Family History of Gottlieb P and Lydia (Schock) Grenz

Gottlieb Grenz was born 28 Dec. 1890 at Guldendorf, Russia, according to the Naturalization Papers filed by his father, Gottlieb Grenz.  he emigrated to the U.S. with his parents and 9 brothers and sisters aboard the SS Noordland, which sailed from Liverpool, England on Nov. 29, 1905 and landed at the Port of Philadelphia on 13 Dec. 1905.

After arriving in the U.S. at the age of 15, Gottlieb worked as a farmer, blacksmith and cowboy.

Somewhere along the way, he lost his left eye.  According to his eldest son, Bill, someone threw a stick that bounced off a wall and hit him in the eye in Russia.  However, Gottlieb told his middle son, Fred, a much more lurid story; he said he had lost his eye bull-dogging a steer.  Gottlieb did like to embellish a story, however, so his descendents may choose whichever version of the story that they wish to believe!

Gottlieb was married on 11 Feb. 1917 at Wishek, ND to Lydia Schock, born 30 Sept. 1898 at Arzis, Russia, the daughter of Christ and Louisa (Gebbert) Schock.  The Schock family emigrated to the U.S. in 1904.

ITEM - Emmons County Record - June 14, 1917 -

Their eldest son, Bill, said that they moved from a farm in Wishek in Spring, 1926 to a farm in Hebron.  Gottlieb bought a 1926 Model T. which Bill and his younger brother Jake tried to drive, without their father's permission!  Bill was kicked in the face by a horse that summer, but he can't remember if that was any worse than the spanking he got from his Dad for trying to drive the Model T:

After moving back to Wishek in the Fall of 1926, they moved to Hazelton in 1927.  In 1928, they moved to their grandfather Gottlieb's farm near Hazelton, then to a farm that had a stone-built first-floor house with a barn at the bottom of a hill.  The kids thought it was great fun to drag a hay wagon to the top of the hill, then pile onto it and shoot thought the barn doors.  They only did that when their folks left to go shopping or visiting, however------

That was also rattlesnake country.  Fred remembers one day when he had just started first grade, they found a king snake; they stopped to play with it, pitting it against a rattler that they also found.  Needless to say, they were late for school that day!

The family moved north of Tower City in 1937, then north of Oriska in 1938, which is where Bill left to join the Navy in 1940.

Fred remembers that they had perhaps a dozen horses when they lived north of Oriska.  He said that one person used to cut hay, using two separate teams.  The first team just hauled a sickle bar and the person controlling the two teams sat on the sickle bar behind the second team.  He said the first team were so well-trained that they knew exactly where to turn to begin the second swath and, if the sickle bar jammed, those horses just stopped and waited until the driver of the second team came and cleaned the sickle bar out.  Fred said that the only time you really had to shout "whoa!" at the first team was if you wanted them to stop so you could grease everything up.

They also had a horse that used to haul the wagon or sleigh to take the children to school every day.  Nobody had to drive the horse, since he knew what roads to follow during decent weather when the roads were open. During the winter, Gottlieb took down some fences so the horse could take a short-cut.  The children would all pile on the sleigh during the winter and huddle underneath blankets or robes; when the horse got to the school, he stopped and waited a minute so everyone could get off, then he turned around and trotted off home again, all by himself.  In the afternoon, Gottlieb would hitch the horse up and send him on his way to the school.  Fred said that the horse only waited for a minute or so before he turned around and headed back home again after arriving at the school, so you had to make sure that you were ready to leave when the horse arrived, because he left whether you were ready or not1  Since they lived about three miles from the school, it was a long and lonely walk if you missed the horse!!

In 1940, the family moved north of Tower.  That is about the time that Gottlieb bought his first tractor.  During WWII, they farmed about 2000 acres; some of the acreage was north of Page, so they had to haul the tractor there at times and stay for several days.  Tehy still had horses also.

The three oldest sons - William, Jake, and Ed - were members of the U.S. Navy and Army during the Second World War, which left Fred as the eldest son at Home.

Gottlieb bought a farm three miles east of Tower City on old Hwy. 10 in 1946.

Gottlieb and Lydia were blessed with 16 children, of whom 13 still survive.