Christine Drautz Beorchia Early Memories

In 1991, Christine Beorchia was given a book by the Mike and Jeri Beorchia family.  The book was filled with prompts and Christine answered a few of the questions.  Her responses are below.  I have typed the responses and have corrected spelling errors for clarity.

Click here to read directly from the book. 

Tell me about the people in your family.

Christine Drautz Beorchia, 14 years old

We talked and played together and were happy and content. The Sunday was kept holy; we all went to church together. Every Sunday was a cake on the table and we children got hot chocolate! Ahh!

On weekdays we went into the fields to make hay and we could sit on the wagon. We would gather potatoes, apples, peaches, pears, and grapes. We had lots of fun!

I knew only my mother’s father. He was very loving and kind. He would visit me and bring me a basket full of grapes, peaches, apples, pears, and nuts; all grown by him.  Sometimes he would give me a little money. He was always reading in the Bible and tell me stories about the Old Testament and about the birth and life of Jesus!

Are you like any of your grandparents in any way? Do you think I am?

I think I am a lot like my mother’s mother. Her name was also Christine and my mother told me she did a lot of handwork: sewing, knitting and crocheting, and cross stitching. I did all this a lot.  They helped other people and were kind and loving. I like to do the same and you, Mykel, are that way too! They were very spiritual and I am that way. Your father and you and your brother are also that way.

Do you have a favorite grandparent memory?

I did love my grandfather very much. I was 17 years old when he died and I was very sad. Working in a nursery at the time, I made him a big wreath with red and white dahlias (?).  At the funeral I laid it on the grave and cried for a long time.  Once he visited me when it was very cold. As we walked together an icicle formed on his nose. In the train station it melted!

Oma’s Parents

Do you know any stories about when they were young?

Christine Eckenstein Drautz

Yes. When my mother was a young girl, her mother died. She had to cook for her father and four brothers. She also washed and kept house for them. Once she stood on an iron plate at the stove with open holes where the fire was burning and her dress started to catch fire. She ran outside and screamed for help. The newspaper lady came running and rolled my mother on the ground to put out the fire. She had bad scars on her neck and forearms.

My father was the oldest boy of 15 children. When he started school, his father bought him a pair of shoes. My father chose some boots he liked. They were too small, but he wanted them. They did hurt his feet, but he had to wear them because he had wanted them.  His big toes grew over the other toes because the shoes pressed the feet together. My mother told me that his toes were that way still when she married him!

Do you know how they met each other?

No, I do not remember my mother telling me about how she and my father met. But she did tell me that she said to my father: “There will be no alcohol on the wedding.”  There was no alcohol served, but my father started to drink again after the wedding. He hit my mother and us children. One day my mother left him because there was no money for bread. She started a business with brezels (?), yarn, and material and we lived with her.

How many wedding anniversaries did they celebrate together?

They were married in October, the 23, 1925. I was born on August 17, 1926. When I was 3 years, they separated!

Can you tell me something special you remember about each of your parents?

My mother was very fashion-oriented.  She always had her dresses made by a seamstress.  Our dresses (I have two sisters) also were done by my mother. She was an excellent sewer. I learned from my mother to sew before I went to school; how to make clothing and to put patches into boys and girls clothing. I patched shirts and skirts for my children and knitted sweaters and even bathing suits.

I remember my father when he would let me ride his bicycle with him together and alone. He would also sing to me and teach me music. We had a piano when I was a baby.

Who do you resemble the most?

I have my curled hair from my father, but I look like my mother a lot! The older I get the more I am like my mother; always trying to help others; always being busy with something! I am very good in math, like my mother!

My father was a great singer and I inherited that talent from him. I can tell when someone sings a wrong tune. I am able to lead the choir in singing and leading. For 9 years I was leading Relief Society in singing and directed it.  I also was choir president. 

Do I resemble either of your parents?

This photo is from an album of photos. It is not captioned.

