The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older.
The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Sept. 9, 1943.
(Continued from last week’s Star Herald.)
Emma Hamann worked hard for her salary, though, for her job meant getting up at 5 a.m. in the summer, milking seven or eight cows morning and night, as well as doing inside work. The weekly washing for eight or nine people was all done by hand on a wash board, and whenever she would bake bread, she would have to bake at least 10 loaves at the time.
After working for her uncle for about a year, she obtained employment as a dish washer in a hotel at Van Horn, Iowa, with an increase in salary of $1 a week. The hotel served many dinners as a rule, as trains would stop there so passengers could eat their meals. “I saw all kinds of people,” Mrs. Hamann recalls. “There were people there from all walks of life, from all parts of the country. It was interesting to see them.”
On June 30, 1885, she was married to August H. Hamann, at Vinton, Iowa, and immediately afterward they began housekeeping on Mr. Hamann’s farm near Remsen in Plymouth county, Ia. They lived there seven years, then a friend of theirs, Albert Ahrendt, induced them to come to Minnesota. Mr. Hamann bought a farm northwest of Luverne, and they lived there until they moved to Luverne in 1919.
During her early years on the farm, Mrs. Hamann often worked in the fields during harvest and corn picking. She did this in addition to her house work and to rearing her six children.
She never went away from home a great deal. For one thing, she didn’t have the time, and for another thing, traveling in those days was not easy. “When we went to town, it was just too bad if we forgot to buy something, because it usually meant that we would have to live without it for about two weeks, when we would go to town again.”
There was no German Lutheran church here then, and she recalls attending services in the county court house with Pastor Brinkman as the minister. Later, enough money was raised to build the school house near the present St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, and finally the  church was built. Mrs. Hamann was one of the first members of ladies’ aid of the church, and was active in its function until later years. She is still able to attend church, however.
Direct descendants of Mrs. Hamann include six children, 21 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Her children include: Rudolph A. Hamann, Clear Lake, S.D.; Mrs. Albert Priesz, Mrs. J. W. Ahrendt, August F. Hamann, Arthur Hamann and Herbert F. Hamann, all of Luverne.
Mrs. Hamann still maintains her own home, and although she has given up gardening on a big scale, she still raises a few vegetables for her own use, and has many beautiful flowers. She at one time did considerable sewing and fancy work but in later years, she has been unable to do so because of her poor eyesight. She is able to read somewhat, enough to “keep up with the times,” she says.
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older.
The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Sept. 9, 1943.
Looking back over the past half century, Mrs. August Hamann, Luverne, wonders sometimes if some of her experiences in early day Rock county aren’t just dreams.
Now living in her own home in Luverne, she has conveniences she never even thought were possible when she and her husband came to live northwest of here in the spring of 1891. Instead of going to the well pumping a pail of water, and bringing it inside, all she has to do now is to turn a faucet in her kitchen, and water streams out. Instead of carrying in baskets of cobs and wood, and virtually choking the kitchen stove to keep her home warm, she merely has to turn a thermostat dial on the wall, and an oil burning furnace keeps her rooms at the temperature she desires. Instead of the almost daily task of filling lamps with kerosene for light at night, she merely has to press a button on the wall and pay an electric light bill once each month.
But all the conveniences she enjoys today she greatly appreciates, because she worked hard under difficult circumstances during her younger days, and experienced many a hardship.
She was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, Sept. 25, 1867, as Emma Wieckman, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Wieckman. Her father worked in the country, and at an early age she learned to do many of the common everyday tasks. She attended school and even before she had completed the prescribed course of study, she had begun working away from home. At first, she received only her board and room. After she finished school, however, she was paid a salary of $12 per year.
Fortunately, she said, she did not have to do much outdoor work. Most of her duties had to do with housekeeping, but helping with the cooking, washing and baking and tending to the children, kept her plenty busy.
