John Hirtz had a good job in Bigonville, Luxembourg as a conductor on a train.
But one day a friend came to visit. He was flashing so much money around and
praising America so much that John wanted to go to this wonderful country where money
could be made so easily.
On the 13 March 1913, John Hirtz (back
row 2nd from left) with his wife Margaret (middle row holding doll) and his 4 year old
daughter Lucy (middle row) crossed the ocean from Antwerp to New York.
Years later, Lucy remembers ..... "I can
remember my mother getting me all dressed in my best Sunday clothes. She was crying, we
were going to see Uncle Pierre, her brother. We were going on a long trip, to say good-bye
to him, away from Diekirch and Luxembourg. I was 3.5 years old and could not understand
all the commotion. When we got to uncle Pierre’s place, more tears. Everyone was in
tears and uncle Pierre hugged me so hard. Uncle Pierre was such a jolly old person, on the
plump side. I had never seen him in any other way but with a big smile on his face, so I
really did not realize what was happening.
Then a big taxi came and took us to the ocean. I
was staying very close to my mother, very scared of getting lost in the crowd while my
father went looking for our luggage and where our cabin was. Soon we all went on deck to
see. The ship left shore, everyone was waving and throwing streamers at the shore. Then we
heard a bell ring, calling everybody for dinner. They had two table settings. We were at
the first one. Then after a walk around the deck, we retired to our cabin for a good night
sleep.
Everything was sailing very smoothly when we woke
up next morning, the bell called us for breakfast - the early one at 8:30. The food was
very good. We played games on deck, my folks got acquainted with some of the people. There
were so many places to inspect and lots of shops with so many nice things you could buy
and everybody was so nice to me. I was really tired when it was time to go to bed.
On the third day, when we woke up, the ship was
creaking and cracking. We were all quite frightened. We were in the middle of the ocean in
a big storm. Sometimes the boat would be at 45 degrees, sometimes it would go 50 feet up
and come down again 50 feet. Everybody was sea sick. My mother was so sick that she could
not look after me but everybody on the boat adopted me. I was their little pet and very
well looked after by those that were fortunate enough not to be sea sick. My mother never
got better until she got off the boat again.
As we were immigrants, we entered New York by Ellis Island under the Statute of Liberty.
1913, after hours going through customs, we finally were in New York. Mother started to
feel better but she told me "I wish we had not come". She did not like these
crowded streets, these high rise buildings, everything. Dad found us a room in a hotel.
The high rise building fascinated me. I wanted to go high up to the top in the elevators
then I could look out and see the ocean where we had come from.
The next morning mother and I
stayed in our room while Dad went to see if he could find a job. He told my mother
"Don’t open the door unless you hear my knock" which was two hard knocks
and one soft one. There was a knock came while he was away but mother and I were very
quiet, we never answered it and finally he left.
They really did not have too much money, and Dad
could not speak English very well (although he could speak several other languages). He
ran into a man that could speak German. A con man - that was always looking for the likes
of my parents. He told dad he had just the job for him but he must buy a uniform. It was
to drive some rich children to school and be a valet. This would take a big slice of my
dad’s money, but the con man said mother could also work there doing sewing and
cooking for their room and board. The pay was also quite good for him. He gave the con man
the money. As soon as he got it he was in such a hurry to leave that Dad got suspicious.
There were two con men by then trying to talk dad into this. They were going to leave him
on the streets of New York which also did not look right to him. The one was already gone.
Dad grabbed the other one and would not let him go. Soon a policeman came along. Dad did
not know what the con man said to the policeman but he wanted to arrest dad. Dad was a big
strong man and he wouldn’t let go. He kept saying, "I want man that speaks
French or German". So finally, the policeman could not part them so he took them both
to the station. After a long time, they got someone dad could speak to and explain his
side of the story. The con man was arrested and had to give his money back. All this time,
mother and I were sitting in the room hungry and afraid.
So Dad found himself living in New York, with a
wife and a young child, no money, no
friends, looking for work. He took anything he could get, worked around the hotel till he
got in touch with my uncle Tony, his brother. One day while washing dishes in the hotel,
the sewer plugged and he had to go and unplug it. It let go and my poor Dad was just
about drowned with sewer.
Dad found a job on a dairy farm. Mother also cooked and helped in the garden there. It was
very hard work and they were not used to this type of work. The owners had a big dog.
One day I tried to pet it and he took a big bite out of my face and they had to
rush me to get stitches. To this day I still carry the scars.
While working here in the cold and wet, my mother got infection in her eyes and went blind
in one eye. They left this place and went to another dairy farm. The owner was a bachelor,
a very nice young man. He took me under his wing. What a difference this place was. He was
so nice to all of us. His name was Mr. Harrison.
While we stayed there he took my mother and me to see an oculist in New York as my
mother had so much trouble with her eyes. He got her an appointment. Mother was so
pretty and I think he fell in love with her. He took us to his apartment in New York in
one of those high rise buildings. Was it ever lovely! We had never been to a place like
that. I was quite fascinated with his bathroom: it had so many mirrors and fancy bottles
and things. While there, he took us to a show at the Hippodrome of New York. It was
a live show of the war. I remember crawling into my mother's lap when they fired shells
and bombs. We spent the night in Mr. Harrison's spare bedroom. Mother and I got lost in
it. It was so big and cozy. The next day he took us to see the oculist. He examined my
mother's eyes very thoroughly, gave her some medicine to put in her eyes, and told her he
was sorry but he could do nothing to bring back her sight. Then Mr. Harrison took us back
to his farm.
Uncle Tony came from Canada and talked Dad into coming back with him to Canada. So Dad
gave his notice. We were all sorry to leave and so was Mr. Harrison.
So again we left with some tears, packed and a long. long train ride until we came to a
town named Herbert, Saskatchewan where there were also people from Luxembourg."
It was 1915 when they arrived at Herbert, Saskatchewan and the hardship and struggle of
farming began. They worked for Henry Guillaume ($40/month total) and later rented his
farm. That winter Marguerite and Lucy stayed at the farm and worked for board and room,
while John ran a Cinema (Dreamland Theatre) and Butcher Shop in Herbert. The winter of
1916, John left someone in charge of the businesses and hauled grain from south of Beechy
to Herbert. That winter was so cold, many times he froze his face, feet and hands. Once so
badly that John's face blistered and did not heal up until spring. He stopped overnight at
a farmstead near Main Centre, and he wished he had stayed in Luxembourg.
Then John sold the Butcher shop and Cinema and rented a farm a mile north of Herbert.
There a second daughter was born on 25 February 1916: Renee Marie Caroline.
1915 and 1916 were good years for crops. Things went along somewhat better, being all
together on their own, and Lucy going to school by this time. Then the 1918 flu hit the
district. John, Lucy and Renee got it, but Marguerite didn't so she had to be nurse and
also do the chores. Then the poor crop years came, especially 1919, when practically no
rain fell during the growing season.
In 1920 they returned to Europe where John was employed as an interpreter for the
French government at the Palais D'orsay (Hotel) in Paris. He knew how to speak seven
languages: English, French, German, Dutch, Latin, Letzebuergesch and Flemish.
But they were not content - in 1925 they came back to Canada, helping Henry Guillame
with harvest at Herbert then loaded their belongings and moved across the Herbert Ferry to
Tony Hirtz's farm by Lucky Lake, Saskatchewan."
