Pennington County Biographies, Part VII These biographies are from "Eastern Pennington County Memories", published by The American Legion Auxilliary, Carrol McDonald Unit, Wall, South Dakota and is uploaded with their kind permission. Pages 180-190 Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net, 1999. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/sd/sdfiles.htm Erick Gorseth Family by Jetta Gorseth Mr. Erick Gorseth and wife Jetta and two children, Arthur and Louise, came from Vermillion, South Dakota to homestead four and one-half miles Southwest of Wall, in the year 1908. Our homestead was a favorite stopping place as it was right on the road to town. Many a friend and stranger had coffee with us. When we arrived there, we only had one cow and one horse and buggy and our household goods plus a few farm implements. In 1910, another girl was born to our family and was named Bernice. Mrs. Bergeson was my neighbor and mid-wife for all my children, born on the homestead. In 1912, a son Loyal was born. Next in 1914, another son, Kenneth was born. Then our youngest son, James was born in 1917. I raised many turkeys there and Mr. Gorseth had a shoe shop in Wall besides farming. He walked the four and one-half miles to and from Wall a lot of times. He passed away in 1936. We have always been grateful to our friends and Dr. Mills for the daily visits they made to our place during Mr. Gorseth illness. Many a Sunday evening was spent playing cards and having lunch with our friends. On Saturday night the highlight of our entertainment was a dance at the North Star School. I loved to dance and Mr. Gorseth loved to play cards. All of our children graduated from Wall High School. My son, Arthur, is a railroad foreman at Hill City, South Dakota and is soon ready to retire. My daughter, Louise, lived in Minneapolis and died in 1963. My daughter, Bernice, taught school south of Wall in her young days and later moved to Minnesota. She is now in Pakistan at a Missionary School. My son, Loyal, is in Minnesota. He served as a Sergeant in the army in World War II for five years overseas. My son, Kenneth, is a foreman in a factory in California. My son, James, is an employee of the Irvin City Transit Co. in Minneapolis. I have 13 grandchildren and 30 great grandchildren. I live with James and his wife Yvonne, in Minneapolis. There is much more to write, but lots slips my mind and it would take a book. [Photo - Mr. And Mrs. Gorseth and a friend.] [Photo - Mrs. Gorseth, Louise Gorseth, Art Gorseth, Mr. Gorseth's sister and a niece, sitting on the chair.] [Photo - Picnic at the Moran Place] Gorseth Family by Art Gorseth Dad and mother came to this country about 1900 from Norway. They met in Yankton and were married about 1902. To this union there were six children. Louise and I were born in Yankton, Bernice, Loyal, Kenneth and Jim were born on the homestead west of Wall. Dad was a shoemaker by trade, and he worked at this in Yankton and Vermillion. He had the homestead fever in 1907 when he came to Wall and there he homesteaded in February of 1908. We lived with some friends by the name of Bergeson until we completed his own place. When dad had finished the house he had seventy-five cents in his pocket to live on. He took his shoemaker tools to Wall and started his shoe repairing business in Frank Pratt's hardware store, who later sold his store to Carl Lurz. Dad passed away January 14, 1936 and is buried in Wall. Mother, Loyal, and Jim live in Minneapolis. Mother lives with Jim and was ninety years young June 17, 1965. Kenneth lives in Bell Flower, California. I was married to Hazel Whisler of Midland who came out in 1923 to teach the Gunn School. We were married February 9, 1924. We have five living children, Grace of Eugene, Oregon, LeRoy of Rapid City, Clifford of Cresswell, Oregon, David of Springfield, Oregon, and Paul of Keystone. We had good times and bad times. 