DENA THADEN'S NURSING MEMOIRE

I have no idea when my Mother wrote the following memoire. It was found in a small booklet called “Uniform Method” – the School Series, an Upper Grades Note Book. In extremely faded pencil, you will see:

“D.M. Thaden,

Huron, So. Dak.”

Mom’s handwriting fills the first few pages and after that, all that can be found are drawings I seem to remember Dad making for me when I was sitting with him in church.

My Dad’s distinctive handwriting: “Jean Ellen Plucker” and “M.E.J. Plucker,” homely birds, scribbles, trucks, a clock drawn to show 1:15, funny looking faces – all drawn very quietly while listening to some preacher or other and letting the licorice taste and the smart of Sen-sen grow in our mouths.

When did she write this? What was written before this first sentence? She must have written something about “Night Duty.” Did she do this while wondering if she should have continued her training to become a registered nurse instead of marrying Dad when she only had one year left? We’ll never know...

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          However, the memories of night duty don’t compare with those
of the diet kitchen. If patients ever fuss, you may be sure it is about their
trays. The eggs are either too soft or too hard and what should be hot is
always cold, and what should be cold has had a rise in temperature, and there
you go!

          About the time I began thinking I was a regular nurse and
knew everything, I was put in charge of a floor. I learned the excruciating joy
of being blamed for the other fellow’s mistakes and along with all this came
those frequent visits to the office, for leaving undone those things that
should have been done. But after all, there is a certain satisfaction in being
able to make things run smoothly and systematically.

          Of course, every nurse knows that some time in the dim and
distant future she will enter the operating room. I tremble now when I think of
the day I reported there. I felt like an unnecessary piece of furniture. It was
“don’t touch this,” and “don’t touch that,” until I wondered what there was I
could touch. But finally I mastered the mysteries of aseptic technique, learned
to keep my head when doctors yelled – even though my ears did tingle for a week
– and was able to answer, “Yes, Doctor,” when asked if all the sponges were
accounted for. These days were full of interest and the training was very
valuable for accuracy, quickness and skill, but it was a glorious day when I
went back on the halls and became once more familiar with people’s faces
instead of their insides.

          The bane of my existence was class work. The weary hours I
spent on anatomy and Materia Medica! Such labor never entered my mind when I
was having fond dreams of being a nurse and relieving suffering humanity. Why
couldn’t bones be named something shorter than Ossa Innominata, or a drug
something simpler than Hexamethylamine and why are there so many nerves,
muscles and blood vessels? Indeed, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And
how discouraging, when trying to make one small head hold all that knowledge,
to have a doctor remark: “They are the brightest looking class of girls to be
so stupid I ever saw.”

          There were days that were a continual grind; when nobody
could be pleased; when life didn’t seem worth living. Ye shades of Florence
Nightingale! Where have all our beautiful ideals flown? We vowed daily to go
home, but why didn’t we? We were held fast by the lure of nursing.

          There is a fascination that every girl feels if she has the
true spirit of a nurse. Can any joy equal that when we have had a part in the
saving of a life? Oh! There are hundreds of rewards for our toil and we are
glad that we are nurses. We want to live up to our clinic ideals as they have
ever been held up before us by our Superintendent, Miss Mabel Heldstab. She has
been our constant inspiration and we think Longfellow must have had her in mind
when he wrote: 

A noble type of good

Heroic womanhood

In the picture to the left, Dena is second from the right. In the picture on the right, Dena is on the right.

  

It is a strange feeling to find something written by a woman who I thought of throughout the years as being "my mother," "my dad's wife," "my children's grandma" and who now can be seen through new eyes as a woman who had deep thoughts and feelings quite apart from all of that.

I thought I knew my mother. I thought I knew what she thought, what she felt, what her life was always like. Those years before she married and had children will always be a mystery to us, but with this small discovery, we know a little more. She had aspirations of becoming a nurse, of helping people, of being useful in society.

And she was! It was just on the farm and in the house, in the church and in the community, not in a hospital.

Part II DENA THADEN PLUCKER'S STORY

[Here is the rest of the story written by Dena herself in the mid-1960's.]

"All this led up to my being organist in the Willow Lake Presbyterian Church for quite a number of years, and much later pianist and organist in the Germantown Presbyterian Church, also for several years.

"As you can imagine, there were no automobiles in those days so whenever we went to town or to church, it was with a buggy in the summer time and a bobsled in the winter. My folks had a two seated buggy, so on Sundays all of the children went along with the parents to Sunday School, at least those that were old enough. It was not possible for all of us to crowd into the two seats, so usually two of the bigger boys had to s tand up behind the back seat. Those trips were very enjoyable because we all had time to really enjoy nature.

"The bobsled rides were something like this: First of all, a bobsled is just a wagon box mounted on runners. Usually we had a layer of straw in the bottom of the box to sort of keep our feet warm. A spring seat was mounted on the wagon box about in the center. This was for Mom and the smaller children. They were kept warm with horsehide robes and possibly a heated soapstone for their feet. Dad would be up front in the box so he could drive the horses, and the rest of the children would be standing up in the rear part of the box. If we complained about being cold, Dad would tell us to get out of the sled and run behind until we were warm again.

"By the time I was old enough to remember such things, my mother was no longer using the washboard but had a mechanical washing machine. However, it had to be manupulated by hand. There was a handle that had to be pulled back and forth. All of us children got a chance at that chore. One can imagine that a large family like ours had a lot of laundery every week. Also much food was consumed, so much that my mother had to bake bread at least twice a week. A bakery in town where bread could be bought wasn't heard of. Once a week we had to churn about five gallons of cream. This was done with a large wooden box with a tight cover. It was suspended between two uprights and it had a handle so it would tumble the cream back and forth in that box until the butterfat separated from the milk and we would have several pounds of butter.