Relatives who had moved to the United States induced her to come to this country in 1883. She and her sister boarded a ship in Germany and landed in New York 14 days later. Although the trip was uneventful, the sight of land was a pleasant one, Mrs. Hamann states. They came directly to Benton county, where Mrs. Hamann immediately began working for her uncle at $2 a week. Truly she thought, America must be the land of promise if she could earn as much in six weeks here as she could in Germany in 52 weeks.
Continued in the April 6, 2023, edition of the Star Herald

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older.
The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Sept. 2, 1943.
You can’t beat a life of retirement for a good time, according to William Mitchell, Luverne, who after four years of taking life easy, still has enough fun working with his tools and in his garden, to keep him from being lonesome to be “on the job.”
Mr. Mitchell retired in 1939 after having been employed for 53 years as railroad depot agent, telegraph operator and yardmaster in towns and cities throughout a big area in the Midwest. Now, when he tires of just loafing, he goes out to his workshop where he has a lathe and other woodworking tools, or he works in his garden. Being a city councilman, he also has certain duties to perform in connection with that office, so he certainly isn’t living a life of idleness, although it might be one of leisure.
Mr. Mitchell has had an interesting life, ever since he was a boy. Born in Fond de Lac, Wis., Sept. 3, 1868, the son of James Monroe and Mathilda Dusenberry Mitchell, he moved with them at the age of three to Winneisheik county, Iowa. The trip was made by ox-team and covered wagon, and he recalls ferrying across the Mississippi river at McGregor.
His first home was a log house. There were many snakes in the country at that time, and on many occasions his mother would carry him around while driving snakes through openings in the log floor.
“Wild! I’ll say that country was wild in those days,” Mr. Mitchell relates. “You could hear the wolves howl at night, and lots of times I heard the groundhogs and the skunks fight for possession of the living quarters under the house. I’d lie in bed and listen to them, half scared to death.”
His father borrowed money from his grandfather at 12 percent interest to buy the land on which they settled. At that time, the farm consisted of 80 acres of hard timber. Now it has been all cleared, and farm land.
He helped his father clear the land, and rattle snakes often hid in the brush piles which were numerous in the clearings. When the brush would be burned, the snakes crawl out, only to find men and boys waiting with pitchforks to kill them. Mr. Mitchell states that on several occasions while pitching bundles to his father on a grain stack that snakes would crawl out of the bundles. However, neither his father nor he was ever hurt.
After finishing the public school, he attended high school in Ossian, Iowa, and after that went to Upper Iowa University at Fayette, where he took a business course. He came home and worked on the farm, then decided he wanted to be a railroad man. He was given a chance to learn to be a telegraph operator, and then was given his first job at La Porte. His salary was $40 a month for a 16-hour day.
From that time until coming to Luverne in 1918, Mr. Mitchell was moved from one town to another. While he was employed at Dysart, Iowa, he became acquainted with Cora Brode, and they were married at her home in Benton county, Dec. 23, 1891.
He worked nights at Dysart for eight years. He reports that he sold many tickets to people from that area who were coming to southwestern Minnesota on home seeker’s excursions. In the spring, these same people would leave on immigrant trains for their new homes which had been arranged for the previous autumn.
He served at Morrison, Iowa, as a telegraph operator at the time a flood washed out a stretch of track between Morrison and Reinbeck, about five miles in length. He was on duty three days and three nights without relief, and as a result, he fell asleep on the job. The company found it out, and that ended his career in Morrison.
He served in a number of other towns and finally landed in Cedar Rapids. From there he came to Ellsworth in 1906, where he remained until going to Watertown in 1911. Ellsworth was a booming railroad town then, and Mr. Michell served as yardmaster, one of the toughest jobs in railroading. Considerable amount of livestock was shipped from Ellsworth at that time. He remembers one time a whole trainload of cattle was shipped from there to Liverpool, England.
He served in Watertown eight years and then came to Luverne, where he was station agent and operator until his retirement in 1939.
