The Baumann Family
by Opal Baumann
(transcribed by RB, with permission from the Mellette County Historical Society, from "Mellette County 1911-1986" published by the Mellette County Historical Society)
My parents were Frank A. and Grace D. Emerick. I was born in Thurston County, Nebraska. When I was five years old they moved to a place that had been a nursery where all kinds of fruit and trees had grown. Among them were many many cottonwood trees. After a time Papa cleared out the cottonwoods and had them sawed into all types of lumber and posts. He sold the lumber as well as the sawdust. Papa used some of the sawdust to pack ice for winter.
Our school was very near home. We could run home for dinner. The older boys went to school in the winter but were needed when spring work began. It was a country school with one teacher for all the grades. I had four sisters and five brothers: Neal, Blanche, Velma, Everett, Ethel, I, Paul, Theodore, Leonard and Francis. We were all healthy and enjoyed one another.
Papa's great-uncle was a partner with John Jacob Astor in the fur trade. He had a disagreement with his family and left home. During this time he became wealthy. In his will he left his fortune to be divided after 100 years. He died and was buried at sea. He was one of the passengers on the Titanic, which was sunk at sea by an iceberg. When they tried to find the will, which was in a church vault, they found that the church had burned and nothing could be proved. I always felt glad, as it might have changed all our lives. Money doesn't mean that much.
My mother died when I was eleven. My sisters Velma and Blanche did all they could for us. Blanche cut her finger on a gallon pail and it wouldn't heal. She was in and out of the hospital for seven years and finally the doctors said that amputation was all they could do. She drew a number on a homestead and filed in Mellette County. By that time, the doctors had decided that maybe a change of climate might help Blanche so Papa moved to Mellette County in 1913. Velma had taken a homestead in 1912 but it was contested so she had to remain there until we came. Two of my brothers also homesteaded and Papa bought a relinquishment.
We came by train to Winner and brought all our property with us. The livestock followed behind the hayrack. It took several days to make the trip. Papa hired Dan Colburn to bring us girls. We met Bert Humphrey, who was carrying mail from Winner to White River, in a stripped-down Ford which he called
the "puddle jumper." He became a very good friend. There were no roads and lots of mud holes. It took all day to get to Velma's place. She had a cozy dugout with another room and an attic.
We managed to get through the winter. It was a mild winter and most of the time we just wore sweaters. This was part of the Happy Hollow District. The menfolk kept busy building corrals and shelter for the animals. The first part of March we had a severe blizzard that lasted for three days. We were so lucky that we had an ample supply of water. The snow covered the windows and doors. The boys managed to crawl out of a window to shovel the snow away so others could get out. In places we just shoveled tunnels as the drifts were so high. Paths had to be made for the stock to get to water and to the haystacks.
By April all the snow was gone. While we were having the blizzard they had a tornado in Omaha. Among those killed was a professor's wife and child. In March, Blanche took the bandages off her hand and it was healed. Building, digging wells and spring planting began. That year there was so much wild fruit.
The next year Velma married and went back to Nebraska to live. Blanche worked for the Hollands at Berkley. That left Ethel, Frances and me as housekeepers. We raised chickens, and a garden, and we loved the wide open spaces.
Mrs. Gilbert Eaton taught our school the next year. They built a church at Happy Hollow that year. There were home dances and lots of good music. Some of he Indian boys would drive from place to place and pick up people. We would dance from ten until sun-up.
Our brother Paul as well as Fred Schmidt was called to the service. While training, Paul came down with the flu and they had given him up for dead, but when he regained consciousness he was so hungry that he got up, wrapped blankets about him and went looking for food. Seeing him, a nurse screamed, thinking she was seeing a ghost. He never did get over the effects of the flu and developed heart trouble. He was scheduled for heart surgery but died of an attack two days before the surgery.
George's parents were John and Teresa Baumann. George was born in Fiestelberg, Germany, in 1891. His feet were deformed at birth, but with special shoes he recovered. Then his mother died and his sisters, being young, did not make him wear his corrective shoes, and in time the doctor could do nothing for him. He went through high school and had two years of college. He always wanted to be a butcher so he apprenticed with his uncle.
