Henry and Anna Christina

Henry and Anna Christina Mumm

Henry was born on Christmas day in 1874, the son of Henry and Katharina Kuhr Mumm.

Anna Chrtistina Henningsen was born January 17, 1882, the daughter of Peter Claus and Wolver Eggers Henningsen.

They took up residency on the Mumm farm some two and one-half miles west of Yutan, Nebraska on the farm originally homesteaded by Henry's father, also Henry.

Henry had been born on the Mumm farm place as had his brother John and sisters Anna, Catharina (Tena) and Rosa. Apparently planning a new family, Henry, Jr. constructed a new house on the farm and it became the birthing house for all of the Mumm children, as well as three grandchildren, Lyle and Sharlene Replogle and Jeris Seivers.

Twelve children were born into the family, of which one died in infancy.

Not much is known about the life of Henry. Perhaps the only recorded item was one by Henry's nephew, Clarence Storm.

What I remember of Grandpa by Lyle Replogle:

I was only seven years old when grandpa Mumm died. While we lived some ninety miles away in Pender, there were occasional trips to Yutan.

I basically would describe grandpa as a farmer. I do not remember him taking up with tractors and was really still into using horses. His sons of course were using tractors but I do not remember grandpa using one.

Long before baling hay was in vogue I remember being with grandpa in a horse drawn hay rack pulling a hay loader behind it. This was on the "eighty" north east of the intersection north of the farm place. The hay was layered on slings in the rack which were later used to hoist the hay up through a large door on the barn.

Grandpa's car as I remember, was a early 30's Chevrolet. My most vivid memory is driving to Wahoo on a Saturday night with grandma and grandpa. The primary purpose was to go grocery shopping at what I recall was the Piggly Wiggly store. It so happened that on the way home, just before we would turn off the highway to go north to the Mumm farm we came upon an accident. A car had run up the embankment on the south side of the highway. Upon stopping we discovered that the occupants of the car were no other than uncle Arnold and Elmer Sievers.

One of the more interesting projects of grandpa was the growing of watermelons and cantaloupes. On what I believe was rented land northeast of Yutan, it was always referred to as "the bottom". This most likely is because it was on low land not far from the Platte River. One would go by the farm of Clyde Keeler on the way to "the bottom". Clyde was the father of uncle Lloyds future wife Leatha Keeler.

What I do remember is that growing melons was a very labor intensive project. Most of the work on melons was done by hand. There were some sort of sprayers either hand held or put on persons back that were used to spread a powdered form of bug killer on the leaves of the plant. Of course some of the most used tools were plain old garden hoes used to hoe the weeds. You could drive horses or tractors on the fields once the plants were growing.

As the melons began to ripe there was always the problem of someone stealing melons. In a small building on the property that was used to store equipment, etc., grandpa would sleep overnight on a cot to ward off anyone who might want to help themselves to watermelons. I think he kept a shotgun that he might use to shoot in the air to scare anyone off. I never stayed overnight with him at "the bottom", nor do I recall even asking to do so.

Once ready for eating the melons would be hand picked, loaded on trucks and hauled to Omaha where they were I suppose, sold to some produce company.

For some reason I have a memory that included grandpa playing an accordian. The accordian is a quite vivid memory, however in mentioning this to uncle Glenn in 2009 he had no memory of it. And uncle Glenn had the most amazing memory of anyone, so I must be wrong. It remains a mystery to me and my memory has him sitting on a chair just north of the pantry door.

My mothers aunts and uncles were always referred to aunt or uncle.

Grandpa had two sisters. Aunt Anna was married to George Storm. I do not recall much interaction with uncle George and Aunt Anna although we did interact quite a bit with their son Clarence who lived on the same road as the Mumm farm but on the hill south of the highway. I believe this was the farm of George Storm. Clarence was a pilot and had a small airplane. Glenn took me to his place and Clarence gave me a ride in his airplane.

Grandpa's sister aunt Rose (Rosa) was married to Carl Trost. They lived on their farm at the intersection north of the Mumm farm. We often visited at their home and when a little older spent some time with Charles and Karen, children of their son Herman. Herman's farm was another half mile north and west on a long lane off of the road.

Grandma had one brother (another had died in infancy) John, and two sisters, Emma and Effie. Uncle John had lived on the Henningsen home place one mile east of the Mumm farm. He later had businesses in Yutan, most notably a bar and a restaurant which I recall frequenting in my youth. My recollection is of his wife aunt Margaret who was uncle John's second wife after the death of his first wife Elsie Trost. Uncle John is remembered by me as a very jovial and fun loving kind of guy. He had two children, Caroline and Arleatha. Uncle John and aunt Margaret later lived on the farm just east of Yutan that my uncles Arnold and Glenn had lived at one time.

Grandma's sister Emma was married to Henry Prinz. They farmed south of Yutan until their farm was taken over by the government for the Nebraska Ordnance plant during the second world war. They purchased a farm northeast of Pender where they lived until in their later years they returned to Yutan living in the Henninsen property in south Yutan. Emma and Henry did not have any children.

Grandma's sister Effie was married to Charles Thomas. They lived on the highway south of the Mumm farm, a short distance west of the intersection. On visiting them, I recall their home to be a somewhat elegant old style home quite different than those of the Storms', Trosts' or Prinz. Uncle Charlie and aunt Effie had five children. The three boys farmed in the Yutan area. Ben had a farm just south of the Mumm farm and Herman's farm was some one-half mile east of the Mumm farm. Herman's children Donald and Charlotte were close to my age. Charlotte in the same class in school.

I have made some mention of the farm houses of grandpa and grandma's brothers and sisters. Their home was of a somewhat stark contrast to their siblings. The Mumm farm home was simple and basic.

Grandpa died on November 18, 1940. One of the most interesting memories is that of the coffin being brought to the house on the farm the day before the funeral. The following obituary records his life: