Emmons County history : compiled for the bicentennial, 1976

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: North Dakota State Library 2014
• Subjects: Big Beaver Creek; Bismarck; Esther; Eureka; Maurice; McIntosh; Steele; Tripp; Valentine; Beaver Creek
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/13419

FERMAN BUSBY (1896—1964) Ferman Busby came to the Dakotas with his parents when he was a young child. They homesteaded 14 miles northwest of Linton in Horsehead Valley. In March 1936 he was taken to the Bismarck Hospital after having become paralyzed as the result of a spinal tumor. When he was admitted he was not expected to live more than a month or so, but he was there a total of 29 years and 9 months. A story in the Bismarck Tribune said Mr. Busby had two insurance policies, which at first paid for all hospitalization, MR. AND MRS. AUGUST BENZ The golden wedding celebration and dance honoring Mr. and Mrs. August Benz in 1948 was held at the Springwater Pavilion at Moffit, which is built on the very spot at which Mr. Benz and the former Mary Katherine Argast had met more than a half century before, when they stopped for a drink of water at the spring while each was herding cattle. Mrs. Benz was born in Tripp, S. Dak., coming to Emmons Co. with her parents, who settled in the Braddock community, when she was two years old. Mr. Benz operated one of the largest cattle ranches in Emmons County. He came to the U. S. from Germany when he was 17 years of age. His brother, Valentine, came west and was instrumental in setting up the Moffit community, where August came as a young man from Cleveland, Ohio, to join him. After their wedding on Oct. 28, 1898, at Steele, the newlyweds homesteaded at the location of the ranch south of Moffit, now operated by his son Maurice. They were the parents of Flora (Guthmueller), Esther (Schmitz), Miles, Christine, Ruby (McFarlane), Agnes (Blew), Eunice (Price), Maurice, Gladys (Nelson), and a foster son, Willard Moss. but as the years passed and costs went up, the expenses far outreached the payments, but were absorbed by the hospital in free care. His interest and hobby were geography and maps and his favorite pastime was taking travels on the maps in his imagination. Whenever a friend traveled, he traveled along in his mind. His room was filled with maps and books and the pictures of many of the student nurses of Bismarck Hospital. He was especially interested in their progress and kept in contact with many of the graduates through the years. MR. AND MRS. JOHN BADER John Bader was born in Wisconsin in 1861, the eldest son of the Henry Baders. They moved to Iowa and when he was 13 years old his father died. He helped his mother run the farm and support the family until he reached the age of 24. He married Mary Schubert Mar. 24, 1886. Following his marriage he engaged in the contracting and construction business, taking several contracts for road building for railroads in Iowa and the northwest. One of his contracts was with the Great Northern to build a section of the grade in North Dakota and Montana in 1900. Finding the country attractive, he moved his family to Emmons County in 1902 and engaged in the ranching business in Winona with A. B. Knox. This partnership continued until 1919 when he bought the Knox interests. He was a prominent stock breeder and a great admirer of fine cattle. In 1918 they left the ranch and moved to Linton. He was elected on the Linton city council as 2nd ward alderman in 1931 and again in 1938. The Baders were the parents of Frances (Carls), Henry, Clifton, Fred, George, Tessie (Fetterly). DANIEL BECHTLE Johann Daniel Bechtle, 1856-1920, married Christiana Wildermuth Fischer on May 26, 1883, and six years later they emigrated to the United States. Their children were John, Daniel, Emil, Robert, Barbara (Fritschle), Caroline (Oshsner), Mathilda (Ochsner), Emma (Craig), and Martha. Mr. Bechtle's own story of his arrival in the County as translated by LaVern J. Rippley, St. Olaf College, from the DAKOTA FREIE PRESSE: "It was in 1889 that three families, Jakob Wolf, my brother and I (13 people in all), emigrated from South Russia to Scotland, S.D. We each bought a team of oxen, a couple of cows, a wagon and other equipment, for which we needed one entire freight car. We arrived at the railroad terminal in Eureka, unloaded the supplies, and left the next morning with all our belongings on the ox-drawn wagons for Mcintosh County. "We arrived at our friend's place on Sunday noon and were received most cordially. From there we men drove out to find suitable spots for settling. After traveling about 25 miles, we came to Big Beaver Creek and proceeded on foot, seeking a corner post. We met a German farmer, Herr Backhaus, in search of his cattle. He was overjoyed that his acquaintance in the faith (Lutheran) wanted to move into his area as neighbors. He gladly showed us the landmark and his brother helped us pick suitable land. After going to the nearest land office to register the acreage we had selected, we were able to get our families, and on July 1st we moved onto our own homesteads. Herr Backhaus placed a one-room shack at our disposal until we could construct our own houses of earth and grass. There were now five families together belonging basically to the same ethnic group. Because there were no churches in our region, we assembled every Sunday in a sod house for Scripture readings. On occasion a pastor of the Missouri Synod came to conduct regular worship services. "The first year was extremely difficult. It was too late to seed anything and the closest town was about 50 miles away. Nowhere was there any money to be earned. The year 1889 also ended with a crop failure, with resulting high prices for groceries and animal fodder. But we never lost faith. "It was not until 1891 that we took in our first good harvest. Marketing was difficult, so we finally bought a team of horses, even though they were very expensive. "In 1894, two new families arrived, Herr Johann Wolf and Herr Wilhelm Wildermuth. Both took out homesteads and did very well. "With the coming of the railroads, our market situation improved, jobs were available and the value of the land increased greatly." 112 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.