Text of Ziebach Co., SD History (1982) - pages 279 - 300 This file is the text of the book, "South Dakota's Ziebach County, History of the Prairie", published in 1982 by the Ziebach County Historical Society, Dupree, SD Permission to publish this book in electronic form was given by Jackie Birkeland, member of the Historical Committee. This book is copyright, 1982 by the Ziebach County Historical Society, Dupree, SD. Scanning and OCR by Terri Tosh , final editing by Joy Fisher, . THEODORE BELL FAMILY by Sally Bell Fuhrer My grandparents were Mr. and Mrs. John Spellman who homesteaded about six miles west of Isabel. My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ted Bell homesteaded 12 miles west of Isabel in 1916, where they farmed and Dad worked in the coal mine. Some of the older brothers and sisters went to the Bloom School. In the year 1927, they moved to the farm that was originally the John Spellman place, across the road from the Charlie Youngs. I was born in 1930 and Dr. Matter and Mrs. Nels Jeppson (neighbors to the east) delivered me. I think they named me after her -- Myra Kathryn -- my Dad didn't like the name so he called me "Sally" (probably easier to remember when s ten). Dr. White delivered the last of the "litter" when baby sister, Bonnie, came along in 1933. I can't remember the older brothers and sisters being at home. They had either married or else were working out. Ted, Bob, and I attended Center School approximately 4 miles north of us. We either walked or rode horses everyday. I froze my feet so many times that they are cold to this day. Sometimes we got to drive the team with a sleigh or buggy. My teachers were Marjorie Standish, Violet Ochsner, Selma Eliason, Mrs. Ostby, Ruby Ostby, Colletta Boeding, Myrtle Reynolds and Glenna Dougall. Classmates were the Klingmans, Morris boys, Calvin Ehly, Frank Millers girls, Jeanie Iverson and after the Drageset school closed, Myrtle Drageset and Paul Manthei for one year. My dad passed away on my 10th birthday in 1940, leaving Mom and 3 youngsters. World War II broke out and Ted and Jack were in the service. We moved to Isabel so I could attend high school. We let the farm go back for taxes. I remember the Spelling B's and declam contests at the Liebelt School and if you won, it was on to Dupree in the spring. Helen Brammer was the school superintendent and signed my 5th grade diploma. I remember Lewis Schetnan before that. The picnics were so much fun with lots of homemade ice cream and games that the young and old enjoyed together. My mom and dad went to all the school and barn dances. Baby sitters weren't in existence at that time, so us kids went along and danced until we got tired and retired for the evening on a bench under a pile of coats. Roger Young and John Rest used to play for so many of the dances. I remember when they built the road past our house. The road crew parked across the road from our house and got their water from our well. Boy what excitement!!! The week before and after July 4th was really exciting. There would be one caravan after another of horses and wagons of Indians going to a celebration. My brothers herded sheep for various sheepmen so we got to visit them every so often. Don't know why, but it always fascinated me to drink the water from a tin cup dipped out of the old cream can. We had a two-story house heated with a cook stove and coal heater. I remember one cold night I was going to warm my pillow before going upstairs to a cold bed. I put the pillow in the oven and forgot about it -- ever smell the "aroma" of scorched feathers? We attended the Lutheran Church about five miles south of us. Three of the older brothers had their homes and families in Ziebach County. They were: Arnold who married Elva Rosander, now living in Belle Fourche; Jack, who married Edna Manthei, now living in Eatonville, Washington; and Dutch, who married Doris Roggenkamp, now living in Houghton, South Dakota. Ted married Pat Donnenworth of Faith and they live in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; Bob is deceased, also mother within the last two years. I am the only one of the five girls that is still left in South Dakota. I am married to Floyd Fuhrer. We have two sons who are Vietnam veterans. We have two grandchildren. CHARLES and ELIZABETH BENNET Charles (Chuck) Bennett was born in July, 1900 at Clinton, Iowa, the youngest of four children born to Virginia Wintrode and Clinton Bennett. The family traveled by covered wagon to near Philip, South Dakota in 1906, where they sold machinery and ran a Post Office from their ranch home on Milesville Flat. When Chuck was 21 he attended a mechanics school in Sioux City, Iowa. Later, he decided that the open prairies suited his lifestyle better. Elizabeth Marienau was born in July, 1907 at LeMars, Iowa, the youngest of nine children born to Ernest Marienau, born in 1859 in France, and Elizabeth Osterbury, born 1867 in Germany. Tragically her mother died at the age of 43 when Elizabeth (Shorty) was fourteen years old. She lived with sisters and in 1921 accompanied her sister and brother-in-law in a Model T car when they moved to Philip, South Dakota. It was there that she met and later married Chuck Bennett in LeMars, Iowa on November 12, 1924. The following summer they bought the homestead of Chuck's brother, Walter, twenty- three miles south of Dupree. Mr. Marienau gave them some cattle and chickens, so with Chuck and Walter driving the cattle, Shorty followed with the team and wagon. They crossed the Milesville flat and arrived at the Cheyenne River near the Emst Eidson place. The river was higher than usual and they nearly lost the wagon box -- chickens, personal belongings, Shorty and all. They followed Hump Flat and crossed Cherry Creek near the headquarters camp of the old Sword and Dagger Cattle Ranch. They followed Ash Creek for quite a while, then the Cherry Creek road near the homestead. Home would be a 14 x 16 frame building with shingled roof with a dugout basement beneath. The pole barn was covered with dirt, straw, and hay. The wide-open and lonely prairie country was the picture viewed by the young bride and was quite a contrast from the rich farming country of Iowa. She had left good neighbors, modern homes, electricity and running water. Within a few days, Chuck rode to Dupree to see the town and to get a few groceries. On the way home he met another rider who introduced himself as Bert Wall. They lived six miles away and there began a lifelong and close friendship. They were both far from their respective families and would spend many holiday celebrations together. Shorty's relatives visited in the summertime, coming by train to Philip and the kerosene lamps were something the cousins would never forget. In time, a storm cellar was dug and in it was kept canned and fresh vegetables from the garden, jars of canned meat, cured pork and fruit. During the depression years Chuck was forced to move his cattle out as there just wasn't enough feed for them. He worked on WPA, hauling rocks with his '28 Chevy truck, and Darrel Sprague worked with him building the Campbell and Herren dams. In 1927 nine year old Vernon (Mike) Winters came to live with them; he was one of the first students to attend Sunnybrook School when it was moved from Tipperary Butte near Owen Shedd's in 1932. He attended his first year of high school there. He recalls neighbors who borrowed the cream separator at weaning time and milked all those cows in order to get a cream check. Cream checks bought groceries in most homes during those years, including the Bennett household. In wintertime the neighbors gathered the ice to fill the ice houses with huge blocks, packing them in straw. How delicious those gallons of homemade ice cream were in the summertime! Chuck and Mike Winters dismantled the Carson Day School building on Cherry Creek in the early 30's and hauled the lumber to the Ferman Ohnemus place on Ash Creek. Chuck also bought the old William Griffith's store at Cherry Creek Station and moved it to his place in 1951. Music was an important part of the Bennett family life and Chuck taught all of his children to play one musical instrument or another. Music and storytelling would come to fill many hours in their life, both at home and at school house dances. Chuck served as County Assessor from 1948 until 1970 and Shorty ran the Dew Drop Inn from 1949 until 1951. Chuck and Shorty's children are: Mrs. Rex (Doris) Heidelbaugh; she was a '44 graduate of Dupree High School. Her children are Donald, Walter Lee and David Pesicka and Wayne and Wesley Heidelbaugh; they make their home in Watford City, North Dakota. Maclyn (Mac) was born in Iowa in 1929. He graduated from SDSU at Brookings, South Dakota in 1960 and is a popular high school chemistry teacher at Richland, Missouri. He and his wife, Katherine Howe, a former Ziebach County teacher, have 3- children and home is in Stoutland, Missouri. When Donald was born in 1935, Ira Strong lived with the family, and because he was such a good carpenter, he made many improvements in the house for Shorty. Donald, a '53 graduate of DHS, is married to the former Joan Sprenger. They have four children and live in Kalispell, Montana. Mrs. Claude (Jackie) Speker is the mother of six chidren, is a '57 DHS graduate, and is employed as an aide in the Dupree School system. Mrs. Dallas (Connie) Sever has three sons, is a '57 DHS graduate, ranches/lives near Dupree. Beatrice (B.K.) was born in 1951 and attended the Redfield State Hospital School for several years but now makes her home with her sister, Connie. Shorty