1911 was a very dry year, no rain or water. One thing, we were a very healthy bunch. I have worked for the Burlington railroad since 1926. One of the greatest things that ever happened in my life took place September 1934 when I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour and I have lived for Him since that time. [Photo - Mrs. Gorseth and her four sons. - 1928] [Photo - Mr. And Mrs. Gorseth] [Photo - Art Gorseth on Pippen, a horse he broke for Lous Jensen in 1922.] [Photo - Louise who lived in Minneapolis until her death in 1963.] [Photo - Bernice who lives in Minneapolis.] [Photo - Art Gorseth's wife and daughter.] Pioneer History of the Charles Roberts Family by Mrs. Edwald Hayes (Gladys Roberts) My parents, Charles and Augusta (Wood) Roberts, came to South Dakota from West Union, Iowa, in the winter, or early spring of 1906. At that time they had three of us children, Floyd, nearly four years old, myself (Gladys) two. and Edward, who was only a few months old. They had lost a baby, Lola, the summer before, with the dread disease, which they then called cholera infantum. Because of the anticipated rigors and hardships of the venture, it was deemed advisable to take only the baby, Edward. So Floyd and I were left with our grand-parents, Seth and Eliga Gurdy (my father's mother and stepfather.) They were to follow six months later to file on the quarter section of land to the south of my folks, and bring us with them. Thus it was that my folks loaded all of their worldly belongings into a boxcar and headed for the South Dakota prairie. They had brought a team of horses and a wagon, our beloved dog, Shep, and as much furniture and necessities of life as could be crowded in. At that time Dakota City was the shipping point for that vast area. It was some distance from the railroad to the place where they filed on their "homestead", and over miles of roadless prairie land. It was located on "Crooked Creek", about eight miles southwest of the present site of Wall. Needless to say, they were among the earliest pioneers and suffered many hardships In the winter and drought in the summer. The hot, dry summer of 1911 was a record when there wasn't even grass. However, not all was bad as there were occasional good years too, when the crops were quite abundant. There were times for recreation, when the settlers gathered at the various claim shacks, for dancing in the evening. Often they would come before dark and stay until dawn so that they could see their way. Each lady brought a cake or sandwiches for the midnight lunch. Sometimes there would be oyster stew. The children always accompanied the parents. There were no sitters in those days. When we could no longer stay awake, we were allowed to curl up somewhere, and sleep, until the party broke up. In the summer there were picnics, when all the neighbors would gather, to spend a Sunday eating, and perhaps the men would have a ball game. In our neighborhood it became common for the "Married Men" to compete against the "Single Men." Our family never missed the 10th of July, when we were all scrubbed and dressed in our best, to go to town and help Wall celebrate its birthday. Eventually my parents had four more children. Namely and in order of their birth, there were, Agnes, Clarence, Eugene and Clifford. We were all very much grieved when in 1917, Agnes passed away at the age of seven. Our dear mother was never in good health and we lost her in the summer of 1922, at the early age of 37. My father died in 1952. Each of us children have married and raised a family. Clarence ("Click") is the only one remaining in Wall. He and his wife Grace, farmed and ranched until 1964, when they sold out and bought a home in Wall, where they now live. They have one daughter, Carol. Edward resides in Minnesota, Eugene in Montana and Clifford in Nebraska. Floyd is presently in Rapid City. I, (Gladys) came to Keystone, South Dakota, forty-one years ago to teach in the school here. Two years later I married Edwald Hayes and we have raised two children. Even though the homesteaders were far apart, not only in miles but in means of transportation, there existed a "togetherness", which we seldom experience today. There were no locked doors. In fact I'm sure we never owned a house key. If you had been away, you might come home to find that some traveler had sought refuge there from a storm. Or he might have prepared himself a meal or two and slept in your bed. Often when I hear those days referred to as the "good old days," even tho I would not want to go back, I have some idea what is meant. There was no vandalism. They were able to trust each other. In regard to the accompanying pictures, my step-grandfather Mr. Gundy, had the only camera we knew of. He took all of these and I think they are excellent, even after so many years. This was a large black camera, with a bellows and stool on a tripod, when in use. The film