Bachman Family
by Ella Dimond
(Transcribed, with permission from the Mellette County Historical Society, from "Mellette County 1911-1986" published by the Mellette County Historical Society)
The Bachman family migrated from Rohrbach, Russia, in about 1899. They left Germany after the Napoleonic Wars because of persecution. The family of six boys and three girls came by boat to New York and then across country by train to settle in Texas. Pete, Gottlieb and Catherine, their sister, came to South Dakota and settled in Bonesteel. Later Pete and Gottlieb moved to Mellette County and filed on a homestead northeast of Wood.
In 1902 the Jacob Wust family left Rohrbach, Russia, for the United States. They came over on the ship Kaiser Wilhelm, which docked in New York. They also moved to Texas to settle with fellow countrymen. This family consisted of three boys and four girls. Bertha Wust and Pete Bachman were married in 1910. Two boys were born to Pete and Bertha while they lived in Texas; Ernest (who died in infancy) and Willie. Ella Bachman (Dimond) was born in Gregory County in 1913. Soon after this event, the family moved by wagon to the homestead northeast of Wood.
In 1911 Pete took out a petition for naturalization. His certificate was issued to him in 1917. I guess they didn't think Bertha needed to become a citizen so nothing was done about her papers until 1970 when she took out papers and became a citizen.
Gottlieb Bachman had married Bertha Wust's sister Magdalena and they also homesteaded in Mellette County about a mile from our home place. They had seven children. Only two grew to adulthood. Aunt Lena (as we called her) was ill most of her life and she passed away in 1921. We were very close to our aunt, uncle and cousins, as they were our closest relatives. All of the others had stayed in Texas and in those days we didn't do much traveling. By this time our family had enlarged to five boys and one girl. The stork came in a horse drawn-buggy and was named Mrs. Pat McDonald.
We lived on the homestead until about 1922. Dad farmed, raised sheep, cattle and chickens. We always put in a big garden. We never went to town much but we did visit our neighbors by wagon, of course. Sometimes we'd go at night to the Wilsons, Satrees, Harts or Judsons. Then the folks would put hay in the wagon and cover us with a feather tick.
One time the Indians had a celebration at Badnation and we got to go. When we got there, someone was selling peanut butter and our mouths were just watering. This wasn't an everyday commodity like it is now; it was a real treat. Finally Mom consented to buy some. She purchased a small jar and it was just enough for each of us to have a taste—what a treat.
We moved to Wood so we would be closer to school. We always enjoyed it when Dad had to get wood, as we would get to go along and visit Uncle Gottlieb and the two boys. Dad farmed the place where Mrs. Dickson now lives. He also worked for Harlan Danker and was a house mover. We lived on the Day place north and west of Wood at one time and also on the Erny Wilmoth place east and south of Wood. That is where the rattlesnakes took over and we had to keep our eyes open all the time.
By 1931 the family had enlarged to 13 children. Dad moved the house west of Wood by the spring dam. I don't remember how long we lived there, but Dad raised some big watermelons out there. We always had a big garden and how we hated to pick beetles and "tater" bugs. And oh, all those peas to shell! As I was the oldest girl, mother gave me a lot of responsibilities. I remember when I was six years old, John and I were supposed to kill a chicken for dinner. He held its legs and I held its head and cut it off with the butcher knife.
Later Dad moved the house back to Wood. Those were the dry years, with dust and grasshoppers. The folks had milk cows and chickens, so we managed to get by. There was also the WPA. Willie, John, Pete and Martha graduated from Wood High School. I got married in 1931, and Jake and I worked for the Stumers, Wheelers and anywhere we could get a job. Dad gave us two cows, but as there was no feed we had to sell them to the government. They killed and buried them.
Audry Jean, our first girl, was born premature in 1932. She died the day after she was born. We started for the hospital in Winner, but she was born before we got to Witten. On Monday we had such a bad storm and it lasted for ten days. I had never been away from home much and I felt like I was in jail because I couldn't see out the windows.