passed away in 1960. Chuck was married to Angeline Hamley; Angeline died in 1970 and Chuck in 1975. [photo – Chuck Bennett house – 1920] [photo – Chuck Bennett barn, 1920] [photo – Chuck Bennett family. Back: Connie, Donald, Mac, Doris, Jackie. Front: Shorty, Chuck and B. K.] LOUIS D. BENTLEY FAMILY The Bentley family lived in Ziebach County in 1900 on land just below the bridge on Highway 65, which at that time was known as the Scarleg Crossing. In 1905 they moved further up the Moreau River where a post office named Louis was established in the Thunder Butte area. At that time the Dakota's and Montana were Butte Territory. Mrs. Bentley was the postmistress and a son, Art, was the mail carrier, delivering mail once a week by team from White Horse, South Dakota. Bentley's also operated a store at their ranch home in connection with the post office. About 1904 the government established a substation at Thunder Butte and Bentley's built a log building there and operated the store and post office in this location until 1907 when the mail was changed to Coal Springs. There were four Bentley children -- Arthur C., Roy L., Estelline G. Holt, and L. D. Bentley, Jr. Louis D. Bentley, the son of Anson Bentley and Louisa Foote Bentley of New York State, came from Flint, Michigan during the year 1875-76 and was engaged in freighting machinery, food and clothing to the Black Hills area along with his father-in-law, Arthur C. Van Metre, and a brother-in-law, Charles Waldron. Bentley and Waldron provided most of the machinery and related needs for the Homestake Mine at Lead, South Dakota, and hauled in the first stamp mill and associated pieces of equipment. Mrs. Bentley was Viola Van Metre, born March 14, 1877 to Arthur C. Van Metre and Mary Angle. She was a very active and intelligent woman throughout her life and was relied upon as a source of significant and historical information at a time when regarding important events was not an easy task. She was a descendant of one of the true pioneer families in South Dakota and their contributions to settling Dakota Territory and the state are many. Mrs. Bentley's father, Arthur C. Van Metre, was orphaned by age 10 and was sent to live in Missouri with relatives. At age 16 he joined the expedition of General Harney as a teamster and driver of the general's private ambulance. Harney, his expeditionaries, and Arthur Van Metre, arrived in Dakota Territory at Fort Pierre and built the old Fort. Later Van Metre was commissioned to carry the government express to Fort Randall and he had many hazardous experiences. In 1858, Arthur married Mary Angle, who was the daughter of Henri Angle, French- Indian interpreter for the American Fur Company. The young couple moved to Dakota Territory and located on the Vermillion River where Vermillion now stands. Their eldest child, Viola, was the first white child born within the limits of Dakota Territory, but it was not recorded because of her Indian heritage. Van Metre was a man of both enterprise and vision. He built a ferry system across the Vermillion River. He built the first school house in Dakota Territory, a little log house that was available to all children besides his own. He was fluent in the Sioux language and was influential at the signing of the treaty opening the Sioux Reservation at the Cheyenne River Agency in 1889. In 1883 he moved his family to Fort Pierre and established a ranch on the Bad River. He was a successful and wealthy man. Mary passed away in July, 1894, and Arthur died in 1903. The Louis Bentley family are all deceased now. Arthur, the eldest, died in 1917; Roy in 1946, and L. D., Jr. in 1947. L. D. and Lydia Bentley had a son, Loren Dale Bentley, who married Isabel Oliver of Dupree. Estelline Bentley married Tom Holt and they owned and were editors of the Isabel News for many years. They had a daughter, Winona, and a son, Bentley. Winona married Elza Moore and they operated a road construction business. They had three sons, of which Louis Moore of Pierre is one. Bentley Holt lived on the old home place in the 50's and presently lives at Rosebud, South Dakota. Estelline made her home in Isabel, South Dakota until her death August 27, 1970. ANDREW BERGLIN Christina Svenson Berglin was born January 19, 1863 to the John Svensons at Holtburg Soken, Sweden. She came to the United States in 1892 and was united in marriage to Andrew Berglin on December 6, 1892 at Elkhart, Indiana. The Berglins moved to South Dakota in May of 1915 and lived in Ziebach County the rest of their lives. Mrs. Berglin died on February 22, 1940 at the age of 72. The Berglins had a farm west of Dupree and then moved into Dupree and ran the movie theater for a number of years. They had one son, Jack, of Walkerton, Indiana. The present theatre was known as Berglin Hall. EPHRAIM and LYDIA BERNDT written by Magdaline (Berndt) Van Asperen Ephraim R. Berndt was born on the homestead of his parents, Michael and Anna Marie (Radack) Berndt, west and north of Tyndall, South Dakota. Ephraim homesteaded in Ziebach County about 1915, 8 miles southeast of Eagle Butte. We still have his papers where he was allowed lots 1 and 2 and the south half of the Northeast quarter and Southeast quarter of Section one (1) in township 11, North of range 24, east of Black Hills Meridian, containing 320.27 acres more or less. This was allowed June 9, 1915, and on October 6, 1920 made final proof. On January 18, 1917, he married Lydia Hubner, daughter of Andrew and Magdaline (Newhart) Hubner of Avon, South Dakota. I am Magdalene Marie, Ephraim and Lydia's first child. I was born in March of 1918 out on that homestead, some eight miles south and east of Eagle Butte. Dr. W. J. Jacoby was my doctor and Mrs. William Shannon my nurse. Mrs. Shannon's son's name was Otis. I first met Otis in 1934 when I was in Eagle Butte to visit my aunt and uncle, Emma and Emil Berndt and family and my uncle Ed (Kelly) Berndt, who was a carpenter there for many years. I remember our frame house, a barn or cattle shed and a cave as the main buildings. I remember Dad telling about the trouble he had getting Dr. Jacoby across the creek the day I was born. The doctor fell in, and they had as much trouble getting him dried out and warmed up, as he had delivering me. I don't remember much about that country, but I sure won't forget the rattlesnakes. I'm still scared stiff of snakes, and even hate a tiny worm if it crawls like a snake. Dad always said there was a prairie dog town on the next hill near our home and that prairie dogs and rattlesnakes lived together, so I was never left alone outside to run and play. I remember the folks talking about all the good neighbors they had, some of the names I remember were Meyers, Holloways, Kecklers, Pearlefines, Darlings, Pritzkaus (Adolph Pritzkau's folks), Hinzmans, and Albert and Francis Berndt, Jack Burbeck and I remember Dad talking about the Diamond A Cattle Company, Archie Wells and Ernst Eidson. There was a store in Eagle Butte, known as Cady and Austins and Naeve's. We traveled there by horse and buggy. I remember riding in the train back to Avon to visit my grandparents. The train traveled so fast and had red plush seats. Dad dreamed of a big ranch someday. Mom got so homesick they had to leave for her healths' sake. Our biggest hardship was on March 18, 1921 (I believe that was the year) when a mean wet kind of blizzard hit. The day had been beautiful and warm, the cattle were bedded down near the shed and during the night the storm came up. The cattle drifted with it, their eyes and noses were covered with the wet snow and then froze and smothered the whole herd. In June, my sister, Carol June was born, and in November my mother's father died, so during that fall or winter we moved back to Avon to run the farm for Grandmother Hubner. My brother Michael was born in 1925; Donald in 1933 and Freddie in 1935. Our mother died May 11, 1936 at the age of 37 years. Little Freddie died in 1938. In 1960 Dad and Uncle Emanuel Hubner made one more trip back to Ziebach County to attend the Golden Jubilee. Dad took his two grandsons with him and they had a grand time seeing the old homestead land and staying with Uncle Adolph and Aunt Margaret Hubner in Dupree. Dad remained on the farm until 1963 when he retired and moved into Avon where he died in 1969. He was a wonderful father. We were so fortunate to have such wonderful parents. PAUL BEYERS (taken from the Faith Country book) Paul Beyers homesteaded five miles east of Faith, South Dakota in May of 1911. In March of 1913 Katie Bachman homesteaded nearby. In July of 1913 Katie and Paul were married. They had one son, Leon. The Beyers lived on their ranch for twenty-five years. FRED E. BIERMAN by Mrs. Bierman William Bierman and Lena Bittner came to South Dakota in 1886 and were married February 8, 1888. On February 15, 1889, Fred E. Bierman was born at Mansfield -- what was still territory. But, South Dakota was admitted to the union as a state that fall. Fred often joked saying that South Dakota became a state because he was born. He grew up on his father's farm and attended a public school not far from their home. As a young man he attended the Brookings college, taking a course in steam engineering. In the fall he ran a neighborhood steam engine for threshing. As the west river country was opened for settlement, he decided to launch out on his own. He came west and filed on a homestead 15 miles west of Isabel on March 14, 1914, on the NW1/4 21-17-20 in Ziebach County. He then returned to Mansfield and put in his crop. In June he loaded a farm wagon with a few tools