[How many cows would have been needed to separate at least five gallons of cream each week?]

"The beds of those days were quite different from what we now have. Instead of foam rubber or inner springs or even plain cotton mattresses, we slept mostly on straw mattresses. These mattresses were made of very heavy cotton ticking, being almost as heavy as the canvas tents are made of. Thes cloth was sewn into the shape of a large sack the same size as the bed. This was then stuffed with clean straw, usually soon after threshing in the fall of the year. It was great fun for us children to go to bed the first night after this was done. the mattress would be about three times as high as it was supposed to be. We would climb on top of this huge mound and then sink way down. Of course, as time went on, the straw became more leveled off and things were back to normal.

[In the photo of the three girls, Dena is on the left.]
"After I graduated from the eighth grade I had a desire to go to high school. It was not to be, because there was a new baby every second year and my help was needed at home. However, my best girl friend from our neighborhood went to Dubuque, Iowa to the high school department of Dubuque college. She came back with such glowing accounts of her experiences that my parents finally consented to my going there for one year. What happened there is pretty well explained in the other part of this little story, so I won't go over it again. After a year I was home again and not too well satisfied with what I had to do. I began to inquire at different hospitals as to what my chances would be to enter as a student nurse. Finally, the Sprague Hospital in Huron, South Dakota accepted me as a student. After some two and one half years, that man of mine became so insistent that I, like him, became a dropout, and we were married.
"Certainly many things have changed since the time when I was a young girl at home. By the time we were married, many improvements had been made. For instance, the first washing machine we had after we were married was still the hand-operated type. It was while we lived in Princeton, Illinois that we got our first electrically operated washer. We kept this machine while we lived in Princeton and in Dubuque, but when we moved back to the farm, it had to be changed over. Since there was no electricity out in the country at that time, we bought a small gas engine which was designed for operating a washing machine.
"This little engine was the cause of much grief. Many times on wash day my man was out in the field before I got started to wash clothes. Then, of course, the engine refused to start and I  would have to drop everything and walk to wherever he was and tell him to come home and start the engine. When electricity finally came in 1948, we lost no time in making the switch back to an electric motor.
"We did not get to use the lights very much the first day the electricity was turned on, because son Robert was in a play in Brookings, South Dakota. When we came home from there it was after midnight and high time to go to bed. Since that time electricity has changed from sort of a luxury to an absolute necessity."From that small beginning of one motor we have now progressed to the point where it takes 27 motors to keep us going.
"Before electricity, there was, of course, no refrigerator either, but we did buy an icebox that we used for several years. It was quite a thrill just to have it, so we would no longer have soupy butter and the milk and cream would not sour at the end of one day. Even though it meant going to town every few days to get forty pounds of chunk ice, carrying it across the kitchen while it was dripping, and emptying the pan of water from under the icebox every day, it was still a great help. Every so often the drip pan under the icebox would be forgotten and there would be ice water to be mopped up.
"To illustrate how thrilled we were to get the electricity, we turned on all the lights in the house and in the out buildings one evening and then drove a short distance down the road so we could see what the place looked like when it was all lit upl. Before this, we had a kerosene lamp in almost every room, and that meant washing the lamp chimneys at least once a week and refilling the lamps with oil. We also had a gasoline lamp that had to be filled every day with high test gas, not the same kind used in the car. Electricity did away with all of this, including the box of matches on the kitchen stove. Now, at last, we were free to walk into a dark room without first lighting a lamp so we could find what we needed.

"This just about brings things up to the present time. No doubt there were many small happenings that could have been mentioned, but we have tried to tell of only those things that would be of interest to you. Whatever happens now is known to you and has no real historic value yet. Perhaps when you granchildren arrive at the age we are now, you may feel like writing about some of the changes that happened during your lifetimes. We both feel that if as many changes occur during your lifetime as happened since about 1905 until the present, there will be a multitude of things that will be of interest to those who are living in 2030 to 2040."

Here is the Thaden family in the 1950's.

Clarence, William, Arthur, Ben, Clifford

Dena, Johannah

Harm, George, E. L. (Louie), Minnie, Robert, Jerry

[At the same time this story was written by my mother, my father also wrote about his life. As time goes on, I hope to post that as well.]

DENA THADEN PLUCKER'S STORY - PART I

By Jean E. Straatmeyer

[When my mother, Dena, was about 65 years old and my father was 67, they both wrote their "life stories." Here, now, is how Dena described her life up to that time:]

"I was born on a farm just seven miles away from where we live now. [Eight miles northwest of Lennox, SD.] Four boys in my family are older than I am, four more boys were born after that, then a sister, and finally, one more boy. These are the names of all the Thaden children starting with the oldest: Gerhard Ludwig, Jerry Herman and Harm Daniel (twins), William Leroy, Hendina Margaretta (shortened to Dena), Arthur Floyd, Benjamin Harry, Clifford Adelbert, Clarence Henry, Johannah Christina Amelia and Robert Lawrence.

"Although my parents lived in the same community as the Plucker family, it is doubtful if they even knew each other, since those were horse and buggy days and the only trips that were made regularly were to church and to the town for necessary supplies. My mother's family name was Buus, and they lived for the most part south of the town of Lennox, while the Pluckers settled north and west of Lennox. My great grandfather Buus came to this community at about the same time that great grandfather Plucker did, some time during the 1870's or 80's. [Pictured on the left are my Great Grandma & Grandpa Buus. On the right: my grandparents Louie & Minnie Thaden's wedding picture.]

