Maude and Alfred Waters, Part Two

December 17, 2025 MRWLeave a comment

The May 1904 news article announcing the marriage of Maude Bevers and Alfred N. Waters described the two of them as “prominent people” of the small town of De Smet, South Dakota. (You can see the news article in Part One.) Each of them was involved in a variety of social groups and community pursuits. For example, Maude was active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Red Cross and a philanthropic educational society. Waters held civic roles and promoted improvements in their county (Kingsbury) and in their town, which as of 1906 had “a population a little in excess of 1,000 souls.”¹

After her wedding, even though her husband was not a member of the church, Maude continued her activities in the Methodist church, having become a member in November 1898. The records of the women’s group of the church noted that Maude served as secretary and 4^th Vice in 1904 and 1905, respectively. Another role in which she served was the leader of the choir, this she did for years before and after her marriage.² In addition, “… for many years [she] was a member of a mixed quartet that sang for funerals in various churches of the town and area.”³

On a Friday night in March 1907, there was a Demorest medal contest held at the church, six young ladies competing for a Silver medal.⁴ Throughout the evening, musical selections were performed as well as the orations by the contestants. One of the selections, which was entitled “David and Goliath,” was performed by a ladies’ quartette in which Maude sang a part.

The Demorest Medal program was an educational program through which young people and community members learned about the tenets of the prohibition movement. In 1886, W. Jennings Demorest inaugurated oratory contests, utilizing subject matter promoting the prohibition of liquor traffic. The work began in New York City, then was introduced in California and within three years had spread throughout the United States and into several foreign nations.

Six to eight contestants competed at the local level and the winner would be awarded a Silver medal. At the next level, six Silver medalists would compete for a Gold medal, then six Gold medalists would compete for a Grand Gold medal. At the highest level six Grand Gold medalists competed for a Diamond medal.

In 1895, the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (W. C. T. U.) adopted the Demorest Medal program and in the following years expanded the topics of the oratory books. “Recitation books, embracing orations on Prohibition, Total Abstinence, Scientific Temperance, Anti-Narcotics, Franchise, Social Purity, etc., were published; medals were designed with mottoes and emblems of the W. C. T. U., and circulars setting forth the plans of this new system sent out to all the States in the Union.”⁵ As of January 1907, the contest publications had been disseminated into Australia, South Africa, India, Canada, Mexico and the Philippine Islands as well.

News clipping from the January 29, 1909 issue of *Kingsbury County Independent*

The Ladies Aid Society of the Methodist church rotated its meetings among its members. In the first week of February 1909 the society met at Maude’s home.⁶ For a fundraising project that year, they produced a cookbook, entitled Kitchen Echoes. “The venture was a very profitable one,”⁷ as it included advertisements for local businesses in addition to its recipe entries. Waters Land and Loan Company, the real estate company of Maude’s husband, was one of the business sponsors, advertising that the company had the “Best Bargains in Grain, Dairy and Stock Farms.” Maude and her sister Gertrude both submitted recipes. Gertrude’s recipes were for Potato Salad and Sugar Cookies. (See Gertrude’s recipes in Aunt Gertie.) Maude’s entries were for Angel Custard and Mrs. Power’s Ginger Snaps. The recipe for Ginger Snaps honored Elizabeth Power, a former resident and pioneer settler of De Smet, arriving in June 1880 along with her husband and four children. Shortly before the recipe was published in Kitchen Echoes, Mrs. Power had passed away on February 11, 1909. Her obituary stated: “Mrs. Power was one of those motherly women who everybody likes, always ready to answer sick calls, and never so happy as when doing some kind deed. She was a life long and consistent member of the Roman Catholic church, and her remains lie in the Catholic cemetery at Bellingham [Washington].”⁸ Two years later, in January 1911, the Methodist aid society met again at Maude’s house.⁹ An entry in the treasurer’s book of the church’s women’s group indicates that Maude hosted a supper in that same month which brought in $6.60. In 2025, an equivalent amount of money is approximately $225.00.

Angel Custard.—Separate the yolks and whites of two eggs, beat the whites to a stiff froth, adding a few drops of flavoring. Beat the yolks, add two teaspoons corn starch wet with a little cold milk, and stir into a pint of boiling milk which has been sweetened to taste (about two-thirds cup of sugar), adding a pinch of salt the last thing. When thickened and boiling pour the custard over the beaten whites of eggs and stir rapidly a few moments. Delicious either hot or cold.—Maude Waters.

Mrs. Powers’ Ginger Snaps.—One-half cup butter (scant), one-half cup lard (scant), one cup white sugar, one cup molasses, one teaspoon soda dissolved in one tablespoon water, one egg, one tablespoon ginger, a pinch of salt. Flour to mix quite stiff.—Maude Waters.

Maude (nee Bevers) Waters, estimated date 1910

From the time that A. N. Waters settled in De Smet, he served in numerous civic capacities and promoted improvements in the town, county and state. A few of his responsibilities during the year 1905 give us a glimpse of his involvements in the local community at that time, as well as in the broader region.

April 1905 – At a meeting of the stockholders, Waters was elected to be a director on the board of the Athletic Association.¹⁰ Two years later, he was elected to be the president of the association, which was reported to have a large membership.¹¹
August 1905 – While serving as mayor of De Smet, Waters was appointed by the South Dakota governor to be a delegate to the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress which met at Portland, Oregon from August 16 to 19.¹² This congress was organized to promote the commercial interests of the states and territories west of the Mississippi River. The following year, Waters was appointed again to the congress which met November 20 to 23 in Kansas City, Missouri.¹³
September 1905 – The county commissioners made Waters the chairman of a committee for the purpose of creating an agricultural exhibit to represent Kingsbury County at the state fair held in Huron, South Dakota.¹⁴ He consented to procure the materials for the exhibit and was authorized to appoint members to the committee from different parts of the county. Waters and the committee members did not receive a salary, but the county commissioners authorized payment for the cost of transporting the materials for the exhibit to Huron.
November 1905 – A real estate dealers association was formed to which Waters was elected secretary of the board. The purpose of the association was “promoting and advancing the interests of [South Dakota] by devising ways and means to advertise its resources and encourage immigration, etc.”¹⁵ Four months later, at the March 1906 meeting of the association, which had about 250 member firms by that time, Waters gave a speech during the evening banquet which was entitled, “Had We Better Hang Together or Hang Seperate.“ [sp.]¹⁶ Moving ahead with their aims, in March 1907, Waters and about 25 members of the association met with the governor of South Dakota and the Immigration Commissioner “to consider co-operative advertisement of the state. … The association indorsed a proposition made by the Minneapolis and St. Louis railway to furnish a car and superintend and bear the expense of making a traveling exhibit of products of South Dakota farms on its line, provided the exhibit be furnished by the real estate men.”¹⁷

Waters had begun his career in real estate investment in 1880 when he arrived in De Smet, the same year that the town was founded. Thirty years later, he was continuing his career in that profession. A few of Waters’ transactions are noteworthy:

On April 16, 1909, Waters Land and Loan Company made a ten-year lease with the United States for the use of “the first floor of the one story … brick premises, known as ‘Waters Building’ situated on the North side of Second Street between Calumet and Joliet avenues.”¹⁸ (The consideration was $325.00 per annum in quarter yearly payments.) The Waters Building had been built in 1888-89 by the Kingsbury Abstract Company and Waters Land and Loan Company had purchased it in 1906. (More about this transfer is in Part One.) The De Smet post office had occupied a space in the building since at least 1893.¹⁹ In 1909, an extension was built onto the Waters building and the post office moved into it. The lease described above commenced the occupation of the post office in the extension. “The new post office was of fireproof construction, 25×45 feet and fitted with the latest style of furnishings. The building was heated by steam and supplied with gas and water….”²⁰
About 1910, Waters owned a house at the corner of Lyle Avenue and Front Street NE. It was the former home of Fred Dow but had been relocated from its original site. Fred Dow had sold his farmstead and grove of trees to Waters in the early 1900s. Waters had moved the house from the Dow farm to the corner lot across the road on Front Street NE.²¹ Fred Dow’s farmstead was the location of the “surveyors house” in which the Charles Ingalls’ family lived when Ingalls was hired by Dakota Central Railway in 1879. The surveyors’ house was moved in 1884²² to its current site in the town of De Smet. Therefore, it had not been sitting on the property when Waters purchased the Dow farm. The surveyors’ house was purchased by the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society in 1967 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.²³
On September 28, 1915, Alfred purchased lot #32 of De Smet from Caroline A. Swanzey (formerly Caroline A. Ingalls) for $62.50.²⁴ This was author Laura Ingalls Wilder’s sister, known as Carrie in Wilder’s Little House books. In Standard Atlas of Kingsbury County, South Dakota, published in 1909, the owner of lot #32 of De Smet is noted as C. P. Ingalls, Caroline’s father who had passed away in 1902.

The above clipping is from a map in the 1909 edition of Standard Atlas of Kingsbury County, South Dakota. It shows that Waters owned 320 acres directly east of De Smet. The lower half of this property had been a tree claim filed by Fred N. Dow, and to the east of F. N. Dow’s claim, his father, James C. Dow, had filed a claim on a quarter section, which in 1909 Waters also owned.²⁵ Through a cursory examination of the 1909 atlas, 14 properties in the county were found with Waters’ name on them (in the townships of Le Seur, Spirit, Manchester, De Smet, Esmond and Mathews). One of the properties that Waters owned had been the homestead of Almanzo Wilder (Laura Ingalls Wilder’s husband); Wilder had sold the property to Dakota Loan and Investment in 1891, a company in which Waters was a partner.²⁶ It is not known at this time when Waters became the sole owner. That property can be seen on the above clipping in the upper left corner. In addition to her husband’s properties, the atlas also indicated that Maude owned two adjoining quarters in Manchester Township.

The United States census taken in April 1910 recorded Alfred as 54 years old and working on his own account in his own real estate office.²⁷ Maude was 35 years old and did not have an occupation. In the record, besides Maude and Alfred, there was a housekeeper living in their home, named Izora Youmans [sp.], who was 37 years old, single and had been born in New York.

For six years, Maude’s mother, who lived a half block to the east of the Waters home with Maude’s father and sister Gertrude, had been impaired following an operation from which she did not completely heal. Two years after the operation, her mother developed diabetes. “All during her illness, and especially during the last months when almost helpless and suffering great pain everything that could be done to relieve and give pleasure was done for her by loving hands of her own family and friends.”²⁸ No doubt Maude had been involved in her mother’s care until her passing on July 14, 1910.²⁹

On the last Saturday of May 1910, Waters was invited to dine at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Tinkham. Along with Waters and Tinkham, the other five guests were men of De Smet who had lived through the “hard winter” of 1880-81. They all had arrived in Kingsbury County in the winter and spring of 1880, except Waters who hadn’t arrived until August. When early snow storms commenced in the fall, the men stayed in the newly built buildings of the fledgling town, which had about 14 businesses.³⁰ Recurring blizzards would cover the railroad tracks that winter, eventually closing the track altogether from January to May. About 50 families (including single men) wintered in the town. Thirty years later at the gathering held in the Tinkham home:
The varied experiences of that hard winter were all recounted. Of one thing our readers can be certain, however, and that is the dinner served on this occasion was not on the half-ration plan of some of the dinners eaten by the gentleman [sp.]during that never to be forgotten winter of [1880-81]when supplies ran low and wheat had to be ground in coffee mills, and when sugar for coffee was kept in a jewel case.³¹

During that trying winter, Waters boarded in the home of Arthur and Jennie Sherwood. A. S. Sherwood “is mentioned in the Laura Ingalls Wilder book The Long Winter as one of the few families wintered in for that historic experience. He and his wife … were among the few married couples in the town that winter. Some of the bachelors roomed and boarded there including A. N. Waters, in a house so small that blankets separated the beds in a sleeping room.”³² Waters himself was not mentioned in Wilder’s The Long Winter but he was mentioned in her autobiographical manuscript, Pioneer Girl, which relates the following story:
There was in town a lawyer named Waters who had expected to go east early in the winter to be married but had got caught by the storms.

Now the wedding day was drawing near and no way to get transportation out. He decided to walk and … he started before daylight one morning as the blizzard wind was dying down and the sky cleared.

It was a scant day’s calm this time and we were afraid he was caught in the next storm, but he walked the miles to Brookins [sic] safely and after resting walked on to Tracy.

