Elijah Jase Hein's First Christmas

Elijah Jase Hein is the son of Joshua Hein, the grandson of Sheri Rachuig Hein, great-grandson of Robert Rachuig, great-great-grandson of A. W. Rachuig, and great-great-great-grandson of Rudolph 'Rube' Rachuig.

I don't have Joshua's wife's name in my data base, but congratulations to the proud parents.  Elijah was born on October 20th.  He weighed 2 lbs. 5 ozs. and measured 15" in length.  He looks very festive - I understand his favorite color is red.

 

Robert E. Hewitt, Jr.

I received a note a few months ago from my aunt, Mayme Rachuig Hause, saying Gloria Hewitt's husband Robert, died.  His funeral was in Clifton.

Gloria is a Krueger and Dorothy Krueger Mansur's first cousin.  I'm a little unclear on the identity of Gloria's parents; maybe someone can fill me in.   I would like to add the Kruegers to my genealogical data base.

Link to obituary for Robert E. Hewitt, Jr.

 

Robert Rachuig is the grandson of Rudolph 'Rube' Rachuig, son of August Rachuig.  The following is one of Robert's recollections of his grandparents' farm near Clifton.

My father, A. W. Rachuig, told me the story of how my grandfather worked hard to pay for their farm. My Grandfather had two teams of horses and a couple of wagons. He would rent out his team of horses and wagon for about $2.50 per day. He would work with them for $1 more. Can you imagine a man making all that much money per day? He, the team of horses (Two) and the wagon for $3.50 per day.

Near their farm they brought an oil line from West Texas to Houston. One of the pumping stations for that line was about 2 miles from their home. My grandfather worked on this oil line, hauling and delivering equipment, as it was work near enough to his place.

When they brought the railroad near by, as it passed along the river, he worked using his team and wagon to help build the bed to lay the tracks upon.

The main road from Clifton to Valley Mills was on the East side of the Bosque river. The decided to build a new road and it would be on the West side of the river. The new road came by the Rachuig farm and joined the West edge of their property. Again this provided work for my Grandfather and his team and wagon. During this special times, when my grandfather had outside work, his three sons did the farm work. They used the other team to farm the land and they kept up the place. They cared for the few cows and took care of the others things like chickens and whatever. The family got up early, fed and cared for the animals before breakfast, and in the evenings, they cared for the animals, before supper (dinner). They were taught to respect the animals, because they were a main source of their making a living.

Their were lots around the barn, to be kept clean and repaired, for keeping the animals, as needed.

  

A Family Memory From Robert Rachuig

Here is another of Robert Rachuig's memories of his grandparents' (Rube & Huldina Rachuig's) farm.

Joyce and I made a trip to Germany, a few years ago, and one thing we noticed was, compared to the USA, how clean the country side was. It was in that fashion, that my grandparents kept a neat farm.

There was a small trap of about 5 acres (more or less) between the house and the main road. If my grandfather had animals in that little area, on Saturday, he would have the boys gather up all animal droppings, fallen limbs and other trash and dispose of them. He would not have any trash of any kind in this area near the house. The house was located in a large thicket of live oak trees and fallen limbs had to be picked up often.

All of the farm equipment was used with a team of horses and he kept all the equipment in one area along a fence between the house and barn, that was located about one hundred yards from the house. Each piece of equipment had it's place and it was all lined up with an equal distance between each piece. It was all in a straight line and after each piece was used, it was returned to the exact place it came from, or as close as is possible.

When you drove by the place, from the main road, a person could see the cleanliness and the organization of everything. The house and barn were well kept, painted and repaired. Smile - it is no wonder that my father make me pick up around our home place and keep the equipment in the proper place. My grandmother was just as organized in the house. They were just plain all American hard working folks.