and necessities and returned to the homestead. There was no wagon bridge across the Missouri River at Mobridge so he rode the ferry boat which operated there to accommodate settlers. Fred bought a 16'x12' claim shack, moved it on his place, built a 40'x60' barn, and put up a fence. He went back to harvest his crop and work the steam engine. In November he came back again shipping out an emigrant car loaded with several cows, 6 heifers, and some farm machinery. In the spring of 1915 he broke up 10 acres and raised a fair crop of corn. That same fall he went back to thresh. To run a steam engine was real work -- the day beginning between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. The engine burned coal and Fred had to clean out the ashes and also fire up the big boiler to get up steam. At 6:00 when the outfit was hot, they blew the whistle and farmers would come from all directions to start the 12-16 hours of threshing. First it was pitching the grain from the stacks but later when grain binders came into use, bundle wagons were employed. Then there were usually 4 to 5 men hauling the grain away. I, Bertha Jost, was born at Pembroke, South Dakota, a little village 30 miles south of Mobridge, on April 12, 1895. My parents were Francis and Julia (Haftle) Jest. I grew up on my parents farm and attended rural school near home. I worked as a domestic and wherever help was needed. My father passed away in 1910. We had a good crop -- but no one to harvest it. An acquaintance of my father, through a church conference, sent Fred Bierman to help us. I was just 15 then but we kept in touch. We were married December 6, 1916 at Lebanon, South Dakota. The weather was beautiful but that night it got colder, the wind raised and it began to snow. There were no cars -- everyone traveled by team. We went to Mansfield to visit Fred's people and on December 18th we came home on the train from Aberdeen. It was cold and a neighbor had come to town to meet us with a team and bobsled. We arrived in Isabel at 4:30 p.m. and started out. Half way home the team refused to go, as there was little snow and the team pulled the sled on dry ground. We got as far as the Olaus Njos place. They took us in, thawed me out and gave us a warm meal. At 10:00 p.m. we were on the road again arriving at Fred's place at 12:00. Fred put the team in the barn and started a fire in his laundry stove. A neighboring bachelor had stayed during his absence to do chores. The next day Fred went to town to get our furniture and the cook stove which he had bought. It snowed a lot and kept it up most of the winter. He had added a 14'x16' room on his shack the previous summer saying the place was too small for him and his dog. Anyway, we started to set up our home and everything went well in spite of the excess snow and cold. Fred's sister had come out the fall before and also filed on an adjoining quarter. She proved up on the land and went back -- Fred had more land now. In 1917 we planted 200 trees -- 100 American Elm and 100 Norway Poplar. All grew and were beautiful. 1917 was a dry year but we did raise a nice garden, not much grain but the corn was nice. Our first child, Viola, was born in September. The snowstorm of the century hit on March 14, 1920. First a nice warm rain, then snow, and the wind raised -- blowing from Sunday night until Wednesday morning. People lost cattle and sheep -- but my husband had ours all penned up. It took many days to dig out. About that time our herd increased and Fred was able to rent other land adjoining ours. We prospered and our little place took on a real picturesque scene. Then on June 14, 1924, a black cloud came out of the northwest. Fred had gone to Isabel as he was secretary to the Farmers Equity Elevator. Seeing this cloud, I called our children in and as I stood at the door waiting for Viola, the rain, hail and wind hit. Everything was black as night, which seemed like hours even though it didn't last more than 10 to 15 minutes. But -- the destruction was unbelievable! The strip was a mile wide and went east only a mile and a half. It did not hurt our neighbors to the south 1 mile nor to the north 2 miles. It took our 40x60 barn, a 12x24 chicken coop, a garage, car shed, and the top of the windmill. It did several other freakish things too. It took a 200 gallon water tank 2 miles east and smashed it flat. There was so much water, the creeks were running over the bank. Fences were washed out and cattle scattered all over. Fred could not get home because the bridge was washed out. He did get home at 11p.m. and was surprised to find the damage. There were no phones then and he did not know about the storm nor the damage it had done. Most of that summer and fall was taken up repairing and rebuilding. But, we could not replace it all. Then in 1925 it looked as if we would have a fair crop. But -- on July 25 a devastating hail storm hit us. The grain that was shocked was thrashed out. Again, I was alone at home with our children, but there was no damage to the house. Again, we picked up and went forward. Our trees were battered so badly that time that we lost most of them. Those trees that lived were bare of leaves. Then there were a few productive years and things began to pick up once more. On October 5, 1930 our then only son, Robert, died. The years following were dry and hot winds took what little grain came up. Grasshoppers came in hordes and ate the grass. The thistles thrived and Fred put them up for feed. We had quite a few turkeys but they were so filled up, they sat in the shade and just watched the hoppers. Roosevelt's WPA days came and dams were being built. Fred swallowed all pride and took his dinner pail and went to work. In 1936 there was no rain and no grass again. That fall saw Fred shipping his cattle east of the river for the winter. Spring came and the rains started. Fred kept farming until June 1954 when we moved off the farm to let our son, Ronald, take over. It was 40 years to the day that Fred came to live on his homestead. Fred worked in a small shop in Isabel repairing and refinishing furniture. He passed away October 15, 1962 in his sleep. I still live in Isabel. Fred served as a member of the local school board for over 25 years. During the drought he served as county commissioner for a term of 4 years but had to refuse a second term because pay was in registered warrants and expenses on the job had to be paid. Our four girls all became teachers. Ronald still lives on the home place. We seemed to have had our illnesses and disappointments. Leora was bitten by a rattlesnake at the age of 2 but Fred saved her by rendering first aid. But, in spite of all the disappointment and frustrations, we had our good times too. We enjoyed neighborhood card parties, pie socials, and dances at various school houses music being furnished by local violin, accordion and piano or sometimes just plain phonograph records. [photo – Fred and Bertha Bierman, 1940] [photo – Neoma, Bertha, Viola, Leora, Paula, Fred and Ronald] [photo – Fred Bierman homestead after storm hit, 1924] CLIFTON BIRKELAND by Inga Birkeland Clifton Birkeland has lived his entire life in Ziebach County. He was born on the family homestead 2 1/2 miles south of Dupree on November 2, 1911. We now live 3 1/2 miles from there on the Cherry Creek road, where we have lived since October, 1942. We were married November 17, 1934. I, Inga Olson, was born just east of Lantry, but moved to North Dakota with my parents, Mrs. and Mrs. Ole Olson and sister Marian, when I was a year or two old. I attended various country schools in Steele County, North Dakota and High School at Portland in Froill County. I graduated in 1931. We have farmed and ranched all our lives and have three sons doing the same. We raised six children: Fern Meyer took nurses training in Rapid City and is now surgical supervisor at Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach, Florida. She has 3 children: Erica, Patty and David. Russell attended Springfield College one year taking cabinet making and upholstry and he married Beverly Ann Woodward, and they live in Dupree. They have two sons Clinton and Douglas. Gary, John and Ken are the ranchers and farmers. Gary spent two years in the U. S. Army and while stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington met and married Sonja Calborn. They have 3 children: Jay, Ramon and KelIy. They live southwest of Dupree. John married Rita La Plante from White Horse. They ranch near Thunder Butte and have one girl and one boy, Monnie and Clayton. Ken lives on the home place with us. The three work together most of the time, or whenever and wherever the job requires it. Our youngest, Cathy, married Melvin Eaton and both graduated from Black Hills State College after marriage. They now live in Belle Fourche where Melvin has a construction business. They have two little girls, Marty and Jaime and one boy, Wayne. All six are graduates of Dupree High. LEONARD and JACKIE (JEFFRIES) BIRKELAND Leonard was born at Willmar, Minnesota in 1905, and came with his parents, Ole and Olina Birkeland and six sisters, to the homestead three miles south of Dupree in the spring of 1911. He attended the Fairview School until eighth grade, then went to Dupree. His school years were short as he helped at home in the spring and fall. Leonard started farming for himself in 1928 and a good crop was hailed out. The next year prices had tumbled, then came the depression years. Florence Ethel "Jackie'' Jeffries was born in June, 1918, the daughter of V. W. Jeffries and Ruth (Cunningham) Jeffries, on her