor perspectives.

Mennonite Life – publication has ceased as of Fall 2008, but the website is being maintained to provide access to back issues and the annual list of bibliographies.

Immersing myself in the genealogy of this one family has made me realize the importance of ones such as Ivan Miller – he is also the author of several other family histories. Confusion can set in during web-research when nicknames are used instead of given names, when surnames may be spelled as ‘sound-alike’ names. I found the Christner Cemetery listing for little Freddie Schlabach, but his surname is stated as ‘Slabaugh’, his parents stated as ‘David and Sarah Slabaugh’.  This small one-acre cemetery, located in Miami County, IN is also David D. Schlabach’s place of “last repose”.

An insight into the faith-in-action of the Amish community can be gained by reading the book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy. Recommended for the depiction of what I perceive as a four-fold exemplary approach to forgiveness: prayerful, thoughtful, immediate and total.