He came to the U.S.A. in 1918 and worked as a butcher in packing plants in Chicago and Omaha until he learned to speak English. Then he met Art Zeal from Mellette County, who told him about this country. He worked his way to White River. One day while working near Wood he saw a black and white kitty. He caught it and took it home. To his surprise it was a civet cat.
He worked here and there, and one hot day he drank some nice cold water from an abandoned well and contracted typhoid fever. He was brought to White River and Mrs. Estes nursed him back to health. This was the first time that I can remember of seeing him. Then he went into partnership with Harry Rasmussen and started a butcher shop. Later they moved to a larger store and added groceries to their shop. They did their own butchering, making sausage, bologna and bacon.
Though I only worked away from home during sickness, the next Frontier Days I came in to help at the Jones Hotel for a week, but I stayed on. Then is when I got acquainted with George and dated. We were married January 1, 1922, the year that George became a U. S. citizen. George was initiated into I.O.O.F. Lodge on December 28. When he came home he was initiated into fatherhood—our little Mary was born. She was a beautiful child. When she was 20 months old she drank kerosene left in a cup on a chair and God took her home to be an angel. Anna was five months old then. Ruth was born July 4, 1926, then Alice, January 3, 1928, and George, our first son, December 21, 1930. George was really excited. Then John was born July 10, 1932. George said, "three queens and a pair of jacks is a full house."
When Alice was five years old she had a bad cold which affected her ears and developed into mastoid. The doctor sent us to Mitchell to a specialist. We drove all night. I was nursing John at the time, so I had to take him with us. Alice couldn't hear so she slept most of the way. When she was awake she wanted me to read about Tyky, a dog. They operated the next morning. When she awakened she asked for a drink of water. I told her the faucets didn't work. She looked around and said, '"I'm sorry we died, but I am glad that you are here." I didn't realize that she did not know that she had been operated on and that we were in the hospital. It took a long time before she was well enough to go home. It was good news when the doctor said we could go home.
George decided that he would try something else so he sold out to Rasmussen and bought an old truck. He freighted for the Chamberlain Wholesale Co. to White River. Later he bought a larger truck and hauled everything that people needed hauled, sometimes without pay. He never complained. I don't think anyone realized how much he suffered with his feet. Many times he'd come in and drop into a chair and I'd bathe his aching feet and rub them to relieve the pain.
He also had a water truck and he hauled water in town and the country. We raised registered Hereford cattle while the boys were home to help. We milked cows, sold milk and butter, raised chickens and sold eggs.
In 1926 George went back to Germany to see his aged father. Blanche stayed with me while he was gone. That year we saw our first tornado cloud, over east. It did no damage.
We had an old Jersey cow that we bought from Mr. Terpin. We named her Patsy. I think every child in White River learned to milk her. One time we had a goose who lost her young. She adopted a litter of pigs that we had just weaned. They followed her like their mother. They even went to the pasture with her.
George and I were members of the Congregational Church until it was closed. So many people moved away in the thirties.
I pieced and quilted our quilts and some for my sisters. Before the children were school age they loved to play under the quilt while I worked. They knew their letters and numbers and could make words before they went to school. We would play school and I'd be the teacher. Nap or bedtime was story time. Their favorite candy was jelly beans.
They were always bringing hurt birds into the house for me to bandage. One time after a hailstorm, the yard had lots of injured birds. The children brought them into the house and we did what we could and put them in warm baskets for the night. I tried to explain to them that they might not live, but to our surprise the next morning the birds were ready to fly. They were chirping, trying to say "Thank you."
I joined the Royal Neighbors in 1922 and the Rebekahs in 1928. George was elected sheriff of Mellette County on the Republican ticket and served two terms. Then he maintained roads for a period of time. I am also a member of the American Legion Auxiliary.
George and I were always baseball fans. He went to St. Louis to see some of his favorites play. Many friends would come to the house and listen to the radio. We especially liked Amos and Andy. George and Mr. King started a lumber yard and George hauled lumber from Custer in the Black Hills. Later he sold to Mr. King. George also had a mail route that Joe Rajewich drove for him until his death. Then he drove it until Ruth could take it over. She still drives the route.