father's homestead near the G. I. Towne residence in Haakon County. The Leslie Post Office was then in the Towne residence. They moved to Ziebach County in 1921 and she grew up near Cherry Creek. They were married in August, 1936. Nothing grew that year but thistles. They went to the state of Washington, then returned and took over the Birkeland homestead in 1937 when the parents moved to town. Through the years they purchased the place, added more land and paid off the feed and seed loans from dust bowl days. Their children all attended school in Dupree and graduated from Dupree High School. Four graduated from college. Betty, Mrs. Ronald Lawrence, has four children, home is Mobridge. Bruce married Leota Starr, she lost her life in 1970, leaving Sherrie, Dean and Rhea. Bruce married Beverly Capp and their home is in Faith. Nancy and Neil were the twenty-ninth set of twins delivered by Dr. Creamer. She married classmate Billy Fields, their home is in Cedar Hill, Texas. They have two sons. Neil continues the farming and ranching operation. He married Vicki Williams Dahl, their children are Darci, Kari, Kelli, Jacki and Jace. Bart married Karen Ross, sons are Jeff and Jason, home is Timber Lake. [photo – Neil, Bart, Bruce and Leonard Birkeland] [photo – Leonard and Jackie Birkeland] OLE E. and OLENE (LENA) BIRKELAND by Jackie Birkeland Ole E. Birkeland was born on the estate of Birkeland at Hagesund, Norway on March 25, 1868. He was the son of Endre Lund and Anna Martha Birkeland. He took the name of Birkeland upon arrival in the United States in 1885, when he was seventeen and unable to speak English. The name indicated the land area from where he came. He was sponsored in this country by a man in Minneapolis for whom he worked near there for four years to pay for his passage to this new land of great opportunities. Ole and Olene Marie Greenfield (born June 9, 1878), the daughter of Benjamin and Maren Greenfield, were married in 1897 near Willmar, Minnesota, where they were to live until 1911. He became a naturalized citizen on June 22, 1906. He worked as a section foreman on the Great Northern Railway for ten years. When Ole was 43 and Lena ten years younger, a decision was made to homestead, and in 1910, Ole made a trip to Kalispell, Montana in search of land. He found the desirable tracts taken and came back to Aberdeen, South Dakota, and thence to Dupree, where he chose a quarter section three miles south of Dupree. That year a barn was put up as a required improvement for homesteading. In Ole Birkeland family and Martin and Ludwig Peterson, 1912. April, 1911, the family moved by immigrant car on the railroad. They stayed with Mr. Halverson on the quarter north of them until a house was built. Halvorson and two bachelor brothers, Martin and Ludwig Peterson, helped with that, and lived with the family. The buildings were across the creek, east of the present homesite, where they lived for a few years. Norwegian was the language spoken in their home, but even that was left behind when they moved. These were difficult times, especially for Lena. Besides separation from her family, she missed the trees and beauty of Minnesota. But no doubt, most of all she missed the convenience of running water and plentiful wood, for by this time six daughters and a son had been born to this union. She told me of her "crying tree" when overcome by loneliness and deprivation, she would go quietly and share with nature her frustrations. She was not alone. Those were drought stricken and lonely years. Many called it a mistake, sold out and left. Certainly the productivity of the land was misjudged and oversold. Ole borrowed money and bought ten cows and a bull from a discouraged homesteader north of town. At first the scant farming done was hired, then there was a blind horse used to cultivate corn, ridden by son Leonard, with Ole guiding the cultivator. Then a team, the blind horse and a mule, was used. Ole never farmed with a tractor. He worked on county roads in the area at times. He also worked for the railroad, walking back and forth to town. He was on the Fairview District School Board for many years. Also on the board were W. E. Smock and Vern Oliver, all of whom were rather scant of hair, to put it mildly. One of the patrons, with himself a massive head of hair, in a confrontation with the board, referred to them derisively as "that baldheaded school board"! They laughed about it and took comfort in the old adage, "grass does not grow on a busy street". Ole played the accordion for the many good times the neighbors enjoyed in their homes and at the school house. Travel was by foot, horseback and by buggy. There was someone living on nearly every quarter section. Lena took in washing for many years and baked bread for neighbors to augment a meager income. The children carried water, she scrubbed the clothes on the washboard and the girls did the ironing. Eventually she was able to deliver them to town by horse and buggy. The cream check from milking cows played an important part in their economy. Ole and Lena were members of the Lutheran Church but later joined the Congregational Church and took an active part there as well as in political affairs. Three more sons were born into this family in South Dakota. They had left two babies buried in Minnesota so they were to raise ten children. Five girls and one son became teachers and all were a credit to the perseverance and bravery of the spirit of their pioneer ancestry. After twenty-six years on the homestead, Ole and Lena moved to town in 1937. Ole passed away in May 1939. Lena continued to live there until her death in May 1959, when she was 80 years old. Two rooms of the original house are still in use on the homestead today. [photo – Ole Birkeland family and Martin and Ludwig Peterson] [photo – Lillian, Mildred, Clara, Esther and Alice. The Birkeland girls] [photo – Leonard, Clifton, Harold and Russell Birkeland] RUSSELL O. BIRKELAND and BEVERLY ANN (WOODWARD) BIRKELAND HISTORY Russell O. Birkeland's parents were Clifton and Inga (Olson) Birkeland and grandparents were Ole and Olene (Greenfield) Birkeland and Ole and Myrtle (Thomas) Olson. Beverly Ann (Woodward) Birkeland's parents were Lawrence and Virginia (Anderson) Woodward, and grandparents were Herman and Ella (Nicholson) Woodward and Bastian and Minda (Satter) Anderson. Both Russell and Beverly were born at Dupree Community Hospital, Russell on August 16, 1939 and Beverly on March 26, 1940. Russ attended country school at White Swan and Beverly attended Main School, and graduated from High School in Dupree in 1957 and 1958. They got married on November 15, 1958 at Dupree and have lived in Dupree since then, first in a trailer home and later building a new home in 1962 where they lived in the basement and completed it in 1972. Russ has done carpenter work in and around Dupree since graduation, after attending one year at Southern State College. Beverly started working at the ASCS office in September after graduation and is still working there. They have two sons. Clinton was born in 1959 and Douglas in 1961, and both graduated from Dupree High School -- Clinton in 1977 and Doug in 1979. Clint, who is a carpenter, married Lee Anne LeBeau July 2, 1982. Doug is attending the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City to become a mining engineer. He married Melody Stapert on June 26, 1981 and she has a year old daughter, Tiffany. Russ has served on the Volunteer Fire Department since 1959 and Clint went on in 1980. The Fire Department has made a big improvement over the past years and is one of the better ones in the state now. [photo – Russell, Beverly, Tiffany, Melody, Doug and Clint Birkeland. Taken June 26, 1981] SIGURD BJORGUM FAMILY by Frances Hanson Sigurd Bjorgum (1872-1946)was born in Hegre, Norway. He liked to tell the story that he was born in Hell. And you could say he was, as Hell is a station in the area where he was born. Being of an adventurous nature he ventured, to America at the age of 18. He went to Portland, Oregon where a brother lived, and went to work in a sawmill. Labor troubles developed and a depression came on. There was no work to be had so he returned to Norway. It was then he met and married Singrid Arnstad (1873-1942). Farming was the main source of livelihood in Norway. There was little industry at that time so other work was hard to find. In Norway the eldest son got the family farm, so there wasn't much for the younger son or sons to look forward to. Dad heard that in America there was free land to be had, so in 1903 he set out again for America, now with a family which included a wife and three children, Elbjorg, Olav and John. The North Sea crossing was very rough and many were frightened and seasick. They landed in England and then were herded onto a train for Liverpool, where they bearded the ship, Ivernia, for America. They left Liverpool on June 9, 1903 and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts on June 15, 1903. Their destination was Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where mother had two uncles living. They were veterans of the Civil War. Six more children were born: twins Sigurd and Anna (Anna died at ten months), Anna, Ernest, Frances and Dagny. We left Wisconsin in 1918 after surviving the flu epidemic of that year. Oscar Hegre had urged Dad to come to South Dakota and so he went there. He filed a homestead 13 miles south of Redelm, south of Rattlesnake Butte, between Red Coat and Rattlesnake Creeks. He built a tarpapered shack and then went for the family. Elbjorg, Anna and Ernest came