The next spring we learned that he arrived safely in time for his wedding, but both feet were so badly frozen that he was unable to walk on that day. However his feet recovered and he came back in the spring, bringing his wife with him.³³

The above story, of course, refers to Waters’ first wife, Josephine E. Humphrey, whereas Maude was his second wife. Waters obituary adds details to this account of the winter of 1881:
… he boarded with the Arthur Sherwood family, “Sixteen of them in a house sixteen feet square,” [Waters] called it. He lived here through the Hard Winter and in the spring of 1881 made his famed hike along the railroad track in company with a brother of Mrs. Arthur Sherwood. The whole country had been snow-bound for months and the two young men struck out for the East, hauling a sled, and in four days reached Tracy, secured a team and floundered thru to Sleepy Eye, where they were again disappointed in train service and Mr. Waters continued on alone to New Ulm.³⁴

Another perspective on this event was recounted by the editor of De Smet News in 1921:
… The big snows of the winter of 1880-1881 caused such a blockade thruout the country that after the first of January there was no train from De Smet east until the following May. Along in March Mr. Waters became anxious to get out of the country and keep a date in the east, so he started on foot over the snow banks, carrying a hundred letters from De Smet people to their relatives and friends back home. He walked as far as Tracy, covering the distance in four days. There a team of mules hitched to a sleigh was secured and several men made use of the outfit to get as far as Sleepy Eye. At that point a train was boarded and they were scheduled to leave next morning; but a storm prevented and they were there a whole week. Mr. Waters became uneasy at the delay and started out alone, hoofing it to New Ulm. There the road was open and he was soon on his way east.³⁵

Charles H. Tinkham, the host of the 1910 gathering of De Smet pioneers, had arrived in De Smet in the spring of 1880. Soon after his arrival Tinkham opened a furniture and houseware store, and he also engaged in undertaking.³⁶ During the “hard winter,” “Tinkham was a member of the ‘bachelor’s club’ who lived with William Crook, sleeping on boards laid across the ceiling joists.”³⁷

Among the guests attending the dinner was Charles L. Dawley, who settled in De Smet in May 1880. As an agent for a lumber company, he began “selling loads of lumber to the new settlers. He set up an office tent and sold lumber from railroad cars until an office and shed could be built. During the Hard Winter, he boarded with Mrs. Garland, and began courting her daughter Florence.”³⁸ Florence was Laura Ingalls Wilder’s teacher during that winter. Within a few years, Dawley left the lumber business to go into real estate with Waters, a partnership which lasted 15 years. Waters, Dawley and Alfred Thomas were associates who established the Dakota Loan and Investment Company, “which continued the loan business previously run by Alfred Waters, doing a general real estate and chattel loan business.”³⁹ Waters and Dawley took full control of the business in 1887.

The other guests were Charles E. Ely, Edward H. Couse, Daniel H. Loftus and John H. Carroll. About April 1880, Ely was a lumber agent also, selling lumber in De Smet from a rail car. Subsequently, he established the town’s first lumber yard.⁴⁰ He was married, but had not yet moved his family to De Smet when the winter storms came later that year. Couse, who was also married when he came to De Smet and a Civil War veteran, was the owner of a hardware store.⁴¹ Loftus was a partner in a general merchandise store in 1880, and in February 1881 in the midst of the “hard winter”, a local newspaper reported, “the first grist of wheat was ground in De Smet on the 5th, by Dan Loftus. Dan makes a fine miller.”⁴²

John H. Carroll was the first clerk of courts in Kingsbury County (April 1880) and he was the first postmaster, later he would become the first mayor of De Smet.⁴³ His homestead adjoined the town of De Smet. On that property, Carroll would plat 10 blocks as residence blocks which became an addition to the original town. Waters would eventually purchase lots in Carroll’s addition, and on those lots, in 1905, build the home in which he and Maude would live. Another property that Carroll at one point owned was the northeast corner lot at Calumet Avenue and Second Street. Waters and his partners of the Kingsbury Abstract Company purchased it from Carroll and then constructed the building that many years later, through a series of transactions, would be owned by Waters Land and Loan in 1906. (See more about the Waters residence and the business building in Part One.)

Part Three will continue the community activities of Maude and Alfred Waters.

1 “The Growth of De Smet,” Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Argus-Leader, March 23, 1906.

2 Caryl Lynn Meyer Poppen, ed., “A History of the Methodist Church,” De Smet Yesterday and Today (De Smet, South Dakota: De Smet News, printer, 1976): 144.

3 “Mrs. A. N. Waters, Native of England, Resident 60 Years,” De Smet (South Dakota) News (July 10, 1958) in Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Waters (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/waters_cemetery.pdf.

4 “Items from De Smet,” Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Argus-Leader, March 22, 1907, 3, Newspapers.com.

5 Cornelia T. Jewett, “History of Contest Work,” The National Advocate (New York, January 1907): 1-2, https://books.google.com/books?id=HwFQAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1#v=onepage&q&f=false.

6 Kingsbury County Independent (De Smet, South Dakota), January 29, 1909, 5, Newspapers.com.

7 Poppen, “A History of the Methodist Church,” 144.

8 Gina Terrana, “Biography of Thomas P. Power,” http://www.pioneergirl.com/blog/archives/7859.

9 Kingsbury County Independent (De Smet, South Dakota), December 30, 1910, 8, Newspapers.com.

10 Kingsbury County Independent (De Smet, South Dakota), April 21, 1905, 5, Newspapers.com.

11 Citizen-Republican (Scotland, South Dakota), April 4, 1907, 2, Newspapers.com.

12 Kingsbury County Independent (De Smet, South Dakota), August 11, 1905, 5, Newspapers.com.

13 Hot Springs (South Dakota) Weekly Star, November 9, 1906, 2, Newspapers.com.

14 Kingsbury County Independent (De Smet, South Dakota), September 15, 1905, 4, Newspapers.com.

15 “Real Estate Dealers,” Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Argus-Leader, January 5, 1906, 3, Newspapers.com.

16 “Real Estate Men Meet,” Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Argus-Leader, March 15, 1906, 3, Newspapers.com.

17 “To Exhibit Car Load of South Dakota Products,” Citizen-Republican (Scotland, South Dakota), April 4, 1907, 2, Newspapers.com.

18 The Heritage House, LLC, “Abstract of Title,” Transfer Number 31.

19 Nancy S. Cleaveland, “post office/post-office,” Laura Ingalls Wilder A-Z, http://www.pioneergirl.com/blog/archives/13454.

20 Cleaveland, “post office/post-office.”

21 “Life’s End Comes at 103 for Mrs. Fred Dow, Oldest Resident County,” De Smet (South Dakota) News (April 26, 1973) in Nancy Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Dow/Glover (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/dow_f_cemetery.pdf.

22 De Smet Leader (March 22, 1884) in Nancy S. Cleaveland, “surveyors’ house,” Laura Ingalls Wilder A-Z, http://www.pioneergirl.com/blog/archives/13817.

23 Cleaveland, “surveyors’ house.”

24 State of South Dakota, Kingsbury County, Deed Record No. 50, 77.

25 Nancy S. Cleaveland, “surveyors’ house.”

26 Nancy S. Cleaveland, “claim,” Laura Ingalls Wilder A-Z, http://www.pioneergirl.com/blog/archives/10912.

27 “United States, Census, 1910”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MPXB-BGS : Wed Oct 15 05:57:53 UTC 2025), Entry for Alfred N Waters and Maud Waters, 1910.

28 Kingsbury County Independent (De Smet, South Dakota), July 22, 1910, 4, Newspapers.com.

29 Ancestry.com. South Dakota, U.S., Death Index, 1879-1955 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2004.

30 Nancy S. Cleaveland, “The Long Winter – historical perspective,” Laura Ingalls Wilder A-Z, http://www.pioneergirl.com/blog/archives/5096.
31 Kingsbury County Independent (De Smet, South Dakota), June 3, 1910, 5, Newspapers.com.
32 Aubrey Sherwood, “The Sherwoods of De Smet” in De Smet Yesterday and Today by Caryl Lynn Meyer Poppen, ed. (De Smet, South Dakota: De Smet Bicentennial Committee, 1976): 116.
33 Laura Ingalls Wilder, “Hard Winter,” Pioneer Girl (unpublished manuscript) in Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Waters (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/waters_cemetery.pdf.
34 “A. N. Waters, Pioneer, Laid to Rest Here Sunday,” De Smet (South Dakota) News (September 2, 1927) in Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Waters (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/waters_cemetery.pdf.
35 Carter Sherwood, ed., De Smet (South Dakota) News (November 4, 1921) in Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Waters (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/waters_cemetery.pdf.

36 “Charles H. Tinkham,” Memorial and Biographical Record (Chicago: George A. Ogle and Co., publisher, 1898): 435.

37 Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Tinkham (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/tinkham_cemetery.pdf.

38 Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Dawley (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/dawley_cemetery.pdf.

39 Nancy S. Cleaveland, “bank,” Laura Ingalls Wilder A-Z, http://www.pioneergirl.com/blog/archives/15076.

40 De Smet (South Dakota) News (August 25, 1916) in Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Ely (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/ely_cemetery.pdf.

41 George W. Kingsbury, “Edward H. Couse,” History of Dakota Territory, vol. 4 (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1915): 1048.

42 Kingsbury County (South Dakota) News (February 24, 1881) in Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Loftus / Fritzel (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/loftus_cemetery.pdf.

43 Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Carroll/Imus (2015): http://pioneergirl.com/carroll_cemetery.pdf.

Maude and Alfred Waters, Part One

August 14, 2025December 6, 2025 MRW3 Comments

On May 11, 1904, the Syndicate Hotel–which had been enlarged two years earlier, making it one of the largest hotels in South Dakota¹–hosted the wedding of two distinguished citizens of De Smet. The groom was the town’s widowed mayor, Alfred Newman Waters, who had lived in De Smet since 1880, the year it was founded. The bride was Maude Bevers, his secretary, according to Bevers family historians.² She had been hired six years earlier by A. N. Waters to work in his office, following a course in Commercial Science at South Dakota Agricultural College. (For more about Maude’s professional training, see Maude Bevers, Career Woman.) Maude’s sister Gertrude was the bridesmaid at the wedding and C. E. Swanson, who was the county superintendent of schools, was the groomsman. The officiating minister, Rev. Henry Preston, was the minister of De Smet Episcopal Methodist Church.

The local newspaper reported on the event:

Wednesday evening at 7:30 occurred the marriage of two of De Smet’s prominent people, Mr. A. N. Waters and Miss Maude Bevers, at Syndicate Hotel parlors, Rev. Henry Preston officiating. The ceremony was performed in presence of only a few invited guests, together with the bride’s relatives. Miss Gertie Bevers acted as bridesmaid and Mr. C. E. Swanson as groomsman. The bride was becomingly attired in white silk. After the ceremony the wedding party was ushered into the dining room where covers were laid, for thirty and an elaborate banquet of eight courses was served, the party leaving the banquet hall only in time to accompany the happy couple to the train to see them started upon a trip to the eastern cities, which is to occupy about two weeks’ time. Little need be said by us concerning the contracting parties. The groom has been prominent in De Smet circles for many years. He has held many positions of trust and is now serving as mayor of our city for the second term. He has been a leading spirit in all affairs and undertakings, looking toward the upbuilding of our city. Time and money have been freely given by him for this purpose. No one man has done more to advance the interests of De Smet and Kingsbury County than has Mr. A. N. Waters. The bride has been a resident of this city for some seven years past. She has been prominent in social and church circles and is held in high esteem by all acquaintances because of the many fine qualities of character which constitute the true woman. She never failed to command the respect of all, even upon slight acquaintance. The people of De Smet unite in extending to Mr. and Mrs. Waters their best wishes for a long and happy married life.³

Alfred and Maude Waters
(The photographer appears to be located in Chicago)

Only a few days after their wedding, a meeting was held at De Smet City Hall at which Waters was appointed to a committee that was charged with organizing the Old Settler’s Celebration that would be held on June 10, 1904.⁴ Waters himself was one of the old settlers of the county, having “arrived in De Smet at the age of twenty-four during the summer of 1880, fresh out of law school.”⁵ On the day of the Old Settler’s Celebration, horse racing was one of the events held. It was reported that “the free-for-all trotting race on the 10^th was won by A. N. Waters’ horse.”⁶

In the month following the Old Settler’s Celebration, the newlyweds were visited by Waters’ aunts and cousins from Wisconsin and New York: Mrs. Alfred W. Newman, Mrs. Emory E. Newman and Mr. & Mrs. Isaac U. Tripp. Mrs. A. W. Newman (Celia), who was the widow of Waters’ mother’s brother, came from Madison, Wisconsin, where her husband had been a judge on the state supreme court from 1894 until his death in 1898. Mrs. E. E. Newman (Cordelia), arriving from Durham, New York, was the widow of another brother of Waters’ mother. Because Waters’ mother had died when he was only a few weeks old, Waters grew up in his maternal grandparents’ home.⁷ Waters’ uncle Emory was 19 at the time of Waters’ mother’s death in 1855. Following the passing of his grandfather, Waters was included in his uncle Emory’s household.⁸ Mrs. Isaac U. Tripp (Addie) was the daughter of one of Waters’ mother’s sisters, Lucilia (nee Newman) Winchell.