was on plates of glass. He did all of his own developing and printing. When he was in the process of taking a picture, his head and shoulders were completely hidden with a huge black cloth. Most of the old pictures were lost when the farm home burned down in 1946. Our homestead shack was built of pine lumber. The lumber usually was alive with bedbugs, which our mother had to fight constantly. The ears of squaw corn hanging from the eaves of the house were drying and would be used for planting the next spring. My "boughten" sled was my prized possession. It had been brought from Iowa. It was customary for each settler when he proved up on his homestead to treat with a keg of beer. All of the neighbors would gather for a picnic with the keg as the center of attraction. It was all clean fun and seldom anyone drank too much. It was a problem to find a shady spot as trees were very scarce. These elms in the picture, (we thought they were huge) were on my grandparent's claim and became a popular site for such gatherings. [Photo Charles Roberts and Floyd - 1906] [Photo - The Charles Roberts Homestead in 1906] [Photo - Roberts Homestead - Mrs. Roberts, Edward, Mr. Roberts, "Shep", Gladys and Floyd.] [Photo - A Wall picnic under some of the very few trees on the prairie. Named in order of their number: Charles and Gladys Roberts, Si Allburn, Floyd and Edward Roberts, Mrs. Charles Roberts, Marie McDonald, Mrs. Gurdy, Martha Dravis, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Walters, John Fincate, Mr. and Mrs. Comos, Dial Jones, Bill Dravis, Ray Doolittle, Mrs. Doolittle, Grover Walters and Mr. Walters. Others unknown.] [Photo - Tractor of the Hockings was completely covered up in Blizzard of '49. Darwin, Glenn, Don and John Hocking.] The Theodore Villbrandt Family by Harry & Grace Villbrandt The Theodore Villbrandt family consisted of Alice, Charlie, Ona, Mable, Gladys, Harry, and Molly. We came to Wasta from Charles Mix Co. on the railroad in 1907. Our homestead was located 8 miles west of Wall. The log house in which we lived was built by Billy Rounds for a sheep camp. Our family of eleven lived in this one room cabin until later in the summer when another shack was built for the bedroom. Dad hired a livery rig from Wasta and crossed the river at the old Reed crossing. The first summer on the homestead a storm came up and blew the roof off the log cabin. We all hit for the cellar and stayed there until the next morning. Hank was born the winter of 1908. Charlie went, after Mrs. Gurdey with a team on the bobsled. The snow was two feet deep. We moved into a homestead shack that belonged to Lily. Ethel was born in 1910. We went to a school 3 miles south of our place. There were 27 pupils. Gretchen Peterson was one of the teachers. Alice died in 1924. Mother died in 1925 and Dad in 1945. Harry and Molly live at Wall. Charlie is in Pennsylvania. Ona and Ethel live in California. Mable is in Michigan. Hank is a minister in Eugene, Oregon, and Gladys is now living in Custer. [Photo - Hank Villbrandt, now a minister.] [Photo - Harvest crews: Charlie, Harry and Hank Villbrandt and Charlie Romans.] [Photo - Charlie Villbrandt - 1917] [Photo - Theodore, Harry and Ethel Villbrandt - 1927.] [Photo - Mrs. Villbrandt and Molly] [Photo Harry Villbrandt in front of log cabin on homestead - 1926] Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Hocking by Christina Hocking I was born on my parents homestead in February 1913. Mrs. Bergeson, a neighbor who was a midwife, attended my mother. I was the youngest of a family of six children and the daughter of the late Matilda and John S. Johnson. My earliest recollections were of myself and my older sister, Esther, playing together, Our dog, who always romped around with us, always was gentle in his play with Esther, who had been left weakened by infantile paralysis. My brothers made a little cart with four baby carriage wheels and a board. The dog would always pull Esther around on it, so she never missed any fun. Once when mother took us to Wall, it was late when we came home and mother got out to walk beside the team, but she could not see the road for darkness. She finally did not know where we were, and we stayed out on the prairie till daylight. We found we were only four miles from home. I loved to ride horseback and once while riding after the cattle my pony stepped in a prairie dog hole and rolled completely over