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Grandfather Kolb

by Kathryn Sperle

Christian Kolb, my husband's grandfather, came to America in the year 1893. He arrived here as a young immigrant of German descent, at the age of twenty-one. His father along with other family members, including a sister and himself, left their friends and family, bringing with them only a memory of their deceased mother who was buried in the Ukraine.
The population being so great in Germany had caused Grandpa's family to leave their homeland to seek new land to farm. According to Charles Engleman, Editor of The Clinton daily News.
Kolb's forebears went to the Ukraine from Germany in search of land. One of the czars of Russia promised a colony of Germans an area of land if they would farm it for him for 100 years. Kolb was born in the Ukraine and was helping his people farm the land there, when the 100 years was finished.
This promise was not fulfilled, though the reason is unknown. An emigration was then started to America, where it was heard that land was plentiful. They sailed across the Atlantic for six weeks before reaching their destination. They traveled by day and dropped anchor at night, which prevented them form drifting off course and being lost at sea. They brought with them some cattle and chickens, housing them in the lower level of the ship. This provided them with food during their journey to America. Jake Brady also remembers his mother who was Grandpa's sister, telling about burying a baby who died on the ship, at sea.
After many hardships they finally arrived in Quebec, Canada. The ship docked there and the family traveled on the North Dakota by rail, in the pursuit of a new future. They spent about a year working before they came to Oklahoma which at the time was Indian territory. "They rode a train from North Dakota arriving at the town of El Reno," According to Brady.
In an account by Engleman in the Clinton Daily News when Kolb and a few of his associates arrived in this country.... He heard of the scheduled opening of the Cheyenne Arapaho strip and made his way to this part of the country.
He filed on a homestead six miles southwest of Clinton. Most of Clinton was a prairie at the time where thousand of Cattle grazed. Here he staked his homestead: which was a total of 160 acres. The cost was approximately $22. And that was for filing the claim.
Grandpa had no tolls or anything with which to farm so he walked all the way back to El Reno and went to work as a farm hand. Engleman relates.
He Worked for a whole year from sunup to sundown, and his remuneration was a bed in a hayloft, his meals and a span of mules. After the year was up he rode back to his homestead and started to work....
He then married Emilie Jantz. They has family of eight children, the oldest of whom died as an infant. Life was hard on the new frontier, and many were the times of loneliness. The feeling of being isolated from family and friends and the lack of contact were heartbreaking. Often the longing to return to their homeland was hard to bear. But they know they were here to stay whatever hardships they had to face. Survival meant hard work and tears.
Grandpa built a structure which was known as a dug out, a popular dwelling at the time. It resembled a cave which was dug out of the side of an embankment of mound of dirt. They put a roof on it, an it was their home. It also served to protect them from the unpredictable Oklahoma weather, wild animals and other dangers that might bring them harm. Brady mentioned, "many were the nights they wold be awake listening to drums beating. Sometimes they continued all night."
Grandpa Kolb was a man with many attributes. August Mathis tells that he attended school in grandpa's home and that grandpa taught him. Grandpa was also said to have preached at the Old rock Church, Southwest of Clinton.
In his account of the life of Grandpa Kolb, Brady says, 'He was an honest hard working man. He never took anything that wasn't his. He became very prosperous.
Charles Engleman related in an interview that when he first came to Clinton He rented a house from Grandpa. Who lived on the next to him. He said of Grandpa, "thought he never mastered the English language, he acquired much wealth in his lifetime.
Elbert Maddox a former banker in Clinton Commented, "Mr. Kolb was a kind quiet person who kept to himself. He was very successful and everyone know he had plenty."
As we commemorate or 75th anniversary as a state, I think of the lives of these pioneers who planted the seeds so Oklahoma could be what it is today. I can only appreciate them even more after realizing their efforts an how futile they must have seemed at times, yet somehow they thought patience, toil and long suffering, continued on in their pursuit of a new life for themselves, paving a future for us today. They sacrificed everything they had, to come here.
Charles Engleman also stated, Kolb's life would fill an interesting book. Retracing that life wold show how and why western Oklahoma was developed." I thought it interesting what Grandpa Kolb in a short account of the history of his life wrote, "Now that everything is fulfilled in this world, now in heaven is my home built." His life truly deserved tribute and recognition.

Bibliography
Personal interview with Jake Bredy, Nephew of Christian Kolb, Clinton, Oklahoma, 4 April 1982

Personal interview with Charles Engleman, Editor of Clinton daily News, Clinton, Oklahoma, 31 March 1982.

Engleman, Charles, "Newsvues." Clinton Daily News, nd.

Personal interview with Elbert Maddox, former banker and Clinton school Treasurer, 3 April 1982.

Personal interview with Esther Sperle, daughter of Christian Kolb, 30 March 1982.


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