One evening after Church, when he helped her from the buggy, he must have slackened his hold on the reins for off they went like a flash, leaving him to walk the three miles home in the dark. Not much damage was done in that "run-a-way" -- but three days after the wedding, they almost made the new bride a widow. John and Kate had gone to Grandpa Kroths to bring her things home. He was standing in front of the team when they became suddenly frightened and started to run, carrying him several yards by their bits. As he couldn't stop them, he was dashed to the ground under the horses feet, and received several injuries. One horse stepped on his head cutting a great gash in the back and crushed his face almost beyond recognition. He received another wound in the back as the wagon passed over him. When they carried him unconscious into the house, Kate was terribly frightened. She thought he had been killed. After he recovered from that run-away, there was one more bad one a few months later, but he wasn't near them that time. They became frightened while tied at the Hitch-rack down at Grandpa Vennebergs and run down through the pasture and through a barbed wire fence.
One of the horses was so badly cut he died so that was the end of the run-away worry. A new horse had to be bought to replace Deck; this time he got a black one to go with the gray who was steady and very dependable. "Mike" settled down and became slow and gentle by the time we children were big enough to sit on a horse. He was the gentlest old plug one could find anywhere. Sometimes he had children on his back from his neck to his tail and would move so carefully, as if he knew he carried precious cargo.
Many times John lived dangerously, or as Paul in the Bible 'Often in peril." The well he had drilled just after they were married was a poor one and didn't give sufficient water supply. So, John, with the help of his brothers, dug a well about a hundred or more feet farther south, whey they struck rock. They decided they would have to dynamite. When he lit the fuse they pulled him up with a rope, with just barely enough time to get clear of the well -- then it really blew. All their efforts rewarded with a plenteous supply of water all the years they lived on the farm. He put up a windmill and later years had a gasoline engine to run the pump.
Florence Kate was the first child born to John and Kate, on January 6, 1894; then another girl Alta May, born February 24, 1895. The boy they were hoping for came 17 months later on October 3, 1896. He was named Kenry Kroth Venneberg after Kate's father. He was always proud of his name because he always used the "K." in signing his name.
Mary Louisiana was born March 4, 1899 (the year of the big snow), Pa used to say. She was named after her two grandmothers. We called her Mary Lou and later shortened it to 'Lou.' The last of their children was named Grace Mildred and was born on August 8, 1903.45 Next Page
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