by train and the rest of us in the Model T Ford. We farmed, milked cows and gardened to keep food on the table. One had to be of a hardy nature to exist as there were many lean years. Five families composed our neighborhood: the Hollands, Oscar Dokkens, O. O. Valles, Carl Christersens and bachelor Amund Amundson. It was law that homesteader's children should be provided with schools. Dad, with the help of neighbors, hauled lumber and got busy. Soon it was built and it was called the Bjorgum School. Elbjorg was the first teacher and my (Frances) first teacher. Following teachers were Rate Johnson, Louise (Mrs. Lloyd) Orvedahl, Helen Lackey and Adella Amundson. After grade school, only Dagny and I got to go to high school (Dupree). In 1933 Mother suffered a severe stroke. In years before, Dad and John had worked on Slate Creek in the Black Hills and during that time Dad filed a gold mining claim and built a log cabin. In 1937 we left the farm and moved to the mining claim. Anna took care of Mother and Dagny, and I taught school. In 1941 we moved Mother to Rapid City in hopes of helping her condition, but in 1942 she suffered another stroke and passed away. She is buried in Rapid City. Dad came to California and died in 1946. He is buried in Santa Monica, California. Our farmhouse was moved by Charles Fuller to his ranch on Red Coat Creek and had been in use until 1970. I (Frances) visited the homestead in 1971. The elm tree that Sigurd had planted near the house was still growing and the cistern that Dad made to catch rainwater was still intact. It was a thrill to see the old homestead site and the terrain we knew so well. We left our mark with rock monuments and drawings and names carved in the sandstone, which no doubt have crumbled and eroded away. The many daring and scary moments of homesteading was a very important experience in our lives. ELBJORG (11/24/96- ) was the first teacher of Bjorgum School. Married Nels Orvedahl in 1926 and lived on a farm south of Faith. They had three sons -- two died in infancy. She taught school for 30 years. She is widowed and lives in Golden Valley, Minnesota near her son Roger and family. OLAV (1/11/01-August, 1923) became ill while doing farm work and died soon after returning home. He is buried in Dupree. JOHN (10/01/02-10/06/57) rode for the Diamond A and Staple M cattle outfits and for sheepman Fred Barthold. Married Louise Orvedahl in 1933 and had four sons: John, Alfred, Keith and Kenneth. Made their home near Deadwood in the Black Hills. Worked in the Gilt Edge gold mine and then became a timber faller. Moved to Pondosa, California in 1941 and worked in timber until his death. SIGURD (2/13/06- ) did roadwork and other jobs in and around Dupree and herded sheep for Fred Barthold. Went to the Black Hills and worked in the gold mines and then went into logging. Married Clara Orvedahl and went to California in 1941. Logged until his retirement in 1979 and now resides in Placerville, California. They had three sons: LeRoy, Robert and Donald. Donald died in 1965. ANNA (11/14/09- )was the main hand on the farm and took care of Mother during her long illness. Married Bob Flanagan of Mystic, South Dakota and had two daughters, Lillian and Bonnie. She is widowed and lives near daughter Bonnie near Spokane, Washington. ERNEST (3/28/11-5/14/74) herded sheep in South Dakota, last working for Ted Butler. Came to California and worked at many jobs in and around Dunsmuir. He never married. FRANCES (5/15/14- ) attended Teacher's College in Aberdeen for one year. Taught the White Swan School the first three years. Boarded at the Floyd Frames. Married Carl Hanson in 1940. His family (Oscar Hansons) built and lived in the large white house on the hill just south of Redelm from 1910-1919. Moved to Long Beach, California in 1941 and to Azusa in 1948 where Carl was Firechief for the Naval Test Center until his retirement in 1973. We have two sons: Lyn, a fireman in Rancho Cordova, California and Jon, a postman in Glendora, California. DAGNY (6/27/16- ) attended Teacher's College in Aberdeen for one year. Began first year of teaching near Plainview, south of Faith. Married Fred Wuennecke whose family were homesteaders southwest of Dupree. Dagny and Fred made their home in Priest River, Idaho. They had three children: Virginia, Daryl and John. She is widowed and remains in Priest River. [photo – The Bjorgum family at their home near Rattlesnake Butte in 1923. Back row: Sigurd, Elbjorg, Olav, John, Anna, Ernest. Front row: Dagny, Mr. and Mrs. Bjorgum, Frances] BLACK BULL FAMILY Eugene Black Bull lived near Eagle Butte. John Black Bull, his son, worked for the Diamond A Cattle outfit. He married Lillian Dog With Horns of Bridger and moved to Hump Flat, north of Bridger. Four of their seven children survived and were raised by their grandmother, Sara Turtle Dog With Horns, after their mother, Lillian, died. The children rode to school from Hump Flat. At that time, classes were taught near the Congregational Church, in what is now the YMCA building. Paul Black Bull went through sixth grade in Bridger and then went to Rapid City Indian School. He greatly encouraged his children to get a good education. John Black Bull's three sons each spent almost four years in the Army. During World War II, Paul served in Alaska and Germany and Luke served in the Philippines. Evan served in the Korean conflict. Emma Black Bull married Baine Swan. Paul Black Bull married Alberta Dupris. Their children are Marcella (Miner), Lillian (Eagle Chasing, 1948-1980), Duane Paul Black Bu11(1952-1971), and Pauline (Miner). Luke Black Bull married Lucy Strikes Enemy (-1978) and they had seven children: Inez, Mercy, Lee, Arthur, Sylvia, Alma and Bernard Black Bull. BLUE ARM Charlie Blue Arm married Kate Laura Swift Dog. His father was Two Shield (Minniconjou). Her mother was Hattie Swift Dog, the daughter of Running Carefully (Hunkpapa). Charlie and Kate had three sons John William, Pete and Walter and four daughters Martha Eagle Horse, Lacie One Skunk, Irene and Ethel. Pete, Walter, Irene and Ethel are deceased. Bill's family is Art, Burdell, Uris, Molly, Wanda, Sandra, Lola and Brenda. Pete's family is Leonard, Buford, Kenneth and Gary. Martha's family is Eunice, Rosina, Ralph, Harry and Matthew. Lacie's family is Armanda, Irvin, Lucinda, Delores and Kevin. REVEREND THOMAS BLUE EYES West River Progress - Thursday, July 8, 1948 Billy Circle Eagle of Red Scaffold wrote the following eulogy over our old Indian friend, Reverend Thomas Blue Eyes, who passed away a month ago at a Pierre hospital. "Old Cowboy passaway first part of the June. Rev. Thomas Blue Eye passway at Pierre hospital, he was born in state of the Canada year 1869. He was back in United States when he was young he was working for old Nercell when he was 16 year old at Goat Lodge. Two year after he was cowboy cooking for L-7 outfit round Bad River country. After that he was working for Circle D outfit, Mr. While Bill Collens wagon. Year 1898 he was married Miss Allme Dupree she owner all tham Circle D. A on shoulder cattle and horses. Rev. Thomas Blue Eye make own ranch side of the fox ridge country. Mrs. Thomas Blue Eye, she passway long year ago. Rev. Blue Eye has was 78 years old when passway in June. Long years ago Mr. Indian attacked cover wagon on California trail take three white girls. Mr. Indian brought tham white girl into indian village, some young indian boy married tham girl short time later one of these girl she have baby girl. When thes girl growing up she married Mr. Red Fox, that was Rev. Thomas Blue Eye father and her mother. Rev. Thomas his right name is Red Fox but he have white man eye, blue eye, so well know him by Rev. Thomas Blue Eye, tuwe to sui yelo. WILLIAM BOCKMAN In 1970 Martha Elizabeth Bockman wrote down many memories of her early experiences near Faith in Ziebach County. The story of joys and hardships of raising a family on this frontier reads like a novel. She married Bill Bockman of Brooklyn, New York at her mothers home at Yorktown, Iowa, June 19, 1917. They came by train to Bill's home northeast of Faith, where they lived until 1936. The friendliness of their neighbors, especially the Delehan's, eased her adjustment to this new lifestyle. Mrs. Rate Davis and her son Mark, were part of the Delehan's household. They came from Edson to live with Rate's daughter Leah, when Ed Delehan died as a result of an accident. In 1918 Bill was called to serve in the army. Mrs. Bockman accompanied him as far as Lane, South Dakota where their first child, a daughter, was born. She was a blue baby and did not survive. Bill was stationed at Fort Omaha, Nebraska. His wife was a cook in the home of Col. J. Wuest at the same camp. After the war they returned to their home north of Faith, South Dakota. Their children, Bill, twins Irving and Irene, Artemus and Herbert attended Junker rural school. The older children went to high school at Faith. The drought finally drove them from their Ziebach County home. They left for Iowa October 3, 1936. Mr. Bockman passed away in 1966. Mrs. Bockman's positive outlook on life was summed up in these words, "The good in our sometimes hard life outweighs the bad." BOEDING FAMILY by Mary Boeding Beer The Boeding family immigrated from southeastern Iowa to the Ipswich-Leola area in 1905. Not having much success in farming there, my father and his two sisters decided to go west and homesteaded in the Glad Valley area, in Ziebach County, in 1911. My Dad filed on land 2 1/2 miles northeast of Glad Valley and made his living hauling lumber, building homes, and breaking