When the South Dakota census was taken in 1905, Maude was 30 years-old and her occupation was housewife.⁹ The census record for her husband has an incorrect first name, it is written as “Albert” instead of “Alfred.” Waters was 49 years-old and his occupation was land agent.¹⁰ Later that year, Waters’ birthday (November 14, 1855) was noted by the local newspaper:

A. N. Waters celebrated his 50^th birthday anniversary Tuesday. Twenty-five years and four months of that time have been spent in the city of De Smet. He has labored all these years for the upbuilding of this city and vicinity and has accomplished much for the community and built up a large business for himself. Here’s hoping that he spends the next fifty years right here in De Smet.¹¹

Since his arrival in De Smet, Waters was very active as a real estate broker, and he partnered with other businessmen in land development businesses. “During the early days, lawyers tended to involve themselves as much in the business of land as in the law, and Waters reaped a small fortune from shrewd land investments, eventually becoming one of the largest landholders in [Kingsbury County].”¹² One of the businesses with which Waters was associated was Kingsbury Abstract Company, whose members in addition to Waters were J. C. Gibson, A. W. Miller, C. L. Dawley and Al Thomas.¹³ The abstract company built a two-story building in 1888-89 on the northeast corner of the intersection of Calumet Avenue (the main street) and Second Street. The construction costs were seven to ten thousand dollars.¹⁴ “This building had the historical importance of being a place where the pioneers would come to stake their claims.”¹⁵ About four years prior to the construction of the abstract company’s building, Charles P. Ingalls, the father of Laura Ingalls Wilder who wrote Little Town on the Prairie, a novel set in De Smet, owned the property on the southeast corner of the same intersection.¹⁶

... [The two-story building] was solid brick with white stone trimmings. The front office was 22×33 feet, connected to an office in the rear 15×16 feet, with another room not connected to the front part of the building, it being 19×22 feet. Upstairs was a lodge hall and meeting room, accessed via exterior stairs at the rear of the building. The front office downstairs housed the Dakota Loan and Investment Company; the middle part housed the Abstract Company. The separate room to the east – with an entrance on Second Street – became the De Smet Post Office.¹⁷

From 1904 to 1906, several business dealings were made by Waters, which resulted in the transfer of the Calumet building to Waters Land and Loan Company. These dealings included:

April 1904 – A couple of weeks before Maude and Alfred married, for $2,500 Alfred purchased from one of the members of the Kingsbury Abstract Company (C. L. Dawley) and his wife: “An Undivided one half interest in Lot Numbered 8, Block Numbered 2.”¹⁸ This was the lot on which the abstract company had built the two-story building.
November 1905 – Waters and two associates incorporated the Waters Land and Loan Company. The purpose of the corporation was to transact a general real estate, brokerage and loan business. “The amount of the capital stock of this Corporation shall be and is Fifty Thousand ($50,000) Dollars divided into Five Hundred (500) shares of the par value of One Hundred (100.) dollars each.”¹⁹
December 1905 – Waters was given title to the entire lot (Lot Numbered 8, Block Numbered 2) for consideration of “$1.00 and other val.” from Kingsbury County Abstract Company.²⁰
February 1906 – The city lot with the two-story building was sold by Waters and his wife Maude to Waters Land and Loan for $10,000.²¹

Postcard photograph of the building of Waters Land and Loan Company

Through the years the building has housed many offices, including the Germania State Bank, Peoples State Bank, a doctors office and dental office. The building exchanged hands again in 1997, and after three years of extensive restoration, was opened as The Heritage House Bed and Breakfast.²²

Heritage Bed and Breakfast, photographed by the author, April 2025

It appears that simultaneously to his business dealings involving the Calumet property above, Waters was involved in another project, which was the construction of his and Maude’s personal residence. In 1905, a large home was built on Second Street,²³ two and a half blocks west of Waters’ building at Calumet. The house has been described as “the most elegant in town.”²⁴

[It] was a gathering place for many of the town’s social elite. The Waters hosted many dinners, parties and get-togethers in the large house. It featured a full basement and an attic with enough headroom, it could be converted to another level. There were plenty of rooms on the first and second floor which had all the modern amenities for its time.²⁵

Postcard photograph of Waters’ residence, 1912

More than a century after the Waters’ home was built, a descendant of Maude’s brother Herbert and his wife were in De Smet and stopped at the house. Upon striking up a conversation with the owner at that time, they were given permission to take a look inside. Subsequently, the wife described their brief tour:

As you walk in there is a visiting room with a big brick fireplace to the left. To the right are a couple small bedrooms. At the end is the kitchen. Behind the fireplace was a hall way with 2 or three small rooms. They were where the vet had his office and other items. Long stairway going upstairs ….²⁶

Maude and Alfred’s home in De Smet, South Dakota, photographed by the author, June 2021

Another of Herbert’s descendants visited De Smet in June 2021. Seeing the large wrap-around front porch, she recalled playing on that porch as a young child. She and the group with her were also invited to enter the home to look around. Below is a picture of the tiled front entry.

Front entry of Waters’ home (this partial view is from the side of the entryway, not the front), photographed by the author, June 2021

Some of the furnishings of the Waters’ home are still in the possession of Herbert’s descendants.

A “Verona” model clock manufactured by Waterbury Clock Company; approximate date, 1910

This dresser with beveled mirror had a darker finish when it was owned by Maude’s nephew Arthur Bevers and his wife Elsie. One of their sons had it re-finished to this natural red oak finish. The photograph sitting on the dresser is of the Arthur Bevers, Sr. family taken about 1943.

Several news items in the Kingsbury County Independent highlight the hospitality and generosity of Maude and Alfred Waters. On August 17, 1906, the newspaper reported, “Mrs. A. N. Waters entertained a number of young ladies in honor of her guest, Miss Eggleson Friday last.”²⁷ The same edition of the newspaper reported that on the following day, a former resident of De Smet, Mrs. James T. Cooley, had arrived from New York City and was a guest at the Waters’ residence. In June 1909, the wedding of Dr. John H. Hall and Tillie Nelson was held at the Waters’ home. Hall was a dentist whose office was in the building owned by Waters Land and Loan Company. (On the postcard above, one of Hall’s office windows is demarked with the words “Dental Parlor.”) Hall was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, singing in the choir for many years as tenor.²⁸ His bride had been living with the Waters. The write-up about the wedding follows:

At the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. N. Waters in this city Monday evening, June 14^th, occured the marriage of Miss Tillie Nelson to Dr. J. H. Hall, both of this city, Rev. J. E. Booth officiating. The ceremony was performed in the presence of a few relatives of the bride and a small number of mutual friends of the contracting parties. After the ceremony an elaborate wedding dinner was served by Mrs. Waters. The happy couple took the evening train east for points in Wisconsin where they will visit for two weeks.

The bride is a young lady who has made her home with the Waters family for some time and is well known and highly esteemed by our people. The groom is so well known that no words of introduction are needed. He has been engaged in the practice of dentistry in this city for about fourteen years and is regarded as one of our leading citizens. Everyone has a good word for John Hall. The happy couple have a host of friends in and about De Smet who unite in wishing them a happy married life.²⁹

Before movies and cinema theaters became popular, “Parties and informal gatherings in people’s homes constituted most of the social swirl for high-school students in De Smet.”³⁰ One such example was reported in the local news: a gathering held at the Waters’ home on Friday night, March 1, 1912, starting at 8:00 pm. The guests included all the members of the senior class of the high school and their instructors, and their purpose was to celebrate the birthday of Edith Mitchell; the news report concluded: “A most delightful evening was spent and the occasion will long be remembered by all. An elaborate lunch was served at midnight.”³¹ Two of the members of the senior class, Edith Mitchell and Evelyn Keating, were noted to have been attendees of the Epworth League, a young people’s group which met at the Methodist Episcopal Church on Sunday evenings.³²

De Smet High School Class of 1912
Celebrating Edith Mitchell’s birthday at the Waters’ home, March 1912³³

Edith Mitchell’s “family, who lived in a house north of the railroad tracks, had gone through some difficult times, and the Waterses had taken her in to live with them.”³⁴ In addition, they would make it possible for Edith to attend college, the only girl in her class to do so. She started out at South Dakota State College in Brookings, which is the college that Maude had attended, and later she transferred to the University of Minnesota.³⁵ In the summer of 1912, prior to going off to college, Edith “accompanied her benefactors, the Waterses, on a three-month automobile tour back to Alfred Waters’s boyhood home in Durham, New York. Driving over roads that much of the way consisted of nothing more than dirt paths and stopping at nearly every town to obtain directions to the next one made the excursion quite an adventure.”³⁶

The Brookings Register announced the marriage of Edith in June 1917: “Another former State College student has joined the ranks of the ‘Newly Weds.’ Miss Edith Mitchell was united in marriage at De Smet, last Wednesday, to Randle Toland, by the Rev. Paul Roberts. The ceremony occured at the home of Judge and Mrs. A. N. Waters and a large company was assembled, with many out of town guests present. After a trip east the couple will reside in De Smet, where Mr. Toland is in the real estate business.”³⁷

Highlights of Maude and Alfred Waters’ social and civic lives will continue in the next blogpost.

1 Nancy S. Cleaveland, “Syndicate Hotel,” Laura Ingalls Wilder A-Z, http://www.pioneergirl.com/blog/archives/9165.

2 K. and M. Bevers, notes attached to Agnes Maude Bevers in Ancestral Quest program file dated June 29, 2022.

3 “Waters-Bevers Nuptials,” Kingsbury County (South Dakota) Independent (May 13, 1904), in Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Waters (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/waters_cemetery.pdf.

4 _____, “June 10^th Celebration,” Kingsbury County Independent (De Smet, South Dakota), May 20, 1904, 6, Newspapers.com.

5 John E. Miller, “End of an Era: De Smet High School Class of 1912,” South Dakota History Volume 20 Number 3 (South Dakota Historical Society Press, September 26, 1990): 190, https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-20-3/end-of-an-era-de-smet-high-school-class-of-1912/vol-20-no-3-end-of-an-era.pdf.

6 _____, Kingsbury County Independent (De Smet, South Dakota), June 17, 1904, 1, Newspapers.com.

7 _____, “A. N. Waters, Pioneer, Laid to Rest Here Sunday,” De Smet (South Dakota) News (September 2, 1927) in Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Waters (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/waters_cemetery.pdf.

8 “New York, United States records,” images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYBK-KDN?view=explore : Jul 26, 2025), image 447 of 706; United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Image Group Number: 005161473

9 “South Dakota, State Census, 1905”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMH3-NNS : Sat Mar 09 19:18:13 UTC 2024), Entry for Maud Waters.

10 “South Dakota, State Census, 1905”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMH3-NXC : Sun Jul 20 06:06:04 UTC 2025), Entry for Alfred N.

11 _____, Kingsbury County (South Dakota) Independent, (November 17, 1905), in Nancy S. Cleaveland and Gina Terrana, Waters, (2015): http://www.pioneergirl.com/waters_cemetery.pdf.

12 Miller, “End of an Era:” 190-91.

13 _____, Historical sign posted on the outside wall of Heritage House Bed and Breakfast, De Smet, South Dakota.

14 Nancy S. Cleaveland, “post office/post-office,” Laura Ingalls Wilder A-Z, http://www.pioneergirl.com/blog/archives/13454.

15 _______, Heritage House Bed and Breakfast, https://heritagehousesd.com.

16 Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society, Inc., Heritage Plat of De Smet (De Smet, South Dakota, 1994).

17 Cleaveland, “post office/post-office.”

18 The Heritage House, LLC, “Abstract of Title,” Transfer Number 26.

19 State of South Dakota, Articles of Incorporation of the Waters Land and Loan Company, November 15, 1905.

20 The Heritage House, LLC, “Abstract of Title,” Transfer Number 27.

21 The Heritage House, LLC, “Abstract of Title,” Transfer Number 28.

22 Historical sign posted on the outside wall of Heritage House Bed and Breakfast, De Smet, South Dakota.

23 “A. N. Waters, Pioneer, Laid to Rest Here Sunday,” in Cleaveland and Terrana, Waters: http://www.pioneergirl.com/waters_cemetery.pdf.

24 Miller, “End of an Era:” 185.

25 Mike Siefker, “Hof’s stately home has history as a hospital,” Kingsbury Journal (May 4, 2022): 13.

26 S. Bevers, Facebook post of Bevers Family and Reunions private group, July 8, 2023.

27 _____, “Local News,” Kingsbury County (South Dakota) Independent (August 17, 1906): 5, Newspapers.com.

28 Caryl Lynn Meyer Poppen, ed., “A History of the Methodist Church,” De Smet Yesterday and Today (De Smet, South Dakota: De Smet News, printer, 1976): 144.

29 _____, “Nelson—Hall,” Kingsbury County (South Dakota) Independent (June 18, 1909): 4, Newspapers.com.

30 Miller, “End of an Era”: 185.

31 _____, De Smet (South Dakota) News (March 8, 1912), in MIller, “End of an Era”: 185.

32 First Methodist Church, “A History of the Church,” Consecration Service of the Remodeled First Methodist Church (De Smet, South Dakota: First Methodist Church, September 26, 1965).

