The Schramm Family at Home
Visitors to Schramm's Cottage often ask questions relative to the Schramm Family and their life in the Cottage. "Where was the kitchen? Where did the children sleep?", are most frequent. To help members on roster duty to answer these questions, this story has been written from information given by the grandchildren of Pastor Max von Schramm.
It was a wonderful day for Kate Schramm when their new house was finished and they finally moved in. After the crowded living conditions in the old schoolhouse, she could now enjoy her love of fine furniture and arrange the furniture, ornaments and furnishings sent by relatives in England. The home was a combination of German austerity and English tradition.
There were five children when they moved into the cottage. Rachel was ten, Rhoda seven, Joseph five, Ada three, and Victor was a baby. Three more boys were born in the following years, Albert, Walter and Hubert.
The-parent's bedroom was at the front and the children slept in the second bedroom, directly behind. A wash stand in each bedroom took the place of a bathroom and young children were bathed in a tub in front of the fire.
Across the passage was the drawing room and dining room. The large room at the.rear was purely a schoolroom. At the end of the verandah was a door leading into the kitchen. There was no opening into the schoolroom. The present door was added in the 1930's. A square iron tank against the kitchen wall had a tap on the verandah side. It was only necessary to step outside the kitchen door to get water. Steps led down to the well. The kitchen fire also warmed a bake-oven at the rear of the chimney. This oven, used to bake bread, was reached from outside, in the yard. After meals had been cooked, Rachel used to help her mother carry hot dishes along the verandah and in the front door to the dining room.
As with other German families, meals were held in the dining room with strict formality. If any of the children spoke out of turn, they were sent to the punishment table in the corner. All too often it was Alfred who had to finish his meals at this table.
Probably Left to Right: Arthur, Albert, Walter (glasses), Kate (nee Pickering), Ada, Victor Von Schramm
As the family grew, a bedroom was needed for the boys, so a partition was built to cut off half the kitchen. The toilets were out in the yard, near the orange trees. They were earth closets - a double for boys and a single for girls, as the cottage was also a school. A lattice screened the entrances with a climbing red geranium growing over it.
The Schramm family, in Germany, offered to educate two of the children in Silesia. Joe, who had become partly crippled, did not want to go and, as the others were too young, Rachel and Rhoda sailed for Germany. They already knew the language, having grown up in a German community.
In Silesia they met their relatives and learnt the history of the family. In 1870, Johnny Schramm was badly wounded when he saved the life of Frederick the Great by throwing himself in front of the Emperor. The family was honoured by being given the title, "von".
On their way home, the girls went to England and stayed with Kate's relatives at Bedford.
Ada had missed the experiences of her older sisters but, as compensation, was given an education at M.L.C. She was a clever girl and did well at school.
Rachel was always called Rahel. At Christmas, the year she was twenty-one, Rachel received a Christmas card from her favourite cousin. With bantering affection, Ada had written on it, "Dearest Rachel alias Rahel". Rachel put it on the mantelpiece in the drawing room. Later she looked for the card, but it had disappeared. Eighty-four years later, we found the card where it had slipped behind the mantelpiece.
Christmas Card: Written text: Rhale alias Rahel with much love from Ada Xmas /87 Printed Text: May all Joys be thine this Christmas. (Ada Schramm was a daughter of Max Schramm and Kate Pickering. Rachel was Ada's older sister) DJ0066-1
After Schramm's school closed, a fire stove was built into the open fireplace in the schoolroom. Meals were now cooked there and it became the kitchen. A table, safe, and kitchen cupboard were the only kitchen furniture. The traditional formality was beginning to relax. The old kitchen was used as another boys bedroom. When Hubert was born, in 1888, there were five boys. One of Kate's sisters, who was a semi-invalid, came to live with them. A section of the schoolroom, between the fireplace and the old kitchen was partitioned off as a room for her.
In 1890, an exciting time began for the family. There was romance, animated talk of wedding plans and preparation for new homes.
Rhoda and Herman Fischer, a Lutheran Pastor, were first to be married. They went to live at Horsham.
Rachel fell in love with tall, handsome Karl Neher from Wurtenberg, in Germany, and was married three years after Rhoda. The couple lived on an orchard in Bayswater.
Only two year's later Ada, who was like a bright little bird, married Alfred Pardy. They were comfortably off and went to live in Surrey Hills. On one of their visits to the family home, they caused a sensation by driving up in a Stanley Steamer. People rushed out of their houses to see the strange sight of a motor car.
When Victor married, he lived in a brick home, across the orchard, in Doncaster Road. Victor and Joe looked after the orchard which covered the whole area of the present Schramm's reserve.