the required acres for his neighbors, as he brought with him 3 horses, plow, wagon, etc. They lived for many years in a small one room house, sodded up on the outside, and always mined their own coal in the surrounding country. In the summer time we often burned cow chips we picked up on the prairie. There were thirteen of us children. We all received our 8 years of schooling in the Glad Valley School (Pickerville School in the early days). In the dirty thirties most of the family moved back to Iowa. George, John and myself still live in South Dakota. Herman, Genevieve and Leonard are deceased. Mother passed away in 1959 and Dad in 1963. [photo – Boeding's first homestead house, 1911] LOUIS T. BOELSEN FAMILY Louis T. Boelsen, son of H. C. and Catherine Boelsen, was born in Woodford County, Illinois on November 8, 1885. He was the eldest of seven children. In 1902 the family moved to Missouri where his father had purchased a farm in Carroll County, near Miami. As the custom was in those days, when a young man became of age, he set out "to see the world" and seek work, first in the lumber camps in Colorado and then to California, working in the orchards near Visalia. Later he went to San Francisco where he was first a motorman on the now famous cable car, and later a conductor. In 1910 he returned to his home in Missouri. At that time he heard of the opportunity of homestead land in South Dakota. He related that he bought a round-trip ticket on the railroad for $21.00, his destination being LeBeau, South Dakota, where the price for registering a claim was 25 cents. He described LeBeau as a wide-open town with slot machines, etc. After his claim was located he returned to Missouri to make preparations for taking supplies and equipment to establish his residence. Later he returned with an immigrant car loaded with a team of mules, grain and hay, and all sorts of supplies, including a bicycle and about 4000 young trees to set out. He took a young neighbor boy, Mile Bossart, as a helper, who spent some time there. He told of buying another team of horses and of breaking the sod for himself and some of his neighbors. After two years of residence he returned to Missouri and did not return to South Dakota for nine years. On the 25th of March 1914, he was married to Miss Helen Campbell of his home community. They established a new home on the Boelsen farm where they lived for 10 years. At that time they bought a farm in Livingston County, Missouri. They were the parents of two daughters. Lucille was a graduate of William Woods College at Fulton, Missouri and was a teacher. She married Irvin F. Ellison, a High School Superintendent. They have three children. Mr. and Mrs. Ellison now reside in Northridge, California. Marjorie, a graduate of Chillicothe Business College, was a legal secretary and worked in Kansas City, Missouri for several years. She married Loren J. Ellwein of Bridgewater, South Dakota. They are the parents of two children. Mr. Ellwein was a veteran of World War II and later was a State Patrolman in South Dakota. Their home was in Sioux Falls. After his retirement they moved to Deming, New Mexico, where they now reside. Even though Mr. Boelsen did not stay in the Dupree area, his interest was always there. He and his wife made regular trips back to see about the farm. They enjoyed meeting and visiting some of the friends of homestead days. The Hurst family, the Andersons, The Fuhrers and Railes were among the people they always looked forward to seeing. Mr. Boelsen passed away April 25, 1975. Mrs. Boelsen still maintains her home in Missouri but spends much of the time with her family in California and New Mexico. [photo – L. T. Boelsen homestead, 1911] [photo – Andy Anderson, George McDonald, Louis Boelsen] TOM BOLANDER Tom Bolander was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He came to South Dakota to the Centerville area with his parents, and after his father died, to the Cottonwood area in western South Dakota. He later went to Saskatchewan and lived on a farm near Maple Creek. Allie Vernie Scott was born in Des Moines, Iowa. She and Tom Bolander were married in 1909. In 1928 Tom and his wife and three girls, Laura, Pearl and Irene left Canada and came to Dupree, South Dakota where they lived in a small house at the home of Toms' brother-in-law, Floyd Frame. The children attended the White Swan School. In 1932 they moved to the Jim Davis place near the Campbell School. They also lived near there on the Zacek place for a time. In 1936 they moved to a place north of the Moreau River and in 1939 to Pine River, Minnesota. Mrs. Bolander died January 19, 1963 and Tom Bolander died April 19, 1965. Laura lives in Minot, North Dakota where she cares for elderly people in their homes. Pearl, who graduated from Dupree High School in 1939, lives on a farm near Aurora, Minnesota. Irene lives in Omaha, Nebraska. THE ELMER JESSE BRAMMER FAMILY written by Helen Brammer Pederson Elmer Jesse Brammer was born at Getaway, Ohio, August 11, 1886. The family moved to Illinois when he was very young. In the winter of 1908, he joined a tour to Galveston, Texas on a prospective land-buying trip sponsored by a fruit company. There he met Robert French of Frankfort, South Dakota who offered him a job helping with the farming. Elmer accepted, and in the spring of 1909, he went to Frankfort to work for his future father-in-law. While there he went to Aberdeen and signed up for a lottery number which would make him eligible to stake a claim for a quarter of land on the Cheyenne River Reservation. In May, 1910, Elmer came to the Dupree area with his belongings in a covered wagon pulled by four grey horses. He staked a claim to the NW1/4 of 15-13-21 and with the four grey horses broke the first sod in what is now Ziebach County. He removed the wheels from his covered wagon and set it on the ground for a home while he proved up on his claim. He had an Eastman Kodak and took and developed many pictures that recorded the progress of the area. Baseball was always his favorite sport and in May, 1911 he broke his leg while playing baseball with the "Cloverleaf Tigers". Dr. Creamer sent him on to Aberdeen to have the leg set but he always walked with a limp after that as the broken leg was a little shorter than the other. Elmer proved up on his claim and on February 21, 1912, he married Nancy French at Frankfort, South Dakota. Nancy May French was born at Afton, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) on February 18, 1894 and moved to Frankfort, South Dakota with her family in 1898. She graduated from Frankfort High School in 1912 and passed the Teacher's Exam and received her certificate on her 18th birthday. The couple moved back to Illinois where Elmer's family lived and there the four older children were born. In 1920 the family moved back to South Dakota. Nancy and the four older children came out by train in March, shortly after the big three day blizzard. They saw hundreds of dead cattle buried in the snow along the cuts made by the railroad snow plows. Elmer had driven out earlier in his Overland car which he traded for four milk cows, a saddle horse, a single harness and buggy and a four year old steer. They settled down on the Cane place which was one mile northwest of where the Bednar Dam is now. That fall they shipped the steer to market in, Chicago where it brought $80. At that time, that was the highest price ever received for a critter from that area. Gordon and Hillis and later Kenneth and Helen drove the three miles to the Lone Tree School in the buggy pulled by a single horse. Those early years were hard and Nancy told of putting the smaller children in a wagon box nearby while she mowed hay with the team and horse drawn mower. She always raised a huge vegetable garden and chickens and canned most of the food supply but her hobby was raising flowers. Elmer was a good farmer and often got up early on Sunday morning and walked a mile or more checking on the crops. When Elmer sold his claim to Herman Eulberg, he bought a half section of land four miles west and two miles north of Dupree and one mile east of the Lone Tree School. (Dick Bigler now owns the land.) In 1926 the family moved there. Elmer was on the School Board of the District for 20 years and the five older children graduated from the Lone Tree School. They walked the mile in the spring and fall and usually drove a single horse on a small homemade sled when the weather was too bad in the winter to walk. (Hugh graduated from Dupree Grade School.) All six children graduated from Dupree High School. There were few fences in those days. One winter day when there was about two feet of snow on the ground, Elmer and Robert Petrick went to Dupree with a team and bobsled to get groceries. While they were gone, the wind came up and a real Dakota blizzard developed. The two men had left Dupree but were unable to see the road. They finally turned the horses loose and the loyal team brought them safely home. As was her custom when someone was away, Nancy had lighted the Alladin kerosene lamp and set it in the window. To quote Robert, "I never was so d--- glad in my life as I was to see that light. I sure thought we was goners! '' The "dirty thirties" were hard on everything and everyone -- the grasshoppers were worse than the drought. They ate every spear of green vegetation and there was nothing left to anchor the dry soil. The incessant winds picked up the dirt and deposited it in piles in fence rows or wherever something stopped the force of the wind. The stories of the air so filled with dust that you