Zavitz

(from Warwick Tweedsmuir)

Richard Zavitz (1855–) was born in Arkona. He married Alvira Hill (1859–), daughter of Andrew and Mary Ann Hill. Since her parents were opposed to her keeping company with Richard, one day after church they slipped away and were married. Their daughter Etta, one of seven sisters, was born in Shipka, Middlesex County in 1888. In 1895, after the death of their son, Squire, from typhoid fever, the family moved to a farm near Birnam, Lot 19, Con. 5 NER. The daughters attended school at SS#4, Warwick. When daughter Minnie May died from diptheria, Richard bought a family plot in Bethel Cemetery and moved his son there as well.

The Zavitz family worked hard to make a living. Richard took extra work at the blacksmith’s shop in Birnam in the winter. Alvira had hens and would trade the eggs for other supplies at the Birnam store or at Fuller’s store in Arkona. She was also known for her nice butter. Richard subscribed to a daily paper from London and the children went to the post office store each day to pick it up. He read it at night by a coal oil lamp using a pair of reading glasses that he and his wife shared.

The children walked to school and to church. Sometimes their father would take them in the wagon and pick up kids all along the way. The old school had two big stoves, a woodpile, shelves for lunch pails, coat hooks, a pail of water and one old tin cup that the children shared. The school Christmas concert was held in Bethel Church and many people came to it each year. The children would receive a gift like a handkerchief or a book from the Sunday School, and parents could bring gifts to place under the tree for their children to open.

When Etta completed school she did housework for her aunts and other people. She also worked at the hotel in Arkona and at the apple elevator in Thedford. She saved enough money to go to Exeter one day in the buggy and buy her first pair of high-heeled shoes. As children, Richard had had their shoes made by the shoemaker in Arkona. They were made with only one seam and had copper toes, making them very heavy.

In 1910, Etta (Zavitz) Lewis went to Detroit to work, married, and lived there until 1955, when she returned to Wyoming to live.

Chapter 24 of 25 - Zavitz Family

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