Alice Grenz Information

as recorded by Barbara Schmidt Dahlberg

Alice Grenz Schmidt
Published: Friday, May 30, 2014 10:10 AM PDT

Today’s story is about Alice Grenz Schmidt, a longtime resident of Elk Grove, Franklin, and the Delta area. We know about Alice because her daughter, Barbara Schmidt Dahlberg meticulously recorded her memories of living in Elk Grove and Franklin. We thank Barbara for her thoughtfulness and her diligence, and for sharing the story with us. Readers will enjoy Alice’s memories of living in the tiny town of Elk Grove and going to the Elk Grove Grammar School in the late 1920s.

Alice’s parents, Henry Grenz and Frieda Forsch, came to the Dakotas with their families from Odessa, Russia in 1884. They were married in 1904, and farmed in both North and South Dakota before moving to Canada. Alice was born in Saskatchewan in 1915. Henry Grenz got a job working on the railroad and the family moved to Portland, Oregon. Their next move was to California and Elk Grove in 1926. They lived in a house on Kent Street and Henry got a job working in a fruit orchard of pears, peaches and cherries. The orchard was the Rosa Ranch on Bruceville Road, and the family moved out to the country to be closer to the ranch. (Note: If anyone knows where the Rosa Ranch was, please let me know. I cannot find any trace of it).

Barbara carefully recorded Alice’s memories of her early years in Elk Grove. She went to grades 5-8, at Elk Grove Grammar School; the brick building that is now the Cosumnes CSD headquarters. It was a very new school in the 1920s, and it replaced several earlier one room schools in the area.

Classes went from 9 to 3, and there were as many as 36 students in a class. Alice’s favorite subject was history, but she often said that she enjoyed all her classes including reading, language, writing, spelling, arithmetic, geography, history, civics, home economics, and drawing. Physical education was added when Alice was in the sixth grade, and in seventh grade, the students had vocal and instrumental music. Healthful living and public speaking were new classes when Alice was in the eighth grade.

The girls learned to sew in home economics, and they learned how to make their own clothing patterns using old newspapers. They also learned how to do various embroidery stitches. At recess, Alice enjoyed playing games such as jacks, jump rope, hopscotch, basketball, and baseball. She was on the girls’ basketball team and earned her school letters, EG.

Alice graduated from Elk Grove Grammar School as salutatorian, with the class of 1931.She wanted to go on to high school, but her father didn't believe it was necessary for girls to get an education beyond the eighth grade.

All the children of the family were required to work. Alice started working when she was 12 and worked at various jobs as they became available. She picked blackberries and raspberries for a berry farmer and picked walnuts at a walnut orchard for a penny a pound. She also did housework for neighbor ladies.

The Grenz family raised as many vegetables as they could. They canned fruits and vegetables for food during the winter months, and they made their own sauerkraut, olives, pickles, and jams. They raised geese, ducks, chickens, and they had a cow. When the hay and feed got too expensive, they got rid of the cow and got milk from a neighbor.

Holidays were spent at church or with family or friends. Alice loved going on picnics and remembered them as being a lot of fun. Christmas gifts were typically dolls for the girls and tractors or trucks for the boys, and each child received only one gift. Birthdays were celebrated with cake and homemade ice cream—if they were lucky.

The German Zion Baptist Church in Franklin is where the Grenz family went to church. It was across the street from the Franklin Grammar School near the corner of Franklin Boulevard and Hood-Franklin Road. German was spoken in the church.

After Alice graduated from eighth grade she went to work at various jobs. Most of her siblings were married or had jobs away from home, so Alice had to take care of her father when he had a stroke. Her mother worked at a variety of jobs to support the family. Henry had several more strokes and when he needed more care than the family could provide, he was placed in a nursing home for men. It was called the "Old Man's Home" and was at Florin Road and Franklin Boulevard. Henry was there until his death in 1941.

Alice's brother Eddie got a job milking cows at a dairy owned by the Schmidt family on what is now Ed Rau Road in the Franklin area. Her sister Agnes and her husband lived at the dairy just down the road. There was a house available there, and Eddie, Frieda and Alice moved into it. The Schmidts also owned a butcher shop and meat market in Franklin, and Alice got a job working at the butcher shop. She rode to work with the Schmidts and was paid $5 a month. Later this was raised to $10 a month, and this was the first real paying job that she had.

The Schmidts attended church at Point Pleasant, so Alice joined the Point Pleasant Church Young Ladies Aid. There, she met Johanna, Esther, and Leona Schmidt, and through them, she met their brother, Herman. He belonged to a motorcycle club that consisted of the young men from Point Pleasant and Franklin.

In 1935, Alice Grenz and Herman Schmidt were married. Herman did various jobs around Point Pleasant and Hood and worked for a veterinarian which explains why he was often referred to as “Doc.” The family moved to the River Delta area, and that is where Barbara and her siblings attended school. Herman died in 1977 and Frieda in 2007, and both are buried in the Point Pleasant Cemetery

Our great recorder of family history is married to James Dahlberg who is a well-known collector of historic memorabilia, especially crate labels. We are fortunate to have them living here in Elk Grove.