HAROLD ROTT FAMILY

My parents, Harold and Anna Diehl Rott “met” each other at the baptismal font at SS Peter and Paul Church in Naperville. It was the month of October, 1889, when each was only a few weeks old. Harold Rott was the oldest child of Seraphine and Anna (Lotter) Rott while Anna Diehl was the oldest daughter of George and Mary (Gartner) Diehl. Around 1850, all of my great grandparents came from Germany and settled in this area.

As providence would have it, Harold and Anna were married on February 18, 1914 at the very same church of their first “meeting”, SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church. They first farmed one of Anna’s father’s farms along Route 59. The other farm was located east of Route 59 on what is now Diehl Road, named after my grandfather George Diehl. Some years later, they tenant farmed off Modaff Road until finally purchasing 140 acres in 1929 from my Uncle Henry and Aunt Ottulia Diehl. This farm was just south of 75th Street on Wehrli Road (However, at this time 75th Street did not exist). They later bought additional land until they owned 190 acres total. To this day, I am confounded and amazed as to how my parents raised ten children in the Great Depression, and yet were able to provide us with a comfortable life.

The farm was just 15 years old when my parents purchased it. It had a five-bedroom Victorian home, a large red barn for hay, cows and horses. There was also a pig barn, drive-through corn crib, double door equipment building, chicken house, milk house with attached tool shed and smokehouse. 

Mother and Dad were hard workers. Ten of us followed suit by pitching in from sun up to sun down. These years were before running water, automatic washing machines, electric dryers, perma-press, electric milking machines, farm combines, and tractors. Electricity came to the farm in 1937. We always had a large flower and vegetable garden and we were very self-sufficient. Dad always said if we had flour and sugar, we could survive for months. Mother was a fine seamstress, excellent cook and also a barber. She cut the entire family’s hair --- and you would be hard pressed to tell it was not cut by a professional.

We were blessed in so many ways with good health, close family ties, and lovely neighbors. Each of us received our first eight years of education at SS Peter and Paul School which meant a good part of the day was spent traveling the six miles to and from school. Since this was prior to school bussing, five of us sat in the back seat of a Model A Ford, and the driver and two cousins, Helen and Vern Blum, usually sat in the front.

We knew better than to ever say “Are we there yet?” “I’m thirsty!” “Move over!” In the first grade, we all were introduced to the real world as we experienced discrimination for the first time. This was not only because we were farmers, but also because we were from such a large family. It was not until the 1950’s that farmers came into their own because developers realized we had something valuable to offer. We sold our farm in 1972.

Only two of our boys, Bernie and Carl, stayed with farming. They purchased farms near Henry, Illinois. Vince, Jim, Ralph, and Don went into the building trades. Robert and Laura never married and worked for many years at Kroehler Furniture in Naperville.

Marion married Charles O’Conner and raised her family in Harvard, Illinois. I (Rita) married the “farm boy” next door, Al Lisson, Jr. I have lived in Naperville all my life. 

As I conclude this article, I anticipate being asked a familiar question, “What is your greatest accomplishment?” My answer is simply this, “Passing on the same good values exemplified by my dear parents to my own four children.”

Submitted by Rita Rott Lisson