"This is some of the history of the Thaden family as told by my aunt, who lived in Tacoma, Washington in 1966. She is the only one left of the generation of my father. In fact, she was married to my father's brother. She told me my great grandfather, whose name was Wilkens, was the organist in a large cathederal in Germany. The Wilkens family belonged to the nobility. Evidently the Thadens were not of the nobility, because when my grandmother Wilkens married grandfather Thaden, she was disinherited because she married beneath her station in life. This could very well be the reason why grandfather Thaden decided to migrate to America. They settled first near Peoria, Illinois. Later they moved to Pipestone, Minnesota, and finally settled in Washington state in a small town near Tacoma."

[I believe my mother didn't know the exact location of the homestead in Minnesota - and there is still a lot of mystery about the story of "grandmother Wilkens" being disinherited for marrying into the Thaden family.]

"My father did not make the move to Washington at that time, but stayed in the Pipestone area for a while longer. He finished eight grades in the public school, which made him eligible to teach in a common school in those days. Teaching must not have been too much to his liking because he soon went to the Lennox vicinity to work on a farm. This is where he became acquainted with Minnie Buus, my mother. They were married in 1897, started farming in the Lennox vicinity, and in 1903 moved to a farm near Bryant, South Dakota. I was only one year old at the time, so I don't remember anything of that trip. My father rented this farm, but in 1908 he decided to buy a farm nearer Willow Lake. This farm is still known as the home place, occupied at present by my brother, Art. I did most of my growing up there.

"I was not sent to school until I was seven years old. My name was recorded first as Dina, but the teacher did not like that name, so she changed it to Dena.

"As you can imagine, growing up in a family with four boys older than I was, I got a lot of teasing and tormenting. One of the favorite ways of making me nervous was telling some real wierd ghost stories just before bed time. It was necessary for me to look under the bed before retiring, and after everything was quiet I imagined hearing the stairs creaking. Surely something or somebody was coming!

[On the left is Dena with her mother, Minnie. On the right is Minnie as a young woman.]

"Our school was located a mile and a half away, and when the weather was at all bearable, we walked to school. If it was too cold or stormy to walk we could always catch a ride with our neighbor, Mr. Edelman. I remember the names of his horses. They were called Morg and Gyp.

"Since my grandmother on my father's side was a musician, my father bought a reed organ that operated with air pressure, and had to be pumped continually with the feet while it was being played. It was on this instrument that I took my first music lessons. when I was about 10 or 12 years old, Dad went to town one wintry day and came back with a piano in the sled. Happy day! Dad being the kind of operator that he was, made it a part of the bargain that the dealer who sold him the piano had to promise that his wife would give me piano lessons. The transportation I used for these lessons was a two wheeled cart pulled by a Shetland pony. In the winter time, my hands would be so cold that I had to soak them in some warm water before I could take my lesson."

[Stay tuned for the second installment - coming soon!]

A SOD CHURCH - THE THADENS' FIRST CHURCH IN MINNESOTA

The Thaden family church had been a mystery, since what records we had said they went to a German Church in the Luverne, MN area. We finally found the church they attended on a trip to Luverne some years ago. It was located four miles south and four miles west of Luverne in the Southwest section of Luverne Township and was called the Ebenezer Evangelical Church.

     Soon after the Thadens moved to their homestead, the Rev. P. Bott became the minister. When the Thadens celebrated their 50th anniversary, an article appeared in the “Christliche Botsschafter” which said they were converted under the labors of the Rev. Wm. Oehler 35 years previously (1873) at
which time they united with the church.

     The first church was called the Sod Church and was replaced in 1884. The Thaden family is mentioned in their church history books. It later was known as the Pleasant View Church which was started as a German Church of the Evangelical Denomination. In 1946, this denomination united with the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) and in 1968 the EUBs joined with the Methodists to become the United Methodist Church. In 1954 the congregation of this country church was moved to Luverne, MN and it is now the Methodist Church in that community. The building located at the Pleasant View site was moved to Kanaranzi, MN where it is still used as the sanctuary for the United Methodist Church there. In America, the Thadens were for all practical purposes, Methodists – and continued to be a part of the Evangelical Denomination when they moved to Washington.

     The church records say there were “many successful revival meetings with large numbers finding the Savior. They held yearly camp meetings in the summer in a grove of trees 1.5 miles east of the church. In already known history, after Martin purchased the portable organ for his mother, she often played for church outings away from the church and no doubt played for these yearly revivals held at the grove east of the church. The church was located a mile north and a mile east of the Thaden homestead. They undoubtedly became a part of this denomination because it was a ministry to German people and it was close to their homestead.

     Next to the church was the cemetery where we found the grave marker of Hannah Thaden who died at the age of 13 years and 8 months (her death was attributed to consumption of the lungs). It is a beautiful cemetery, with only a few markers on it, and hers is still very readable. No one knew for sure where she was buried until we saw the records of the cemeteries in Luverne and drove out to check it out. Poor girl! But those were pioneer days. No doctor down the street, no hospital up the road, no antibiotics to fight disease. In the two letters found written by my Great Grandmother Thaden, she remembers that she “lost my second child Hannah too, and she was 14 years old and I could (not) let her go either! But God gives us strength that we can overcome it, and obey His will meekly without murmur! God be with you is the prayer of your Grandma. And in a follow-up letter of June 2, 1924, she ended her letter with, “My dear children, trust in God. He will help you overcome your sorrow.”

     When they moved to Washington, they helped organize an Evangelical Church in Tacoma and were members there for many years, perhaps until they died.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUILD A SOD HOUSE?

The Thadens lived in a sod house and probably the Pluckers did, too. Records describe sod homes as usually 9 x 16. They settled near rivers or creeks where they could secure small poles by cutting down the trees to make side poles and roof poles. Once this was erected, the holes were stuffed with woven grass. Over this was piled hay, then sod, and finally loose dirt. This was then, a sod house.

