The Staeheli Family - an unattributed history

This comes from an unattributed typed document held by Pauline Hagan Staeheli.  A handwritten note states “mother read and told me this over the phone 10-22-86”.

The Staeheli Family

The Catholic Sisters of St. Gallen, Switzerland, worked for years to have a lake made near St. Gallen so they could have fresh fish for Friday.  The closest place was Lake Constance, the Bodensee, around 30 miles away.  Mainly only salted and dried fish could be had at that time.  Finally they won.  It was decided by the government it was feasible to make a small lake around 5 miles away by diverting water from a river or rivers into a canyon.  This would take years, but the Swiss are progressive and determined, experienced engineers.

The Stäheli family owned 14 acres, a large place, in this canyon called Gübsenmoos, meaning “swamp”.  The government confiscated this land along with three other families’ land.  The Stäheli’s had to reestablish themselves.  The oldest son, Albert, was in Wisconsin and urged the family to come to America which they did; to Ridgeway, Wisconsin, a small town near Marshfield in north central Wisconsin.

The father, Kaspar Albert Stäheli, mother Maria Rimml, and 12 children arrived at Ellis Island, USA, March, 1899.  They went directly to Ridgeway, Wisconsin, a small town, arriving at 1 AM on March 25, 1899.  They expected to stay at a hotel but the hotel was too small to accommodate them.  So they went to their Swiss friends, the Marti’s, where Albert was boarding.  They (Marti’s) had two young children also, but they took them in.

The Stäheli’s had brought their feather beds with them so they scattered those around.  Imagine 19 people!  They fixed potatoes in a washtub and made oatmeal mush in the dishpan.  In three days they found a large two story square house in Marshfield and moved. 

Albert, the oldest son, had learned the watch repair business in Switzerland.  He decided to go on the road which was a common procedure at that time.  He traveled from small town to small town, first announcing in the paper he would be there.  He traveled as far as Sedro Woolley, Washington when he was stricken with typhoid fever and died there.  You can imagine the grief of the family.  He was 22 ½ years old.

 Father Staeheli went to Sedro Woolley to take care of things.  Albert was buried at Sedro Woolley.  He died October 11, 1901.

While in Spokane, Father Staeheli heard through Swiss friends about the government opening some homestead land near Addy, Washington close to Colville.  He was able to get land 8 miles out of Addy near the Marble Valley.  When a large house with one room down and one room up was built out of green logs he sent for the family.  They arrived in March of (1902?)[1903, see The Staeheli Homestead in Addy - a timeline and photos].   The mother with the 8 youngest children managed to scrape together enough money for train fare.  Robert, Cap, Hannah and Mary stayed in Wisconsin.

Joe, who was 15, lost his train ticket but was allowed to get on the train anyway.  They carried their food with them – mostly bread, cheese and sausage.  To pass the time on the long trip to Spokane the mother started singing with the children, and as was the usual habit, singing and yodeling.  She had a beautiful voice and led the children.  People started coming into the rail car to hear them and gave them money.  Then they were asked to go into all the rail cars to sing and yodel.  By the time they reached Spokane they had more than enough money to pay for Joe’s ticket with money left over.

Mother Staeheli, who had had Louis about 4 years earlier, became ill from living in the damp atmosphere from the green log house and was in bed for about 6 weeks.  The one room downstairs was their living room, kitchen and the parent’s bedroom.  All the children slept upstairs, climbing a ladder to get up there.  When they could they got gunny sacks and sewed them together to make divisions in the room upstairs. 

Paul said that one of his fondest memories of that place was when the children came down the ladder and went to their mother’s side, usually holding onto their mother’s skirt, to say their morning prayer.  Mother Staeheli had to keep on working while they were saying their prayers.

Father Staeheli wanted to keep the ways he was used to in Switzerland.  Not a stump rancher, he had been a stonemason there.  He did not want to accept the ways of the Americans but he wanted to do as he was used to.  He rather resented coming to America and felt he had been talked into it.  The children were required to speak German in the home although the children had spoken English in the schools in Wisconsin.  Hannah and Joe had a slight accent but the rest spoke without an accent even though some of them, such as Cap, had all of their schooling in Switzerland.  Probably none of the children went to high school as that was not the usual thing in that day and getting to a high school would have been very difficult.  Rose did go to business school, probably in Spokane.  Rose’s first job was with the Pacific Music House and she bought Paul a violin at a discount (1917 or 1918 and he paid for it).  Paul had had a small violin as a youngster but it had been broken.

Father Staeheli would not ride on the load of logs as was done in America because he did not think the horses should be burdened.  Consequently, he walked 8 miles from the homestead into town (Addy) to sell his logs.  The whole family had to work at clearing the land, including Mother Staeheli.

Louis was a beautiful child with beautiful golden curls that he wore long until he was probably 8 or 10 years old, since that was a sort of style in those early days.  Aunt Walda’s hair was also golden when she was a child.  Both of their hair turned dark brown and both of them had very curly hair.  One of the family traits was the beautiful curly dark hair that every one of the children had.  Mother Staeheli and probably Father Staeheli did too.  However, some had curlier hair than others. 

Mother Staeheli had china blue eyes and Joe inherited her eye color.  Paul’s were grey-blue.  All were musical and they all sang, at least as children.  Jack (Charles) played the coronet and Fanny played the zither and guitar.  Rose played the guitar and piano.  Very musical, Rose never had any lessons until after she began work in the office for the N.P. Railroad and had her own apartment.  Probably none of the children ever had music lessons outside of Rose’s.  Mother Staeheli’s voice was still clear as a bell when she was 75.  She was a very spirited, happy woman with mild manners.  She never had anything bad to say about anybody.  She still had rosy cheeks when she passed away.  She had hardening of the arteries, became confused and was in a coma 5 days before she died. She had fallen downstairs 6 months before her death.  She had a rupture which occurred when she was bringing in hay in Switzerland shortly before Rose was born.  That one was operated on but it broke out again when they were living near Addy and she did not have another operation.

Father Staeheli went back to Switzerland after the children all worked and saved enough money to send him back.  All but the very youngest children contributed money to their parents.  Things were no longer the same in Switzerland and he was dissatisfied there so came back when he could.  Shortly after returning to the homestead in 1912 the home burned.  He died shortly after and is buried at Addy, Washington.  The boys later built a lovely new home which is still standing. 

When Mother Staeheli had a chance to sell the ranch after the children were all grown she traded it for a place in Coeur d’Alene.  By this time most of the children were gone away from home.  She was very happy in their place in Coeur d’Alene where she and Louis lived together.  Rose lived with Mother Staeheli also in Coeur d’Alene and went back and forth on the electric interurban railroad to her job in Spokane at the Pacific Music Company.  When she was 67 Mother Staeheli married Mr Krueger who had a little house where they lived in Spokane.  On the front of the lot was a big house which he always rented.  (Pauline is sure that her family visited Ron and Rosalie and that they lived in the big house on the front of the lot.  Verna could surely tell you this). 

Later Krueger moved to Coeur d’Alene with Mother Staeheli but he moved back to Spokane after she died.  He lived only a short time after Mother Staeheli died.  Mother Staeheli had always loved to play pinochle and she was always delighted when she won.  She laughed and said she wouldn’t have married Krueger if he hadn’t played pinochle.

This document provided by Paul Staeheli, son of Glenn Staeheli.