Looking back over his 53 years of service, he states, “Railroading really gives a person a good schooling. You learn how to know and how to take people — a matter of fact, you can learn to read their minds. I used to study people, and got so that I could tell what they were going to ask me before they ever spoke a word. The company would send “spies” around to check up on the employees, and I got so I could tell one the minute he began coming down the walk.”
Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell became the parents of seven children, all except one of whom are living. They include Lawrence of Minneapolis; Gertrude, of Napa, Calif.; Harold, of Luverne; Dorothy (Mrs. Selmer Bly) Valley Springs; James, who is serving with the army in India and Delmer of Luverne. They have 10 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
He has one living sister, Mrs. Caroline Finney, Hattiesville, Maryland.
Mr. Mitchell is a member of the Methodist church, the Masonic Blue Lodge, the Commandery and Eastern Star.
He served three years as mayor of the city, and has been on the city council for four years.
He attributes his good health and age to just keeping busy, and having good habits. “I can’t remember that I’ve had a doctor more than once in my life,” he states.
In addition to woodworking, Mr. Mitchell also keeps bees as a hobby. “It’s not only interesting, but it’s profitable,” he declares.
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older.
The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Aug. 26, 1943.
(Lars Larson of Hardwick continues his story from last week.)
There were no public schools at that time, and the education the children did get was obtained from classes conducted in the homes. School was held one week in each home, and the Norwegian language was used exclusively until the public schools came into being. One of her teachers, she recalls, was Christopher Helgeson.
Her father went to Sibley the first year or two he was here to have their wheat ground into flour. Trips were made to Mud Creek, near where the present town of Hills is now located by ox-team and lumber wagon. A hard plank across the wagon box was the only seat.
“Thinking back,” says Mrs. Larson, “I don’t see how they could pull through in those days. But in spite of the hardships, I can’t remember that we ever went hungry.”
When she was about 16, she worked as a maid in Luverne for one of the bankers. Her salary was $1.50 per week, and that sum was hard-earned. On wash days, she would get up at 3 a.m. and rub all the clothes clean on a wash board. In the winter time, when there was no rain water, she would melt snow and ice to obtain soft water to do the washing. In addition she did the housework, cleaning, baking, and other tasks to earn her meager salary.
Although the country was “quite civilized” when her parents moved here, there were times that Indians were seen in this section of the country. Most of them were trappers and had their trap lines along the Rock river. Although they never did any harm, they often came to the homes to beg something to eat, and as a rule, they were never refused by the frightened housewives.
Mr. and Mrs. Larson have two children, the Misses Inga and Helen Larson, both of whom live at home.
Mr. Larson has one brother, Nels Larson, Luverne, and one sister, Mrs. Harold Sambo, of Willmar, living. There were six boys and four girls in the family at one time. 
Mrs. Larson has only one brother, Ben Roen, of Vienna township, who is living. The family once numbered eight children, and Mrs. Larson and Mr. Roen are the two youngest.
Mr. and Mrs. Larson are members of Our Savior’s Lutheran church here, having joined after they moved here in 1920. However, when they lived on the farm, they were members of the Blue Mound Lutheran church, and Mr. Larson served as church treasurer for many years. 
Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older.
The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Aug. 26, 1943.
Claims made by friends that the United States was the ideal spot on the globe to live tempted Lars Larson, Hardwick, to leave his home at Aal Hallingdal, Norway, and come to this country. That their claims were not exaggerated in Mr. Larson’s mind was evidenced by the fact that he borrowed money to send for the remainder of the family the following year.
Mr. Larson was born January 12, 1863, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Knute Larson. His parents were farmers, living about 18 miles from the capital city of Oslo. Although he was only what is now a short driving distance from the capital, he never saw it until he embarked for the United States in 1882.