couldn't see to drive were not exaggerated and the pictures of the grasshoppers so thick on the shady side of the fence posts that you couldn't see the post were a grim reality. In spite of the drought, Elmer never missed threshing a single year although some years there was barely enough grain for seed. In 1937 Elmer started work as manager of the Farmer's Cooperative Elevator at Dupree where he worked until 1946. In 1939 the family moved to Dupree and five years later they sold the farm and built a home on Bear Creek just north of Dupree. In 1965 Nancy suffered a severe heart attack and was taken to the Eagle Butte Public Health Hospital where she was admitted as an emergency patient. Three weeks later she was flown by ambulance plane to Aberdeen. Later that fall, Elmer sold the place at Dupree and they spent the winter in an apartment in Aberdeen. The following summer they moved to Absarokee, Montana where they spent their remaining years. In the fall of 1969, while on a visit to South Dakota, Elmer passed away at Aberdeen at the age of 83. Nancy went back to Absarokee and passed away there in 1975. Both are buried in the Dupree Cemetery. Elmer served as Ziebach County Commissioner for four years and they were active in the Odd Fellows and Rebekah Lodges, Community Club, Royal Neighbors, Congregational Church and Nancy was an Extension Club member from the time it was first organized. Both worked hard for the betterment of the community. When family trees became fashionable back east, Nancy said, "Out here people aren't interested in where you came from, they want to know where you're going!" The Brammer children are: Gordon Brammer of La Mesa, California; Hillis Brammer of Aberdeen, South Dakota; Kenneth Brammer of Mead, Washington; Mrs. Ralph (Helen) Pederson of Firesteel, South Dakota; Mrs. Ambrose (Eugenie) Heimer of Absarokee, Montana; and Hugh Brammer of Absarokee, Montana. [photo – Sod house in the Clover Leaf area] [photo – E. Brammer in 1910] [photo – E. Brammer in his Overland] BRAMMER--DOMINA Hugh Brammer is a former resident of Ziebach County. He was born there, the son of the late Nancy and Elmer Brammer. He graduated from DHS, class of 1949. He served in the Marine Corp in the Korean War. Hugh married Alyce Domina, member of the DHS graduating class of 1953. She is the foster daughter of the late Otis and Edna Domina of Glad Valley. Hugh and Alyce lived for a time in Dupree where Hugh was employed by the State Highway Department. Later they lived in Springfield and Lemmon. They now live in Absarokee, Montana and have two children, Janet and Jesse. SOFUS BRAMS by Wallace and Eva Brams In 1903, Uncle Sofus kissed his mother good-bye, left his native land of Denmark and sailed for America -- to die. And he did, 69 years later. Sofus was born December 1, 1885 at Hilberskow, Denmark. He was 18 years old when he came to the United States. He first worked at Ruskin, Nebraska. Later he lived at Council Bluffs, Iowa where he worked for the Rock Island Railroad before moving on to Clifton, Illinois. In 1909, he came to South Dakota and lived near Salem. In 1910, he was one of the first homesteaders in the Ziebach County area and drew his allotment at Yankton, drawing allotment number 96. His homestead was 4 1/2 miles north of Dupree which is now owned by Lawrence Woodward. During the '30's, Sofus built roads and dams with a large horse outfit and was considered an expert in this line of work. He built U.S. Highway 212 from Faith to Sturgis, South Dakota, S.D. Highway 63 from Eagle Butte to the Cheyenne River, Highway 8 in the Timber Lake area, the Durkee Dam south of Faith, the Whitehorse Dam southeast of Timber Lake and the Rattlesnake Dam on Cherry Creek south of Dupree. An incident was related by a passenger friend who was riding with Sofus. Much to his concern Sofus kept driving at a high rate of speed on the wrong side of the road. Finally he could stand it no longer and told Sofus he'd better get over on the right side of the road. Sofus reply was, "I built this ??? road, I'll drive on it anywhere I please!" In the late thirties, he began ranching north of Dupree on Sand Creek, which he sold to the Ford Brothers from Kansas in the 1940's. He then ranched two miles south of the old Pretty Creek School. On September 8, 1949, he and Josephine Pop were married at Pierre. They had one daughter, Grace, Mrs. Henry Neubaumer, who lives at Hillsboro, Washington. In 1964 they retired from the ranch and moved to Dupree where they lived until April, 1973. At that time they moved to the Mobridge Manor. Throughout his life, Uncle Sofus had many narrow escapes from death due to his involvement in several serious accidents. But he seemed to elude the illness that had caused him to leave his native land. He had what was thought to be an incurable affliction. His widowed mother was an invalid and he wished to spare her the sorrow of watching him die. He passed away at the Mobridge Community Hospital, October 31, 1973 at the age of 87 years. Sofus will be remembered mostly for his colorful stories, sense of humor, and his favorite expression, "I yust about ... .!" [photo – Josie and Sofus Brams] [photo – Sofus and Walter Brams] WALLACE AND EVA BRAMS by Eva Brams On January 16, 1945 Wallace and I were married in Dupree. During those first years we lived in Dupree. I continued to teach school and Wallace tended to the ranching interests and kept the sheep together. Many weekends were spent at the sheep wagon and the summer months were busy ones -- mowing, raking, stacking hay and preparing for another winter. During the summer of 1948 we moved to the ranch on Pretty Creek. The sheep and horses were sold and we stocked the place with cattle. Our first winter at the ranch proved to be an eventful one. After a beautiful fall, on January 3, 1949 a severe blizzard struck western South Dakota leaving highways blocked and the hay stacks covered with mountains of snow. Without modern snow removal equipment people were snowbound for weeks and months. Even though we lived near Highway 65 it was many weeks before I got to town. The weather moderated by early March. On March 8 our first daughter, Patricia, was born in Rapid City. During the early 1950's the combine crews from the south started coming to the area for the harvest. In most cases the crops were harvested faster and it was much easier for the men than threshing. But the work load for the women was far from lighter. During this time the farm wife was expected to cook, wash, and find lodging for the combine crew. How well I remember the harvest season of 1951. As the combine crew arrived at our place it started to rain and it rained for two full weeks. The grain was too wet to be cut but it didn't dampen the appetites of all those extra men. One day during their stay, Patty and I went to the garden to gather vegetables. As she trotted down the rows to help gather tomatoes, she came upon two huge rattlesnakes basking in the sun. Too frightened to tackle the pair, I threw a red kerchief between them and with Patty in my arms ran the mile back to the house for help. This was a big day for the two boys from North Carolina, who were with the combine crew, for they were able to go on a successful rattlesnake hunt. This time the old-timers theory of leaving something near a rattler worked, as neither had moved from the spot. The winter of 1951 and 1952 proved to be longer and almost as severe as 1949. In some places hay was flown in and dropped to starving cattle -- also food and medicine to people in distress. On May 29, 1952 our second daughter Kathy was born at Faith. Four years later, on June 19, 1956, Carlene was born at Faith, also. Since there were not enough students in the area to reopen the Pretty Creek School, in the fall of 1955 we started our twice daily drives to and from Dupree when Patty started to school. These trips lasted for twenty years until Carlene graduated from high school and for another seven years until my retirement from teaching. All three girls graduated from the Dupree High School. They also attended and graduated from South Dakota State University at Brookings. Pat received a degree In Secretarial Science, Kathy's degree was in Child Development and Elementary Education and Carlene received a degree in Pharmacy. Pat is married to Marlin Main. They live on a ranch 27 miles southeast of Lemmon, South Dakota. They have two children, Jeff and Juliet. Kathy is married to Michael Moorman and lives on the home ranch. They have one son, Matthew. Carlene is pharmacist at the Shelby Rexall Drug and lives at Shelby, Montana. Wally and I still live on the Pretty Creek Ranch and are semi-retired with traveling in our future plans. [photo – Wallace and Eva Brams and family, December 1981. Standing in back are Marlin and Patricia Main, Kathy and Michael Moorman. In front are grandsons Jeff Main, Matthew Moorman, Wallace, Juliet Main, Eva, and Carlene Brams] [photo – Pretty Creek Ranch, 1944] WALTER AND THEA BRAMS by Wallace and Eva Brams In the early 1900's, Walter arrived in the United States from his home in Hilberskow, Denmark. He settled in Council Bluffs, Iowa and later found work in Marion, Iowa, and in the area of Aberdeen, South Dakota. In 1910, he came to western South Dakota with his brother Sofus, who had homesteaded north of Dupree. Walter was too young to homestead at that time but he found employment in the area. Some of the jobs he reminisced about included hauling lumber by team and wagon from Isabel to Dupree, running the drayline in Dupree and serving as Deputy Sheriff under Hayes Milton. Many colorful