As the children grew up they participated in the school band. Anna played the trombone and Ruth the French horn. They were faithful about practicing. Anna also played the piano. Many hours were spent around the piano. In winter the young people would enjoy the skating pond we had.
We planted trees in the yard and we had to water them by hand. But we enjoy the nice shade now. Another thing we enjoyed were the hunters from here and there who would come in the fall.
After graduation Anna took a secretarial course and she has worked so many places. She married Lt. Col. J. F. Gricuis, Jr., now retired and living in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. They have two children. Ruth married Dale Hollinger and they have three girls. Alice attended Dakota Wesleyan in Mitchell and taught school until she married Walter Schochenmaier. They live in Chamberlain and have five children. George became a civil engineer. He served in Okinawa during the war. He resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. They have four children and an adopted son. John went into the service from high school and served as an airplane mechanic in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They live near Custer, South Dakota. He is working for the Forest Service. They have three children.
George and I took many trips to see our children and places of interest. We were even lost in the desert one time. Don't ever take a short cut unless you know the way.
My hobbies are making quilts, crocheting and reading. I also like to cook and bake. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in 1972. It was so nice to greet so many friends again. George had a slight stroke some years ago which affected his arm and leg. He began failing in 1973 and died October 3, 1973, one day before his 81st birthday.
Since then I spend many days at the senior center. I still live alone in the house that we built in 1925. My children keep me well supplied so I don't need to go out for anything. I have 18 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren.
I'll be 90 years on March 24, 1985. I still piece quilts. I am trying to make one for each grandchild. I can't do as nice work as I used to, but they say, "Just so it is from you."
Many changes have come about in my lifetime. Coming to a new land in South Dakota, we thought it would be many years before it was modern, but time passed and it was soon settled and White River was soon as modern as most small places. It has been a good place to live and raise a family.
by Opal Baumann
(transcribed by RB, with permission from the Mellette County Historical Society, from "Mellette County 1911-1986" published by the Mellette County Historical Society)
My parents were Frank A. and Grace D. Emerick. I was born in Thurston County, Nebraska. When I was five years old they moved to a place that had been a nursery where all kinds of fruit and trees had grown. Among them were many many cottonwood trees. After a time Papa cleared out the cottonwoods and had them sawed into all types of lumber and posts. He sold the lumber as well as the sawdust. Papa used some of the sawdust to pack ice for winter.
Our school was very near home. We could run home for dinner. The older boys went to school in the winter but were needed when spring work began. It was a country school with one teacher for all the grades. I had four sisters and five brothers: Neal, Blanche, Velma, Everett, Ethel, I, Paul, Theodore, Leonard and Francis. We were all healthy and enjoyed one another.
Papa's great-uncle was a partner with John Jacob Astor in the fur trade. He had a disagreement with his family and left home. During this time he became wealthy. In his will he left his fortune to be divided after 100 years. He died and was buried at sea. He was one of the passengers on the Titanic, which was sunk at sea by an iceberg. When they tried to find the will, which was in a church vault, they found that the church had burned and nothing could be proved. I always felt glad, as it might have changed all our lives. Money doesn't mean that much.
My mother died when I was eleven. My sisters Velma and Blanche did all they could for us. Blanche cut her finger on a gallon pail and it wouldn't heal. She was in and out of the hospital for seven years and finally the doctors said that amputation was all they could do. She drew a number on a homestead and filed in Mellette County. By that time, the doctors had decided that maybe a change of climate might help Blanche so Papa moved to Mellette County in 1913. Velma had taken a homestead in 1912 but it was contested so she had to remain there until we came. Two of my brothers also homesteaded and Papa bought a relinquishment.
We came by train to Winner and brought all our property with us. The livestock followed behind the hayrack. It took several days to make the trip. Papa hired Dan Colburn to bring us girls. We met Bert Humphrey, who was carrying mail from Winner to White River, in a stripped-down Ford which he called
the "puddle jumper." He became a very good friend. There were no roads and lots of mud holes. It took all day to get to Velma's place. She had a cozy dugout with another room and an attic.
