In this fifth column in a continuing series, Susan Kovach Nemith Hinkle and her aunt, Freda Nemith Yandrisevits, recall when the family resided in a company home in Penn Allen. Family members were employed at the Penn Dixie Cement Company, which operated three plants in the Bath/Nazareth area.

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Born in 1897 in Roniunstorf, Burgenland (Austria), Rudolph Nemith arrived at Ellis Island at 16 years of age. Ellis Island officials changed his name from Nemet to Nemith, thinking the check mark above the second ‘e’ was the dot over a letter ‘i’. Rudolph first went to Passaic, N.J., to be with relatives. He had been sponsored by his half-brother.

There, he met Mary Chekits, who had emigrated from Sultz, Austria, where she had worked as a nanny. She also had come through Ellis Island. They were married in 1918 in Passaic.

They moved to Penn Allen, Pa., drawn to work available at Penn Dixie Plant 5.

Penn Dixie was one of the largest cement operations in the Lehigh Valley. Plant 4, 5 and 6, between Bath and Nazareth on Route 248, is now known as ESSROC.

Penn Dixie’s most famous contract was to provide the cement for the New York aqueducts, which supply fresh water from the Catskill Mountains to New York City. Rudolph worked as a repairman at Plant 5 until close to his retirement, when he switched to being a watchman on the second shift.

Rudolph and Mary moved into what was originally the Penn Dixie office on the curve in the road in Penn Allen. It was a red brick building and had been divided into a two-family home. Even the double outhouse (no bathroom was in the home at the time) was subdivided for the two families.

In this home, they raised 11 children (two others died in childbirth). The home had a large kitchen with a coal stove for cooking and a bedroom on the first floor where the parents slept.

Upstairs were two more large rooms. They were made into dormitories - one for the six girls and one for the five boys. Stories of boxing matches taking place in the boy’s dormitory have been passed down to the next generation of 20-plus grandchildren.

Bath time started with the eldest child and ended with the youngest, with as many using the same heated water as possible in a big tub in the kitchen.

The Nemiths paid $6.50 per month rent until the price went up to over $100, shortly before Mary, in her 90s, moved in with a daughter.

While Mary cooked, washed clothes and grew her family, the eldest daughter was in charge of her younger siblings.

Mary would regularly show up at Dr. Beck in Bath, who would exclaim, “Not you again, Mrs. Nemith!” knowing she was there for another pregnancy checkup.

The family kept one cow in an outbuilding for milk for the large family. Chickens ran “free range” across the large property. Once a year, a pig was purchased to be slaughtered and made into sausage.

But, Rudolph would go daily to the A&P grocery in Nazareth, as he liked his dinner meat cut fresh. Also purchased at the A&P were items like soaps, toiletries and household items.

A large garden provided vegetables, some of which were canned. The root vegetables like carrots, radishes, onions, red beets and potatoes were placed into the ground of the root cellar under the house for the winter. This gave the family fresh vegetables year-round.

Strudel was made from the apple and cherry trees on the property. The favorite was the cabbage strudel, however. Mary could pull the dough thin enough to cover her large kitchen table. It was a good “grab and go” meal for all the children.

The older children understood another baby was on the way when they saw Rudolph putting pumpkins in the coal stove oven to cook so they would have something to eat until their “mater” was up and around again. It was the only time he attempted to cook.

Cabbage grown was also made into sauerkraut. Rudolph would remove his shoes, wash his feet and stomp the cabbage in a crock.

The children attended Michaels Elementary School on Route 248 in Penn Allen, now an ESSROC office building. Many, if not all, of the fathers of the Penn Allen families worked at the cement mills in the area. Michaels School was crowded with all their children. There were many, many lifelong friends made among those children. Many lived in the company homes Penn Dixie built along the Penn Allen road, next to Plant 5.

When Rudolph was a watchman in his later years, his youngest daughter, Freda, would walk over to Plant 5 with his supper. Neatly dressed and no longer in the soiled clothing of a repairman, he and his daughter would walk through the cement mill on his rounds where he would mark each security check point by inserting a key into a check box he wore over his shoulder.

When at home, he would sit under his apple trees or in a little out building that looked like a mini one-room house. Flies abounded due to the apple and cherries falling to the ground. He would offer to pay us grandchildren to swat as many flies as we could.

Every Sunday afternoon, all of Rudolph and Mary’s 11 children, their spouses and the 20-plus grandchildren would gather to visit. Baseball games were organized for the grandchildren by four Nemith brothers who played on a Legion league team. Baseball, climbing the easily accessible trees, badminton, or just plain running and exploring the property kept all the grandchildren busy.

Worst of all was having to use the outhouse during the summer. Grandchildren were banned by their mothers from running in and out of the house to use the then-installed upstairs bathroom. Avoiding the flies during a “potty break” was not a pleasant experience.

All the Nemith girls had male children. All the Nemith boys had female children. No one carries the family name forward.

Several of the Nemith boys also worked at Penn Dixie. Rudolph Jr. was a laborer at Plant 5, Reinhart was a lab technician at Plant 6 and Charles was a kiln burner at Plant 6. Rudolph’s sons followed in their father’s footsteps. Having learned a strong work ethic, they became dedicated cement workers.

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Next time, we highlight son Charles Nemith, a Penn Dixie Plant 6 kiln burner.