He attended school in Norway and stated that classes were held in the various homes of the community until later when a school building was built. The schoolmaster would room and board at his home where the classes were being conducted, and when the classes would be moved, he would move, too. Although children learned to read and write and do arithmetic, religion was one of the main subjects.
After he was confirmed, he began working away from home on farms. A day’s work was begun before sunrise and ended after sunset. Sometimes, when they went into the forests to get their wood for their winter fuel supply, they would start from home at about 2 a.m.
His arrival in this country was delayed by ice off the banks of Newfoundland. When the ship neared the shore, huge ice floes surrounded it, and for 11 days, it made little or no progress. What little headway was gained by the ship during the day was lost at night as the ice floated out to sea. Seals were thick in the vicinity he recalls, many of them sunning themselves on the ice close to the ship. The vessel finally docked at Quebec, and from there, he went by train to Claremont, Iowa, where he had friends.
He worked there seven years, and then at the late Rasmus Halvorson farm for about two years He bought some land in Battle Plain township, paying $12 per acre for 80 acres. Later he added another 80 acres for which he paid $30 per acre.
On June 24, 1897, he was married at the Blue Mound church to Barbara Julia Roen, and they farmed in Battle Plain township until 1914 when they moved to Luverne. After five years in town, they moved back to the farm, lived there one year, and then sold it and moved to Hardwick which has since been their home.
Many changes have taken place in farming methods, as well as in modes of living, says Mr. Larson. In the early days he would come to Luverne to do business because there was no such thing at that time as a village of Hardwick or Kenneth. Coming a distance of 10 or 12 miles with a team and wagon was not an everyday occurrence, Larson states, and when one did come to town, he did his business in a hurry and began the trip home.
He has walked behind various types of walking cultivators, plows, etc., and has helped bind grain on an old-fashioned harvester where two men had to tie the grain as fast as it was cut with a sickle.
During all his years of farming, he never had what could be termed a complete crop failure. Although there were some years when crops were small, there was always something that was raised for feed, even the year when there was a heavy frost late in June.
Mrs. Larson, who was born Nov. 28, 1869, in Mitchell county, Iowa, is credited by Mr. Larson as being the real pioneer of the family. She came to Rock county with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Arne Roen by ox team and covered wagon in 1871. Their covered wagon was their home until her father broke sod and built a sod house that summer on his homestead, just east of the Blue Mound church. Later they “went modern” and lived in a stone cellar.
They twisted slough hay for fuel and often saw prairie fires sweep over the ground, cutting huge black swaths as the flames roared forward with the wind. She also remembers the year of the grasshopper plague how the swarms covered the sun, and ate everything in sight.
(Larson's story continues next week.)

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older.
The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Aug. 19, 1943.
“When the Kiebach family moved from Iowa to Rock county,” declared Mrs. William Mitchell, Luverne, I thought they were going to clear out of the world. Then as fate would have it, I moved here too, and found that it was a civilized place after all.”
Distances, she explained, were much greater then than they are now, and when someone went as far away from Benton county, Iowa, to Rock County, Minnesota, it seemed as if they were going into an altogether different world.
Mrs. Mitchell was born Cora Maude Brode, the daughter of David D. and Mary Brode, in Homer township, Benton county, on June 1 1867. The Kiebach family, the Strassburg family, and several other families who now live in Rock county were neighbors of the Brodes before they came to Minnesota to live. The Brode family, however, did not leave Iowa, and it was not until after Mrs. Mitchell was married that her husband just by chance was assigned the position of depot agent here. Thus it was that after a period of 25 years, she and the people she knew during her childhood, were brought together again in a new and different community.
Mrs. Mitchell was born on a farm and attended country school. She and a twin sister finished school at the same time, and when her sister decided to continue her studies and become a school teacher, Mrs. Mitchell went to Van Horn, Iowa, to learn the dressmaker’s trade.
