Honoring our Immigrant Herritage Survey

Full Name

Nilhas, Ruth Ann (Biehler)

What are your ties to Collyer?

Born and Educated (there.)

Where did you live?

1 mile west, 2-1/2 miles north.

Which School did you attend?

Collyer Grade and High School.

What was your religious affiliation?

Methodist.

Do you have any stories to tell about family hardships resulting from building and oranizing a Collyer Church or Church Structure?

Were your friends and neighbors all of the same religious affiliation?

Your ethnic background/which country did your ancesters call home?

Grandfather Biehler from Alsace, France.

What language was spoken in the home?

English

Did you experience any problems or barriers caused by speaking a different language?

What ethnic and/or religiuos traditions do you specifically remember growing up with? Does your family still practice the same traditions?

I ... have pleasant memories of the Methodist Church as our Family was active members. The annual Christmas Programs were very special. Also remember a lady always reciting "The Night Before Christmas." I am nearly sure that lady was Minnie Burbach.

When did you and/or your family move to Collyer?

Parents move in about 1920.

Do you know how "Collyer" was chosen as a home designation? (Why did your family move here?) Did they operate a farm on homesteaded property?

Did you/and or your family operate a business in Collyer?

They bought 1/2 section of land (& farmed).

Did you or your parents serve in the military?

Were there problems caused by your ethnic background?

Was your family name changed after you arrived in the United States?

What year were you born?

Where was you place of birth?

Why did your family leave their homeland?

What form of travel did your ancestors use to get to their destination?

What hardships did they encounter on their journey?

What Ports of Call did they travel through to get to America?

Which Port of Entry did they come through when they arrived in America?

What possessions did they bring along with them on their journey? Did they have to sell most of their possessions to be able to obtain money for the journey?

How long did their journey take them from their homeland?

What was the occupation of your ancestors?

Did they change occupations once they settled?

Did they face discrimination once they settled in Collyer?

How did they acquire their homestead land or business?

(My parents) bought 1/2 section of land.

Did there seem to be different social classes among the settlers?

How did the war affect you or your family?

When I was in high school and during World War II one of our teachers taught we "girls" how to knit and we made scarves & stocking caps for the GI's. That was the beginning of a life-long love of knitting. I think it might have been Myrtle Razak that taught us.

Do you have ties or are you in communication with anyone in your ancestor's country?

Have you ever been back to your ancestor's country?

How did your ancestors integrate into a community? In other words, what was the common thread that brought them together?

Additional Notes:

I remember when my brother, Wayne Biehler, and I rode a horse from our home northwest of Collyer to John and Hazel Tomanek's home (The former Paul Schamberger home), left the horse and walked on to school. After school, I was often given a ride home with neighbors in a car!!

Additional Notes:

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