Winter was long and cold a century ago for a young preacher sharing a cabin with a bachelor homesteader east of Watford City, North Dakota. The Reverend Richard C. Jahn was a 20-year-old fresh from seminary in St. Louis when he answered the call to ministry in Schafer, North Dakota. He recorded much of his story in a journal as he baptized, confirmed and buried residents, and preached for several congregations for ten months, speaking in both English and German.
Jahn passed the time by visiting neighbors, doing housework, writing sermons and letters, and immersing himself in local life on the open range. He and his neighbors observed Christmas in a simple fashion on this date in 1915. On Christmas Eve, Jahn preached at a nearby schoolhouse for “a good audience.” He drove his sleigh to a neighbors’ home, admired their Christmas tree and gifts, and played whist before a meal. He listened to the phonograph until late at night.
The following morning, Christmas Day, Jahn faced a wet, heavy snowfall as he returned to Shafer in a sleigh pulled by two horses. He stopped along the way for mail at a rural post office near the edge of the Little Missouri Badlands. His roommate had stocked their cabin with coal and wood, so upon returning home, Jahn built up a fire. He wrote several letters and ate twenty-five cents worth of chocolates. And such was his merry Christmas in McKenzie County.
The next few days were bitterly cold. Jahn visited a hotel in Schafer and saw six people. Next stop was Watford. He some straw, but was disappointed not to meet with anyone. Later, however, he did receive some goodies and groceries from friends. He played cards, got the mail and played 48 records on the phonograph with a neighbor until one thirty in the morning.
A few days after his quiet Christmas, New Year’s Eve found Jahn milking a cow in a barn as midnight rang in 1916. As he wrote in his journal, “A year ago I would not have imagined such a thing was possible.”
Dakota Datebook by Jack Dura
Sources:
“Called to the Prairie: Life in McKenzie County, North Dakota, 1915-1916, From the Journals of the Rev. Richard C. Jahn.” Edited by Richard P. Jahn Jr., Jan Dodge and Dennis E. Johnson, 2014, Catlinberg Publishing.