33 From Evelyn Keating’s class book, School-Girl Days: A Memory Book in Miller, “End of an Era:” 186-87.

34 Miller, “End of an Era:” 190.

35 Miller, “End of an Era:”: 202.

36 Miller, “End of an Era:” 202.

37 J. F. Brooke, ed., “Local and Personal,” Brookings (South Dakota) Register (June 28, 1917): 7, Newspapers.com.

The Oldest Mementos of “The Breitenstein Bible”

May 14, 2024May 14, 2024 MRWLeave a comment

“The Breitenstein Bible” came into possession of our family when my mother-in-law passed away. For a dozen years, it remained packed away, undisturbed. Finally, when down-sizing our belongings and upon deciding to pass the Bible on to our son, I took the time to look through the Bible. Turning the leaves, I found news clippings, obituaries and funeral folders dispersed between its more than 2000 pages. Another dozen years would pass before I had the opportunity to peruse those pages and mementos again. In December 2023, I examined the Bible and photographed the mementos it has safe-guarded for decades, a few items for more than a century. This blogpost is devoted to the oldest items in “The Breitenstein Bible” and the people with whom they are connected. A description of the Bible itself, which was published about 1900, can be found on the Legacy Page entitled “The Breitenstein Bible.”

The Bible had been passed down to my mother-in-law through her father, who was a Breitenstein, but the oldest mementos would suggest that the Bible came to him from his mother’s line not his father’s. The oldest identifiable item is a handwritten note about Amos Goodhart. My mother-in-law’s ancestry can be traced to Amos K. Goodhart, so perhaps the Bible should be called “The Goodhart Bible.”

The original owner of the Bible is unknown. None of the family register pages are filled in. Besides the note about Amos Goodhart, there are two other handwritten notes which appear to be written in the same handwriting. Since Amos’ wife had already passed away when he died, I propose that it was his daughter Sarah (Sallie) that wrote the notes. Sallie married Jacob B. Breitenstein; they were my mother-in-law’s grandparents.

The oldest handwritten note found in “The Breitenstein Bible”

Amos’ ancestors had been living in Berks County, Pennsylvania, since at least 1754, when it was still a province. His 2^nd great-grandfather Fredrick Goodhart was recorded as residing in the district (or township) of Alsace when a tax list was created for the first assessment of taxes of the newly organized Berks County (which had been carved out of Philadelphia County).¹ Fredrick Goodhart’s son, Frederick, acquired a homestead in Exeter Township.² At the time of Amos’ death, the Goodharts had been residing in Exeter Township for roughly 130-140 years. Amos K. Goodhart, born February 23, 1852, was the son of John Newkirk Goodhart (1821-1898) and Sophia Kline (1827-1902). As a child his family lived in Exeter Township³ and upon marrying Ellen Levan, they began raising their family on a farm in the township,⁴ remaining in Exeter Township their whole lives.

This handwritten note documents the dates of Amos’ death and burial, and very likely the text that was used at his funeral. He was buried in the Schwarzwald Cemetery on January 5, 1923, having died on December 31, 1922 of “complications” according to the death register of Schwarzwald Reformed Church.⁵ In addition to his death, the church records also have an entry about his baptism and confirmation, which didn’t occur until he was 43 years old.⁶ Having been catechized, Amos was baptized on October 12, 1895 and then confirmed on the following day. Amos’ son Victor and his daughter Sarah were confirmed on that very same day.

Job 5:26 as printed in “The Breitenstein Bible,” which is the text recorded along with Amos Goodhart’s death and burial dates.

Of the two other handwritten notes in “The Breitenstein Bible,” one note gives the burial date of Mrs. Hiester Fisher and the reference to a scripture text. The other note simply states the name Mrs. Frank Harner and a scripture reference. Over the years, as I’ve compiled a genealogy of my husband’s family, I have never seen the name Fisher nor Harner. So, I proceeded to try to identify who Mrs. Hiester Fisher and Mrs. Frank Harner were.

In my search for someone named Hiester Fisher, I came up with no likely candidates. But a search using the spelling Heister (e before i) led me to someone that could be the husband of the woman commemorated in “The Breitenstein Bible.” In 1920, Sallie Breitenstein (Amos’ daughter) and her husband were living in Amity Township in Berks County.⁷ There was also living in this township a Heister Fisher with his wife Ellen.⁸ A few years later Ellen and subsequently Heister were buried in Saint Paul’s Church Cemetery in Amity Township. The date of death engraved on Ellen’s gravestone is January 10, 1924,⁹ which would correspond to the burial date listed on the handwritten note, January 14. A search in family trees on Ancestry.com leads to the conclusion that her maiden name was most likely Ellen Wise or Weise or Weiss. She would have been in the generation of Sallie’s mother. Incidentally, Saint Paul’s Church Cemetery is where Sallie and her husband would later be buried.

Presumably, the second-oldest handwritten note in “The Breitenstein Bible”

John 14:1-2 as printed in “The Breitenstein Bible,” which is the text recorded along with Mrs. Hiester Fisher’s burial date

Since the handwritten note about Mrs. Frank Harner doesn’t have a death or burial date, it is difficult to determine with any certainty who she was. My guess is that she was Catherine (Kate) S. Rhoads who is buried in Saint Paul’s Church Cemetery with her husband, Franklin, but the last name on the gravestone is Herner, instead of Harner. Kate Rhoads was also of the generation of Sallie’s mother. Her death date was April 8, 1925.¹⁰ Kate’s sister, Rosa Ellen Rhoads, had married a man named Wellington Wise,¹¹ who was possibly a relation of Ellen Wise (Mrs. Heister Fisher above.)

Presumably, the third-oldest handwritten note in “The Breitenstein Bible”

Hebrews 4:9 as printed in “The Breitenstein Bible,” which is the text noted with Mrs. Frank Harner’s name

There is an item in “The Breitenstein Bible” that is older than the three handwritten notes. It is a lock of hair wrapped in a scrap of newsprint dated June 21, 1918. Perhaps this could be the hair of Ellen S. Goodhart, saved as a memento by her husband Amos or her daughter Sallie. Born March 29, 1849, Ellen was the daughter of Peter S. Levan (1822-1894) and Sarah E. Snyder (1825-1898). One historian of Berks County made this statement in 1886: “The Levan family have occupied a prominent position in [Exeter] township for one hundred and fifty years, having, during this time, owned a large area of farming land where the members of that family are now located. They gave much encouragement to the Schwartzwald Church by liberal contributions.”¹² The Levan family can be traced back to three brothers whose father Daniel Levan was a French Huguenot. “The Huguenots were French Protestants most of whom eventually came to follow the teachings of John Calvin, and who, due to religious persecution, were forced to flee France to other countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.”¹³ Daniel Levan fled from France to Amsterdam, Holland, which is where Isaac Levan was born, Ellen Levan’s 4^th great-grandfather.¹⁴ Isaac and his brothers emigrated from Amsterdam to America and Isaac eventually settled in Exeter Township about 1730.

A lock of hair, which was wrapped in a scrap of newsprint, found in “The Breitenstein Bible”

The scrap of newsprint dated June 21, 1918

Ellen Goodhart died on October 19, 1918 and was buried in Schwarzwald Cemetery.¹⁵ Like her husband, her death was recorded in the death register of Schwarzwald Reformed Church. During that time period, the usual number of burials per month in that cemetery was one or two, or sometimes three. But in October 1918, the death register lists seven people dying between October 14 and October 27. Although the causes of death were recorded as heart disease, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and influenza, consideration should be given to an historic event that was taking place in Pennsylvania during the fall of 1918. An epidemic of influenza had begun in Philadelphia in late September and travelled from the city west through the state, reaching Berks County.

In The Great Influenza, author John M. Barry thoroughly relates the events and timelines of many of the outbreaks of influenza in the United States, and a few places abroad, from 1917 to 1919. He devotes a portion of his book to the rise of the epidemic in Philadelphia.¹⁶ The details and quotes below are from Barry’s book. In 1918 influenza spread to Pennsylvania when on “September 7, three hundred sailors arrived from Boston at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.” Four days later, “nineteen sailors reported ill with symptoms of influenza.” Knowing that influenza was wreaking havoc in Boston:

“Lieutenant Commander R. W. Plummer, a physician and chief health officer for the Philadelphia naval district … ordered the immediate quarantine of the men’s barracks and the meticulous disinfecting of everything the men had touched. …

“… The next day eighty-seven sailors reported ill. By September 15, … the virus had made six hundred sailors and marines sick enough to require hospitalization, and more men were reporting ill every few minutes”.

On September 18, “…the Evening Bulletin assured its readers that influenza posed no danger, was as old as history ….” The first two sailors dying of influenza in Philadelphia occurred the next day. “…Plummer declared, ‘The disease has about reached its crest. We believe the situation is well in hand. From now on the disease will decrease.’” The city’s director of public health, Dr. Wilmer Krusen insisted that “the dead were not victims of an epidemic; he said that they had died of influenza but insisted it was only ‘old-fashioned influenza or grip.’” The next day fourteen sailors died and the first civilian died. The following day there were more than twenty deaths.

On September 21, the city’s Board of Health “assured the city that it was ‘fully convinced that the statement issued by Director Krusen that no epidemic of influenza prevails in the civil population at the present time is absolutely correct.’”

“Seven days later, on September 28, a great Liberty Loan parade, designed to sell millions of dollars of war bonds, was scheduled. Weeks of organizing had gone into the event, and it was to be the greatest parade in Philadelphia history, with thousands marching in it and hundreds of thousands expected to watch it.“

Influenza continued spreading through the city, “… the day before the parade, hospitals admitted two hundred more people – 123 of them civilians ….” Even though several doctors urged Krusen to cancel the parade, “Krusen declared that the Liberty Loan parade and associated rallies would proceed.”

“On September 28, marchers in the greatest parade in the city’s history proudly stepped forward. The paraders stretched at least two miles, two miles of bands, flags, Boy Scouts, women’s auxiliaries, marines, sailors, crushing against each other to get a better look, the ranks behind shouting encouragement over shoulders and past faces to the brave young men. It was a grand sight indeed.

“Two days after the parade, Krusen issued a somber statement: ‘The epidemic is now present in the civilian population and is assuming the type found in naval stations and cantonments.’“

“… Within seventy-two hours after the parade, every single bed in each of the city’s thirty-one hospitals was filled. And people began dying.

“ … On October 1, the third day after the parade, the epidemic killed more than one hundred people – 117 – in a single day.“

From Philadelphia the epidemic spread west into Pennsylvania. Three weeks after the parade, people in Berks County were dying of influenza. The Schwarzwald Reformed Church death register documents that two of its members succumbed to influenza. A question lingers over the other five deaths recorded that month – was the influenza virus a contributing factor in their deaths; for example, in Ellen Goodhart’s death which was recorded as heart disease?

In October 2018 Surgeon General Rupert Blue of the U. S. Public Health Service issued the following information about the epidemic:

“The disease now occurring in this country and called ‘Spanish Influenza’ resembles a very contagious kind of ‘cold’ accompanied by fever, pains in the head, eyes, ears, back or other parts of the body and a feeling of severe sickness. In most of the cases the symptoms disappear after three or four days, the patient then rapidly recovering. Some of the patients, however, develop pneumonia, or inflammation of the ear, or meningitis, and many of these complicated cases die. …

“There is as yet no certain way in which a single case of ‘Spanish influenza’ can be recognized. On the other hand, recognition is easy where there is a group of cases. In contrast to the outbreaks of ordinary coughs and colds, which usually occur in the cold months, epidemics of influenza may occur at any season of the year. Thus the present epidemic raged most intensely in Europe in May, June and July. Moreover, in the case of ordinary colds, the general symptoms (fever, pain, depression) are by no means as severe or as sudden in their onset as they are in influenza. Finally, ordinary colds do not spread through the community so rapidly or so extensively as does influenza. …

“No matter what particular kind of germ causes the epidemic, it is now believed that influenza is always spread from person to person, the germs being carried with the air along with the very small droplets of mucus, expelled by coughing or sneezing, forceful talking, and the like by one who already has the germs of the disease. They may also be carried about in the air in the form of dust coming from dried mucus, from coughing and sneezing, or from careless people who spit on the floor and on the sidewalk. As in most other catching diseases, a person who has only a mild attack of the disease himself may give a very severe attack to others. …

“It is very important that every person who becomes sick with influenza should go home at once and go to bed. This will help keep away dangerous complications and will, at the same time, keep the patient from scattering the disease far and wide. It is highly desirable that no one be allowed to sleep in the same room with the patient. In fact, no one but the nurse should be allowed in the room. …

“… Only such medicine should be given as is prescribed by the doctor. It is foolish to ask the druggist to prescribe and may be dangerous to take the so-called ‘safe, sure and harmless’ remedies advertised by patent medicine manufacturers.

“If the patient is so situated that he can be attended only by some one who must also look after others in the family, it is advisable that such attendant wear a wrapper, apron or gown over the ordinary house clothes while in the sick room and slip this off when leaving to look after the others.

“Nurses and attendants will do well to guard against breathing in dangerous disease germs by wearing a simple fold of gauze or mask while near the patient. …

“When crowding is unavoidable, as in street cars, care should be taken to keep the face so turned as not to inhale directly the air breathed out by another person.

“It is especially important to beware of the person who coughs or sneezes without covering his mouth and nose. It also follows that one should keep out of crowds and stuffy places as much as possible, keep homes, offices and workshops well aired, spend some time out of doors each day, walk to work if at all practicable – in short, make every possible effort to breathe as much pure air as possible.

“In all health matters follow the advice of your doctor and obey the regulations of your local and state health officers.