In a history of South Dakota written by John R. Miltdon, he says, "The typical settler had a family. With his oxen he cut sod for a house, long strips of three-inch sod, the prairie grasses holding it together as he stripped and furrowed. Then, with a spade, he cut the strips into three-foot lengths. The entire family worked together in stacking the pieces of sod-like bricks into four walls and with openings for a door and a window, which would be put in later. On the creek, they would find enough willow branches to make poles to support the roof. by criss-crossing enough poles, they got the support needed for the roof sod with only a slight sag in the middle. The completed sod house was windproof, fireproof and sturdy, but it would not keep out the water during the rainy season, and this was one of the paradoxes of sodbusting -- they had to pray for rain for their crops while at the same time praying for a dry house. They could not have both . . . If a town was established nearby, the settler could build a tarpaper shack or even a frame house."

The information we saw at the Rock County Historical Association showed that the Thaden homestead was the Southeast 1/4 of section two of Martin Township, but the deed record from Rock County records show it was the NW quarter of section 2. That piece of land is located four miles south and six miles west of Luverne, MN and there is a creek running through the quarter near the buildings. This confirms an earlier historical account that the kids weren't able to go to school one day because the creek was too high. This picture shows the exact spot of the Thadens' homestead.


On November 5, 1878, the Thadens received their homestead certificate at Worthington, MN. The description of the land was given and then the Patent Record says that it is his and his heirs "to have and to hold forever." Wm H. Crook signed the document on behalf of President Ruthiford B. Hayes.

The school the Thaden children attended was one mile south and two miles west of their homestead. As we drove by in our car, we found the remnants of a school with an old flag pole still standing. This picture is a site that looks like it could be the exact spot of the school the Thaden kids attended. It was just a couple of miles from the homestead site.

I WONDER . . . .

I wonder what my great grandmother Johanna had to go through to get from Germany to America and on to Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and finally to Washington State.
Did she get sick on the ship?
Did her four children behave on the ship?
Was she pregnant with her fifth child - my grandfather - on the ship?
What did she do for diapers when she just got off the ship? Did she bring them along? How did she wash them? What about baby food for Ella, who was only two?
What did they do for money? Did they bring plenty along with them from Germany? Did friends and relatives help them? Did they use a barter system instead?
How did they manage to get from Ellis Island to Peoria, Illinois? Train to Chicago? Covered wagon?
What happened to get them to Grundy County, Iowa? Did great grandpa farm there, too?
How did he farm? Was he just a hired hand? What sort of equipment did they have? How many horses?
Who told them that the land around Rock County, Minnesota was beautiful?
Did they gather everything they had in a wagon and drive the horses 270 miles? How long did it take? Was there a train track close? But if they took the train, how did they get their horses, cows, machinery along?
Did they make enough money at each stopping place to get them further along the way?
In Rock County, did Johannah help build the sod house? Was she pregnant again during that time?
Were all her 10 pregnancies easy? Did she get morning sickness? Did she have heartburn?
Did she always have two or three kids in diapers? Did she have to wash them all on a wash board?
Did Theodore and Johanne Catherine (who were 10 and 8 by the time my grandfather was born) help with the little ones?
Did she start a garden right away? Did they buy jars and canning supplies in Luverne?
Did she have to take care of farm animals as well as the children? Did she do the chores when my grandfather was farming?
In the 23 years they lived in Rock County, did she ever have time to enjoy life?
How relieved was she and the entire family to be gone from the disastrous snow storms and floods of Minnesota?
Were Johannah's other relatives happy to see them safely settled in Tacoma?
Was her life in Tacoma easier? happier? lonlier? sadder?
Did being involved in the church make her life more meaningful?

I wonder..........

ANOTHER MYSTERY

Here are two letters written by Johannah Christiana Amelia Wilken Thaden to: Gerhardine Louise Thaden and her husband, Wolter Pieter Baard, upon the death of their first born child, Grace Louise Baard, born July 29, 1920 and died as the result of pneumonia following measles. (Grace Louise Baard died April 9, 1924.)

(Johannah signs the letters "C. Thaden," which verifies the fact that when they lived in Tacoma - and perhaps before - she was called Christiane instead of Johannah.)

"Tacoma, May 22, 1924

"My dear Dina and Walther! (Notice the different spelling as well as a different familiar name)
     "I will now try and write you a few lines. I have been sickly since Easter and was to weak on body and minde to write!
     "But now I feel a little stronger. I am so very sorry you lost your little girl, such a smart little thing! But you must think, God knows best, why He took it. Maybe, there was something in store for her, what would have been a good deal worse for her, as Dead! He, our Heavenly Father, only knows and you will see her when the time comes, to see her as a bright little Angel! You know, I lost my second child, Hannah, to, and she was 14 years old and I could [not] let her go either! But God gives us strength that we can overcome it, and obey His Will meakly without murmer!
     "How are you both, dear children? The children out there are, so far I know well!
     " Now, please write soon and tell us how you are!
     "O, it is to dry here, we should have tobad rain! But we must say there too, God knows best!
     "God be with you, is the prayer of you Grandma C. Thaden"

(A woman whose name is Juanita, wrote that this was the last letter her mother received from her grandmother, who died August 17, 1924. Juanita gave these letters to my cousin, Lois, who did a great job of gathering family information. However, I don't have information about this family line.)

