Dear Brother-in-law and Sisters,
We are all well, thank God, and hope you are also.
I received with great joy your letter of July 10th on the 3rd of August. I will not waste time before I answer.
We are again in our farm home. To farm, we have one horse and one cow. We have planted four dessatine of corn and wheat. Harvest is average. Right now we are living next to Aunt Marie. The house and granary we did not get back. We will live here the remainder of the winter. In the summertime, I hope it will be our turn to fix up the summerhouse.
As I understand it, you (Martin and Julia Kraus) have built a new house. We can’t plan on anything like that. We are satisfying ourselves with what St. Paul says, "nourishment and clothing". We didn’t bring anything into the world and we won’t take anything out.
The Dakota Free Press was received and is a welcome guest in our home. The paper arrives abnormally late, so I have to wait.
Was expecting a letter from sister Katia and it didn’t arrive. Can you remind her, she is so forgetful – or is the loved one "eingeschlafen" (fallen asleep)?
Thank you for 30 rubles. Too bad we have not seen a trace of it, and you’re out of it also.
Your Kraus parents also returned home as we.
Brother-in-law John and Sister Marie are also well as is sister Amalia and her husband and child. Alexander and wife and children all ______are still well and wish you the best. Cousin David Kaufman, Aunt Ange’s son, is in Galka. The 10 pictures sister Katia sent were received and distributed to relatives and friends. Also, when we see your family, we get a longing to see you.
In closing, we send you our greetings in the Lord, beloved brother-in-law and sister. Enjoy yourselves until we see you again. Next time I will write better and more. Now it is harvest time. Write back soon.
The money from Kaufman to your parents was received.
From yours,
Heinrich Keller
Dear Sister Katia with your Daughters,
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and Community of the Holy Spirit be with you. Your 20th of July letter was received with much joy and we are happy to know that your lives are in good circumstances – which is not the case with us as I have already mentioned in Julia’s letters. But we will not quibble. "There is no misfortune not permitted by the Lord".We were well off economically, but now we and our Country are being punished. We have to war against poverty.
That is the way it is with all the brothers and sisters. I want to mention some of them which sister Julia will be interested in also.Uncle Nicholas Kaufman with his family is living at the flourmill, just as he was – living on his property and very wealthy. He gave George his share of the inheritance, but he has nothing left. They took it away. So it is with our 10 different families, so I won’t name them all.With us it is somewhat better. Some of our property has been returned to us.
Your brother-in-law Johannes, with them it is meager. The way it is with sister Amalia is not good, but not too bad. They have two children. They are still living with his family. With Alexander it is good as long as he has it, but when it is all gone, then he will have to get along anyway.Aunt Eve Katrina and family are all right. They send their regards to you also.The old Schillinger relatives are scattered. The old Uncle Martin and his eldest son David and family live here in Alexandertal. Julia with Gottfried are in Grimm. Aunt Marie with Uncle Philip Sattler also send their greetings.Your pictures have been received, sister Katie.
The newspaper still does not come regularly. We have certain shortages, such as fabric and leather which is hardly to be found. Meat is very expensive. It costs 1 lb a Ruble, flour is 25 Rubles for 40lbs, butter is 3 Rubles per lb, eggs are 3 Rubles for 10.Where are the Keller boys keeping themselves? If possible, send them our greetings, and all friends and acquaintances as well as brothers and sisters in the Lord, and ask them not to forget to pray for all.Regards, from your loving brother in Christ,Heinrich
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