Family Stories - Augusta Wilhelmina Jox

August Jox ca 1879

Augusta (Jox) Berg, my grandmother, was a beautiful girl in her youth, very warm, sensitive and affectionate. She was born in Kirchhayn, Wisconsin, but grew to maturity in Logansport, Indiana. She was always concerned, even doting about her family. She was happiest when the family was home and around her. She was very much a Christian, often quoting scripture and praying for God's protection for her children.

She spent most of her married life in Beardstown, Illinois where her husband Fred, my grandfather, was pastor of the St. John Lutheran Church. She loved the people of Beardstown, and they apparently loved her. Something happened in 1910 or 1911 that caused Fred to leave the pastorate and leave Beardstown. When Fred took the job of president of a Lutheran college in North Carolina, she dutifully went there with him, but she was never happy there. The prejudice that the family faced in Greensboro because the school was educating Negroes made her life miserable. Augusta never quite forgave Fred for leaving the town she loved.

When Fred lost the presidency of the college and the house that went along with it, Augusta left North Carolina to live with her children in Tampa, Florida. By then all of her children were grown. Fred went to Tampa whenever he could, but she never went back to North Carolina.

Augusta was fluent in both German and English although she never lost her German accent. She was a prolific letter writer in both languages. She left an unintended legacy in a box of letters that her son Albert saved. Those letters were full of love and affection, even while being critical of some situation. Her letters displayed a great awareness of the world around her. She disliked Franklin Roosevelt because "he tried to be God." She was critical of all politicians who got "fat off the public" while thousands of people were impoverished.

Augsuta was an excellent cook and gardener. She taught my mother how to cook the German way and gave her a host of German recipes. She was short, only 5'-0" in height, tending to stoutness in her later years. She had grey eyes and blonde hair which became dark brown. She died at the age of 76 after a series of light strokes that began in 1932.

I published excerpts from Augusta’s letters in the book Together They Came, but maybe it will be of interest to see those excerpts published again here in the coming days..