Living on the farm as she did, she learned to so many of the common farm tasks. She states that she helped milk cows until she was 22 years old, and she believes that she can still bind grain the old fashioned way. Although it was not necessary for her to bind grain when she was a girl, she often did it because the other girls in the community did, and she wanted to be able to do the same as they did.
When she was a girl attending country schools, she often saw Indians from the Tama reservation when they would go to attend their regular “pow-wows” at Shellsburg. “Lots of times,” Mrs. Mitchell states, “the Indians with their horses and equipment would be strung out over a distance of a mile. The old chieftain would be riding the lead pony, and he always had a gun lying across his saddle. Following behind, some on foot, and some on ponies, were the squaws, braves and the papooses. Although they were civilized, Mrs. Mitchell states she’d always try to get as far away from them as she could. They knew she was frightened, and would joke about it amongst themselves. “People said they were on their way to have their annual dog feast,” Mrs. Mitchell states. “After being gone for some time, they’d all come back the same way as they went.”
There were considerable movements of immigrants at that time, too, she states, and she recalls seeing covered wagons going by their home on their way to Nebraska where there was still free land for those who wanted to homestead.
She was about 17 or 18 when she went to Van Horn to learn dress making. Her mother was an excellent seamstress, and from her she acquired the desire to learn how to sew. She sewed by the day for a long time, earning 50 cents a day. Although that sounds very meager in this day and age, Mrs. Mitchell explained that in those days, 50 cents went a long ways. Living costs were very low; eggs for instance, being only six cents per dozen. Corn was only 20 cents a bushel, and many of the people burned it as fuel as they had more corn than wood, and more heat could be obtained out of a dollar’s worth of coal.
After working by the day some time she went to Dysart, Iowa, where she worked in a dress-making shop for 75 cents a day. This job didn’t appeal to her, so she finally quit and married William Mitchell, then a telegraph operator, who boarded at the same place as she did.
They were married Dec. 23, 1891, in the house in which Mrs. Mitchell was born, and after that, they moved from one point to another in Iowa, wherever Mr. Mitchell was assigned by the railroad company. Their first home in Minnesota was at Ellsworth in 1906, when Mr. Mitchell was assigned as yardmaster there. Ellsworth was then a booming railroad town.
The Mitchell children were small then, and during the years she lived there, Mrs. Mitchell states that she worked the hardest she has ever worked. Baking and sewing for several children never gave her time to get into mischief, she states.
From Ellsworth, they moved to Watertown, and in 1918, they came to Luverne, which has since been their home.
Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell had seven children, six of whom are living now. They are Lawrence, of Minneapolis; Gertrude, of of Napa, Calif.; Harold, of Luverne, Dorothy (Mrs. Sam Bly) of Valley Springs; James, who is serving somewhere in the China-Burma-India war theater and Delmar, who lives in Luverne.
Mrs. Mitchell also has 10 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. One grandson, Edwin, makes his home with the Mitchells.
Of a family of five, Mrs. Mitchell, and one brother, Daniel Brode, of Myrtle Point, Ore. are the only ones living.
During the time she has lived in Luverne, Mrs. Mitchell has been an active member of the Methodist church, and at present is a member of the Fireside Circle, a women’s organization of the church. She is also a member of the Eastern Star.
Her hobby is doing fancy work of all kinds. At one time, she raised canary birds as a hobby, but has discontinued that during latter years.
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older.
The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Aug. 5, 1943.
(continuation of the interview with Jacob Wahlert of Luverne)
Two of his brothers left home before he did, and came to this country, and they were so impressed by the United States that they sent him money to come here, too.
“Father was a working man,” Mr. Walhert explained, “and once a working man there, you were always a working man. You never had a chance to get ahead. I didn’t like the idea of working all my life for practically nothing, so I decided I could do no worse here, so I took a chance and came to America.”
