MAIRE, OTTO AND EMMA (SCHMIDT)

by Joedphine Piel Johnson

Entry F272 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Emma Sophia Schmidt was born June 15,
1866. Otto Maire was born April 20, 1864.
Both were born in Brandenbery, Germany,
and grew up in the area and dated occasion-
ally. Emma loved to dance but Otto did not.
He would escort her to dances and then wait
until she was ready to leave and then escort
her back to her home.

Emma had a step-brother who emigrated
to the United Stated and settled somewhere
in Michigan. It was her desire to do the same.
Over the years, she gathered fish from the
seashore and sold them for whatever she
could get. She saved all the money she could
for sailboat and train fare to get to where her
step-brother lived. Emma had a step-sister
who also wanted to make the trip. Both
purchased tickets just the day before they
were to leave. The girls had their fortunes
told; in Germany, they called it "laying of the
cards." Emma's step-sister was told that she
had better not go on the trip as the boat would
never make it across the ocean for somehow
it would be destroyed on the water, so she
decided to stay at home.

During the years from ages 18 through 21,
all young people were inducted into the
service and during that three year period,
they had to learn a trade whether it was a
carpenter, tailor, shopkeeper, or whatever. A
number of young men, including Otto Maire,
did not want to be inducted into the German
Army so they managed to get tickets to sail
to the United States. Otto persuaded Emma
to go along with him; by this time they had
gone together for quite sometime. There were
approximately 300 passengers on the sailboat
when they left Germany. It took them three
weeks to sail across the ocean but they made
it safely. This was probably 1882 as Emmas
was around 16 Years when she left.

Otto had a couple of brothers living in Blue
Hill, Nebraska; August and Frank. Otto was
to go to Nebraska to be with them. The word
was out that there were pick-pockets in New
York and Chicago. Emma and Otto had to
travel from New York to Chicago to get to
their destinations. Emma had what money
she had, pinned in her clothes. To be on the
safe side, Otto told her that he would take
care of her money for her, so she let him have
it. That's the reason she came to Nebraska.
He wouldn't give it to her in Chicago when
it came time to part ways to go to their
planned destinations. She had no alternative
except to go with him. They arrived at his
brother's home in Blue Hill. His brother
August and wife Nancy, were expecting a
baby. When it came time for the baby to be
born, Emma was to help. In Germany, all
young ladies were kept away from anything
like that, they were never allowed to see a
child born. That was the job of the mid-wife.
Emma had no idea what was going on - she
was so frightened she ran out of the house and
hid in the barn. The doctor thought she
would be there to help get hot water or
whatever they needed and wondered why she
left. She said, "I went to the barn and stayed
there as I was so scared." She wouldn't have
known what was expected of her if she had
stayed. She was 17 or so at the time.

Otto Maire and Emma Sophia Schmidt
were married October 8, 1884 in Webster
County, Nebraska. It is not known how she
got by as far as clothing was concerned. She
had not attended trade school in Germany
and did not learn how to sew. All of the
clothing they wore had to be made by hand.
She did not have a sewing machine until her
third child, Henry Otto, was born September
20, 1889. Otto and Emma moved south of
Mullen around 1907 when land was opened
for homesteading. They lived the remainder
of their lives in this area. Otto died June 7,
1933 and Emma on March 30, 1934. They are
both buried in the Mullen Cederview Ceme-
tery.

NOTE: All of the information on Otto and
Emma Maire was provided by Mollie Maire
Piel, their oldest daughter. It was taken from
a tape interview made in 1980.