| Summary: | JOHANNAS RIEKER AND RELATIVES Johannas Rieker had reached the age when young men were required to enter military service in Russia. In order to avoid this, he decided to go to America. The Rieker family could not bear the thought of a family separation, so their daughter, Christina, and her husband, August Flegel, were prevailed upon to also make the move. From various points in Russia a group of immigrants met at a train to take them to Germany. They were the Gottlieb Krafts, Fred Bartles, Riekers, Obermeiers, Osters, Bowers and three Schlopp families. Most of them were related by marriage. At the German-Russian border Johannas Rieker was held for desertion from military service. The Riekers, except Jake, stayed behind to await the outcome, but the rest of the emigrants continued on their journey. The Riekers made their escape by night across the border and rejoined their party a few days later. After a 21 day ocean trip, they went by train to Eureka. Shortly after their arrival, a Mr. Gackle advised the group to file land claims, and for a dollar offered to take them to Williamsport to do this. The day they arrived at the county seat, they found everything closed, for it was the 4th of July. So he made them another proposition. For $2.00 he would take them to Bismarck where they would get the right papers immediately. They all agreed to make the payment, so on to Bismarck they went and got their preemption claim papers. When they returned, another man laid claim to some of the land, but when he saw their signed instruments, he moved on without further protest. LESTER SCHWAB (Story submitted by Elsie Schwab Sanders) The grandparents of Lester Schwab came as immigrants from Germany to the United States when they were young people, settling in Wisconsin. William, one of their sons, was born near Sparta, Wisconsin. When he was a young man he moved to Winona, Minn, and there met and married a widow, Angeletta Louden Bradley, who had three children. Two years later they had a son, Arthur Lester Schwab. The step-children remained in Minnesota, but William, his wife and young son moved to North Dakota, in search of land. A neighbor, Charles Lipps, and William traveled across country via horse and wagon, and were both successful in obtaining a homestead in Marie Township, about fifteen miles east of Linton. They farmed side by side raising grain and hay. William became interested in cattle raising so would buy cattle, feed them until fall and then ship them out. He did not get rich, but it was his interest and livelihood. Lester volunteered for Uncle Sam's Service, but was very ill in Fort Riley, Kansas. After he recovered, he was sent overseas and was at the front for 105 days. When he returned to Emmons County after the armistice, he worked for Ben Haggard and also tended cattle along Little Beaver Creek. He boarded with Harvey (Josh) and Martha Tuttle in Emmonsburg and there met Elsie Dahlen who had come from Minnesota to teach the Tuttle school. When she came to Emmons Co. on the branch line of the NP. RR from McKenzie to Linton, there were quite a few teachers aboard and also Dr. R. R. Hogue of Linton. The train was slow and the countryside did not look very interesting so the teachers became quite discouraged. Dr. Hogue assured them everything would be alright, especially if they would eat lots of garlic— then they could endure the disagreeable winter with the cold and snow ahead! Lester and Elise were married the following spring after school closed. They lived on the Schwab Ranch in Marie District until 1929 when they acquired the W. H. Johnson Ranch in Omio School District. Mr. Johnson was clerk of the district and told Elsie that the job went with the property. She served 27 years as clerk. DR.CLARENCE RODENBURG Clarence Rodenburg was born in the Westfield community on July 22, 1911, the youngest son of Weiger and Cornelia (Bootsma) Rodenburg. He attended St. Benedict's High School in Strasburg, and attained his B. S. degree at the Ellendale State Teachers College. For three years he taught school in Harding School District near Strasburg. He graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry in 1939. Since that time he has taken post-graduate work with one seminaar in Europe observing work in European cities, including Moscow and Leningrad. During World War II he served 3V2 years, two of them in the European Theatre, and attained the rank of Captain in the 351st Medical Detachment. Dr. Rodenburg has practised at the Veterans Hospital at Fargo, privately in Edgeley for three years, and in Linton 25 years. At present he is semi-retired. He married Dorothy Peterman in 1947, and they have three children: Cliff, Jackie (Olson), and Paul. HENRY A. REAMANN Twenty-year-old Henry A. Reamann drove to Emmons County from Groton, S. Dak., in a top buggy because he had heard of homestead land. He filed his claim 15 miles southwest of Braddock. The following spring he returned with his worldly possessions in a covered wagon pulled by two oxen and two broncos. He tried to farm with that combination, but needless to say, wound up with just the oxen on the plow. In 1889 he married Edith M. Stewart. She had come from Boone, Iowa, with her foster parents, Rev. and Mrs. Charles Parker, when she was ten. They settled in the area known as Winchester. There were eight children born to them: Mabel, Jessie, Harry, Beatrice, McKinley, Frank, Roger and Bonnie. Jessie and Frank died in childhood. They lived on the homestead until it was proved, then later traded it for a stallion. One fall Mr. Reamann took a load of flax to Bismarck to market to get provisions for the winter. When he found that he could not sell the flax, he joined a group freighting for the government, and sent a message to that effect to his family. The message was never received. He was on the scene a few hours after Sitting Bull was killed. He was also one of the men who guarded the Indians who had murdered the Spicer family. This was because the officials feared a lynching. However, on the day they were lynched, he was in Steele. He helped move a number of houses from Williamsport to Braddock and Hazelton, and then opened a grocery store in Braddock. After Mr. Reamann bought the telephone line, the family moved to Hazelton, where Mr. Reamann died in June, 1927. Mrs. Reamann and some of the children continued living in Hazelton until 1934 when they moved to Oregon. Mrs. Reamann died in Dec, 1950. MICHAEL A. SCHUMACHER (1886-1954) Michael A. Schumacher was born in Russia on Oct. 10, 1886, a son of Andrew and Genevieve Mugg Schumacher. He came to America in 1906, settling near Ipswich, S. Dak. It was there that he married Helen Usselman Feb. 1, 1910. They moved to Strasburg in 1917, where he established a Ford agency and operated it for 30 years. While living in Strasburg he served as a member of the Strasburg School Board, County Welfare Board, Selective Service Board in World War II, Chairman of the Village Board of Trustees until 1940 and Mayor of Strasburg from 1946 thru 1948. In 1949 he established the Emmons County Motor Co. at Linton, which is still in operation with his two sons as proprietors. It is now called Schumacher's, Inc. The Schumachers were the parents of Andrew, Sylvester, Regina (Schreiner), Bertha (Fox), Helen (Sathren), Madalene (Hinton), Mary Ann (Bichler), and an adopted daughter, Jenny (Reed). 148 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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