We lived around Wood until 1938. By then we had two more girls: Lois. 1935. and Mae, 1936. They were only one and one half years apart and everyone thought they were twins. In 1938. we had a sale and sold our house and furniture and started to the west coast. We got as far as Boise, Idaho. My brother Ben went with us, and he and Jake got the mumps; everyone was sick so we came back to Wood.
We acquired a truck and built a top on it and started out again. This time we made it to Tulelake, California. My brother John was working there. Jake worked in the hay fields and on a wheat farm.
The Joneschiets lived in Bly, Oregon, so we sold our truck and got a small trailer house and moved to Bly where Jake and Merle Joneschiet worked in the timber. We built a small house there and Jake quit the timber and worked in the sawmill. Lois started school in Bly. When she was in the second grade we moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon. Jake worked in the sawmill there and we had a house with a small acreage, so we raised garden produce and sold it to the stores. In 1942, my folks came to Klamath Falls from the Dakotas. Dad wasn't very well so Mom and the boys worked. By this time Jake was working for Murl Long on a wheat farm. I helped cook for the ranch hands for a while. On March 4, 1944, my father passed away and we buried him at Klamath Falls. On March 31, 1944 our fourth daughter, Dorothy, was born.
My brothers John, Pete, Everett, Ewalt and Jack all served in the United States Army. Ben and Carroll served in the United States Navy. In the spring of 1945, Jake received word that his brother Bill had passed away. My family and my mother came back to Wood for the funeral. Jake decided to stay and farm. My mother and I returned to Klamath so the girls could finish the school term. We rented a big twenty-room house. Mother and the boys that were home lived on the second story and the girls and I lived on the main floor. There was still room left over so we rented that part out. I worked at the Winema Hotel and as a soda fountain clerk in the evenings. Jake, his brother Winnie, and his wife Florence came back after school was out and moved us back to South Dakota.
Willie Bachman married Evelyn Rankin in 1941. They live in Wood and spend the winters in Ohio and Tennessee where their three married children live. Ella married Jake Dimond in 1931. They had four girls. Jake was killed in an auto accident November 1982. John Bachman is married and lives in Mesa. Washington; he has one boy. Pete married Janie Furhman. They live in Lamar, Arkansas. Two boys were born to this family; one son deceased.
Ruth Bachman married Arthur Estey. They live in Des Moines, Iowa. They have two boys and two girls. Ben Bachman is married, he has two boys and one girl. The oldest boy is deceased. Martha married Wilbur Versteeg, lives in Newton, Iowa, and has seven boys and one girl. Gerald lives in Coos Bay, Oregon; he has one boy. Carroll lives in Sacramento and has one girl. Everett lives in Coos Bay, Oregon, and has four girls. Ewalt is married and has one son. They live in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Jack passed away in 1980. Betty, the youngest, lives in Sacramento. California, and has two boys.
After we came back to Wood. Jake farmed and bought a maintainer and worked the county roads. Later the county bought a larger one and he worked for 29 years and then retired. Lois and Bonnie graduated from Wood, and Mae graduated from Plainview Academy. Lois and Mae both taught country schools in Mellette County. Lois also graduated from Green's Beauty School in Rapid City. Bonnie was born when the girls went to school in Des Moines in 1949. Lois owned and operated her own beauty salons in White River, Winner, and Presho. Mae married George Dickson in 1964. They have one son, Wes, from Grand Junction, Colorado. Dorothy married Alvin Stromer from White River, and they have one girl and one boy. Bonnie married Bryon Holland from Rapid City—they have one son. Lois's son Mike lives in Rapid City.