“Cover up each cough and sneeze,

if you don’t you’ll spread disease.^“¹⁷

1. __________, “Erection of County” in Historical and Biographical Annals of Berks County Pennsylvania, vol. 1, ed. Morton L. Montgomery (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1909), 8.

2. __________, “Daniel B. Keehn” in Historical and Biographical Annals of Berks County Pennsylvania, vol. 2, ed. Morton L. Montgomery (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1909), 999.

3. “United States Census, 1860”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXPZ-BTN : Thu Mar 07 06:01:10 UTC 2024), Entry for John Newkirk Goodhart and Sufiah Goodhart, 1860.

4. “United States Census, 1880”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW6B-F7D : Sun Mar 10 10:50:22 UTC 2024), Entry for Amos Goodhart and Ellen Goodhart, 1880.

5. Schwarzwald Reformed Church, Protocol of the German Reformed Church at Schwartzwald commencing with the ministry of Rev. Aaron S. Leinbach in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 [microfilm collection of Historical Society of Pennsylvania] (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011), image 115, http://www.Ancestry.com.

6. Schwarzwald Reformed Church, German Reformed Church at Schwartzwald, image 75.

7. “United States Census, 1920”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6BG-RV5 : Fri Mar 08 15:45:19 UTC 2024), Entry for Jacob Breitinstine and Sallie Breitinstine, 1920.

8. “United States Census, 1920”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6BP-24K : Sat Mar 09 08:45:24 UTC 2024), Entry for Heister Fisher and Ellen Fisher, 1920.

9. Find a Grave, “Ellen G. Weiss Fisher,” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59396049/ellen-g-fisher.

10. Find a Grave, “Catherine S. “Kate” Rhoads Herner,” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59239221/catherine_s-herner.

11. __________, “Wellington L. Wise” in Historical and Biographical Annals of Berks County Pennsylvania, vol. 2, ed. Morton L. Montgomery (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1909), 1101.

12. M. L. M., “Townships of Berks County,” History of Berks County, Pennsylvania (location unknown: Everts, Peck & Richards, 1886), 973.

13. National Huguenot Society, Who Were the Huguenots? (2024), https://nationalhuguenotsociety.org/who-were-the-huguenots/.

14. __________, “Henry B. Levan” in Historical and Biographical Annals of Berks County Pennsylvania, vol. 1, ed. Morton L. Montgomery (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1909), 494.

15. Schwarzwald Reformed Church, German Reformed Church at Schwartzwald.

16. John M. Barry, The Great Influenza (New York: Viking Press, 2004): 197-220.

17. “Uncle Sam’s Advice on Flu,” Saturday News (Watertown, South Dakota), October 10, 1918, 5, Newspapers.com.

Ada and William Mankey

December 7, 2023 MRW1 Comment

It was probably in the fall of 1885 that 18 year-old Ada Bevers met William Mankey. Ada had immigrated from England only about 10 months prior. William, having immigrated from England in 1875¹ and having worked (as of 1880) in a mine in Deer Park Township, La Salle County, Illinois,² by 1882 had obtained a tract of land in Clark County, Dakota Territory.³ In October 1885 Ada’s father, Alfred C. Bevers, was assigned to be the supply pastor of the Henry Methodist Episcopal (M. E.) Church in southwestern Codington County, Dakota Territory.⁴ The charge may have included a congregation located in Garden City as well, which was about 12 miles to the northwest of Henry, over the county line in Clark County. It is known that in 1888, William and his mother were members of the Garden City congregation and William was also a steward of the Henry Charge.⁵

Ada’s family lived in Henry for two years, then her father was assigned to Wolsey M. E. Church and the following year he was assigned to Bradley M. E. Church. Around this time period, Alfred submitted a claim for a homestead in Phipps Township, in western Codington County, about 10 miles northeast of Garden City. When Alfred and his wife Mary celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary in September 1889 at their small home on the homestead, it is believed that William attended the gathering. (See a photograph of the group attending the celebration in Ada, Gertie and Maude).

Ada and William would eventually marry on October 28, 1891.⁶ During the next decade, they lived on their farm in Clark County and they would have three children born to them. Their first child, Florence Gertrude, was born on October 16, 1892.⁷ Her namesakes were Ada’s sisters, Florence who had died as an infant and Gertrude who was still living with Ada’s parents. On April 13, 1894, Ada gave birth to William Arthur,⁸ named after his father of course and one of Ada’s deceased brothers Arthur. On June 7, 1897, George Floyd was born, named after Ada’s eldest brother George, who was living in Philadelphia.⁹ By 1898, Ada’s parents and sisters Gertrude and Maude had moved to De Smet, the county seat of Kingsbury County, about 50 miles to the south of William and Ada’s farm.

When the 1900 United States census was taken, 32-year-old Ada and 42-year-old William had been married for eight years.¹⁰ They were living on the farm that they owned in Eden Township, Clark County. William was a farmer and a naturalized citizen, having lived in the United States for 25 years. The census recorded that Ada had immigrated in 1884 and had been in the United States for 16 years. She was not a naturalized citizen (although she had submitted her intention to become a citizen in 1889.)¹¹ Seven year-old Florence had attended five months of school that year. W. Arthur was six years-old and G. Floyd was two years old. On the section to the east of William and Ada’s farm, William’s mother Mary lived with his brother Tobias, his sister Margaret Minor and Margaret’s three children.¹² William’s father Thomas had passed away in 1899 and is buried in Garden City Cemetery.¹³

The quarter section in Eden Township that William and Ada owned can be found on a 1900 map of Clark County; the farm is about a mile north of Garden City and labeled with Ada’s name.¹⁴ Adjacent to Ada and William’s farm, the map shows the quarter section owned by Mary Mankey, and to the east of her farm, William’s brother Thomas Mankey held a quarter section. Not far away in Maydell Township to the north were the farms of William’s brothers Tobias and James Mankey.

Cropped from a map of Clark County, South Dakota, dated ca. 1900.

William and Ada added another daughter to their family, Hazel Maude, on September 14, 1904.¹⁵ She was named after Ada’s youngest sister Maude. When the South Dakota census was taken in 1905, the Mankey family was still living at the same location in Eden Township. Four years later, William’s mother passed away in 1909 and was buried with his father in Garden City Cemetery.¹⁶

In late winter 1909, Ada made a trip to De Smet to visit her parents for several days. Possibly she traveled by train. The Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul Railway had an extension which had stations at Garden City and Lake Preston, a town ten miles to the east of De Smet. A year and a half after this visit, Ada’s mother, who had been afflicted with diabetes for nearly four years, passed away in July 1910.¹⁷ Shortly afterwards, Ada’s father spent a month at Ada’s home and her sister Gertrude joined them after visiting some friends.

Reported in *Kingsbury County Independent*, March 5, 1909

Reported in *Kingsbury County Independent*, August 26, 1910

When the 1910 United States census was taken, Ada and William were still living on a farm in Eden Township.¹⁸ Florence (age 17), W. Arthur (age 16) and G. Floyd (age 12) had all attended school that year. Hazel at five years-old had not attended school. While in high school, W. Arthur made a glider from plans published in the magazine Popular Mechanics.¹⁹

Both the 1900 and the 1910 censuses asked women how many children they had and how many of them were alive. Ada had given birth to four children and all of them were alive. This was unlike her mother, who had born 11 children, six of which passed away in their first or second year of life. In England early childhood mortality (deaths of children between the age one and five) had begun to decline about 1870, but infant mortality (deaths of children before the age of one) didn’t decline until around the turn of the twentieth century.²⁰ Ada’s mother was living in England and bearing children when infant mortality was high. Ada’s children were born during a period of steady decline in child mortality in the United States.²¹

In 1915 when the South Dakota state census was taken, Florence and Hazel were at home with Ada and William.²² W. Arthur was attending his second year of college at Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU) in Mitchell, South Dakota.²³ He was studying Engineering and Math.²⁴ The census records identify the family’s religion as “M. E.” (Methodist Episcopal). It is not known where G. Floyd was at the time of this census, but according to the 1930 United States census he was a veteran of “the World War,”²⁵ which would be World War 1. He was a seaman in the United States Navy from May to December 1918.²⁶

The first of William and Ada’s children to marry was W. Arthur. He married Birdella A. Carhart in April 1916 in Mitchell,²⁷ where they had met while he was attending DWU. The officiating clergyman was Birdella’s father, A. E. Carhart, who was a minister in the M. E. Church. A year and a half after their marriage, W. Arthur and Birdella had their first child, born in December 1917, giving William and Ada their first grandchild. By then, W. Arthur and Birdella were living in Washington, D. C.²⁸ They would give Ada and William their second and third grandchildren in July 1921 and January 1924.

By the time the United States census was taken in January 1920, William and Ada had purchased and lived on a dairy farm outside of Remington, Fauquier County, Virginia, about 60 miles southwest of Washington, D. C.²⁹ William was 61 years-old, a naturalized citizen and a dairy farmer. Ada was 52 years-old and she was also naturalized. Their 27 year-old daughter Florence and 15 year-old daughter Hazel were living with them, and Hazel was attending school. W. Arthur, Birdella and their child were in a rented place in Washington, D. C.³⁰ W. Arthur was a draftsman, working for the Navy Department. G. Floyd was possibly lodging in Washington, D. C. and working as an automobile salesman.³¹ A year after the census was taken, back in DeSmet, South Dakota, Ada’s father passed away in September 1921.³²

In the early 1920s, W. Arthur would move to southern California and embark on a career in aviation engineering. During the next several decades he would play a role in the advancement of the aviation field and in its regulation. One of his first accomplishments was modifying an airplane wing which with one further modification became the wing of Colonel Charles Lindbergh’s plane, the Spirit of Saint Louis.³³ In 1927, the Spirit of Saint Louis was the first plane to be successfully flown across the Atlantic Ocean.

At noon on November 21, 1923, a wedding was performed at Ada and William’s “Fairview Farm.”³⁴ Florence married Grant B. Bruce, a widower employed by the Government Forestry Department in Washington, D. C. The city directory provides additional information: He was a statistician for the Department of Agriculture.³⁵ Upon settling in Grant’s home in northwest Washington, D. C., Florence would host lodgers in their home for the next couple of decades. Many of the lodgers worked for the United States government.

Reported in *Richmond Times-Dispatch*, December 1, 1923

Two more weddings occurred in the 1920s. Hazel married James H. Weeks in October 1924,³⁶ and G. Floyd, who had moved to San Francisco in the mid-1920s, married Lucia Neira, an Italian immigrant, in May 1927.³⁷

In December 1927, Ada’s sister Gertrude mailed a Christmas greeting card from the town of Remington, Virginia. The card was addressed to one of her brother Herbert’s sons and his wife, Willis and Elizabeth Bevers, in Hazel, South Dakota. Presumably Gertrude was visiting Ada and her family.

According to the 1930 United States census, 61 year-old Ada and 71 year-old William were living on a dairy farm that they owned, still in Fauquier County. William was a farmer and he had worked on the day before the census taker visited their home.³⁸ He was not a veteran. They did not own a radio set. Florence and Grant were living at the same location in Washington, D. C.³⁹ W. Arthur and his family had left California and were living in Detroit, Michigan. W. Arthur was an aeronautical engineer, working in the auto products industry.⁴⁰ George and Lucille were in San Francisco and George was working as an automobile salesman.⁴¹ They owned a radio set. Hazel and James were living with her in-laws on her father-in-law’s dairy farm which was not far from Ada and William.⁴² They had two children by this time, giving Ada and William a total of five grandchildren. Three years later, Florence would give them their sixth grandchild.

In 1935, Ada and William still lived on a farm outside of Remington.⁴³ Florence and Grant with their child were living at the same address as previously in Washington, D. C.⁴⁴ W. Arthur and his family had moved to Santa Monica, California.⁴⁵ Hazel and James were on a farm in Lee, Virginia.⁴⁶ George and Lucille still lived in San Francisco,⁴⁷ but by 1937, they would move to southern California where Lucille gave birth to Ada and William’s seventh grandchild.⁴⁸

Tragedy struck Ada and Florence within a single day of each other. Florence’s husband died on April 30, 1938. Grant had worked for the federal government for about 37 years and had been “in charge of all map records of the United States Forest Service” for 25 years before his retirement in May 1937.⁴⁹ The day after Grant died, William at nearly 80 years-old passed away on May 1, 1938. His death certificate states that he worked as a dairy farmer “to time of death.”⁵⁰ William is buried in Remington Cemetery, Remington, Virginia.

The 1940 United States census record indicates that 72 year-old Ada was a lodger in Washington, D. C. and in the previous year she had received more than $50.00 that was not money wages or salary.⁵¹ Florence, at 46 years-old was continuing to live at the same residence which she owned in Washington, D. C.; also at the residence was her seven year-old child and three lodgers.⁵² W. Arthur had returned to the east coast, he and his family were living in Baltimore County, Maryland.⁵³ He was an aeronautical engineer at an airplane factory. George and Lucille had moved to Montebello, Los Angeles County and he was working as a house roofer.⁵⁴ Hazel and her family were still living on a farm in Lee, Virginia.⁵⁵ Her father-in-law lived with them and they had two children. There was also a lodger and a servant living with them.

