Notes:
Data source is Steve Kamm, 2117 SW 84th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73159, e-mail skamm@occc.edu
VERNON GEORGE DREWES
Grandpa Vern was born 17 March 1897 on the farm of his parents in Martin County, MN. This was the "big farm" in Section 7, Center Creek Township, a few miles north of Granada. He was baptized Ferdinand George, but later changed his name to Vernon. Within the family, he was called "Pete."
Vern's father and four grandparents (who lived nearby) were all immigrants from Germany. The "old country" influence was strong, and German was probably spoken at home. Also, the Drewes and Hartmann families were active in the Lutheran church. They were founding members of St. James Lutheran Church of nearby Northrop. The presence of the Church would have been substantial.
Vernon's education probably began at the Lutheran school situated next to the church and cemetery. Discipline was strict: Vern never forgot the broken-off buggy whip of his schoolmaster.
As the son of a devout German farming family, the majority of Vern's childhood would have centered on chores, church and school. Apparently he felt oppressed in this environment: he supposedly promised his offspring would have more freedom.
When Vern was still young, his family sold the "big farm" and moved onto 80 acres a half mile north of Granada. Here Vern's father served as mayor for a year (1914). It seems Vern liked to attend town dances. He would wrap cloth sacks around the post of his seatless bicycle and ride into town. After changing clothes and hiding the bike, he'd go off to the dance.
At about this time, Vern met his future wife, Gertrude Moomaw. Perhaps they met at school in Granada. Gertie and her sister, Beulah, were wards of their maternal grandparents, Joseph and Esther Barnes. These four arrived in Granada in 1910 from Iowa, apparently in search of better farming. Gertie was 15, Vern 13.
In the spring of 1912, Joseph quit Minnesota and moved the family to Terrill, Iowa. He died there two and a half years later. During this period, Vern and Gertie must have maintained contact: they were married less than a year after Joseph's death in Sherburn, MN. The wedding was followed by a shivaree, including pouring dry oatmeal into the marriage bed.
Not long after their marriage, Vern and Gertie went to Iowa. Perhaps this was to be near Gertie's sister when their son, Wayne, was born in June of 1916. Soon enough, they were back in Martin Co., MN, where they worked on the Crouch farm--diagonal to the old Drewes farm. Sometime before 1920, they moved into Fairmont. Vern, his brother, Heine, and their father then started a dray company--hauling freight with trucks.
In February of 1920, Vern & Gertie's daughter, Katherine, was born at their home, probably 122 E. 8th St.
Vern then moved his family to Davenport, IA, in search of work. He found employment in the Bettendorf railroad car shop. Later, he was hired as a hod carrier, but ended up repairing cars for the bosses. It was during this period (27 July 1923) that the children were quarantined with smallpox.
After a stay of about three years, they moved on to Des Plaines, IL. Again, the migration was to find work. (Vern's parents had moved to Des Plaines and promised lots of opportunities.) Vern did odd jobs (plasterer's helper, bank construction worker, carpenter's helper and auto parts stockman), while Gertie took in boarders. While living in Des Plaines (1540 Perry St.), Vern contracted pneumonia and nearly died.
In 1927, the family moved to the "garage house" on Chicago Avenue in Palatine, IL. Here Vern tried his hand at running an automotive service station/garage. This was also the time when Grandma Gertie started working on a commission basis for a Mt. Prospect bookmaker (she accepted small bets on the horse races and phoned them in), while Vern made deliveries for bootleggers.
Within three years, the garage had folded, and the family moved into the "post office house." Vernon went back to odd jobs, including building bridges and WPA projects. Their residence changed once again--this time to the "railroad house" at 45 W. Wilson.
Finally, in 1935, Vern found work which would last until retirement--in the baggage department of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. His son, Wayne, also worked there. Each day they would ride the C&NW trains from Palatine to the Chicago depot.
Children Wayne and Katherine both married in 1941.
In 1947, with loans from family members, Vern and Gertie bought a large, white fourplex on the corner of Benton Street and Chicago Ave. They lived in one unit and rented out the other three. Here they were living when Vern retired in 1967.
Ten years later, Vern's wife died. By then, Vern was 80 years old. When it became obvious that he could not manage on his own, he went to live with his daughter in California. Vern died in 1985 and is buried with Gertie in the Moomaw family plot, Sac City, IA.