Kansas June 27, 1946

In past posts I have documented the family connection with Kansas. This post moves us ahead to the 1940's. My Dad, John G. Sutor is writing from Kansas back to his mother in Illinois. He has gone to Kansas to assist my Grandfather John J. Sutor with the wheat harvest. That year my Dad would be 17 and my Grandfather would be 39 at the time of the letter. I'm sure it was part of the process of training the next generation of farmer a lesson in hard work. Here is the letter.

There are a few things to note. In the last two days he notes they have worked twelve and a half hours one day and eleven and a half hours on the day he wrote the letter. The wheat on one field was too green so they moved west to Earl Grecian's farm. It is over 70 years later and Ken Grecian now farms some of our family's ground in Kansas. In a world where too often we don't know or care about our neighbors it is important to note in rural America this is more often the case. Families are neighbors or business partners for generations. Ken is near retirement now and I suspect that Earl was his most likely his grandfather. When you get to the end Dad talks about driving the Cat 30. He is talking about a Caterpillar Tractor Model 30. Rudy and I don't know who he is has been operating the Cat 60. A final note before I move on. Note my Dad signs the note "Sonny Boy". When you and your father are both named John it was a quick way to determine who you were talking to or about. I remember many times in my youth my Father being referred to as Sonny.

The Cat 30.

The Cat 60.

This is what wheat harvest would have looked like.

One man would now do the work that two did in those days with a much larger machine that harvests many times faster.

In closing it is in some ways sad the amount of history we are losing. Letters like this one provide insight into the lives of our parents and grandparents. We just don't write letters now and if we do no one seems to keep them.

Cattle Business

In a blog post dated July 12, 2013 I wrote about my great grandfather John J. Sutor, Sr. and his brother Henry T. Sutor and Martin Sutor. I want to add some detail to that story based on a recently discovered letter. First a little background. Martin Sutor was born on September 3, 1854 in Haldimand County Ontario Canada and Henry T. Sutor was born on March 19, 1861 in Galesburg, Illinois. The Knox College directory indicates Henry attended there for the 1879- 1880 school year. It appears that after the end of the 1880 school year at Knox he and Martin went to Kansas to seek their own way on the American prairie. They became farmers and cattle ranchers. We knew that the two brothers in Kansas shipped cattle back to Illinois to be corn fed and sold in the Chicago market. We don't know when that started but we do know in 1901 it was happening. Since the letter seems routine it is reasonable to assume that this was not the first time they had sent cattle east.

I put an image of the envelope in for a couple of reasons. First, the top image is the front. Note the postmark of Fairbury, Illinois. The letter was mailed from Zurich, Kansas on November 11, 1901. It was apparently mistakenly routed to Fairbury instead of Wataga. The image of the back of the envelope was interesting because it is stamped November 14, 1901 indicating that was when the letter was received in Wataga. I had not seen an envelop stamped indicating when it was received.

Martin indicates to his brother John they are leaving Kansas on Tuesday, November 12, 1901 with three 36 foot cars holding a total of 75 head of cattle. They will take a short lay over in Kansas City to rest the cattle and expect to arrive in Wataga on Thursday. It raises the question. Would John be surprised? The letter was mailed on the 11th with the expectation it would arrive on time before the cattle did on Thursday. Since the letter took an unexpected side trip to Fairbury it arrived the same day as the cattle. The Sutor farm in the Wataga area was about 2 miles by road from the train tracks and possible siding. It would require several men to drive the cattle from Wataga to the farm. It seems maybe things wouldn't have gone as smoothly as expected. There were other issues to be considered. John had married Emma Parsons on November 22, 1900. She gave birth to their first son Martin Parsons Sutor on November 21, 1901. So the cattle are coming to the farm and Emma is great with child. 

So we know that in 1901 the Sutor Brothers in Kansas and Illinois were involved in shipping cattle from the great plains of Kansas to the fertile corn country of Illinois to be grain fed and eventually shipped to and sold through the Chicago Stock Yards. A short letter but a vital piece of family history.