During the last years of Ada’s life, her eighth and ninth grandchildren were born, the children of Hazel and James, born in 1940⁵⁶ and 1943.⁵⁷ At the age of 75, Ada’s last days were spent in Warrenton Hospital, Fauquier County and she died there on Monday, July 19, 1943. She is buried in Remington Cemetery with her husband.

Reported in Washington, D. C.’s *Evening Star*, July 21, 1943

1 Ancestry.com, New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 (Provo, Utah, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010): http://www.Ancestry.com.

2 “United States Census, 1880”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXV4-9J7 : Mon Sep 18 07:00:43 UTC 2023), Entry for Thomas Mankey and Mary Mankey, 1880.

3 “United States Bureau of Land Management Tract Books, 1800-c. 1955,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89WS-ZB44?cc=2074276&wc=M7WS-8ZC%3A356164401%2C356186301 : 14 October 2022), Dakota Territory > Vol 32 > image 54 of 254; Records Improvement, Bureau of Land Management, Washington D.C.”

4 United Methodist Church, Dakotas Conference, Commission on Archives and History, personal communication with M. R. Wilson (June 20, 1995).

5 J. G. Palmer, Palmer’s Directory of the Methodist Episcopal Church for Dakota Conference, “Henry” (1888): 128.

6 K. & M. Bevers, marriage note attached to William Mankey in Ancestral Quest program file dated June 29, 2022.

7 South Dakota Department of Health, “South Dakota Birth Records With Birth Dates Over 100 Years,” [Birth Information for Florence Mankey, State File Number: 599515]: https://apps.sd.gov/PH14Over100BirthRec/resultDetail.aspx?args=B7173D5000910C4994EA3F8456480222D6E12B84CB216B4C0933C9B568E36E1D0E715C23B1B77D480BE3E15CB8FC342C.

8 K. and M. Bevers, record of William Arthur Mankey, Ancestral Quest program file dated June 29, 2022.

9 South Dakota Department of Health, “South Dakota Birth Records With Birth Dates Over 100 Years,” [Birth Information for George Mankey, State File Number: 571260]: https://apps.sd.gov/PH14Over100BirthRec/resultDetail.aspx?args=B7173D5000910C4994EA3F8456480222567A6332A151C9247E16A4E0455BC1DD47D4462802BD74BF1CB49DF6E38B4573.

10 “United States Census, 1900,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6PQ9-455?cc=1325221&wc=9BW8-7MH%3A1031648401%2C1030694601%2C1032143801 : 5 August 2014), South Dakota > Clark > ED 89 Eden, Elrod & Maydell Townships > image 5 of 16; citing NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

11 United States of America, “First Naturalization Paper of Ada N. Bevers,” (Codington County, Dakota Territory: USA, May 22, 1889).

12 “United States Census, 1900,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6PQ9-QHQ?cc=1325221&wc=9BW8-7MH%3A1031648401%2C1030694601%2C1032143801 : 5 August 2014), South Dakota > Clark > ED 89 Eden, Elrod & Maydell Townships > image 6 of 16; citing NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

13 South Dakota State Historical Society, online cemetery search, “Thomas Mankey,“ https://apps.sd.gov/dt58cemetery/.

14 Peterson, E. F., and S. Wangersheim. Map of Clark County, South Dakota: compiled and drawn from a special survey and official records (Vermillion, S.D.: E. Frank Peterson, 1900): https://www.loc.gov/item/2012593005/.

15 South Dakota Department of Health, “South Dakota Birth Records With Birth Dates Over 100 Years,” [Birth Information for Hazel Mankey, State File Number: 599514]: https://apps.sd.gov/PH14Over100BirthRec/resultDetail.aspx?args=B7173D5000910C4994EA3F845648022241EB9E32217A5B880C0B80F399C73EA3C6FFD3355FD484F8AC6A0AC2E2AEC648.

16 South Dakota State Historical Society, online cemetery search, “Mary Mankey,“ https://apps.sd.gov/dt58cemetery/.

17 Kingsbury County Independent, “Mrs. Alfred C. Bevers,” (DeSmet, South Dakota: July 22, 1910): 4.

18 “United States Census, 1910,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TD2-CVC?cc=1727033&wc=QZZH-XC3%3A133638201%2C133675901%2C133835401%2C1589089262 : 24 June 2017), South Dakota > Clark > Eden > ED 108 > image 3 of 8; citing NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

19 K. & M. Bevers, biographical note attached to W. A. Mankey.

20 University of Cambridge, Populations Past – Atlas of Victorian and Edwardian Population, https://www.populationspast.org/about/.

21 Statista, Child mortality rate (under five years old) in the United States, from 1800 to 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041693/united-states-all-time-child-mortality-rate/.

22 “South Dakota State Census, 1915,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6917-3R9?cc=1476041&wc=MJQL-MNL%3A1041735101 : 21 May 2014), 004245361 > image 1948, 1970, 1972 & 1997 of 3079; State Historical Society, Pierre.

23 “South Dakota State Census, 1915,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-691Q-K1F?cc=1476041&wc=MJQL-MNL%3A1041735101 : 21 May 2014), 004245361 > image 1953 of 3079; State Historical Society, Pierre.

24 K. & M. Bevers, biographical note attached to W. A. Mankey.

25 “United States Census, 1930,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR4N-9Y7?cc=1810731&wc=QZFS-M82%3A648807101%2C651480501%2C651480502%2C1589283887 : 8 December 2015), California > San Francisco > San Francisco (Districts 1-250) > ED 134 > image 40 of 43; citing NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002).

26 “United States Headstone Applications for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1949,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-994Q-YRD4?cc=1916249&wc=MDBG-K68%3A205942901%2C213448601 : 26 April 2021), 1941-1949 > Mangum, Tully-Marks, Edward > image 136 of 2371; citing NARA microfilm publication M1916 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

27 Ancestry.com, South Dakota, U. S., Marriages, 1905-2018 (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.: Lehi, Utah, USA, 2005).

28 The Mitchell Capital (Mitchell, South Dakota, December 13, 1917): 3.

29 “United States Census, 1920,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRFW-4QZ?cc=1488411&wc=QZJT-FXV%3A1038215501%2C1038273601%2C1036505301%2C1589332367 : 14 September 2019), Virginia > Fauquier > Lee > ED 47 > image 19 of 42; citing NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

30 “United States Census, 1920,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R69-46Q?cc=1488411&wc=QZJG-FM7%3A1036474401%2C1036474402%2C1036476301%2C1589335824 : 10 September 2019), District of Columbia > Washington > Washington > ED 317 > image 18 of 28; citing NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

31 “United States Census, 1920”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNLV-Z7N : Thu Oct 05 15:18:14 UTC 2023), Entry for George F Mauky, 1920.

32 The Tabor Independent (Tabor, South Dakota, October 6, 1921): 6.

33 The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California, April 20, 1985): 61.

34 Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia, December 1, 1923): 4.

35 Ancestry.com, Boyd’s Directory of the District of Columbia 1923, U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line] (Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011).

36 K. & M. Bevers, biographical note attached to Hazel Maude Mankey, Ancestral Quest program file dated June 29, 2022.

37 Ancestry.com, “California, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1843-1999” [Naturalization record of Lucille Mankey, Naturalization Records/i. National Archives at Riverside, Peris, California] (Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014).

38 “United States Census, 1930,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRZF-38K?cc=1810731&wc=QZFW-811%3A648805201%2C650224701%2C648825601%2C1589282415 : 8 December 2015), Virginia > Fauquier > Lee > ED 7 > image 30 of 38; citing NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002).

39 “United States Census, 1930,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR4D-K8R?cc=1810731&wc=QZF9-L2Q%3A648806901%2C648806902%2C648806903%2C1589285158 : 8 December 2015), District of Columbia > Washington > Washington > ED 229 > image 29 of 34; citing NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002).

40 “United States Census, 1930,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRHZ-Z3X?cc=1810731&wc=QZF3-G74%3A648805801%2C649542601%2C651567401%2C1589285374 : 8 December 2015), Michigan > Wayne > Detroit (Districts 0251-0500) > ED 304 > image 55 of 84; citing NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002).

41 “United States Census, 1930,” database with images, FamilySearch (8 December 2015), California > San Francisco > San Francisco (Districts 1-250) > ED 134 > image 40 of 43.

42 “United States Census, 1930,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRZF-3ND?cc=1810731&wc=QZFW-DPK%3A648805201%2C650224701%2C648825601%2C1589282427 : 8 December 2015), Virginia > Fauquier > Lee > ED 8 > image 15 of 24; citing NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002).

43 “United States Census, 1940”, database with images, FamilySearch (ark:/61903/1:1:K73M-H7C : Fri Jun 09 01:27:49 UTC 2023), Entry for Ada N Mankey, 1940.

44 “United States Census, 1940,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9M1-53H5?cc=2000219&wc=QZFM-7NZ%3A790105901%2C790105902%2C792841801%2C792851601 : accessed 11 November 2023), District of Columbia > District of Columbia > Police Precinct 13, District of Columbia, Tract 33 > 1-508 Police Precinct 13 (Tract 33 – part), District of Columbia > image 8 of 41; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 – 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.

45 “United States Census, 1940,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9M1-HL5H?cc=2000219&wc=QZXB-4M5%3A790103401%2C790855101%2C790360501%2C951056401 : accessed 11 November 2023), Maryland > Baltimore > Election District 9 > 3-58 Election District 9 S of Joppa Rd, W of Forest Av, W and N of Stevenson Av, and E of York Rd and Dulaneys Valley Rd; Aigburth Manor, Towson (part) including Baltimore County Jail and Presbyterian Home of Maryland for Aged Women > image 55 of 67; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 – 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.

46 “United States Census, 1940,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9MR-37NM?cc=2000219&wc=QZXG-CKG%3A794217401%2C796669201%2C794293801%2C796711401 : accessed 12 November 2023), Virginia > Fauquier > Lee Magisterial District > 31-11 Lee Magisterial District outside Remington Town S of Southern Railway and W of State Road 17, Morrisville (part) > image 21 of 29; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 – 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.

47 “United States Census, 1940”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9W9-D85 : Tue Nov 28 18:48:53 UTC 2023), Entry for George F Mankey and Lucille A Mankey, 1940.

48 Ancestry.com, “California, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1843-1999.”

49 Evening Star (Washington, District of Columbia, May 1, 1938): 14.

50 Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, certificate of death of William Mankey.

51 “United States Census, 1940”, FamilySearch, Entry for Ada N Mankey.

52 “United States Census, 1940,” FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9M1-53H5?cc=2000219&wc=QZFM-7NZ%3A790105901%2C790105902%2C792841801%2C792851601).

53 “United States Census, 1940,” FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9M1-HL5H?cc=2000219&wc=QZXB-4M5%3A790103401%2C790855101%2C790360501%2C951056401).

54 “United States Census, 1940”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9W9-D85), Entry for G F Mankey and L A Mankey.

55 “United States Census, 1940,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9MR-37NM?cc=2000219&wc=QZXG-CKG%3A794217401%2C796669201%2C794293801%2C796711401}.

56 “Virginia, Marriage Certificates, 1936-1988,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TN-K9CD?cc=2370234 : 10 January 2019), > image 1 of 1; from “Virginia, Marriage Records, 1700-1850,” database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2012); citing Virginia Department of Health, Richmond.

57 “Virginia, Marriage Certificates, 1936-1988,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TF-G7KK-9?cc=2370234 : 10 January 2019), > image 1 of 1; from “Virginia, Marriage Records, 1700-1850,” database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2012); citing Virginia Department of Health, Richmond.

Alfred and Mary Bevers’ Family Bible

January 30, 2023August 2, 2025 MRWLeave a comment

One of the sources that documents the marriage and offspring of Alfred C. and Mary N. (nee Bridges) Bevers is the Family Register on which, it is assumed, either Alfred or Mary wrote in distinguished script the details of their marriage as well as the births and deaths of their children. (To see these records, go to this Legacy page: https://sojourners.family.blog/legacies/bevers-family-bible/.) This Family Register can be found in a Bible that has been in the possession of one of Alfred and Mary’s great-great-grandsons, Kyle N. Bevers. He relates: “It was in terrible shape when my parents rescued it from the sale items after Maude Bevers Waters died in 1958. There were many loose pages and both the leather covers were completely separated from the binding. It was passed on to me by my father ….”¹ Maude Waters was Alfred and Mary’s youngest daughter (b. 1875) and she was a grandaunt of Kyle’s father.

