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Audubon County |
Home Military Hocamp Letters |
A BUNCH OF IOWA CORN FED HAYSEEDS
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The above photo appears to have been taken in May, 1918 and mailed in Emma Hocamp's letter dated May 30, 1918, in which she asked, "What do you think of the hayseeds. . ." Seated on the far right is Herbert Hocamp, with wife Emma standing behind him. The Jorgensen family is on the far left, and the Christensens are in the middle. However, the first names of the Jorgensens and Christensens are currently unknown. Does anyone recognize them? The Jorgensens lived in Audubon County, and the Christensens' were also from Iowa, but their home county is currently unknown. Emma's letters provide some clues about these families: April 17, 1918: "Met some Ia. girls yesterday, a Mrs. Fredricksen and sister-in-law from Audubon. . . . And today two Ia. women moved in this house upstairs. One by name of Jorgensen or something has a baby girl 7 weeks old. Brought it all the way from Audubon Co. to see its papa. I am going upstairs now and get acquainted with them, as it's only 7 o'clock ..."May 3, 1918: "The Mrs. Jorgensen & Christensen that live in this house & myself are just like sisters. Mrs. Christensen has a brother-in-law living on the old Naylor place. Their name is Nicholsen or something like that. And she (Mrs. Christensen) knows where H. Farrell's school house is and so it seems like I have known her for years." June 10, 1918: "No, that Mrs. Christensen is not heavier than I. She looks larger than I but they are expecting an increase about next month (poor girl) and her man passed oversea examination the other day and of course it worries her quite a bit, Jergensen didn't pass oversea exam. The 63rd leaves this week." July 24, 1918: "Well Christensen's have a little boy baby born last Sat. 20th. They are on that picture of the hayseeds. . ." Sept. 4, 1918: " Mrs. Hulbert, a lady from Atlantic, whose hubby is here at Worden invited us all in to have coffee with her (she lives at Townsend) and when I mention anything about us girls, why I mean us from Iowa. And it always seems good to get with a bunch of one's own set (our set). . . . This Mrs. Herbert has a little girl born Dec. 18, 1907. There were seven women present this afternoon and five babies, Hulbert's being the oldest, Bonney's just a day younger, then comes Jorgensen's, then Wetzel's, then Christensen's. Don't think the state of Wash. could make such a showing." Sept. 29, 1918: "That Jorgensen that's on that picture with us is in this new regiment, the 39th, and from all appearence [sic] they will be going before long. They havn't [sic] got their full no. of men yet so don't know who all will be called yet. And that Jorgensen didn't pass over sea exam either at first and then about a week later they examined them again and said he was O.K. So you see how little a soldier knows what they are going to do with him." Oct. 2, 1918: "Jorgensen & Christensen are both in the 89th reg. They are here at Worden now, the whole regiment is here. Guess they haven't enough me". If you can help with further identification of the Jorgensen and Christensen families shown above, please contact the Audubon County Coordinator. |
Contributed by Cheryl Siebrass, June, 2020.
