Black Sheep Sunday: The Pilgers and the Plow

image credit: farmcollector.com

Mrs. Pilger doesn't really qualify as a Black Sheep, but I'm making a very broad interpretation of the term. I don't have many ancestors who were imprisoned or otherwise known to engage in illegal activities, but I do have a few relatives who behaved badly.

I wanted to share this story today because Mrs. Pilger is said to be the sister of my great-great-grandfather, Peter Christensen Scriver, the subject of yesterday's post. For many years, the only indication I'd seen of her was the 1880 census, when a second family was enumerated in the same household as Peter, his wife, and their three children. That family included brother-in-law "Chris Pederson," age 35, his wife "Christena Pederson," age 34, and their daughter "Annie Mary Pederson," age 4. I believe that this "Christena" is Johanne Christine Christensen, born about 1840 in Torslev sogn, and somewhere along the way either she remarried or her husband became known as Jens Pilger.

I came across this story about her in a memoir written by Benjamin Johanson, who was a nephew of Peter Scriver's wife.

"...Mr. Yens [sic] Pilger, who was a brother-in-law of Uncle Peter Scriver and lived a few miles north of him, had purchased a new Mishawaka sulkey plow from the Johanson brothers [Benjamin's father and uncle]."

Benjamin used this story to illustrate the differences in personality between his father and his uncles, describing Uncle Christian Johanson as "the soul of patience." The Pilgers, who were not Benjamin's relatives, don't come off as well in the story. ;-)

"After using it for some time, Mother thinks for a season, he brought it back and left it in our yard, saying to Mother that he guessed he did not want it. I don't recall if our machinery was sold subject to trial. When Father was appraised of this fact, he took the plow back to Pilger's, explaining that a bolt, controlling an adjustment, had come loose, which evidently had not been noticed, and that the plow absolutely would work, if operated correctly. My brother was with Father on this trip and gives some interesting sidelights. He does not remember that Father was required to demonstrate that the plow would function. He says that Yens stayed outside, at a respectable distance and did not enter the discussion, which Mrs. Pilger, who evidently 'wore the family pants,' carried on.

Besides the adjustment needed on the sulky it is quite possible that the crux of the problem was that the missus did not think Yens should own a piece of machinery on which he could ride. That, moreover, was quite a general contention when riding machinery first came into use; one should be ashamed to be so lazy, and Mrs. P. did not hesitate to shame out her old man.

When Dad seemed to get nowhere with the argument, he said to Mrs. Pilger, "Have you got a cup of coffee?" This would call her attention to a very evident breach of Danish etiquette. In her subsequent confusion and embarrassment she agreed to try the plow again. But my brother says that Dad did not like Mrs. Pilger's coffees, and could not tolerate it. On the way home he did the whale and Jonah act with it, so he did not accept the coffee for any other reason than to mollify his adversary in an argument.

After Father died, the bill for the plow was still unpaid. Uncle Christian met Yens Pilger in Dell Rapids one day and discussed the matter with him. He still showed no signs that he intended to pay, though he had the plow and was using it. Uncle invited him to go in and set the matter before a Justice of the Peace. This suggestion was all that was required and the money was immediately forthcoming. I am a bit curious to know how my father would eventually have disposed of the matter."

I, in turn, am curious to know what Great-Great-Grandpa Peter thought of this business between his sister and his wife's brothers. Did he say anything to either side, or did he wisely keep his nose out of the matter? The fact that he isn't mentioned again in the story seems to indicate the latter.