stories were related about those early days when Dupree was a typical young, early day western town. After a few years he returned to Council Bluffs and sometime later married Thea Buskness on May 20, 1914 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Thea had come to the United States from her home in Kristian Sund, Norway in 1909 and was living in Council Bluffs. They made their first home in Rochester, Minnesota until 1916. At that time Walter brought his wife, Thea, and young daughter, Pearl to Ziebach County. They homesteaded ten miles north of Dupree which is now owned by the Mraz brothers. In 1919 their son Wallace was born at the homestead. Five years after homesteading in Ziebach County they returned to Council Bluffs where Walter worked for several years for the Union Pacific Railroad. While working there he was seriously injured in a railroad accident which left him with a limp for the rest of his life. When he had recovered enough to travel, in 1932, they moved back to South Dakota and settled on their ranch north of Dupree. With all the hardships to endure in Ziebach County during the depression, drought and grasshopper years of the 1930's, they still found it to be a more abundant and fulfilling life than what they had left behind in the city at that time. During the middle 1930's they ranched for several years in the LaPlant area. In 1943 they moved with their son Wallace, to the former Billy Van place on Pretty Creek twelve miles north of Dupree. In 1945 Wallace and Eva Main were married and took over management of the ranch. In 1955, Walter and Thea retired and moved into Dupree. After moving to Dupree, Walter continued to travel to the ranch nearly every day. They enjoyed watching their three granddaughters Patricia, Kathy, and Carlene grow up and became known as Grandpa and Grandma Brams to their friends also. During their retirement, the Brams' traveled extensively and spent a great deal of time with their daughter, Pearl Coffelt, at Lafayette, California, although they never returned to their native homeland. Walter was active most of his adult life in the Masonic Lodge and the Shriners. Thea passed away in 1972 and Walter in 1975 shortly after his 85th birthday. [photo – Thea, Pearl and Walter Brams] [photo – Walter Brams and Oliver Jewett at the shearing pens] BRIDWELL FAMILY Oscar Word Bridwell came to Ziebach County from Texas after having served in the Spanish-American War during 1888-89. Oscar was born on July 18, 1872 in Decatur, DaKalb County, Georgia. His parents were Francis Marion Bridwell and Marietta Word. Oscar was the youngest in his family, having three older sisters. He left home at age 14. He came to this country with the Sword and Dagger outfit and remembered bedding the large herd of cattle they trailed from Texas right where Dupree town is now located. For a time he worked for Benthiens at their Road Ranch on Plum Creek. In 1904 he married Fannie Sitting Eagle at the First Congregational Church in Cherry Creek. They made their home on Rattlesnake Creek and their four children -- Carrie Fisherman, Marietta Longbrake, Francis and Arthur were all born there. They lived in the Black Hills in 1916 for about three years and the girls attended Rapid City Indian School. They moved back to this area in 1919 and lived on Ash Creek. Evelyn, a foster daughter, joined the family there. Oscar worked with dam building and road building and lived at LaPlant for several years. He bought the Lafferty house in Dupree in the forties and lived there. On February 22, 1946, Fannie died as the result of a car accident. Oscar left Dupree in 1948 and moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He married twice, survived both wives, and lived to the grand old age of 91. He would return to Dupree for the summers in his later years to live among his children and grandchildren. He passed away March 8, 1964. He and Fannie are buried in the Dupree cemetery. BRINGMAN FAMILY An immigrant train arrived at the Timber Lake railway station in 1910 carrying with it John and Minnie Bringman, two step-sons by John's previous marriage and one child of their own. John came originally from Pennsylvania where he spent his childhood years. His family had lived not far from where the Battle of Gettysburg was fought and he retained memories of hearing the guns fired during the battle. Some time later, his younger brother, Will, found a shell on the battlefield, brought it home and proceeded to take it apart in his father's old shop. His greatest success was in remaining alive when he accidentally set it off and blew the entire end out of his father's shop. It left him intact but with a severe hearing loss. John traveled to Fanning, Kansas where he met and married Minnie Whetstine in 1905. She had been raised in that area by her parents. John was twenty years older than Minnie and was left with two young children to raise when his former wife had died. Because of this, Minnie's parents were against the marriage and tended to hinder rather than help the couple. They finally struck out on their own, after a new son, Harold, was delivered to them, and headed for South Dakota to homestead. During their train trip, Minnie ran into an old friend who, in the course of a friendly visit, wanted to know if this was her father she was traveling with. Needless to say, John became a tad put out and the visit came to an abrupt halt. Arriving at Timber Lake, they set out to their claim four miles east of Eagle Butte in Ziebach County. Minnie drove a buggy with her baby and two step-children, while John drove a team and wagon loaded with their supplies and necessities. Some of their neighbors here were Charlie and Ida Holloway, Barbers, and Albert Austins. Their first house was a four room tar paper shack and heated, as most all houses were in those days, with wood and coal. They later acquired a second house that was much nicer than the first. The remainder of their children were born here, three or four of which she delivered herself. These included the twins, Len (Fat) and Glen (Tiny). Added to 11 of these was one more baby boy Minnie would raise -- her grandson, Carol. His mother, Karie, had died soon after his birth, leaving him in the care of her mother, Minnie. In all she raised thirteen children -- two stepsons, Clyde and Jay, eight sons of her own, Harold, Frank, Gordon, Earl, Bert, Melvin, Len and Glen, two daughters, Karie and Neva, and one grandson, Carol. Minnie not only delivered some of her own children, but became a midwife and delivered babies for many of the local families, receiving $25.00, or whatever the family could spare, per delivery. Some of these families were Holloways, Jochims, Johnsons, and a set of triplets born to the Casper Fischer family. She was also called upon from time to time to travel as far as Green Grass where she would be needed for a delivery. They remained on the homestead until the 1930's when, due to drought conditions, taxes couldn't be paid and the county took over their property. They then moved into Dewey County onto a place that had originally been the old Bassfield homestead. Most of the children were gone by this time with the exception of Neva, Melvin, the twins (Fat and Tiny), and her grandson, Carol. In Minnie's later years she told many stories of her homesteading years and especially during the hard times of the 30's. She told of her kids jumping on and riding pigs when they came out of old hay tunnels with other kids in hot pursuit, followed by Dad with a big switch. Stories were told about the kids riding horseback to school in the dead of winter, tragedies happening such as Neva being burned in a coal-oil lamp accident so badly, when she was just fifteen, that she lingered near death for several months, finally rallying due to her mother's nursing and her own strong will to live. The Bringmans have always been said to be a "stubborn, bull-headed" family once they set their own minds, and there have been occasions over the years when this has helped when nothing else would. I remember stories about the hobos who traveled through and always stopped for something to eat. Minnie always baked bread on wash day and shared some of this with those who came. One day as she was washing, a hobo came to the door wanting food. She gave him part of what she had, and thinking she was alone, he turned ugly and demanded more. John, who had been in another room, heard the whole thing and came out so mad that he kicked him in the seat so hard his toe was broken and the hobo went flying out the door. Minnie would always laugh when she got to this part and we could just see it happening. She was not only a memorable person but a memorable story teller as well, the best part being that her stories were true ones. Most of the children attended school at least part of the time, except when they were needed at home. Frank, Bert, Karie, Neva and the twins attended the Kingman School and have memories of teachers Robert Standard and Della McDaniel. If word of mouth has any strength, these teachers definitely earned their money because the Bringman kids were some of the orneriest kids in that part of the country! Minnie stayed in the country for many years after her family was all married and living their own lives, but she finally moved into Eagle Butte during her later years. Her grandchildren took turns staying with her and enjoyed her to the fullest until the time of her death in 1958 of a heart attack. John, her husband, had preceded her in death many years earlier and they both now rest in the cemetery northwest of Eagle Butte.