Freyer Homestead

In 1914, my great-great grandfather, Robert Freyer, built the Freyer Homestead (pictured at right) on what is now the corner of Freyer and Herman in Michigan City, Indiana. Robert and his wife, Dorothy ("Dora" Wilke), raised the majority of their 21 biological children on this property which encompassed 40 acres (from Eastwood to Schnicke).

As the children reached adulthood, each was entitled to one acre upon which to build a home of their own. My great grandmother, Nettie Clara Freyer, married Edward Charles Jasch on June 1, 1925 and soon acquired an acre of her own on what is now Schnicke Road. A few decades later, this neighborhood became affectionately known as "Freyer-ville."

Nettie and Edward's second child, Charles "Peanut" Harry Jasch, later had an affair in December 1953 with an unknown but married woman. Two days after the birth of their son (my father, Brian Charles Jasch), the woman put the baby up for adoption. Later that night Peanut arrived at the house on Schnicke Road with my father, who was then raised by both Peanut and Nettie. (Edward had passed away on May 27, 1934, and Nettie had divorced both William Schnicke and Harry Ludington before my father's birth on September 13, 1954.)

Rumor has it (according to my great aunt Ginnie) that my paternal grandmother's family is Woodruff from Michigan City. However, my father's birth certificate is allegedly signed once as "Virginia Jasch" and another time as "Virginia Hopkins of South Bend, Indiana" (according to my mother Joyce). Without locating a copy of my father's birth certificate, I cannot confirm this; however, I can consider this a starting point.

Just in case anyone is curious about Robert and Dora's phenomenal amount of children, of the 21 born, there was only one set of twins. Including the twins, four other children died at birth and went unnamed. The 15 children are as follows: Lillian (1896), Martha (1897), Herbert (1899), Clarence (1901), Edgar (1904), Nettie (1906), Lena (1907), Minnie (1908), Ruth (1909), Eva (1912), Florence (1913), Dorothy (1916), Lester (1919), Willis (1921), and Marietta (1923). Between the ages of 17 and 44, a time span of 27 years, Dora had given birth 20 times!