on top of me. My brother Theodore, saw that the horse had rolled with me, and carried me home as I was unconscious for a time. I still loved to ride horseback but had to wear glasses for a time afterwards due to the injury in my back and neck. I also remember that I once was on the little cart my sister used to ride, the dog saw the cattle and did not realize that he had someone else on the cart, or rather I didn't know how to stop him and he ran out amongst the cattle and I fell off. I had a red dress on and the cattle started towards me. My brother, Conrad, seeing what had happened to me raced over with his pony and rescued me, just as the herd got to where I was. I was always around the cattle and horses even though I did have those narrow escapes. I attended the old Lincoln school, but since there were so many pupils, they decided to build a new one; but I did not get to go to school in it as I finished the eighth grade a year or so before. I later went to high school in Wall, living with the Jack Winters family, who were employed in the post office at that time. I was married to Glenn Hocking whose hometown was Auburn, Iowa. After we were married we lived for a year on my parents farm then we went back to Iowa staying there for twelve years. We came back in 1941 and rented my parents farm, when they retired and moved to Wall. In 1945 we bought a farm south of Wall known as the Charley Parr place. We bought another house and added the two together and made a large two story home. Those years the crops were real good, but unfortunately ours got hailed out several times, even getting all the windows on the north and west broken in our house. We always raised quite a few horses and the children all rode horseback. They attended the Lincoln and the North Star schools and later high school in Wall. During the blizzard of '49 we managed to survive but we had to go to the highway where the Simpfenderfer home is and a truck came and left fuel oil. We went with a team and wagon to get it. We had a hard time to keep groceries on hand, as everything froze even in the house. Quite a few of the cattle on the prairie froze to death. The roof of the chicken house caved in and killed most of our chickens and we lost some hogs. The barn was almost full of snow where it was driven through cracks by the fierce wind. Glenn Best flew out in his plane to bring Charley Roberts out to feed his cattle during the blizzard of '49. Charley stayed with us until the roads were plowed out. The snow plows just drove across the prairies, making a road as they went, going through all the fences. We were glad to get a chance to get to town and didn't mind fixing the fences in the spring. Glenn Best took the boys back to town with him so they could go to school. They stayed with their grandmother. A few days later we took the girls in, as soon as they got the roads plowed out. Our children graduated from high school and we continued farming, also raised a number of cattle. After graduation our girls worked in Rapid City and they both married. Vernita married Ralph White of Scenic, who is a rancher in that area. Darlene married Robert Hoppe of Michigan then of Ellsworth Air Base; Donald entered the Navy, and was in service during the Korean conflict. After graduating from high school Darwin attended the School of Mines. He took reserve training and later went to work in Michigan and since then has been employed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he married. Vernita has now four girls and one son. Darleen whose husband is in the construction business has two sons and one daughter. Donald is at home. We are farming and ranching on our place and in the last years we have raised chickens. We have always had a good living on the farm and enjoy the wide open spaces, the cattle, and growing grain. We especially enjoy living near the Badlands where we can enjoy our hobby of rock hunting. [Photo - Hocking home before it was remodeled in 1954. House to the left is the old original Parr home.] [Photo - Mr. and Mrs. Hocking, Donald, Darwin, Darlene and Vernita, 1942.] [Photo - The Hocking House after the blizzard.] [Photo - Glenn Hocking Ranch - July, 1965] The Simpfenderfer's by Robert Simpfenderfer I, Robert Simpfenderfer, came to Wall, South Dakota from Golden Valley, North Dakota in October of 1935. At that time my father, Karl F. Simpfenderfer, was united in marriage to