In making the trip to this country, Mr. Walhert managed to get a stateroom in the middle of the ship. While the ends of the ship went up and down over the waves, the center of the vessel remained quite stationary and for that reason, he didn’t become seasick. After about 12 days on the ocean, they steamed into New York harbor. “Boy it was surely good to see land,” he said. “If you are accustomed to being on land, and then don’t see it for a while, it really looks good to you.”
A person had to do a lot of work for what he got in that pioneer era, according to Mr. Wahlert, even though America was then and is now, the land of promise. The working day on the farm began at 4 a.m. with the morning chores, and ended about 10 p.m. with the evening chores.
“People have changed a lot in the last 40 years, however,” Mr. Wahlert states, “and there’s an awful big difference in the way they live. Working half the night was a lot of foolishness. Get out early in the morning and then quit when supper time comes — that’s the way I think one gets along the best. When I first came to this country, though, everybody seemed to be working from daylight until dark.”
Mr. Wahlert settled first in 1884, in Iowa county, Iowa. The first grain binders had just come out then, and although clumsy, were a big improvement over the “self-rake.” Bundles were tied with wire, not with twine, and at threshing time, someone had to stand with a pair of nippers to cut the wire bands before the grain went into the threshing machine. About 12 head of horses were hitched to a horsepower which provided the motivating power for the rig. If any job was ever hard on horses, that was, Mr. Wahlert said. After they became obsolete, the steam rigs were used. Like anyone who has had anything to do with a steam threshing rig, Mr. Wahlert still likes the sight of black smoke puffing skyward, the sound of the whistle and the smell of steam and hot oil.
Mr. Wahlert came to Rock county in 1895, working first on a farm as a month laborer. That fall, he obtained a job with a threshing crew at $1.25 a day and helped the county until the latter part of October.
He began farming for himself in 1896 on a place in Luverne township, southeast of the county farm. On Nov. 20 of that year, he was married to Dora Bendt, in Luverne, by the late Judge Webber.
After they were married, they moved to the northeast quarter of section eight. Luverne township, about two miles west of Luverne, and lived there 12 years before buying the southeast quarter of section 35, range 46, in Springwater township, which was the Wahlert home until they sold out and moved to Luverne a year ago last March.
Although busy with his own affairs, Mr. Wahlert found time to serve as road boss in Luverne township during 1904, 1905 and 1906. While living in Springwater township, he served about 18 years on the school board of district 46 and held that position at the time he moved to Luverne.
Of a family of four boys and one girl, Mr. Wahlert is the only one living.
He has 25 grandchildren.
 
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older.
The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Aug. 5, 1943.
Jacob Wahlert, Luverne, holds two county records and both records are worthy of note. First he is the father of 16 children, all of whom are now adults and living in various parts of the United States. Secondly, he claims the record of having more sons in the service of their country than any other father in this country. At the present time, five Wahlert boys are in uniform, and it is expected that two others will be called to the colors in the future.
Rearing a large family as Mr. Wahlert and his wife did was a job in itself; but it was a pleasant task, not a drudgery, Mr. Wahlert states. One of the secrets of their success, however, was the fact that they lived on a farm all the time the children were all at home. “There was plenty of work for them to do,” Mr. Wahlert said, “and plenty of space for them to play in so we always got along just fine.”
Mollie, the oldest, is now Mrs. George Blomnell, who lives in Minneapolis. George lives on a farm in Mound township. Rose is Mrs. Alfred Staeffler of Battle Plain township. William F. Wahlert lives in Dayton, Ohio, and Elizabeth lives with her parents at home. Cpl. Alfred Wahlert is stationed with the army at Warrenton, Pa. Harry and Raymond live in Cincinnati. Jacob, Jr. is serving with the U.S. Navy in California; Mamie, now Mrs. Dick Schmuck, lives in Luverne township; Mildred, Mrs. Dick Brewer, lives at Adrian; Sgt. John Walhert is serving with the army in North Africa; Ralph lives in Minneapolis; Pvt. Harvey Walhert is with the army at Boca Baton, Fla.; Pfc. Arlo Wahlert is stationed at Carolina Beach, North Carolina, and Dorothy, Mrs. William Lutt Jr., resides in Springwater township, Rock county.