In August 1977, we had a three-week-long family reunion in Wood. All of "Ma's" thirteen children, the twelve wives, twenty-five grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren helped her celebrate that great occasion. (My dad saw only three of his grandchildren). We were so thankful that we had this time together, as a year later my mother had a heart attack. I stayed with her until she passed away on December 3, 1978.
by Ella Dimond
(Transcribed, with permission from the Mellette County Historical Society, from "Mellette County 1911-1986" published by the Mellette County Historical Society)
The Bachman family migrated from Rohrbach, Russia, in about 1899. They left Germany after the Napoleonic Wars because of persecution. The family of six boys and three girls came by boat to New York and then across country by train to settle in Texas. Pete, Gottlieb and Catherine, their sister, came to South Dakota and settled in Bonesteel. Later Pete and Gottlieb moved to Mellette County and filed on a homestead northeast of Wood.
In 1902 the Jacob Wust family left Rohrbach, Russia, for the United States. They came over on the ship Kaiser Wilhelm, which docked in New York. They also moved to Texas to settle with fellow countrymen. This family consisted of three boys and four girls. Bertha Wust and Pete Bachman were married in 1910. Two boys were born to Pete and Bertha while they lived in Texas; Ernest (who died in infancy) and Willie. Ella Bachman (Dimond) was born in Gregory County in 1913. Soon after this event, the family moved by wagon to the homestead northeast of Wood.
In 1911 Pete took out a petition for naturalization. His certificate was issued to him in 1917. I guess they didn't think Bertha needed to become a citizen so nothing was done about her papers until 1970 when she took out papers and became a citizen.
Gottlieb Bachman had married Bertha Wust's sister Magdalena and they also homesteaded in Mellette County about a mile from our home place. They had seven children. Only two grew to adulthood. Aunt Lena (as we called her) was ill most of her life and she passed away in 1921. We were very close to our aunt, uncle and cousins, as they were our closest relatives. All of the others had stayed in Texas and in those days we didn't do much traveling. By this time our family had enlarged to five boys and one girl. The stork came in a horse drawn-buggy and was named Mrs. Pat McDonald.
We lived on the homestead until about 1922. Dad farmed, raised sheep, cattle and chickens. We always put in a big garden. We never went to town much but we did visit our neighbors by wagon, of course. Sometimes we'd go at night to the Wilsons, Satrees, Harts or Judsons. Then the folks would put hay in the wagon and cover us with a feather tick.
One time the Indians had a celebration at Badnation and we got to go. When we got there, someone was selling peanut butter and our mouths were just watering. This wasn't an everyday commodity like it is now; it was a real treat. Finally Mom consented to buy some. She purchased a small jar and it was just enough for each of us to have a taste—what a treat.
We moved to Wood so we would be closer to school. We always enjoyed it when Dad had to get wood, as we would get to go along and visit Uncle Gottlieb and the two boys. Dad farmed the place where Mrs. Dickson now lives. He also worked for Harlan Danker and was a house mover. We lived on the Day place north and west of Wood at one time and also on the Erny Wilmoth place east and south of Wood. That is where the rattlesnakes took over and we had to keep our eyes open all the time.
By 1931 the family had enlarged to 13 children. Dad moved the house west of Wood by the spring dam. I don't remember how long we lived there, but Dad raised some big watermelons out there. We always had a big garden and how we hated to pick beetles and "tater" bugs. And oh, all those peas to shell! As I was the oldest girl, mother gave me a lot of responsibilities. I remember when I was six years old, John and I were supposed to kill a chicken for dinner. He held its legs and I held its head and cut it off with the butcher knife.
Later Dad moved the house back to Wood. Those were the dry years, with dust and grasshoppers. The folks had milk cows and chickens, so we managed to get by. There was also the WPA. Willie, John, Pete and Martha graduated from Wood High School. I got married in 1931, and Jake and I worked for the Stumers, Wheelers and anywhere we could get a job. Dad gave us two cows, but as there was no feed we had to sell them to the government. They killed and buried them.
Audry Jean, our first girl, was born premature in 1932. She died the day after she was born. We started for the hospital in Winner, but she was born before we got to Witten. On Monday we had such a bad storm and it lasted for ten days. I had never been away from home much and I felt like I was in jail because I couldn't see out the windows.
