Where in the World is Pershing, Missouri?
The History of Pershing, Missouri
Daily Life in Pershing
Doctors
Dr. Howard Workman was born in Mountain Grove, MO on November 11, 1880. He attended Barnes Medical College in St. Louis, MO before marrying Lottie Wood in1909. In 1911 Dr. Workman moved to Pershing and purchased a practice from another physician. In 1936 he established a small hospital in Hermann. Dr. Workman retired at the age of 74 after 46 years of practice. Another doctor, Dr. Rhodius practiced in Gasconade and Osage Counties. He was born in Gasconade county on March 7, 1868 and attended St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, graduating in 1897. Dr. Rhodius began his practice in Pershing, and later practiced in Freedom, Swiss, and Bay before moving to Hermann in 1941. Dr. Rhodius retired at age 84. He passed away in St. Louis, where he lived at the time, after falling ill at the age of 86.
Social Life
Social life in Pershing revolved around school and church events. There was also a Modern Woodmen Lodge that hosted dances and such. Religious events such as confirmation or marriage, mission festival were celebrated elaborately. Green cedar wreaths were a decoration used almost universally as a sign of celebration or mourning. They could be used for a wedding, decorated with flowers, or as a sign of mourning, decorated with a black bow. There was a brass band from the area of about ten musicians. Baseball was also a very important element of social life in Pershing. There was a ball diamond on the Leimkeuhler's farm. There were many good players from the area, including Melvin Beul, who played for the Pershing team (the Pershing Pole Cats) and tried out for the Cardinals.
Clothing
Heavy clothing was purchased in Morrison or Hermann, and the shoe drummers arrived in wagons on a regular basis. One selected the desired style and the correct size of shoe would arrive by mail later.
A Little More Insight (written by my grandpa)
The early German settlers were skilled, hard working, and proud people. Potsdam community residents didnt have the benefit of nearby railroads. They did, however, have the benefit of the Gasconade River.
Early farm homes along the river, ours included was built with the front door facing the river. You would enter into an unheated area, or breezeway, then into heated living quarters. Most farms had a summer kitchen for canning and cooking to keep heat out of the living quarters, as cooking was done with wood stoves. The one on our farm was furnished as much as the living quarters with cabinets and even chair rail around the lower walls. The earliest homes were log structures pinned and skillfully built, the finish work was also well done. Trimwork, as in roof gables and inside trim may have been purchased.
When steam power became more available, homes being built became framed of white pine. Pine was purchased up river in South MIssouri and rafted down to the building site. White pine was the lumber of chioce because it was easy to work with while still strong and long lasting. Rafted pine was distinguished by three inch holes in some boards where the lumber or logs were pinned together for rafting trips down river. Livestock was also moved on steamboats but as I remember stories, more often moved by drovers, or drove themselves. I often heard my mother tell of her grandfather, who lived in Swiss, was a farmer and a drover. I also remember my mother reminiscing of an old neighbor saying in German "Listen! I hear the whistle blow. It brings my tin!" He was building a barn and was waiting for the steamboat to run. The earliest tin that I remember was flat with a V-Crimped edge.
Farms along the lower Gasconade River stored grain for shipment- wheat, oats etc.- in warehouses along the river. The warehouse on this farm was a building I helped tear down as a young boy. I was a 30'x30' building on rock piers with a tin roof, log floor joists, framed with 2"x4"s and the storage area had tongue and groove 3" flooring and sides. Grain would be sacked, as I remember, in a heavy cloth material, sewed shut. I believe they were 90# each in wheat. There was a ramp from the warehouse to the edge of the first bank on the river. Our ramp was built on rock pilings about three or four feet high in places to make an even plane. My dad reused the warehouse flooring for wagon beds, and it lasted for many years.
Of course, there were people who didn't have a farm or business to run some people were hired out for farm work. Some for wages, some for room and board. Some hired hands became as one of the family. I remember when I was a child most families sat together as a family, but there were a few who didn't. Those who didn't, as was old custom, sat with women on the right side and men on the left side of the church.