This Adventure Called Retirement

After our search for departed family in Conway, we headed to Grapevine, TX (on the outskirts of Dallas/FT Worth) to visit living family members. This is the first of our lengthy stops to visit family and friends, which is the primary purpose of our trip. But more on that in a minute. We received a few inquiries regarding my great, great grandfather, Peter Paul Loetscher, and his untimely death in Conway in 1894.

The Loetscher family in Switzerland. Peter Paul is standing behind his parents.

My great, great grandparents, Peter Paul and Magdalena Loetscher, immigrated from Switzerland and settled on the outskirts of what eventually became Conway, which was established on the train route 25 miles north of Little Rock, AR. The Loetschers were one of the founding families of this new city and Peter Paul was a signer of the petition to incorporate the swath of land as the new city of Conway. As well as farming, Peter Paul would also make and sell wine to feed his family. He was well known for his wine in this area and people in town would often come out to buy it. However, in 1888, under an Arkansas law that allowed cities to prohibit the sale of alcohol within 3 miles of a church or school, Conway passed such a law and the prohibition area included the Loetscher farm. This prohibition was hotly contested in court but eventually was allowed to stand by a circuit court review. As a result, the Loetschers could not feed their family without selling their wine and so continued. The mayor (a staunch prohibitionists) sent spies to watch the Loetscher farm and Peter Paul was arrested and convicted of selling his wine on a number of occasions ( becoming a repeat offender). Since feeding his family was his first priority he continued to find ways to sell his wine without selling it from the farm.

Soon after the prohibition law was enacted, a couple of young timbermen who had been drinking whiskey and wanted more alcohol recalled the Swiss farmer on the outskirts of town that made wine so they headed to the Loetscher farm to buy some wine. Peter Paul was in the field and his wife, Magdalena, was the first to see the timbermen. When she refused to sell them wine (in fear of the mayor and his spies) one of the timbermen, Joe Luke, picked up a hoe and attacked her. Hearing his wife’s screams, Peter Paul ran to her aid with an old saber he owned. The much younger timberman attacked Peter Paul, fracturing his skull, breaking a rib and both arms and puncturing his lung. They then took several jugs of wine and left. Recognizing they needed to cover their trail, they went to the mayor and reported that the Loetscher farmer had attempted to sell them wine in violation of the law and should be arrested. The mayor was more than ready to do this and had him immediately arrested and put in jail. Two days later, Peter Paul stood in court, still suffering from his severe injuries, and immediately found guilty by the Mayor. Peter Paul died from his injuries two days later.

We stayed in Grapevine TX with my brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and Michele, both excellent hosts. On Saturday we visited with my brother, Mark, in Dallas. My niece, and her family, Erin and Steven, and their children Hailey and Jack, joined us for dinner at a very nice restaurant, Even Coast. A wonderful evening of wine, food, and conversation. Jack especially liked my drink in the fish glass.

Fish drink:

Each day we took a vigorous walk through Parr Park near Jeff and Michele. In Parr Park there is a section lined with hundreds of painted rocks. It is the largest display of painted rocks in the world and there is a Guinness World Record plaque that identifies it as such. Aunt Kim joined us on Sunday and provided an afternoon of entertainment, but that will be in the next post.