We managed to get through the winter. It was a mild winter and most of the time we just wore sweaters. This was part of the Happy Hollow District. The menfolk kept busy building corrals and shelter for the animals. The first part of March we had a severe blizzard that lasted for three days. We were so lucky that we had an ample supply of water. The snow covered the windows and doors. The boys managed to crawl out of a window to shovel the snow away so others could get out. In places we just shoveled tunnels as the drifts were so high. Paths had to be made for the stock to get to water and to the haystacks.
By April all the snow was gone. While we were having the blizzard they had a tornado in Omaha. Among those killed was a professor's wife and child. In March, Blanche took the bandages off her hand and it was healed. Building, digging wells and spring planting began. That year there was so much wild fruit.
The next year Velma married and went back to Nebraska to live. Blanche worked for the Hollands at Berkley. That left Ethel, Frances and me as housekeepers. We raised chickens, and a garden, and we loved the wide open spaces.
Mrs. Gilbert Eaton taught our school the next year. They built a church at Happy Hollow that year. There were home dances and lots of good music. Some of he Indian boys would drive from place to place and pick up people. We would dance from ten until sun-up.
Our brother Paul as well as Fred Schmidt was called to the service. While training, Paul came down with the flu and they had given him up for dead, but when he regained consciousness he was so hungry that he got up, wrapped blankets about him and went looking for food. Seeing him, a nurse screamed, thinking she was seeing a ghost. He never did get over the effects of the flu and developed heart trouble. He was scheduled for heart surgery but died of an attack two days before the surgery.
George's parents were John and Teresa Baumann. George was born in Fiestelberg, Germany, in 1891. His feet were deformed at birth, but with special shoes he recovered. Then his mother died and his sisters, being young, did not make him wear his corrective shoes, and in time the doctor could do nothing for him. He went through high school and had two years of college. He always wanted to be a butcher so he apprenticed with his uncle.
He came to the U.S.A. in 1918 and worked as a butcher in packing plants in Chicago and Omaha until he learned to speak English. Then he met Art Zeal from Mellette County, who told him about this country. He worked his way to White River. One day while working near Wood he saw a black and white kitty. He caught it and took it home. To his surprise it was a civet cat.
He worked here and there, and one hot day he drank some nice cold water from an abandoned well and contracted typhoid fever. He was brought to White River and Mrs. Estes nursed him back to health. This was the first time that I can remember of seeing him. Then he went into partnership with Harry Rasmussen and started a butcher shop. Later they moved to a larger store and added groceries to their shop. They did their own butchering, making sausage, bologna and bacon.
Though I only worked away from home during sickness, the next Frontier Days I came in to help at the Jones Hotel for a week, but I stayed on. Then is when I got acquainted with George and dated. We were married January 1, 1922, the year that George became a U. S. citizen. George was initiated into I.O.O.F. Lodge on December 28. When he came home he was initiated into fatherhood—our little Mary was born. She was a beautiful child. When she was 20 months old she drank kerosene left in a cup on a chair and God took her home to be an angel. Anna was five months old then. Ruth was born July 4, 1926, then Alice, January 3, 1928, and George, our first son, December 21, 1930. George was really excited. Then John was born July 10, 1932. George said, "three queens and a pair of jacks is a full house."
When Alice was five years old she had a bad cold which affected her ears and developed into mastoid. The doctor sent us to Mitchell to a specialist. We drove all night. I was nursing John at the time, so I had to take him with us. Alice couldn't hear so she slept most of the way. When she was awake she wanted me to read about Tyky, a dog. They operated the next morning. When she awakened she asked for a drink of water. I told her the faucets didn't work. She looked around and said, '"I'm sorry we died, but I am glad that you are here." I didn't realize that she did not know that she had been operated on and that we were in the hospital. It took a long time before she was well enough to go home. It was good news when the doctor said we could go home.