The second letter:

"Tacoma, June 2, 1924

"Dear Dina and Walter!
     "I received you dear letter, was so glad to hear of you and that you are well! I thank you for that picture of you and little Darling Grace. Such a sweet child! Looks just like you, her Mamma, dear Dina! That gives you love more to our Heavenly Home!
     "O, dear Dina, I so often hope to go Home! When people are so old as I - 84 years, they are at last tired of this world: and since Papa, my husband died, 13 years ago I am always going down, downhill! Always weaker and weaker but not sick in bed, only walking goes hard with me. I can hear good, and see pretty good, but have only a little strength.
     "Christina has a fellon in her left hand; she had [unintelligible] in the four weak that hand, but since a couple weaks it begins to better. O, that was awful bad! Couple months ago she stepped in a rusty nail and could not walk! Yesterday your Mother's birthday was, how old is she? She has a hard life!
     "Now my dear children, Trust in God. He will help you to overcome your sorrow! If you can, write soon, please! Christine will write too, soon as she is able!
     'Love from all. God be with you is the prayer of your loving Grandma C. Thaden"

A VERY OLD CHURCH NEWSLETTER

GOLDEN WEDDING

     G. L. Thoden and his wife Christiane celebrated the 50th anniversary of their wedding, October 27, 1909.

     They came from Germany and settled in Luverne, Minn., about 39 years ago, and came to Tacoma, Wash., 18 years ago.

     Thirty-six years a go they were converted under the labors of the Rev. wm. Oehler. They at once united with our church and are now faithful and esteemed members.

     The Christliche Botschafter has been a welcome guest in their home for 36 years, and has brought them many blessings. They said recently: "It would seem as though they had withdrawn from the church if the Botschafter were not to come to their home."

     Brother and Sister Thoden were always stanch supporters of God's cause and helped to organize our church in Tacoma. they stood by the church here when for years it almost seemed a useless effort, and now they greatly rejoice to see the work prosper.

     God's blessings rested visibly on this happy couple these many years.

     Fifty years they shared the joys and also the sorrows of married life, and now with Samuel can erect an Ebenezer and say: "Hitherto the Lord hath helped us."

     The Lord grant Brother and Sister Thoden many more years of home life and religious activities and after the joys and sorrows here, eternal bliss forever.

T. R. Hornschuch



ONE VERY OLD LETTER

Johanna Christina Wilken

Johanna was born on March 9, 1839, married to Gerhardt Ludwig Thaden on October 22, 1859, moved to Rock County, Minnesota in 1870 and lived there until they moved on to Tacoma, Washington in 1891.

Johanna and Gerhardt had six sons and  three daughters. One of the sons, Martin, must have taken a job to help the family.

A few years ago, I found a letter Johanna wrote to Martin dated March 2, 1888. It is said that this is the first time this boy was away from home at his first job.

Beaver Creek, Minn.

March 2, 1888

Dear Martin. (At this time, Martin was 22 years old.)

     Oh, you don't know how glad every one of us felt, as we received your letter. Oh, how thankful and glad we felt and wish you would not wait so long again. Please write soon, how you feel and all news you know. We are all well and healthy, but it is so cold weather today, yes so extremely cold freezing [wind, the] whole day so sharp.

     So, Martin, please be careful not be out in the snowstorms. Oh, how glad we would feel, if you could stay home with us. Mother like to know if you have to stay alone out there on Mr. Campbell's place or live you with them folks together[?]

     News from there please write to us very soon and you may find out if there is somebody who wants to buy a farm here in Rock County. Should be there in your vicinity neighborhood change for trade. [Unintelligible\ for stock or some else! Please wait not so long to write your circumstances and all news you know.

     We are all well and healthy our hope from you the same. Good bye, good bye!

                                                              Your parents, brothers & sisters

GRANDPA THADEN'S STORY

EILERT  LUDWIG THADEN  FAMILY STORY

Sources include Eilert’s own biography, his childrens’ stories and information gleaned from research done by various relatives – including H. Gene Straatmeyer, whose wife is Eilert’s granddaughter.

I was born May 27, 1870 in Peoria, IL. Died December 19, 1962 at Willow Lake, SD.
Father:  Gerd Luken Thaden, Born 1836 in Willen, Germany. Died September 14, 1910 in Tacoma, WA
Married October 27, 1859 in Esens, Hannover, Germany to:
Mother: Johanna Christiana Amalia Wilken – Born March 9, 1839 in Aurich, Germany.
Died August 17, 1924 in Tacoma, WA.

“My brothers and sisters in sequence of birth, place of birth and year of birth:

Theodore (Germany, 1860), Johanne Catherine (Germany, 1862), George (Germany, 1864), Martin (Germany, 1866), Ella (? 1868), Christine (Luverne, MN, 1872), Maria or Mae (Luverne, MN 1875), Ernest (Luverne, MN 1877?) William (Luverne, MN 1879).

“My father was born in 1836 and died at 74 in 1910. He taught school in Aurich, Germany. My mother was a music teacher. She came from Germany. They were married Oct. 22, 1869 in Germany.”

In her autobiography, Dena Thaden Plucker writes:
“My grandparents came from Aurich, Osfriesland. We lived first at Peoria, IL, where my father farmed, then Grundy Center, IA, and then we moved southwest of Luverne, MN in 1870 where we lived in a sod house and farmed.”

Rock County, IA records show Geerd L. Thaden was given patent to section 2 of Martin Township. The northeast corner of this section is four miles south of Luverne, MN and five miles west. It is not certain whether Geerd received the whole section or just one quarter of it. If he was given a quarter, he probably received the southeast quarter of this section because of other information given in E. L.’s biography. There was a good sized creek at this location, which would have provided both water and small timber to construct a sod home. If this were so, they would have lived five miles south of Luverne and five miles west. The county record say sod houses were usually 9 x 16. Poles for the side of the home were taken from a river (where the trees were located) where they were put upright and grass was woven through them to close the openings. Poles from cut trees also composed the roof. Once this was in place, the outside walls and the roof were covered with brush, sod and loose dirt.