We lived around Wood until 1938. By then we had two more girls: Lois. 1935. and Mae, 1936. They were only one and one half years apart and everyone thought they were twins. In 1938. we had a sale and sold our house and furniture and started to the west coast. We got as far as Boise, Idaho. My brother Ben went with us, and he and Jake got the mumps; everyone was sick so we came back to Wood.
We acquired a truck and built a top on it and started out again. This time we made it to Tulelake, California. My brother John was working there. Jake worked in the hay fields and on a wheat farm.
The Joneschiets lived in Bly, Oregon, so we sold our truck and got a small trailer house and moved to Bly where Jake and Merle Joneschiet worked in the timber. We built a small house there and Jake quit the timber and worked in the sawmill. Lois started school in Bly. When she was in the second grade we moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon. Jake worked in the sawmill there and we had a house with a small acreage, so we raised garden produce and sold it to the stores. In 1942, my folks came to Klamath Falls from the Dakotas. Dad wasn't very well so Mom and the boys worked. By this time Jake was working for Murl Long on a wheat farm. I helped cook for the ranch hands for a while. On March 4, 1944, my father passed away and we buried him at Klamath Falls. On March 31, 1944 our fourth daughter, Dorothy, was born.
My brothers John, Pete, Everett, Ewalt and Jack all served in the United States Army. Ben and Carroll served in the United States Navy. In the spring of 1945, Jake received word that his brother Bill had passed away. My family and my mother came back to Wood for the funeral. Jake decided to stay and farm. My mother and I returned to Klamath so the girls could finish the school term. We rented a big twenty-room house. Mother and the boys that were home lived on the second story and the girls and I lived on the main floor. There was still room left over so we rented that part out. I worked at the Winema Hotel and as a soda fountain clerk in the evenings. Jake, his brother Winnie, and his wife Florence came back after school was out and moved us back to South Dakota.
Willie Bachman married Evelyn Rankin in 1941. They live in Wood and spend the winters in Ohio and Tennessee where their three married children live. Ella married Jake Dimond in 1931. They had four girls. Jake was killed in an auto accident November 1982. John Bachman is married and lives in Mesa. Washington; he has one boy. Pete married Janie Furhman. They live in Lamar, Arkansas. Two boys were born to this family; one son deceased.
Ruth Bachman married Arthur Estey. They live in Des Moines, Iowa. They have two boys and two girls. Ben Bachman is married, he has two boys and one girl. The oldest boy is deceased. Martha married Wilbur Versteeg, lives in Newton, Iowa, and has seven boys and one girl. Gerald lives in Coos Bay, Oregon; he has one boy. Carroll lives in Sacramento and has one girl. Everett lives in Coos Bay, Oregon, and has four girls. Ewalt is married and has one son. They live in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Jack passed away in 1980. Betty, the youngest, lives in Sacramento. California, and has two boys.
After we came back to Wood. Jake farmed and bought a maintainer and worked the county roads. Later the county bought a larger one and he worked for 29 years and then retired. Lois and Bonnie graduated from Wood, and Mae graduated from Plainview Academy. Lois and Mae both taught country schools in Mellette County. Lois also graduated from Green's Beauty School in Rapid City. Bonnie was born when the girls went to school in Des Moines in 1949. Lois owned and operated her own beauty salons in White River, Winner, and Presho. Mae married George Dickson in 1964. They have one son, Wes, from Grand Junction, Colorado. Dorothy married Alvin Stromer from White River, and they have one girl and one boy. Bonnie married Bryon Holland from Rapid City—they have one son. Lois's son Mike lives in Rapid City.
In August 1977, we had a three-week-long family reunion in Wood. All of "Ma's" thirteen children, the twelve wives, twenty-five grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren helped her celebrate that great occasion. (My dad saw only three of his grandchildren). We were so thankful that we had this time together, as a year later my mother had a heart attack. I stayed with her until she passed away on December 3, 1978.
Mellette County, South Dakota
Family Histories & Biographies - Bachman Surname
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Bachman Surname
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Grandpa and Grandma Bachman,
Mae and Lois Dimond
Mae and Lois Dimond
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