George decided that he would try something else so he sold out to Rasmussen and bought an old truck. He freighted for the Chamberlain Wholesale Co. to White River. Later he bought a larger truck and hauled everything that people needed hauled, sometimes without pay. He never complained. I don't think anyone realized how much he suffered with his feet. Many times he'd come in and drop into a chair and I'd bathe his aching feet and rub them to relieve the pain.
He also had a water truck and he hauled water in town and the country. We raised registered Hereford cattle while the boys were home to help. We milked cows, sold milk and butter, raised chickens and sold eggs.
In 1926 George went back to Germany to see his aged father. Blanche stayed with me while he was gone. That year we saw our first tornado cloud, over east. It did no damage.
We had an old Jersey cow that we bought from Mr. Terpin. We named her Patsy. I think every child in White River learned to milk her. One time we had a goose who lost her young. She adopted a litter of pigs that we had just weaned. They followed her like their mother. They even went to the pasture with her.
George and I were members of the Congregational Church until it was closed. So many people moved away in the thirties.
I pieced and quilted our quilts and some for my sisters. Before the children were school age they loved to play under the quilt while I worked. They knew their letters and numbers and could make words before they went to school. We would play school and I'd be the teacher. Nap or bedtime was story time. Their favorite candy was jelly beans.
They were always bringing hurt birds into the house for me to bandage. One time after a hailstorm, the yard had lots of injured birds. The children brought them into the house and we did what we could and put them in warm baskets for the night. I tried to explain to them that they might not live, but to our surprise the next morning the birds were ready to fly. They were chirping, trying to say "Thank you."
I joined the Royal Neighbors in 1922 and the Rebekahs in 1928. George was elected sheriff of Mellette County on the Republican ticket and served two terms. Then he maintained roads for a period of time. I am also a member of the American Legion Auxiliary.
George and I were always baseball fans. He went to St. Louis to see some of his favorites play. Many friends would come to the house and listen to the radio. We especially liked Amos and Andy. George and Mr. King started a lumber yard and George hauled lumber from Custer in the Black Hills. Later he sold to Mr. King. George also had a mail route that Joe Rajewich drove for him until his death. Then he drove it until Ruth could take it over. She still drives the route.
As the children grew up they participated in the school band. Anna played the trombone and Ruth the French horn. They were faithful about practicing. Anna also played the piano. Many hours were spent around the piano. In winter the young people would enjoy the skating pond we had.
We planted trees in the yard and we had to water them by hand. But we enjoy the nice shade now. Another thing we enjoyed were the hunters from here and there who would come in the fall.
After graduation Anna took a secretarial course and she has worked so many places. She married Lt. Col. J. F. Gricuis, Jr., now retired and living in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. They have two children. Ruth married Dale Hollinger and they have three girls. Alice attended Dakota Wesleyan in Mitchell and taught school until she married Walter Schochenmaier. They live in Chamberlain and have five children. George became a civil engineer. He served in Okinawa during the war. He resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. They have four children and an adopted son. John went into the service from high school and served as an airplane mechanic in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They live near Custer, South Dakota. He is working for the Forest Service. They have three children.
George and I took many trips to see our children and places of interest. We were even lost in the desert one time. Don't ever take a short cut unless you know the way.
My hobbies are making quilts, crocheting and reading. I also like to cook and bake. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in 1972. It was so nice to greet so many friends again. George had a slight stroke some years ago which affected his arm and leg. He began failing in 1973 and died October 3, 1973, one day before his 81st birthday.
Since then I spend many days at the senior center. I still live alone in the house that we built in 1925. My children keep me well supplied so I don't need to go out for anything. I have 18 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren.
I'll be 90 years on March 24, 1985. I still piece quilts. I am trying to make one for each grandchild. I can't do as nice work as I used to, but they say, "Just so it is from you."
Many changes have come about in my lifetime. Coming to a new land in South Dakota, we thought it would be many years before it was modern, but time passed and it was soon settled and White River was soon as modern as most small places. It has been a good place to live and raise a family.
Mellette County, South Dakota
Family Histories & Biographies - Baumann Surname
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Baumann Surname
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Opal Baumann
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