Mr. Wahlert has been a resident of Rock county for nearly a half a century, and until moving to Luverne a year ago last spring, he had been a farmer all his life.
He was born in Germany April, 17, 1868, the son of John and Mollie Haack Wahlert. He lived with his parents until he was 16 years of age, attending school, and working out away from home as soon as he was able. In Germany, Mr. Walhert said, there were “no ifs or ands about it”, everybody between the ages of 7 and 14 attended school during the winter months. During the summer vacations, usually about four months in duration, he helped on farms, usually receiving about $10 for his summer’s work. However, even during the summer months, he had to go to school two forenoons a week.
Two of his brothers left home before he did, and came to this country, and they were so impressed by the United States that they sent him money to come here, too.
“Father was a working man,” Mr. Walhert explained, “and once a working man there, you were always a working man. You never had a chance to get ahead. I didn’t like the idea of working all my life for practically nothing, so I decided I could do no worse here, so I took a chance and came to America.”
In making the trip to this country, Mr. Walhert managed to get a stateroom in the middle of the ship. While the ends of the ship went up and down over the waves, the center of the vessel remained quite stationary and for that reason, he didn’t become seasick. After about 12 days on the ocean, they steamed into New York harbor. “Boy it was surely good to see land,” he said. “If you are accustomed to being on land, and then don’t see it for a while, it really looks good to you.”
A person had to do a lot of work for what he got in that pioneer era, according to Mr. Wahlert, even though America was then and is now, the land of promise. The working day on the farm began at 4 a.m. with the morning chores, and ended about 10 p.m. with the evening chores.
“People have changed a lot in the last 40 years, however,” Mr. Wahlert states, “and there’s an awful big difference in the way they live. Working half the night was a lot of foolishness. Get out early in the morning and then quit when supper time comes — that’s the way I think one gets along the best. When I first came to this country, though, everybody seemed to be working from daylight until dark.”
Mr. Wahlert settled first in 1884, in Iowa county, Iowa. The first grain binders had just come out then, and although clumsy, were a big improvement over the “self-rake.” Bundles were tied with wire, not with twine, and at threshing time, someone had to stand with a pair of nippers to cut the wire bands before the grain went into the threshing machine. About 12 head of horses were hitched to a horsepower which provided the motivating power for the rig. If any job was ever hard on horses, that was, Mr. Wahlert said. After they became obsolete, the steam rigs were used. Like anyone who has had anything to do with a steam threshing rig, Mr. Wahlert still likes the sight of black smoke puffing skyward, the sound of the whistle and the smell of steam and hot oil.
Mr. Wahlert came to Rock county in 1895, working first on a farm as a month laborer. That fall, he obtained a job with a threshing crew at $1.25 a day and helped the county until the latter part of October.
He began farming for himself in 1896 on a place in Luverne township, southeast of the county farm. On Nov. 20 of that year, he was married to Dora Bendt, in Luverne, by the late Judge Webber.
After they were married, they moved to the northeast quarter of section eight. Luverne township, about two miles west of Luverne, and lived there 12 years before buying the southeast quarter of section 35, range 46, in Springwater township, which was the Wahlert home until they sold out and moved to Luverne a year ago last March.
Although busy with his own affairs, Mr. Wahlert found time to serve as road boss in Luverne township during 1904, 1905 and 1906. While living in Springwater township, he served about 18 years on the school board of district 46 and held that position at the time he moved to Luverne.
Of a family of four boys and one girl, Mr. Wahlert is the only one living.
He has 25 grandchildren.
 
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.

The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older.
The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on July 29, 1943.
This article is continued from last week.
