Anna Kramer: Great Grandmother (born 1864, died 1934)
Anna Kramer came from Baltensberg and was the daughter of "Jägerhans" Kramer. She had 3 sisters and 1 brother. The Kramers were a farming family and, as with most of my mother’s forebears, alcohol played an unfortunate part in their lives. Whenever Jägerhans sold a calf he wouldn’t return home and young Anna was sent to the village to look for him in the "Wild Man" pub. She either had to persuade him to go home or at the very least get him to hand over any unspent money.
Because of their financial problems, 12 year old Anna had to supplement the family income by working in a silk factory, winding the silk threads onto reels. She worked from 6.00am to 7.00pm with only short breaks in between. The young girl could hardly wait for the machines to be turned off at the end of the day. It seems that she could at least spend two half days at school, which offered some relief and respite from her factory work. And at least she could put aside some money for when she got married. However, shortly before her wedding the family found themselves unable to pay the interest on their debts, and her mother asked her to give up her hard earned savings to save the home and the farm. Anna of course paid up.
She married Jakob ("Schaggi") Lüthi in 1888 and together they had four children. She clearly had a hard life, with more than her fair share of tragedy. But she and Jakob evidently loved each other and there was a strong bond between them.
In 1926, at Christmas-time, Anna suffered a stroke from which she never fully recovered and which left her able only to speak in a very soft whisper. Her daughter in law, Ida, seems to have been the only one who could understand her. There was evidently quite a strong bond between these two women, and Ida was never heard to utter a bad word about her mother-in-law. However, Ida’s relationships with her father-in-law, Schaggi, and her sister-in-law, Anneli, were more strained. Both Ida annd Anneli had to share the task of looking after the invalided Anna and it wasn’t easy for either of them. Ida in particular didn’t submit or work easily in partnership.
Later on Anna suffered a second stroke which this time left her bed-ridden. She spent nine months in bed, though her grand-daughters remember one beautiful summer’s day when their father carried her out of the house so she could lie on a lounger in the shade of the pear trees.
The girls were home, on holiday from school, when Anna died. Aunt Anneli was combing one of the girls’ hair beside the invalid’s bed. The old lady took a couple of deep breaths and then was quiet. Only moments before she had been laughing happily. Her youngest grand-daughter, Erika, didn’t like eating breadcrusts. Sometimes she’d hide them in her apron pocket or in the stove. Her granny’s breakfast always consisted of small slices of bread, crusts removed, spread with butter and jam. When she didn’t eat it all Erika would get the left-overs. That morning Erika was particularly happy because it seemed as if there would be lots of left-over crustless bread. However, her grandmother evidently had a good appetite that day and Erika was heard to utter a deep sigh of heart-felt disappointment as she remarked "Look, she’s having another bite". That made her grandmother laugh.