There is no publication date in the Bevers’ Family Bible, but based on some comparisons with similar Bibles sold on the Internet, at the time Kyle’s parents obtained the Bible, it was probably around eighty or ninety years old. Another fifty years would pass by before the Bible would be restored and rebound. Kyle’s wife decided to take it to a bookbinder, and in 2007 the Bible’s original august appearance was renewed. Kyle explains: “the binder … is a native of England and was trained by monks there who did book binding. He has some great old equipment and was of course thrilled to work on the book that size and of such antiquity.”²

The bookbinder’s goal of restoration was “to retain the original appearance” of the Bible and he declared that, if the book was cared for, the restoration would enable it to exist for another one or two hundred years.³ The restoration included:

Mending the pages with an archival quality repair tape, especially the pages around the family history section
Making new cloth-jointed endpapers using authentic Victorian Bible papers imported from England
Attaching new linings of linen and kraft paper on the spine
Attaching a new silk page marker ribbon
Attaching endbands at the head and tail of the spine
Re-backing the spine of the book with new goatskin leather (archivally tanned in England) which was placed underneath the original leather
Re-mounting the original spine onto the newly bound spine
Dyeing and polishing the faded original leather
Re-attaching the brass clasps with brass pins⁴

Alfred and Mary’s Bible is an edition of The Self-Interpreting Family Bible edited by Rev. John Brown of Haddington, Scotland. Their edition was printed in Glasgow, Scotland, although the publisher was located in Bolton-Le-Moors, England. The title of the Bible is followed by explanations of its contents:

CONTAINING THE

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS

TO WHICH ARE ANNEXED

AN EXTENSIVE INTRODUCTION; MARGINAL REFERENCES AND ILLUSTRATIONS;

AN EXACT SUMMARY OF THE SEVERAL BOOKS;

A PARAPHRASE ON THE MOST OBSCURE OR IMPORTANT PARTS;

EXPLANATORY NOTES, EVANGELICAL REFLECTIONS, &c., &c. …

WITH MANY ADDITIONAL REFERENCES AND A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

WITH NUMEROUS COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS IN OIL.⁵

Rev. John Brown who lived from 1722 to 1787 published his original edition of The Self-Interpreting Family Bible in 1778.⁶ For about 140 years, there were numerous versions printed in Scotland and America.⁷ The Dunham Bible Museum provides a description of the uniqueness of Brown’s edition over other Bibles of the time:

Brown’s Bible included explanatory notes placed at the bottom of the page with the scriptural text above. These notes, focusing primarily on translation issues, grammar or historical background, were primarily to make the text more understandable. The notes for each section were followed by “reflections,” which applied the Scripture to the heart. Throughout his work Brown emphasized that the goal of Scripture was to promote holiness and virtue and to glorify God. Dates and Scripture cross-references were placed in the margin.⁸

Rev. Brown himself remarked about his work on this Bible: “I can truly say, that my labor, in collecting the parallel texts in this work, has afforded me much more Pleasant Insight into the oracles of God than all the numerous commentaries which I ever perused.”⁹ (A digitized version of The Self-Interpreting Bible can be found on the Reformed Standards website.)

Although Alfred and Mary’s edition of Brown’s Family Bible does not have a date of publication, an estimated date can be surmised by the contents of the Bible. One of the items listed on the title page is “a life of the author.” A version of Rev. John Brown’s biography, believed to be written by his son William Brown, appeared in the 1859 edition of Brown’s Self-Interpreting Family Bible.¹⁰ The biography does not give the author’s name, but William Brown was the editor of the 1859 edition. Since there is a biography in Alfred and Mary’s Bible, it is unlikely that their edition was printed before 1859. Another item which helps date the Bible is the title page in Alfred and Mary’s Bible. The same title page can be found in Bibles published by different publishers (all of the wording is the same except the name of the publisher at the bottom). One publisher’s edition of Brown’s Bible having this version of the title page was listed on a book seller’s website. The description of the Bible on the website says that it was printed by the same printer as Alfred and Mary’s Bible, and the book seller supplied an estimated printing date of 1870.¹¹

Excerpts from a biography of Rev. John Brown

The REV. JOHN BROWN was born in the year 1722, at Carpow, a small village in the parish of Abernethy, and county of Perth. His parents ranked in that class of society who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. His father could boast of no rent-rolls, nor had he any title of honour, save that of an honest man and an industrious mechanic, who, during the greater part of his life, laboured in the profession of an operative weaver. … he was nevertheless a man of considerable intelligence, moral worth, and Christian sincerity. He made conscience of keeping up the worship of God in his family, and set a Christian example before them ….¹²

When Brown was about 11 years old, both of his parents passed away, first his father and shortly afterwards his mother.

An elder in the parish of Abernethy – an aged shepherd and an eminent Christian, respectable also for his intelligence, though so destitute of education that he could not so much as read – cheerfully embraced the opportunity of supplying the deficiency under which he laboured, by engaging the homeless orphan, to assist him in tending his flock, and in reading for him as opportunity allowed.¹³

Throughout this arrangement, the elder and young Brown read, conversed and prayed together, resulting in spiritual nurturing as the youngster grew.

… by pondering over the books he read, and the sermons he heard, the young man was brought under very impressive apprehensions of the majesty of God, the hatefulness of sin, the love of Christ, and the utter insignificance of all earthly enjoyments, when contrasted with the glories of heaven; so that the pleasure of his secret devotions was greatly augmented, while he felt his conscience daily becoming more tender, and his walk and conversation more assimilated to that of his Lord and Master.¹⁴

When the elder chose to settle in Abernethy, Brown found a position with a nearby farmer. During this time, he felt it was his duty to join the Secession Church, a sect that had separated from the Church of Scotland due to its institution of a policy to disregard the expression of dissenting opinions.¹⁵ Brown continued to study diligently, mostly on his own, so that he could become a “shepherd of souls.”¹⁶ His studies included becoming acquainted with the Greek and Latin languages.

… he was, at this time, anxious to obtain a Greek Testament, that he might have the satisfaction of reading, in the original language, the character and work, the holy life and vicarious death, of Him who feedeth his flock like a shepherd, and laid down his life for his sheep. Buoyed up with these hopes, and excited by this anxiety, after folding his flock one summer evening, and procuring the consent of his fellow-shepherd to watch it next day, he made a nocturnal trip to St. Andrews, distant about twenty-four miles, where he arrived in the morning. He called at the first bookseller’s shop that came in his way, and having inquired for the article in question, the shopman, on observing his apparent rusticity and mountain habiliments (dress characteristic of his occupation), told him that he had Greek Testaments and Hebrew Bibles in abundance, but suspected an English Testament would answer his purpose much better. In the mean time some gentlemen, said to have been professors in the university, happened to enter the shop, and learning what was going on, seemed much of the shopman’s opinion. One of these, however, ordered the volume to be produced, and, taking it in his hand, said, “Young man, here is the Greek Testament, and you shall have it at the easy charge of reading the first passage that turns up.” It was too good an offer to be rejected: the shepherd accepted the challenge, and performed the conditions to the satisfaction and astonishment of the party; and Mr. Brown very modestly retired with his prize.¹⁷

Eventually, Brown left his vocation as a shepherd and took up being an itinerant salesman. As he traveled around the countryside, he would often take up reading the books of his hosts rather than attend to his business of selling wares.¹⁸ Subsequently, it was suggested to Brown that he may do well as a schoolmaster. This profession he did for two years and it is noteworthy that nine of his students became ministers.¹⁹ During the school vacations, Brown studied philosophy and divinity. After completing several courses, he was licensed in 1751 by the presbytery of Edinburgh.²⁰ Shortly thereafter, he accepted the call from the congregation at Haddington to serve as their pastor.

Rev. Brown had an exceptional capacity to learn languages as well as committing scripture passages to memory.

In the summer months his constant rule was to rise between four and five, and during the winter by six. From these early hours, till eight in the evening, excepting the time allotted to bodily refreshment, family worship, or when called away on the duties of office, he continued to prosecute his studies with unremitting application. To a mind so ardent in the acquisition of knowledge, with a judgment so clear, a retentive memory, and exertions so intense, it was by no means surprising that he became greatly superior to most men engaged in discharging the same sacred duties.

In acquiring the knowledge of languages, ancient or modern, he possessed a facility altogether his own. Without an instructor [except for one month], … he soon got so far acquainted with [Latin] as to relish its beauties; and, left to his own resources, … he soon became critically acquainted with the Greek, and especially the Hebrew. Of the living languages, he could read and translate the Arabic, Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic, the French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and German.

With him natural history, civil law, natural and moral philosophy, were particular objects of research; but divinity, and the history of human affairs, sacred or civil, were his favourite studies ….²¹

While Rev. Brown served as a minister at Haddington, he also became an author. His first publication was a “large work on the Catechism, which appeared in the year 1758 …,” and the publication which required the most work was his Dictionary of the Bible.²² In 1768, he was elected by a branch of the Secession Church to be a professor of divinity.²³ Rev. Brown continued his ministerial services until shortly before his death in 1787.

For many of the years that Alfred C. Bevers and his wife lived in Dakota Territory and then in South Dakota after it was organized as a state, Alfred was a supply pastor in the Dakota Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Over a period of about 15 years, Alfred was assigned to seven churches. As they moved from town to town, it is likely that the Family Bible was transported with them. It is intriguing to contemplate that this Bible with its well-researched explanations and notes by Rev. John Brown was available to Alfred when he wanted to study the Scriptures.

1 K. N. Bevers, email communication with M. R. Wilson, dated April 23, 2020.

2 Bevers, April 23, 2020.

3 T. Farthing, personal letter to M. A. Bevers, dated Christmas, 2006.

4 Farthing, Christmas, 2006.

5 W. Bruckshaw, Publisher, Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible, (Bolton-Le-Moors, Lancashire, England: n. d.): Title Page.

6 Dunham Bible Museum, “John Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible” (Houston, Texas: Dunham Bible Museum, 2008): 1, https://www.hbu.edu/publications/museums/Dunham_Bible_Museum/DBM_JohnBrown_Self-Interpreting_Bible.pdf.

7 Reformed Standards, https://reformedstandards.com/bible/.

8 Dunham Bible Museum, “John Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible”: 3.

9 Dunham Bible Museum, “John Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible”: 3.

10 R. E. Waddell, “Rev John Brown of Haddington,” https://www.ornaverum.org/family/brown/john-haddington.html.

11 Halden Books (Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom, accessed January 27, 2023): https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31176038172&searchurl=sortby%3D17%26tn%3Dbrown%2527s%2Bself%2Binterpreting%2Bfamily%2Bbible%2Bcontaining%2Bthe%2Bold%2Band%2Bnew%2Btestaments&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title9.

12 J. D. Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 1” [transcription of author’s biography of The Self-Interpreting Bible (Glasgow, Edinburgh and London: Blackie and Son, 1859)], (August 24, 2010): https://capthk.com/category/books/john-browns-self-interpreting-bible/memoir-of-the-rev-john-brown-of-haddington/.

13 Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 2,” [transcription] (August 25, 2010).

14 Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 2,” [transcription] (August 25, 2010).

15 Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 3,” [transcription] (August 31, 2010).

16 Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 4,” [transcription] (September 1, 2010).

17 Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 4,” [transcription] (September 1, 2010).

18 Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 6,” [transcription] (November 27, 2011).

19 Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 6,” [transcription] (November 27, 2011).

20 Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 7,” [transcription] (February 26, 2012).

21 Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 8,” [transcription] (November 3, 2012).

22 Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 10,” [transcription] (November 8, 2012).

23 Chitty, “Memoir of the Rev. John Brown, part 9,” [transcription] (November 5, 2012).

What Became of the Huppler Orphans?

April 14, 2020November 8, 2020 MRW1 Comment

Immigrants John and Anna Huppeler¹, with their six children, arrived at the Port of New York in April 1874.² Two months later, at the Circuit Court of Monroe County, Wisconsin, a declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States was signed by John Huppler.³ Then nearly a year later, the name John Huppler appears on the Wisconsin state census. As of June 1, 1875, he and his household were residing in Burns Township, La Crosse County.⁴ The census record indicates that there were four males and four females in the household, presumably these are John and his sons Christian, John and Friedrich and his wife Anna and daughters Rosetta, Anna Elizabeth⁵ and Lena. This census of Burns Township also includes the household of John’s brother Jacob Hueppler, which had two males and three females.⁶ There is also a David Hueppler, which is probably another brother of John, having two males and two females in the household.⁷

Tragically, both John and Anna Huppler lose their lives within several months of being recorded on the 1875 Wisconsin census. A century after their deaths, in a tribute to their daughter Anna Elizabeth’s 105^th birthday, a statement is made: “When she was 6 her mother died and 6 mo. later, her father died. The 6 kids were placed with different families.”⁸ (According to other documentation of her age, Anna Elizabeth was actually eight years old when her parents died.) The ages of the other children were: Christian, about 12; Rosetta, age 10; John, age 6 or 7; Friedrich, age 5 and Lena, age 3.

