By DEB BENTLY
Staff Writer
“We’re all strangers,” admits Jeff Groskreutz. “But we’re still family.”
Jeff, 69, and his wife Linda lived in Pemberton for 36 years before moving to a home on Lake Washington this summer. “Anyone who knows me,” he comments, “knows I love a good story.” It seems there’s no better place to find them than by studying genealogy.
Jeff has put together a self-published book well over 600 pages long which lists about 11 generations of the Groskreutz family. The back 90 pages are an index of 4,100 names which appear in the book. “What makes my book different from most genealogy books,” he observes, “is that I put in a lot of detail. If I know you raised a 300-pound pumpkin that won a prize at a local contest, I’ll put it in.”
Thanks to Jeff’s research, the Groskreutz family is aware of connections all across the country. Using that collected information, they shared the news that 2024 marks year 150 since Groskreutz ancestors took up residence in Minnesota.
Two brothers, Karl and Gottlieb, arrived shortly after the end of the Civil War, taking up residence on farmland in the area of Waseca County’s Matawan in 1869 and 1874. Even today, family members point out, there is a two-mile stretch of road where all the homesteads belong to a Groskreutz.
“The story, right or wrong,” relates Jeff, “Is that they came for two main reasons. One is that, since they weren’t the oldest sons, they were not in line to inherit any land from their father back in Germany. Young men were also at risk of being drafted as soldiers in the regional wars taking place in Europe at the time.
“Also, once Gottlieb was here, he wrote letters to his younger brother Karl. He told him there was land available, and the grass was so thick and tall it was up to the cow’s knees.
“Gottlieb even paid the cost to bring Karl and his family across the ocean and to Minnesota.”
The stories grow from there.
Jeff explains that about a year ago, a committee was formed to plan this year’s gathering, which took place on Saturday, July 27, and Sunday, July 28. Though not all who came attended for both days, a total of about 125 people signed up to take part at Waldorf area event center JR’s Barn. The facility is owned by Joel and Renee Groskreutz.
Those who came the farthest, according to Jeff, traveled from Illinois and Massachusetts.
Someone whose journey was “long” in the figurative sense was Apple Valley bodybuilder and weightlifter Matt Thompson, 44.
Thompson’s mother estranged herself from her Groskreutz family before he was born, and went on to live a tragic life which included mental illness and addiction. “She had no idea how to be a mother,” Thompson said of her. She died in 2019; only as Thompson was sorting through her papers did he learn of his connection to the Groskreutz name.
When he was contacted to attend the reunion, he said he found the idea exciting. “I had no idea how wide and deep the roots are,” he commented.
Activities on Saturday included a tour of the Waldorf area farm currently owned by Russell Groskreutz. The property is still in the family from the time when Karl and Gottlieb first arrived.
Group members also visited the St. Paul cemetery, where many members of the family line are buried. Planning committee members had even gone to the trouble of marking the graves with small, numbered flags. The number indicated what page of the genealogy book the individual is featured on.
For quick reference, those in attendance could refer to a “family tree” chart which showed the lines of descent; the chart was about 8 feet square, and was made by Linda, with technical assistance from Jeff.
“I really have to thank my wife,” Jeff said of Linda numerous times. “She puts up with me and all my shenanigans.” He credits her with devoting more than eight hours to making the giant chart, helping plan the activities, moving furniture to set up arrangements in JR’s Barn, and being a better angler than he is.
After the tours, family members gathered back at JR’s Barn for a potluck supper. The evening ended with a barn dance; musicians were members of the Groskreutz family.
Sunday’s events included a morning divine service, a catered meal, and time set aside for independent area tours.
Among the stories shared was how one Groskreutz farm was located within Matawan “party line” phone service. The neighboring Groskreutz received service from Wells. To save money, the families jury-rigged wiring between their phones.
Another story was of the five farms in a row. “If a letter came addressed to ‘R. Groskreutz’ at Rt. 2,” remembers Russell, “the mailman would put the letter in the first box in line. If it was the wrong R. Groskreutz, they would put it back in the mailbox. The next day, the mailman would take it to the next mailbox, until they found the right person.”
In JR’s Barn, owner Joel Groskreutz pointed to the large number “1912” painted on one of the beams. He told how, when the barn was first erected, the preacher of the family church came and blessed it; after the ceremony, the year was painted on the beam.
One of Jeff’s favorite stories is of Jeff and Bonnie Groskreutz couple who took their “three on the tree” vehicle to Texarkana, Texas, on their honeymoon back before the days of interstate highways. When the starter went out, they had too little money to get it fixed. Instead, they made a point of parking their car at the top of a steep hill each evening, making it possible to put it in gear, set it rolling, and get it started each morning.
Jeff remembers that, during his childhood, some of the older family members still used German as their home language.
“The children started learning English when they went to school,” he said. He still remembers his father and grandfather sometimes acting as a translator for his great-grandfather, Carl.
A “tour” of sorts was available right on the lawn of JR’s Barn. Family members brought a row of tractors–many of them refurbished–once purchased new by ancestors.
Two of the oldest were McCormick-Deerings made in 1929. One had been sold to a tractor collector decades ago. The collector had gone on to repair the broken transmission, bring the engine back to operational condition, and restore its paint to the original appearance. When the Groskreutz family contacted the collector to see whether the tractor could be borrowed for the reunion, they received the surprise news the collector was downsizing and would be willing to sell it. Matt Groskreutz and his father Dale bought it.
Also on display was a much tougher-looking tractor which had remained in the family the entire time. It had been stored indoors, but had otherwise not been given any special attention–except for the many modifications made by Joel’s grandfather when it was in use. He had built a wooden cab and added numerous features using automotive parts.
“He should have been an engineer,” said Joel of his grandfather’s ingenuity.
Anyone curious about the stories collected surrounding Groskreutz family history, or about some of the many stories which have been recorded, can visit Jeff Groskreutz’s YouTube Channel “Groskreutz family videos” or access the family Facebook page–permission from Jeff may be needed, since the genealogy pages are private.
Jeff also mentions there may be another reunion in 2026, when the Russell Groskreutz farm will be eligible for classification as a 150-year family farm.