The girls' bedroom was now empty. Pastor Schramm used to sit up late at night reading Greek and Roman texts by the flickering light of his oil lamp. So as not to disturb Kate, he moved into the rear bedroom. Soon the room became his study. The study was Pastor Schramm's domain. Kate would never consider entering the room without first hocking and receiving permission to enter. The boys did not often see the inside of the study and, when they did, it was generally to be reprimanded.
It was after one such occasion that Albert, now a grown Ian, decided to leave home. He went to live in New Zealand and never returned.
Walter left home to go droving in the North. While at an outback station in Queensland, he picked up an old Melbourne newspaper and, on looking through it, Walter saw the death notice of his father. Pastor Max von Schramm had died in November 1908.
(See Max Schramm - Probate)
Walter came home to be with the family but later he left again and Hubert went with him. They eventually settled in New South Wales, near Wagga.
The house was not left without children for, the year before Schramm died, Rachel lost her husband. To help her over the next years, two of her children, Alix and Geoffrey, stayed with Kate Schramm. By the time they left, Ruby, Victor's girl, was a three year old who often walked across the orchard to be with her Grandma.
As they grew older, Ruby and her young sister, Nina, used to call in to see Grandma on their way home from school. Kate always had a piece of cake or a biscuit for them. On the first Tuesday of each month, Kate would say, "You can't come in today, the Ladies are coming". That was her "At Home" day when the "Ladies of the Parish" came to call. Sometimes the children would peep through the door and see the silver tea service and tea cups set out on the white lace cloth and, perhaps see the ladies drop their visiting cards on the round silver tray.
The children loved their grandmother. She was a small woman and so much a perfect English woman. Ruby would ask, "Can we walk to church with you, Gran?î Kate would answer, in her English accent, "To be sure dear. Don't forget your gloves and hankie". As Ruby grew older, she used to walk across the orchard to do washing and cleaning for Kate.
In 1920, Victor Schramm moved to an orchard of his own in Box Hill. Only Joe was left with Kate. She was over seventy by then, but was still a wiry, hard working woman. Every bit of water used in the kitchen had to come from the tank at the far end of the verandah. On cold winter nights, when rain was blown by the icy wind right across the verandah, Kate still walked all the way round to fill a kettle or jug, then carried it back through the front door and down the passage to the kitchen in the schoolroom.
Katherine Schramm died in 1928 at the age of eighty-one. She had been married as a seventeen-year old girl and had helped her husband, Max, as infant teacher in his school, and he had helped her church by becoming Secretary of Holy Trinity. It was the year they moved into the cottage that Max Schramm was made a Pastor of the Lutheran Church and, as the Pastor's wife, she had endeared herself to the members of the congregation. Kate Schramm died after a full and rewarding life.
Irvine Green writing in the 1981 05 DTHS Newsletter
There were five children when they moved into the cottage. Rachel was ten, Rhoda seven, Joseph five, Ada three, and Victor was a baby. Three more boys were born in the following years, Albert, Walter and Hubert.
The-parent's bedroom was at the front and the children slept in the second bedroom, directly behind. A wash stand in each bedroom took the place of a bathroom and young children were bathed in a tub in front of the fire.
Across the passage was the drawing room and dining room. The large room at the.rear was purely a schoolroom. At the end of the verandah was a door leading into the kitchen. There was no opening into the schoolroom. The present door was added in the 1930's. A square iron tank against the kitchen wall had a tap on the verandah side. It was only necessary to step outside the kitchen door to get water. Steps led down to the well. The kitchen fire also warmed a bake-oven at the rear of the chimney. This oven, used to bake bread, was reached from outside, in the yard. After meals had been cooked, Rachel used to help her mother carry hot dishes along the verandah and in the front door to the dining room.
As with other German families, meals were held in the dining room with strict formality. If any of the children spoke out of turn, they were sent to the punishment table in the corner. All too often it was Alfred who had to finish his meals at this table.
As the family grew, a bedroom was needed for the boys, so a partition was built to cut off half the kitchen. The toilets were out in the yard, near the orange trees. They were earth closets - a double for boys and a single for girls, as the cottage was also a school. A lattice screened the entrances with a climbing red geranium growing over it.
The Schramm family, in Germany, offered to educate two of the children in Silesia. Joe, who had become partly crippled, did not want to go and, as the others were too young, Rachel and Rhoda sailed for Germany. They already knew the language, having grown up in a German community.
In Silesia they met their relatives and learnt the history of the family. In 1870, Johnny Schramm was badly wounded when he saved the life of Frederick the Great by throwing himself in front of the Emperor. The family was honoured by being given the title, "von".