So, what became of these six children? There is some family lore and a few documents that lead us to some possibilities of where the children were placed. One family historian, a descendant of Lena, obtained from a descendant of Christian a copy of a document dated March 4, 1876, signed by two Supervisors of the town of Burns in La Crosse County, Wisconsin. The document bound Christian as an indentured servant to William Sawyer of Burns until Christian reached the age of 21 years-old. A portion of the document reads as follows:

“… Whereas Christian Huppler now 13 years of age, a minor son of John Huppler and his wife Anna, late of said Burns, both deceased, is a resident of said town of Burns and destitute of means of support and has become a charge whom said town for support …. The Supervisors of the town of Burns have and by these presents do put and bind this said Christian Huppler unto the said William Sawyer as a servant for and until he shall have attained the full age of 21 years which will be on 22 Aug 1884 during which time the said servant shall serve his master faithfully, honestly and industriously…. The said William Sawyer hereby covenants, promises and agrees to and with said Board of Supervisors that he will furnish and provide said Christian Huppler with suitable and sufficient clothing, board and food and proper care, medical attendance in case of sickness and cause him within the said term to be instructed to read and write and in the general rules of mathematics and use him with proper care and extend to him suitable treatment and at the end of said terms he will give to said Christian Huppler the sum of $100. And for the time performance of all and singular this covenants and agreements aforesaid, the said parties bind themselves each unto the other firmly by these presents. In witness whereof the parties have set their hands and seals 4 Mar 1876.”⁹

William Sawyer was a farmer who had been living in La Crosse County since at least 1860 (his name is on the 1860 U. S. Census of the town of Bangor).¹⁰ According to the 1870 U. S. Census for Burns, William Sawyer’s household included his wife and three children, as well as another child, two farm laborers and a domestic servant.¹¹ Christian himself can be found on the 1880 U. S. Census as part of the William Sawyer household, which was still residing in Burns.¹² This census record identifies 16 year-old Christian’s relationship to the head of the household as “servant” and his occupation as “farm hand.” Christian also attended school within the census year and he could read and write. The birth place listed for Christian and his parents is “Switland” (this is assumed to be Switzerland).

1880 U. S. Census record of the William Sawyer household, which includes “Criss Huppler.”

According to the widow of one of Christian Huppler’s sons, the Huppler girls were raised by families with the name of McIntyre, Campbell and Christians, and she said that young John Huppler was raised by his uncle Jacob Huppler.¹³ She also said that “one boy died young of malaria after moving south.” As yet I have not been able to locate the placements of Rosetta nor Friedrich Huppler, but I have collected some information about Anna Elizabeth, John and Lena.

Sorting out who Anna Elizabeth was raised by and when she left Wisconsin has been difficult to determine. According to the above-mentioned article written when Anna Elizabeth turned 105-years-old, as an orphaned child “she lived and worked with the Alex McIntyre family” and the article also states that “two of her … brothers came to South Dakota and when she was 16 she joined them.”¹⁴ Alternatively, the text of the funeral folder of Anna Elizabeth seems to contradict the article, stating, “In 1880 she came to South Dakota with the William MacIntyre family.”¹⁵ William McIntyre was an early settler and businessman in Codington County, South Dakota (one source states that his arrival in Dakota Territory was in 1877, not 1880).¹⁶

“William and Adelaide [his wife] came to the tree claim he had staked two miles west of what is now Watertown. They were accompanied by a large contingent of settlers including two of his brothers. …They were very active in the early years of the city. He served as mayor and was appointed to the group authorized to organize Codington County.”¹⁷

Anna Elizabeth might not have actually moved to South Dakota at the same time as William McIntyre. In the 1880 U. S. Census of Sparta, Wisconsin, there is a record of a 13 year-old girl by the name of Annie in the household of Ester McIntyre who was married (not widowed), but her husband wasn’t in the household at the time the census was taken.¹⁸ The relationship of Annie to the head of the household (Ester) is recorded as “adopted.” According to a posting about Esther McIntyre on the Find-a-Grave website, Esther’s husband was Alexander McIntyre and they had adopted Annie.¹⁹ Perhaps this is Anna Elizabeth Huppler. Another posting on this website indicates that Alexander McIntyre moved to Watertown, South Dakota in 1886.²⁰ If Anna Elizabeth did go to South Dakota when she was sixteen (which was 1883), then she may have left from the Alex McIntyre home, three years before he moved to South Dakota.

1880 U. S. Census record of the Ester McIntyre household, which includes adopted 13-year-old “Annie.”

Possible confirmation of the statement that young John Huppler was raised by his uncle Jacob comes from a census record that actually leaves us with some uncertainty due to spelling inconsistencies. There is an 1880 U. S. Census record of a man named Jacob Hipler, living in Burns, Wisconsin²¹, the same town where Jacob Huppler was living when the Wisconsin state census was taken in 1875. The Jacob of this 1880 census record is from Switzerland, as well as the two children in the household. One of the children is named John, but the other is listed as Laura. Yet both of the children are in the age range of John and Lena Huppler. In the census record, their relationships to the head of the household are: son and daughter.

1880 U. S. Census record of Jacob Hipler household, which includes John and Laura.
(I propose that this is actually Jacob Huppler with his nephew John and niece Lena Huppler.)

After eight and a half years, the indenture of Christian Huppler was completed on August 23, 1884 when he turned 21 years-old. Two years later he made his way to Codington County, South Dakota and began farming.²² Apparently, Christian’s relationship with his master William Sawyer was a good one, and after settling in South Dakota, Christian wrote to William. This fact is known due to the existence of a letter written by William’s daughter Lena Sawyer to Christian. Lena Sawyer’s letter states that she was writing a week after William Sawyer received a letter from Christian. In her letter dated September 15, 1889, she calls herself his friend, she tells him of her impressions of South Dakota and informs him of the doings of the members of her family. According to the wife of a family historian who is a descendant of Lena, the text of the letter reads:

“Father received your letter last week. We are glad to know that you keep well and like Dakota. I think it is just the place for young men and women too if they have plenty of courage. I have often thought that I would like to own a piece of land in Dakota but could not well take a homestead. What kind did you get and are there any claims near yours. I want land for speculation, not for a home for I could not stand Dakota winters. I think some of taking a trip to Huron this fall to visit the cousins there. Susie and Johnnie have moved to Mankato, MN. Mother went East the middle of July. She returned last week and brought a niece with her from NY. Frank went to CA the first of July. He thinks of spending a year in a law school at San Francisco then will settle in Stockton. Said he would not be back for 10 years. Allie has been home a month. She is going to teach in the Graded School at Long Prairie next year. Helen is at home. She is very anxious to learn short-hand and type-writing. Edgar has moved to LaCrosse and working at carpentry. Your friend, Lena”²³

The 1915 South Dakota state census record of Lena Bevers indicates that she had been living in South Dakota for 29 years, which would mean that she moved to South Dakota in 1886, when she was 14-years-old.²⁴ This is the same year that Lena’s cousin Kate Huppler Dellman moved to South Dakota with her husband J. H. Dellman.²⁵ Kate was the second daughter of Jacob Huppler. If it is true that three-year-old orphaned Lena was taken in by Jacob Huppler, then Kate would have been sixteen-years-old at the time. Around five years later, in December 1880, Kate married Julius Dellman.²⁶ Then, in the same year that Christian Huppler moved to Codington County, the Dellmans moved to Watertown, South Dakota. Perhaps young Lena Huppler had joined the Dellmans during their move to South Dakota.

According to family lore learned by one of Christian Huppler’s descendants, Christian was instrumental in bringing all of his siblings to South Dakota.²⁷ Briefly, the following information is known about the residences of Christian and his siblings as young adults.

“Christian’s name is one of 22 settlers who signed a petition filed April 16, 1889 asking that the area be organized into a civil township known as Phipps Township.”²⁸
It is not yet known which family took in Rosetta Huppler when her parents died, nor when and how she made her way to South Dakota. But she was living in Phipps Township, Codington County, South Dakota when she married Gottlieb Christian in 1900.²⁹
Anna Elizabeth “had her own homestead near the McIntyre home which was north of Watertown and just west of Rauville.”³⁰ Also, she and her husband Dougal Campbell were living in Phipps Township in 1900.³¹
As a young man John Huppler must have lived in South Dakota for a short time. He was there in 1892 when his sister Lena married Herbert Bevers. John and his sister Anna Elizabeth were witnesses who signed Lena and Herbert’s marriage certificate.³² John must have returned to Wisconsin about 1893 because he was married there about 1894.
Little is known about Friedrich. As yet, no record has been found of his living in South Dakota. Some family historians give him a death date of about the year 1900. Perhaps he died in the south of malaria, as one story reports about one of the Huppler boys.³³
According to Lena’s marriage license dated November 1892, she was a resident of Watertown, Codington County, South Dakota at that time.³⁴

Notes:

The Huppler name is spelled in a variety of ways on different documents. When a document is referenced, the name is spelled as it is written in the document.
“New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK97-V815 : 11 March 2018), John Huppeler, 1874; citing Immigration, New York City, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication M237 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 175,744.
“Declaration of John Huppler,” (Circuit Court, Monroe County, Wisconsin: June 12, 1874).
Wisconsin Historical Society; Madison, Wisconsin; Census Year: 1875; Roll: 3 (https://ancestry.com. Wisconsin, State Censuses, 1855-1905 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007).
Both names (Anna Elizabeth) are used throughout this article because some resources refer to her as Anna and some refer to her as Elizabeth, Liz or Lizzie.
Wisconsin Historical Society; Census Year: 1875.
Wisconsin Historical Society; Census Year: 1875.
Jenkins Methodist Home News, v. 6 no. 3, “105th Birthday” (Watertown, South Dakota: Jenkins Methodist Home, August 1972), 1.
M. A. Bevers, email communication to M. Wilson, April 20, 2020.
“United States Census, 1860”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW9S-VXG : 18 March 2020), William Sawyer, 1860.
“United States Census, 1870”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN9L-331 : 19 March 2020), William Sawyer, 1870.
“United States Census, 1880,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN4R-LFZ : 17 September 2017), William P Sowyer, Burns, La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States; citing enumeration district ED 44, sheet 335A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,255,432.
M. A. Bevers, notes of an interview with Geraldine Huppler, widow of Jim Huppler, July 1991 (posted to Johannes Hüpperle in “Bevers-Daily-McFerran-Nelson Families” family tree on Ancestry.com, n.d.).
Jenkins Methodist Home News, “105th Birthday.”
Shaw-Messer Funeral Home, “Anna E. Campbell, 1867-1972” (Watertown, South Dakota: Shaw-Messer Funeral Home, January 3, 1973).
“William McIntyre Family,” In The First 100 Years in Codington County, South Dakota, 1879-1979, by Codington County History Book Committee (Watertown, South Dakota: Watertown Public Opinion Print, 1979): 264.
“William McIntyre Family,” In The First 100 Years in Codington County, South Dakota, 1879-1979: 264.
“United States Census, 1880,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNHW-FTG : 23 August 2017), Ester Mcintyre, Sparta, Monroe, Wisconsin, United States; citing enumeration district ED 29, sheet 93A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,255,439.
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 28 March 2020), memorial page for Esther E Husted McIntyre (27 May 1837–8 Jul 1912), Find a Grave Memorial no. 88550806, citing Leon Cemetery, Sparta, Monroe County, Wisconsin, USA; Maintained by Susan Hunt Williams (contributor 47664730).
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 28 March 2020), memorial page for Alexander “Alex” McIntyre (18 Jun 1838–18 Nov 1907), Find a Grave Memorial no. 88523698, citing Leon Cemetery, Sparta, Monroe County, Wisconsin, USA; Maintained by Susan Hunt Williams (contributor 47664730).
“United States Census, 1880,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN4R-RN5 : 17 September 2017), Jacob Kipher, Burns, La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States; citing enumeration district ED 44, sheet 341B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,255,432.
“Christian Huppler Family,” In The First 100 Years in Codington County, South Dakota, 1879-1979, by Codington County History Book Committee (Watertown, South Dakota: Watertown Public Opinion Print, 1979): 208.
M. A. Bevers, email communication to M. Wilson, April 20, 2020.
“South Dakota State Census, 1915,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMHW-WHC : 29 July 2017), Lena Bevers; citing State Historical Society, Pierre; FHL microfilm 2,283,122.
“J. H. Dellman Family,” In The First 100 Years in Codington County, South Dakota, 1879-1979, by Codington County History Book Committee (Watertown, South Dakota: Watertown Public Opinion Print, 1979): 156.
“J. H. Dellman Family,” In The First 100 Years in Codington County, South Dakota, 1879-1979: 156.
M. L. Winzenburg, email communication with K. Bevers, Apr. 19, 2017.
“Christian Huppler Family,” In The First 100 Years of Codington County, South Dakota, 1879-1979: 208.
M. A. Bevers, notes of the marriage record of Rosa Huppler and Gotlip (sp?) Christian (posted to Rosetta Huppler in “Bevers-Daily-McFerran-Nelson Families” family tree on Ancestry.com, n.d.).
Jenkins Methodist Home News, “105th Birthday.”
“United States Census, 1900,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMRS-CZZ : accessed 15 April 2020), Anna E Campbell in household of Degald Campbell, Fuller, Richland & Phipps Townships, Codington, South Dakota, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 102, sheet 7B, family 131, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,548.
“Marriage License of Herbert J. Beavers and Lena Huppler” (Circuit Court, Codington County, South Dakota: November 23, 1892).
M. A. Bevers, notes of an interview with Geraldine Huppler.
“Marriage License of Herbert J. Beavers and Lena Huppler.”

Sojourners, Settlers & Other Legacy Conveyors

Ancestors and the Legacies They Left Behind

Tag: Settler