In 1871, a year after the Thadens arrived, many people came to settle in Rock County, most of them coming by prairie schooner. A Mr. Loose, who was a member of the same church as the Thadens, wrote that they were heading towards Sioux Falls when they were encouraged to look at southern Rock County and he said, “It was the most beautiful land we had ever seen and so we settled there.”

From the Rock County Courthouse records:

The building of the Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad to southwest MN late in 1871 and the opening of the line the following spring had a decided effect upon Rock County, although the line was quite a distance from the county. Immigrants poured in and took claims in every precinct, and sod shanties and little frame shacks dotted the prairies in theretofore unsettled portions.

“Settler” (in the Jackson republic, writing on May 29, 1871, told of the conditions: “There is a very heavy immigrations to the county this spring, far exceeding what we have had any previous season. Within the last ten days there have seen no less that 52 prairie schooners cast their anchor in this lovely county and there are very few to leave it to look elsewhere for homes after they once behold our lovely prairies.”

The Rock county historical records indicate there were three natural forces these early settlers had to encounter, and any one of them could prove fatal. In the summer, it was prairie fires and grasshoppers. In the winter, there were the blizzards. Two major blizzards occurred while the Thadens lived here, in 1873 and 1888. “The most severe of these awful storms was the blizzard of January 7-9, 1873. The second was the terrible blizzard of January 12, 1888 when scores of people perished. In Rock County three lives were sacrificed – all men.” The 1888 blizzard is described later in this history.

The Thaden kids had to walk three miles to school, unless the creek would be too high and they couldn’t get across. Eilert attended school eight years, got a third grade certificate and then taught school. In the supper, all the kids twisted hay to burn in the winter to keep warm. Later on they twisted flax on a homemade roller and burned that. They plowed with a walking plow and received $2.00 an acre to break sod.

“We ate a lot of salt pork and mother made big pancakes. Also Specken Dicken. Corn meal was eaten with sorghum or black strap. When Eilert was married, barley was 11 cents a bushel. They sometimes roasted it, added coffee and used the mixture as coffee.

“There were no wells, just deep holes. I  fell in and my sister, Christina (Tena), saved me.”

The death of sister Johanne Catherine (Hannah) on January 18, 1876 at 13 years, eight months and 22 days of age was tragic. It was said that she died of “consumption.” A local carpenter made the coffin. When the pall bearers picked up the coffin, the handles fell off and they dropped the coffin. Following the church service, the coffin was opened and Hannah was lying face down and much of her hair was pulled out. A carrier was dispatched by horseback to a doctor in Luverne. He listened through his stethoscope, but could hear no heart action. The doctor slashed her wrist and no blood came, so he declared her dead. Her tombstone remains in the Pleasant View church cemetery today, easily read and in good shape. It is a beautiful country cemetery.

One warm day in January, for some unknown reason the Thaden children did not go to school. “Call it God’s providence.” About 3:00 p.m. the big blizzard came without warning. Many people were lost and died in the suffocating blindness of the find snow. Many were not found until spring. The Thaden’s neighbors lost four daughters who were found only after the snow melted. The men had great difficulty in feeding the livestock. Snow banks were high. “I remember walking over the granary. The front door was drifted shut so we used another door” (to the house).

Oxen were used a lot. Once when Eilert was helping a neighbor with hay, he had a runaway with the oxen. A lumber wagon was used for visiting and going to church. They played many games of horse shoe and catch; they also went to barn dances.

Eilert’s mother taught his sisters how to play the organ. She tried to teach Eilert, but he learned only a few notes. “I always sang tenor when mother played. We always took the organ when we had our church picnics and the people sang. My mother composed and wrote music – “Tacoma March and the “Funeral March” and many more. My brother, George, gave her an Estes organ from the first money he earned. My mother could also speak French.”

The family attended the Ebenezer Evangelical Church, located just a mile east of section two, on which they lived and farmed. Depending where they lived on this section, it would have been one to three miles from their homestead. They were not among those who organized the church in 1870, but joined shortly thereafter. The first church was called the Sod Church. A new wood frame church was built in 1884 at a cost of $1,500. As an Evangelical Church, they were noted for their annual camp meetings and for summer revivals held in a tent in a large grove east of the church.

The history of the church says that the Pleasant View Church was started as a German Church of the Evangelical denomination. In 1946, the Evangelical Church joined with the Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) and in 1968, the EUB church merged with the United Methodist Church. In 1954, the Pleasant View Church was moved to Luverne. Today, only the cemetery remains where the church once stood.

“My parents moved to Tacoma, WA in 1891. I moved with them. While there, Martin and I helped a man put up 300 tons of wild hay. We also dug potatoes, and milked cows in a dairy. We had to drive the cows across the Lewis River, which was full of whirlpools, and once I got caught in one when I was in a boat. I went round and round. Someone from shore came and helped me. I didn’t like tri there, so I came back to South Dakota.”

It is unknown why this Thaden family left Rock County after 23 years, but historical records from Rock County give us a possible answer. “(There was a) severe wind and hail storm six miles NW of Hills, MN on June 20, 1892.”

       The tempest began its work in Rock County at the village of Manley where nearly every building was wrecked. From that point, the storm passed to the southeast through portions of Martin, Clinton and Knaranzi townships. Prosperous times ended in 1893. Then came a memorable panic and a few years of hard times. Several farms failed, business was for a time paralyzed, and a period of dull times set in, which was not entirely broken until the late 1890’s.