On their way home, the girls went to England and stayed with Kate's relatives at Bedford.
Ada had missed the experiences of her older sisters but, as compensation, was given an education at M.L.C. She was a clever girl and did well at school.
Rachel was always called Rahel. At Christmas, the year she was twenty-one, Rachel received a Christmas card from her favourite cousin. With bantering affection, Ada had written on it, "Dearest Rachel alias Rahel". Rachel put it on the mantelpiece in the drawing room. Later she looked for the card, but it had disappeared. Eighty-four years later, we found the card where it had slipped behind the mantelpiece.
After Schramm's school closed, a fire stove was built into the open fireplace in the schoolroom. Meals were now cooked there and it became the kitchen. A table, safe, and kitchen cupboard were the only kitchen furniture. The traditional formality was beginning to relax. The old kitchen was used as another boys bedroom. When Hubert was born, in 1888, there were five boys. One of Kate's sisters, who was a semi-invalid, came to live with them. A section of the schoolroom, between the fireplace and the old kitchen was partitioned off as a room for her.
In 1890, an exciting time began for the family. There was romance, animated talk of wedding plans and preparation for new homes.
Rhoda and Herman Fischer, a Lutheran Pastor, were first to be married. They went to live at Horsham.
Rachel fell in love with tall, handsome Karl Neher from Wurtenberg, in Germany, and was married three years after Rhoda. The couple lived on an orchard in Bayswater.
Only two year's later Ada, who was like a bright little bird, married Alfred Pardy. They were comfortably off and went to live in Surrey Hills. On one of their visits to the family home, they caused a sensation by driving up in a Stanley Steamer. People rushed out of their houses to see the strange sight of a motor car.
When Victor married, he lived in a brick home, across the orchard, in Doncaster Road. Victor and Joe looked after the orchard which covered the whole area of the present Schramm's reserve.
The girls' bedroom was now empty. Pastor Schramm used to sit up late at night reading Greek and Roman texts by the flickering light of his oil lamp. So as not to disturb Kate, he moved into the rear bedroom. Soon the room became his study. The study was Pastor Schramm's domain. Kate would never consider entering the room without first hocking and receiving permission to enter. The boys did not often see the inside of the study and, when they did, it was generally to be reprimanded.
It was after one such occasion that Albert, now a grown Ian, decided to leave home. He went to live in New Zealand and never returned.
Walter left home to go droving in the North. While at an outback station in Queensland, he picked up an old Melbourne newspaper and, on looking through it, Walter saw the death notice of his father. Pastor Max von Schramm had died in November 1908.
(See Max Schramm - Probate)
Walter came home to be with the family but later he left again and Hubert went with him. They eventually settled in New South Wales, near Wagga.
The house was not left without children for, the year before Schramm died, Rachel lost her husband. To help her over the next years, two of her children, Alix and Geoffrey, stayed with Kate Schramm. By the time they left, Ruby, Victor's girl, was a three year old who often walked across the orchard to be with her Grandma.
As they grew older, Ruby and her young sister, Nina, used to call in to see Grandma on their way home from school. Kate always had a piece of cake or a biscuit for them. On the first Tuesday of each month, Kate would say, "You can't come in today, the Ladies are coming". That was her "At Home" day when the "Ladies of the Parish" came to call. Sometimes the children would peep through the door and see the silver tea service and tea cups set out on the white lace cloth and, perhaps see the ladies drop their visiting cards on the round silver tray.
The children loved their grandmother. She was a small woman and so much a perfect English woman. Ruby would ask, "Can we walk to church with you, Gran?î Kate would answer, in her English accent, "To be sure dear. Don't forget your gloves and hankie". As Ruby grew older, she used to walk across the orchard to do washing and cleaning for Kate.
In 1920, Victor Schramm moved to an orchard of his own in Box Hill. Only Joe was left with Kate. She was over seventy by then, but was still a wiry, hard working woman. Every bit of water used in the kitchen had to come from the tank at the far end of the verandah. On cold winter nights, when rain was blown by the icy wind right across the verandah, Kate still walked all the way round to fill a kettle or jug, then carried it back through the front door and down the passage to the kitchen in the schoolroom.
Katherine Schramm died in 1928 at the age of eighty-one. She had been married as a seventeen-year old girl and had helped her husband, Max, as infant teacher in his school, and he had helped her church by becoming Secretary of Holy Trinity. It was the year they moved into the cottage that Max Schramm was made a Pastor of the Lutheran Church and, as the Pastor's wife, she had endeared herself to the members of the congregation. Kate Schramm died after a full and rewarding life.
Irvine Green writing in the 1981 05 DTHS Newsletter
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