During the time I was growing up and visiting my grandparents, I remember the Santa Rose newspaper used to have a special section devoted to the Wendt family and it told about how they settled in the Santa Rosa hills and built their ranch, etc. There were also pictures of the ranch, the house and the family all standing in front. I am sure you could find copies of those newspaper articles in the archives at the library in Santa Rosa.

My grandmother Mayme used to tell me how the Wendt boys built miles of fencing around the land when the ranch was first being settled. I believe the father and sons with whatever helpers may have volunteered, built the entire ranch themselves. In those days the nearest neighbors were miles away. Even when I was growing up there was only one house nearby. All the other neighbors were several miles away.

For some reason, the ranch was eventually left completely in my grandfathers' care. Perhaps because he was so many years younger than his brothers and sisters and had stayed with the parents on the ranch the longest? Or perhaps because he was the only one of his siblings that had received higher education and knew how to handle business transactions. I do know he worked for title companies for many years, so he must have had some knowledge of real estate, etc. When my grandfather Fred Wendt sold the ranch, the buyers were very proud to own the Wendt ranch as it was of important historical value in Santa Rosa at that time. They completely restored the original home and took meticulous care not to make any alterations that would change the house from it's original look. They wanted it to look exactly as it had when the sons and father built it in the 1800's. I have seen pictures of the original house so I know how careful they were to restore it as closely as possible to the original. I last saw the ranch around 1980 and it still looked fine. There was still parts of the original fencing going along the creek side too.

Fred used to take me down to the creek to look for Indian arrowheads. We always found some! They were of a black substance (lava?) and you could see the small cuts in the rock that were made by chipping at it with another sharp rock, and shaping it into a point. Quite primitive. I don't remember the name of the tribe that had once inhabited that area but I was told that the WENDT'S WERE ACTUALLY THE FIRST WHITE PEOPLE TO SETTLE IN THOSE MOUNTAINS. THERE WERE STILL INDIANS there when they first arrived. I believe the annual newspaper article that used to be printed every year in the Santa Rosa newspaper about the Wendts mentions that also.

I was told that many of the older Wendt children lived on the ranch with their children from time to time including Pauline. My father was around the same age as her daughter (Gladys I believe?)

When my grandfather, Fred sold the original Wendt ranch he kept a couple of acres right next door to it, along the creek. He built a small cottage on it that overlooked the beautiful creek. Over a period of time he kept adding to it and improving it. He planted grape vines, corn, many, many fruit trees, flowers everywhere and every kind of vegetable you can imagine. There were also chickens, 2 goats, ducks (just for entertainment), sometimes a pig and a cow (never wanted to know why they eventually disappeared!) many, many cats and one dog. The place was just beautiful and everyone loved to come there to visit and they were treated to warmth, friendliness and hospitality that they never forgot.

With all that work taking care of the animals and gardens, you would think it was Fred's only job. However he worked for a title company in Santa Rosa and commuted each day to town. He would come home from work, change into his overalls and work with the animals and the garden until after dark every day. That was the Wendt family ethics. He tried to retire from the title company once, but they called him back to help out and he ended up staying on. He worked for the title company into his late seventies I believe.

Mayme and Fred were both wonderful hosts and knew just how to make everyone feel right at home. They both loved to cook and with all the fresh fruit, vegetables and chickens, there was always plenty food. No guest ever arrived, invited or not without being treated to Mayme's wonderful cookies or pies and no one ever left after a visit without a box full of Mayme' freshly baked cookies and or pies and a variety of wonderful home canned preserves.

I witnessed many times when someone came without notice and she would rush to the kitchen and bake some cookies or a quick pie in her wood burning stove. (This was when the cottage was still just a weekend get away rather than a permanent home). In the early years, when the cottage was only for weekend use, there was only a well outside for water with a pump in the kitchen sink, an outhouse, a wood burning stove for cooking and oil burning stoves for heat, lanterns for light, no phone, no electricity. It eventually became a fully equipped home with all the conveniences. We were all very happy when the outhouse with it's wide variety of creepy, crawly, squirmy inhabitant was no longer necessary! And running water was heaven!

Eventually Fred and Mayme moved permanently to the house on the creek and it went from a two room cottage to a 3 bedroom home with a large living room, dining room and even a basement for storing all the canned goods they were always preparing. In case I haven't made it clear yet, they were wonderful people. I don't remember any of Fred's brothers and sisters except Len, but if Fred was an example of the character of the family he came from, you can be proud to be a member of the family of Wendts!

As Fred and Mayme aged, he sadly made the decision to sell the house and land and move into town where they would be closer to medical facilities, etc.

THIS AND THAT

During the years I spent visiting Fred and Mayme at the cottage on the creek, right next to the original Wendt ranch, I heard many stories about the Wendts but the only names that come to mind are Leonard, Fred's brother, Dollie, Katherine, Gladys.

I remember Leonard had only one eye as his other eye was lost doing some farm work. He was a tall, kind, gentle man and I liked him very much.

The parents were always called Gross Papa and Gross Mama. My grandparents always talked in German around me when they didn't want me to understand what they were saying. I resented that! Mayme was taught German by the Wendt parents and brothers and sisters since she was not German herself.

Fred had a great sense of humor and he and my dad would sit at the table and tell stories and laugh for hours. We loved to hear them laughing. I was told that the Wendt family always had those wonderful times around the table - exchanging stories and laughing - a lot. But he could also be dignified, with impeccable manners which he says his father taught him with zeal! As an example: while at the table once when he was a boy, he reached out and grabbed something off a serving dish. His father took a knife, and without saying a word, turned it flat-sided and hit his hand - hard. He never forgot it and never forgot his table manners again!

Fred was a no-nonsense guy, and I didn't get away with any naughty behavior when he was around. But he loved me and I always knew that. I knew because I would run to meet him every evening when he returned after working in town all day and he always looked so tired (probably in his 60's then) but he was always ready with a hug and sometimes he would have a little gift for me. And I knew by his wonderful smile, hearty laugh and the twinkle in his pastel blue eyes when I said or did something that pleased him.

More small things I remember - -

- My grandmother, Mayme, did not like Fred's sister Katherine. She said Katherine was very mean to her and treated her first husband Dudley very badly. They divorced and I don't believe she ever remarried. I don't remember meeting her and she may already have passed away. I know she was a very good artist however and painted some very impressive oil landscapes as well as needle point portraits. She was also musical.

- My father Harold inherited musical and artistic ability from the Wendt's and he was an accomplished singer, artist and was great at the piano. His mother Mayme was also an accomplished pianist and Fred could fiddle like no other in the Santa Rosa mountains. I thought so anyway. When their little cottage was still just a weekend get-away place they used to play on Saturday nights at the local club house - Mayme on the piano and Fred with the fiddle. They were great!

- I believe my grandfather (we called him Pa Freddie. Sometime I'll tell you how that name was created) was born when his mother was at least in her 40's. There is a picture of him with her when he was a small boy and she looks quite old. There is also a picture of the entire family, Frederick and Pauline with the children and all the children look several years older than Fred. Some perhaps already in their teens.

- My father Harold Wendt told me that his grandfather Frederick came from Wiesbaden, Germany and his grandmother from Baden-Baden. Don't know if that is accurate but worth checking into. I was in Wiesbaden in 1984 and there were more Wendts then you could count there! Wendt as you probably know is pronounced VENT in Germany. I was also told that is a very common name in Germany.