“I had a horse and a buggy. I went to the Fourth of July celebration at Davis, SD and met a girl named Minnie Buus. She had a boyfriend named John Geiken, but I won out. Had some other girls, too, but not steady. Some girls got so angry that when they fought, they pulled out one another’s hair. Wow!

“I was 27 years old when I married Minnie Buus on March 11, 1897.” They were married at the bride’s home and immediately afterwards had a wedding party. “We lived at Chancellor, SD until 1902.” Dena Thaden Plucker was born at Chancellor. “We attended the Presbyterian Church in Lennox. “ (This was probably Turner County Presbyterian Church south of Lennox, since the Buus family were members there.) “Then we moved to Bryant, SD in 1903.

“Later, we bought a farm at Willow Lake, where we lived until we retired to Willow Lake in 1943. Son Art and his wife, Hannah, moved on to the home place.

“We joined the Presbyterian Church in Willow Lake when we moved there. I was elected Trustee to fill out John Mundhenke’s term because he had a stroke. After three years I was elected an elder. Then trouble broke out in church on account of the German language. Half of the congregation left and started a new congregation known as Immanuel Reformed Church. Again (in the Reformed Church), I was elected an elder. Once I w as chosen as a delegate to New York. Minnie and I went. Les & Johannah (my daughter) lived at New Bruswick, NJ.”

(Page Missing Here)

Several of Eilert’s grandchildren report that many in the Presbyterian Church wanted to switch from German to English for the worship services at the time of World War II. Opa Thaden and others believed the German language should be kept so they broke away and formed the Reformed Church. These churches each had buildings and were reunited in the 1970’s when neither church could afford a full time pastor.

“We had eleven children. Their names are George (farmer), Harm(farmer) and Jerry (Presbyterian minister and a twin of Harm), William (farmer), Arthur (farmer), Dena (married a farmer), Benjamin (Reformed minister), Clifford (Presbyterian minister), Clarence (Presbyterian minister), Johannah (married to Lester Alberts, a Reformed minister) and Robert (Presbyterian minister).”

SOUTHERN CLARK COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA HISTORY – 1976
EILERT LUDWIG THADEN FAMILY Their first child was born July 16, 1898 and named Gerhard Ludwig after his grandfather. Nicknamed George, he later married Ann Meister, daughter of Levi Meister. They have one son and moved to Nepoma, California.
Twins were born on August 13, 1899. Harm Daniel married Bertha Bauer. They have two daughters and live at Huron. Jerry Herman married Irma Twait. They had three daughters and one son. Jerry passed away in April 1969 but Irma is presently living at Pardeeville, WI.

Another son, Wiliam LeRoy, was born October 14, 1900. He married Grace Hassebroeck, daughter of Fred and Fannie Hassebreock. They had one daughter and two sons. Bill passed away October of 1967. Grace is presently living at Bancroft.

A daughter, Dena Margareta was born October 29, 1902. She married M.E.J. Plucker and had two daughters and one son. M.E.J. passed away October 1968. Dena is presently living at Lennox.

Eilert relocated his family to a farm three miles west of Bryant, (where Lyle Haug lives now) in 1903.

Another son, Arthur Floyd, was born October 17, 1904. He married Hannah Johnson, daughter of Ailt Johnson. They have one daughter and two sons and are presently living on the home farm by Willow Lake.

Benjamin Harry was born December 13, 1906. He married Angeline Board and they had two daughters. He later remarried Irene Jacobsen. They presently live in Huron.

Once more Eilert relocated his family. He bought the farm east of Willow Lake in Washington Township on October 10, 1908. The house on the farm was unique in its own way because it was a round house. Although it has been remodeled now, the attic still tells of its original shape.

Another son, Clifford Adelbert was born on April 20, 1910. He married Louisa Bartell. They had three daughters and one son. Louisa was killed in a train crash in 1946 and Clifford then married Millie Parsons. This union brought one daughter and five sons. They are presently living at Orleans, NE.

Clarence Henry was born January 10, 1913. He married Thelma Reemtsma, daughter of John Reemtsma. They have one daughter and one son and are presently living at Encino, CA.

Johnanna Christina Amelia was born October 2, 1915. She married Lester Alberts, son of Sam Alberts. Three daughters and one son who died in infancy were born to this union. Les passed away November 1973. Jo is presently living in Warwick, NY.

The baby of the family was born on August 8, 1917 and named Robert Lawrence. He married Judith Ride of Australia. They have one daughter and three sons and presently live at Bloomington, MN.

Like many families of German descent, German was always spoken in the home so E. L. and his wife were known as Opa and Oma to their grandchildren, which means grandpa and grandma in German. Eilert’s children had learned to speak English by the time they went to school but many families clung to old traditions.

It is interesting to note that of eleven children, there are only two different occupations among them. Four brothers became farmers and the oldest sister became a farmer’s wife. The other five boys became ministers and the last sister became a minister’s wife.Eilert and Minnie observed their golden wedding anniversary on March 11, 1947 at Willow Lake. Minnie died September 8, 1949. When Minnie died, Eilert expressed a desire to go to Washington State to see his brothers and sisters. William, his oldest son, drove him west.

Eilert was known to his 34 grandchildren and 60 great grandchildren as Opa (to his friends: “Louie”). His birthday was always observed every year. He looked forward to that day. He drove a 1935 Chevrolet for 25 years until he was 91. He did not heed glasses to read and walked up town every day for his mail. He had a stroke September 17, 1962 and could not talk to anyone. He was a very patient man and never complained.”

At the sale, after his death, his 1935 Chevrolet sold as an antique for $120. Many other items were also sold as antiques such as a sad iron and Edison phonograph.

