During the following years circumstances of life became pretty good. My father got an inheritance from an unmarried brother and later the same thing happened to my mother who, too, got an inheritance from her side. For the money my father bought ground and extended the farm.

Epitaph

 
Here lies in God

Kaspar Heinrich Simon from Harscheid
born May 13th 1818

died Febr. 11th 1884

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
 
Here lies in peace

Elisabeth Simon née Dax from Harscheid
born Oct. 28th 1814

died Febr. 17th 1885

I took care of the graves for many years but at last the graves had to be given up according to the law. The cemetery changed completely and their last resting place is unknown.

 
February 10th, 1927
 

Wilhelm Simon

I have already mentioned that my mother was very economical, but she liked coffee more than anything else. To avoid using too many beans she divided the coffee into many groups of 5 beans each group. And for one cup of coffee she took 5 beans. Often it was my business to count the beans.

An example of an economical sense was also our Christmas tree. Candles were too expensive, so we used walnut shells filled with rape oil and a little wick and hung them on the tree.

My father was a practical man. He himself did all the joinery which occurs on a farm. He had a real joiner's workshop and manufactured all the tables, chairs, beds and so on.

My father died when he was 66 years old. My mother died a year later. After the death of my parents the farm was split up and most of it was given into other hands.

written by Wilhelm Simon in 1927

Chronicle of the Simon family (8)