That fall, Mr. (Theodore) Lemke was helping his father plow. The place they were working was a considerable distance from home so they would take along enough provisions to last two or three days. They slept between some grain stacks which provided shelter for them. On October 15 that year, a rain began to fall, and the elder Mr. Lemke told his son that they had better not stay out any longer, but had better go home. They had no more than arrived home, than a blizzard struck and they were snowed in the rest of the winter. The blizzard lasted two or three days, and after the storm subsided, they went out to look for their stock. They found their oxen and hogs in an open straw shed which had been blown nearly full of snow. After much hard work and shoveling, they were able to get the animals out.
His father homesteaded on section 22, Denver township, and there they erected a frame shanty which they gave a protective covering of sod. The house was warm in winter, even though they burned nothing but twisted flax for fuel.
They enjoyed good crops those years, Mr. Lemke said. Wheat and flax produced high yields. At that time, there was no railroad into Hardwick, and all grain was hauled to Luverne. He recalls that he has hauled wheat into town when as many as 30 or 40 wagon loads were ahead of him, waiting to be emptied at the elevator.
Only perseverance and good fortune saved the Lemke cattle herd from being lost during the blizzard of 1888. The animals were about 60 or 70 rods from the barn, when Mr. Lemke, who was afoot, and his brother, who was on horseback, tried to drive them toward the barn. The stock came within about 15 or 20 rods of the buildings, and then refused to go further. Although the two boys tried to prod them along, they would not move until finally Mr. Lemke decided to walk ahead of them and call them. His idea was a success, for they followed him until they were safe inside their shelter. By that time the storm had reached such severity that they virtually had to feel their way to the house.
The first years here, they were troubled with prairie fires. Several times, the fire came within a short distance of the buildings, and the only thing that saved them was the fact that a fire break had been plowed around them. At night, one could see flames leaping all along the horizon, Mr. Lemke said.
Two years before he was married, Mr. Lemke bought a farm on section 24, Denver township. His father had first bought the land from a man by the name of Dennis Murphy. All he paid for it was 50 cents. Mr. Lemke explained that the land was mortgaged, and his father in addition to giving Mr. Murphy’s wife a half dollar, paid the mortgage on the land and obtained it that way. Mr. Lemke bought it from his father for $1,200.
On June, 26, 1893, he married Anna Helden, at Hardwick, and they made their home on their farm until 1926 when they moved to town.
“During all those years, Mr. Lemke said, “I never had a vacation. I don’t believe I was ever away from home at chore time one night when I was farming.”
Since coming to Luverne, however, Mr. Lemke has “taken life easy.” He and Mrs. Lemke traveled in the western states, making a leisurely trip by car several years ago.
They have four children, Herbert, who lives on the farm near Hardwick; Mrs. Peter (Amgard) Lynch, Luverne; Mrs. Carl (Elsie) Hoepner, and Mrs. Otto (Ruth) Lynch, both of whom live at Santa Ana, Calif. They also have nine grandchildren.
Mr. Lemke is now believed to be the oldest man holding membership in St. John’s Lutheran church here. His father helped found the German Lutheran congregation at Hardwick which church was served by the pastor of the local congregation. Mr. Lemke remembers when traveling missionaries conducted services in the Hoffelman home here, the first German Lutheran services ever conducted in this area.
Going on 79 years, Mr. Lemke states that he has enjoyed good health all his life, with the exception of several weeks last winter when he was quite seriously ill. He attributes his long life and good health to the “grace of God,” stating that “it was just God’s will that I managed to pull through alive. I was sick last Christmas.”
Of eight children in the Lemke family, Mr. Lemke is one of five still living. His brothers and sisters include Ferdinand Lemke, Los Angeles; Mrs. Will Brennan, Watertown, and Mrs. Gust Manke, Princeton, Minn.
Mr. Lemke states that he never had time to become involved in politics. The only public office he ever served was that of being member of the school board. He has held a number of offices in the church, however.
 
         Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.