E. L. THADEN OBITUARY

DECEMBER 24, 1962

IMMANUEL REFORMED CHURCH

WILLOW LAKE, SOUTH DAKOTA

 E. L. Thaden was born May 25, 1870 in Peoria, Illinois.  On March 11, 1897 he was united in marriage to Minnie Buus of Lennox, S. Dak.

To This union eleven children were born nine boys and two girls.  They are:  George of Arlington; Harm of Huron; Jerry of Pardeeville, Wis.; William of Bancroft; Dena Plucker of Lennox; Arthur of Willow Lake, Ben of Huron; Clifford of Savannah, Mo.; Clarence of Allison Park, Pa.; Johannah Alberts of Warwick, New York and Robert of Wilmot.

Mr. Thaden, with his wife, lived on a farm near Lennox until 1903.  They then moved to Clark County residing on a farm near Willow Lake until 1942, when they moved into the city of Willow Lake.

His wife preceded him in death, passing away September 8, 1949.  The deceased continued living in Willow Lake until September of this year when he became ill and was confined to the Eventide Nursing Home at 1152 Utah S.E. Huron, S.D.
On Wednesday December 19, 1962, at 11 o’clock the deceased peacefully passed away, attaining the age of 92 years, 6 months and 24 days.
He was one of the charter members of the Reformed Church in Willow Lake.  He leaves to mourn his loss, 11 children and 36 grandchildren, plus a host of relatives and friends.

Casket bearers:Jim Thaden, Donald Thaden, Kenneth Thaden, Edgar Spieker, Kenneth Anderson, Edward DeVries
Organist: Mrs. Arba Johnson
Vocalists: Henry Johnson, Jr., Tebbo Harms, John Symens, Marvin Johnson (Aunt Joe’s nephew)
Clergyman: Rev. Marti Gruneich
Mortician: Ralph H. Maltby
At Rest: Collins Cemetery

NOTE FROM GENE STRAATMEYER:

Perhaps his last great grandchild, Cynthia Jean Straatmeyer, born April 25, 1959, visited Opa Thaden sometime in the late summer or fall of 1959 or 1960. He was in his 90’s and a picture was taken of Cindee sitting on his lap at his Willow Lake home. Shortly thereafter, he died, and Gene & Jean (Dena’s daughter) Straatmeyer attended his funeral in Willow Lake. They were living at the State Line Presbyterian Church manse located in Minnesota just north of Rock Rapids, IA. Gene was a 1959 graduate of the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary and State Line was his first parish.

NOTES FROM THE BIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM LEROY THADEN,
fourth child of Eilert & Minnie Thaden:

       “We only talked German at home and learned to speak English when we went to school.

        “We had a large table with a bench against the wall for the older ones. Lots of food was prepared on an old cook stove. On Sunday morning, she (Minnie) filled the big iron kettle full of milk and put it on the stove to heat. After it was hot, she put it on the back side of the stove, adding rice and raisins and when we came home from church it was ready to eat.

        “Everyone had a nickname: George (Stach); Harm (Smoik); Jerry (Buss); William (Rud); Hendina Margret (Dena); Arthur (Pete); Johanna (Sis); Robert (Stubid Rupe; Benjamin (Wack); Clifford (Cliff); Clarence (Kelly).
        “The boys slept in the big bedroom upstairs in five beds. After thrashing (oats) every fall, the bed mattresses were filled with new straw. A chimney from downstairs came through the room – that was the only heat we had during the winter. The two girls slept in the smaller room. Later, a piece was built on which was the kitchen and the pantry. A wash house was also nearby. There was also a small porch big enough for the many baskets of cobs and wood, which we had to keep filled. A hole under the house was the cellar with outside steps going down to it.
         “Our school was a mile and a half away and we always walked. If it was too cold or stormy, we could catch a ride with a neighbor, Mr. Edlemann. He would always ask, “Why doesn’t your dad take you?” I was janitor at the school. I had to go early and have the fire started and get the school warm before the teacher and pupils came.
        “We went to church and town by sled in winter and buggy in summer. We had a two-seated buggy and on Sundays when all the children went along, not all could sit down, so the older ones had to stand in the back. When going by sled and we got cold, dad would say, “Get out and walk.” It was a big job to get us all ready for church and drive five miles in a sled or buggy.
        “The groceries were bought in bulk, like 100 pounds of flour, sugar, tea, coffee, and raisins. We butchered our own meat and had a big garden. Our mother canned vegetables and meat. We had chickens and raised little chicks with cluck hens.
        “We farmed with horses. We walked behind the plow and drag, picked corn by hand and used horses to cut grain. How the flies would bite the horses!
        “At mealtime, dad would always say, “Don’t put any more on your plate than you can eat – no waste. They didn’t ask us what we wanted for breakfast. We ate what mother put on the table. The minister came one day for dinner. He prayed so long, all in German, that some of us got the giggles and had to leave the table.
        “We were all strong, husky kids. We could wrestle anyone. We had lots of practice at home. As the boys got older, they began to leave for jobs.
        “In the 1930’s the dust blew a lot. The most memorable was November 11, 1933. Some days it would be so dark all day we had to keep the kerosene lamps lit. Everything had to be covered. Dust got into everything. It was as fine as flour. All the fences were covered with drifting dust. You had to see it to believe it. Many of the farmers lost their farms at this time.
        “The minister brothers and their families would all take their vacations in the summer and come back to SD to visit, so we had lots of company in the summer. Those brothers and sisters who lived nearby would come for dinner and sometimes it took three settings around one table to feed them all. After dinner, the men would all sit in the front room smoking cigars and arguing politics or religion until mother would step in and say, “That’s enough, boys.”
        “A tradition in the Thaden family was specken dicken on old year’s eve. We all tried to see who could eat the most.”