OTTO AND MARY HAVERLAND KRUEGER

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THE KRUEGER FAMILY

Otto and Mary Haverland Krueger were among the early day farm families in the Miles area. They were typical of the industrious German farm familes who farmed the good land around Miles and raised equally good and industrious children.

Otto Krueger was the son of August and Augusta Kohl Krueger. He, his older brother August , sister Augusta, and mother Augusta, came to America in 1889. They left the port at Hamburg, Germany on the ship "Augusta Victoria" and after stops in Northhampton, England, New York, and New Orleans, they arrived in Galveston, Texas on August 15, 1889.

Augusta and her three children were picked up in Galveston and taken to Williamson County by her uncle, Albert Kohl. There the family would remain until father August would arrive a year later.

The Kruegers settled first on land between Miles and Rowena. Otto's father, August, bought his first land in America on November 27, 1900. This was 300 acres between Miles and Rowena. The cost was $5.00 per acre which was a pretty typical price in those days for Miles area land.

Otto soon met and married the daughter of another pioneer farm family. She was Mary Haverland, one of the daughters of Carl and Annie Carstens Haverland. She and Otto were married on September 8, 1904.

They farmed first on a small farm between Miles and Rowena which Otto had bought in 1909. In 1917 he bought new land south of Miles just across the county line in Tom Green County. He eventually owned some 437 acres upon which the principal crop was cotton.

They were typical of the many hard working and very industrious German farm families of that time. Using horses to farm with, the Krueger's spent much of their time in the fields, hoeing and picking cotton, shucking corn, and stacking bundles of feed.

This writer spent much of his childhood with his Grandpa and Grandma Krueger and saw first hand how hard the family worked and the long hours spent in the fields. In fact, Grandpa Krueger seemed to really love work, and I can remember how he would wish company would leave so he could get back in the fields.

They grew and processed most of the food they ate. A myraid of good German food is still in this writers memory. Things like good German blood and liver sausage, homemade cheese, and home cured bacon and hams were some of the favorites.

The Krueger family went thru hard times during the First World War, not unlike other German families in the Miles area. Some governmental authorities looked with suspicion on German families, particularly those who may have had living relatives in Germany. This writer still has the original " Alien Registration Card" , dated June 26, 1918, of Mary Krueger who, although born in the US, had to register as an " Alien".

Otto and Mary Kruger were parents of three childen:

Arthur Krueger was born March 22, 1906. He married Maurena Haverland and he and "Rena" had one daughter. Shirley.

Leslie Krueger was born December 6, 1908. He married Avis Loudamy and they had one son , David,

Elenora Krueger was born April 22, 1913. She married Roy Wright and they had six children, Orval, Lawrence, Kenneth, Marilyn, Sherry, and Gerald.

Otto retired from farming in late 1945 and moved to Miles. He brought along a cow and some chickens so he could continue with some of the farm work he loved.

Otto died June 1, 1953. Mary died August 3, 1973.

Both, along with their children, now rest in the Miles Cemetery.

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Compiled by a grandson, Orval Wright, Victoria, Texas, September, 2007