Mrs. Lydia Colmann of Wall. My own mother passed away in January of 1934 at Golden Valley, North Dakota. I graduated from the Wall grade school in May of 1936, then moved to Tripp, South Dakota with my parents. There I received my High School education and graduated in the spring of 1939. That summer I worked for my father on the farm and in the fall I went to Los Angeles, California to seek work. I worked for construction contractors for fifty cents an hour until Uncle Sam called me into the service of our country on December 2, 1941. After four years and three months in the army I was discharged and again worked in California in a cannery. In January of 1947 1 came to Wall to visit my sister, Mrs. Emil Muller. After a short visit I was going to go back to California to my old job, but my brother-in-law, a native of Wall, Emil Muller, offered me a job on his farm. I stayed until fall as I had promised I would. When I was ready again to leave for California, Emil talked me out of it. He wanted to know my reasons for not staying longer. I told him I wanted to get married and there wasn't any place here for me to live. He then told me to pick a place anywhere south of Wall, where he had land, and he would build me a place and then rent it to me, with the option of buying later. So I went south as far as I could, close to a large dam, and yet close to Highway 16A. I staked out a farm-stead and this is where we live today. As soon as the farm-stead was on its way, I proposed and married Lola Dorothy Hall, daughter of Mrs. Julia Hall of Wasta on October 18,1947 in the Congregational Church, Rapid City, South Dakota. We have six children, who keep us quite busy and in these later years are helping out quite a bit with farming and chores. The children are Van, Bobby Jr., Linda, Gary, Retha, and Kathy. In 1956 we bought this farm-stead with 720 acres from Emil Muller. We improved it somewhat by renovating the pastures, planting trees, remodeling and some conservation. In 1964 we needed more land to keep us all busy, so we bought another 640 acres from Emil. This land takes us next to the city limits of Wall on both sides of Interstate 90. Here we plan a small acreage for our future retirement. In Wall we belong to the First Lutheran Church. Here I was Sunday School Superintendent for nine years and am now an Elder. My wife Lola is active in the Ladies Aid. We both belong to the American Legion. Lola is also a member of the American Legion Auxiliary. I was Legion Commander of the Wall Post and District Commander of the 13th District. We both belong to the Wall School P. T. A. We love our little city and serve it any way we can. [Photo - Aerial view of the Robert Simpfenderfer farm.] [Photo - Iris Kitterman, Lydia Huffman, an Anderson girl, Dorothy and Ardie Kitterman. In front: Frank Kitterman.] [Photo - Pete Huffman with Lydia, David Kitterman, Osborn and Carrie Kitterman, Shirley and Dorothy.] [Photo - Alfred Mousseau, Mr. and Mrs. Mousseau, Agnes Brennen, Louis Mosseau, two Brennen girls and Leo Mousseau.] [Photo - Olga, her father and sister, Jesse] [Photo - Olga and Kutch Kitterman] [Photo - Olga and Carrie] [Photo - Olga and Pete Huffman] [Photo - Smokey Shepherd, Vickie and Randy] [Photo - L. J. Dixon and Clarence Lanning] [Photo - Wall Fire Department at work.] [Photo Prairie Fire near Wall] [Photo - Prairie Fire] [Photo - Wall Sportsman's Club] [Photo Glenn Best and his airplane] [2 Photos - Flying Farmers] [Photo - Aerial view of Wall] [Photo - Pajama Party] [Photo - Back row: Minnie Dartt, Nora Bradley, Irene Schmit. Front: Louisa Packman, Bertha Jensen, Kate Meyers, Mrs. Graham, Eleanor Lewis, Blanche Best.] [Photo - Baseball in the Badlands.] [Photo - The Friendly Club, organized in 1931, picture taken in 1946. In the group are Mrs. Cliff Sorensen and family, Mrs. Soren Sorensen, Mmes. Bill, Charley and Anton Harnish and families, Mrs. Blair, Mrs. Roy Campbell, Mrs. Bill Bielmaier and family, Rosa Bielmaier, Hazel Henriksen and Luella and Mavis VanVlack.] [Photo - Wall Toastmasters Club on charter night. Don Strandell, DeWayne Glassgow, Bert Meyer, visitor, Chris Willuweit, Tony Krebs, Adolph Eisenbraun, Bud Estes, Bill Bielmaier, Elnoris Kjerstad, Bob Bielmaier, Verne Lowery, Reuben Deutscher. Seated: R. F. Lewis. [Photo - Wall's new swimming pool.] [2 Photos - Stockyards in Wall] [Photo - Hallowe'eners] [Photo - Deer Hunters] [Photo - Main Street Scene]