Farming with Mules

Angelia Kveton Provine, age three,  on a cultivator,  a cultivator,  an implement for loosening the earth and destroying weeds around growing plants, (1925)

My parents came to America as children--Dad came from Bremen on the vessel, Chemnitz, arriving November 22, 1908, in Galveston, Texas, with his sister.  From Galveston, they rode a train to San Angelo, Texas.  Fred Kveton was born in Valaśské Mezirići on February 12, 1897.  My Mom, Maria Kubalec, was born in Kopřívnice on September 6, 1896, and came to America with her mother in 1902.  John Cervenka and Anna Kubalec were married in Saint Mary's Church in Nada, Texas--they were my grandparents.  Later, my mothers name was Mary Kubalec.

My parents, Fred Kveton and Mary Cervenka, were married December 27, 1921.  They lived on a farm in Electra, Texas.  It was one mile from the Red River.  In 1924, they purchased land at Abernathy, Texas, but continued to farm out of Electra.  Three more children were born.  In the spring of 1930, a new home was built in Abernathy and the family moved.

I have many pictures taken on farm equipment with the white mules.  Jack and Kate were purchased in 1922 with money saved from serving in the army.

Fred Kveton with Jack and Kate, using a harrow on our new farm.  A harrow is a heave frame with spikes or sharp-edged disks, drawn by mules.  It was used for leveling and breaking up plowed ground, covering seeds, and rooting up weeds.  A fruit orchard was planted in the early 1930's along with a windbreak of evergreen trees.

George Kveton on the "Go-Devil"  and mules Jack, Kate, and Jenny.  The horse with colt was a 4-H Project for Henry Kveton.  The dictionary stated that a "Go-Devil" is a certain kind of sled, used in logging, a railroad handcar used by work gangs, joined flexible device for clearing a pipeline of obstructions... maybe the farmers did not have a name for it...but a similar job of a cultivator.  The "Go-Devil"  had long sharp blades that cut weeds and loosened the soil around growing plants,  If a turn was made short, it could turn over, the blades were very dangerous.

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