Yes, Mykel, you look a little bit like my mother. You also look a lot like your father. When he was little he had very blonde hair.  I cannot very well remember my father. I remember that he had very curled hair and was very tall and handsome. I love no pictures of him, only in my mind.

I remember him as him as a kind man and have no bad or negative recollections.  Adrian Mario, you look somewhat like my father. My son, Michael looks and walks like my father. His body is also built like my father.

Sorry, but I do not know much about your Grandfather.  He had 3 brothers and 4 sisters.  His parents came from Italy: the name of the city or town is Maniago, province Udine.  Your grandfather was born in Naters, Switzerland.

His father was a locomotive driver of the big train that goes from Italy to Switzerland to Germany and back. He moved to Switzerland because of his job.

What’s your earliest memory?

My earliest memory is of me, climbing a ladder up a very tall pear tree.  Then, at the top of it, looking down and feeling scared to death and not being able to make a move.  I just hung on to the ladder and screamed at the top of my lungs for my mother. She came out of the house, saw me and ran to get my father. He came up the ladder to get me down. But my hand were so tight around the posts of the ladder, that I was not able to let go. He had to gently remove them.  To this day I am afraid of heights. 

One Christmas, when I was very young, the Christ child came to visit all dressed in white, like an angel with a golden star on its forehead.  Later in the kitchen my mother was there and we ate cookies and drank hot chocolate.  I knew she had played the Christ child and brought gifts.  My mother took me on trips, prayed with me, took us to parks where we were feeding swans and goldfish in big ponds.  She took us on vacations in to the Black Forest.  We slept in the hay in the barn of a hotel way up in the mountains.  We gathered berries for jam and juice.

Once my mother and I were alone in the Black Forest. It was dark and we were lost. The moon was shining through the big pine trees.  We looked up to the heaven and prayed to Father in Heaven to show us the way home. Soon we came to the road and had to walk for a long, long time, until we were at home.  He had guided us! I have always trusted him!

Tell me about the other children in your family and how you got along with them.

I have two younger sisters: Hedwig and Marie! I love them very much! We did not grow up together, due to our parent’s separation. We stayed with mother and she brought us every morning to a care center. When we had a program, I sang solos and recited poems.

Christine Emma Drautz Beorchia
On my school graduation when I was 14 years old.

At school age, mother placed us in to different homes.  I grew up in 5 homes and in between lived with my mother. We would get together at mother’s for Easter, Mother’s Day, and Christmas.  We would play games, go to movies, zoos, and circuses and had a lot of fun.

Being the oldest, I was more at mothers than my sisters.  We all learned a lot from her and did lots of handwork.  We got along very well.  I was reading much!

What other relatives or family friends have been important to you? Can you tell me their names and why they’re special?

I had four uncles. One died when he was 19. He had been kicked by a horse. His name was Emil. 

My uncle Wilhelm was one of my godfathers.  My other godfather was Heinrich Gotti.  My godmothers names were Emma, from where I got my middle name: Emma. They all loved me and I loved them very much. They gave me a lot of gifts and money.

One of my godmothers owned the store and post office in town. She would let me sell candies to the children: weigh it out and take in the money.  From her I learned how to handle money; and from my mother.

One godfather was manager of the chocolate factory; “Suchard”.  He always gave me boxes of pralines.

 

Are any of our relatives known for doing something unusual?

Christine with her mother and sisters. Christine's children
and niece are also pictured.

Yes. In my genealogy I found an ancestor who was given royalty for doing something great in the military.  One the fil it says: “Royalty” (military).  He must have been ?.  He changed his name a bit and put the word “von” before it, which indicates nobility!  He was married in 1881, so he is a great uncle to me. I found him twice again on the film when the children were born to him. Both died young!

My mother’s grandfather was a builder of houses.  One day he finished a house and got paid a big sum. A man knew it and wanted to rob him. He hid behind a tree in a forest. When he saw my great-grandfather coming, a second person was walking with him, clothed in white. The robber got scared, ran to town into a bistro and got drunk.  Then he told the story to the people. I knew that my ancestor was protected by an angel!

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