CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA - OBITUARY OF MARY STRATMAN ==================================================================== NEGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the NEGenWeb Archives by Carol Tramp February 2002 ====================================================================== WYNOT TRIBUNE JUNE 30, 1938 MRS. MARY STRATMAN SUCCUMBS THURSDAY 84 YEAR OLD EARLY SETTLER IS BURIED AT WYNOT ON SATURDAY Wynot - Mrs. Mary Stratman 84, early settler died at her home here Thursday afternoon after several months of illness. Funeral services were held Saturday morning at 9:00 o'clock from the Sacred Heart Church of which Mrs. Stratman was a devoted member. Burial was in Sacred Heart Cemetery under the direction of Reiferts mortuary. Rev. J.D. Mines officiated at the services, assisted by Rev. Zillig of Menominee and Rev. Mainzer of St. Helena, both former pastors of Sacred Heart. Pallbearers were Fred Arens, John Peters, Anton Demulling, Alex Schulte, Frank Leise and Henry Klug. Business places were closed during the funeral. Mrs. Stratman, whose maiden name was Mary Drees, was born in Wesphalia, Germany, Feb. 14, 1854. After the death of her father, she came to America with her mother and five brothers in July of 1880. They remained in Maryland one year while all but one of the brothers came on to Gayville, SD. The next year the family came to Cedar County crossing the Missouri River in a skiff and settling on a farm at St. Helena, then the county seat. That was the year of the big flood. It was at St. Helena that Mary Drees again met an old friend, Joseph Stratman, who had been a friend and a neighbor of the family in Germany and who had previously came to the United States and settled at St. Helena. They were married the following year at St. Helena by Rev. Father Henry Schoof, pioneer St. Helena Priest. Mr. and Mrs. Stratman started housekeeping on a farm on the outskirts of the little settlement. Their first home was a log cabin but later when farming was more prosperous they built a large brick house. Since her marriage Mrs. Stratman lived on the same farm until after her husband's death in 1915 she and her son Anton moved to Wynot where Anton has since been in business. Mrs. Stratman was the last member of her family, her brothers having preceded her in death. Early residents remember one of Mrs. Stratman's brothers August Drees, a pioneer blacksmith of Bow Valley who had one of the first emery wheels in this section of the state. The wheel run by horse power in those days, broke one day and some of the pieces hit Mr. Drees, causing an injury from which he died a short time later. Mrs. Stratman is survived by two sons and three daughters, Anton, with whom she lived; Albin of Wessington, SD, Mrs. Jacob Frein of Phillips, SD., who has spent most of the year caring for her mother, MRs. George Weisener of Dimmock, SD and Mrs. Michael Koch of Fordyce. Two sons died several years ago. There are 27 grandchildren. NOTE: THE WYNOT TRIBUNE CEASED OPERATIONS IN THE LATE 1930s.