when the bottom land east of Battle Creek which would include the good meadow land lying as far east as the Schulz and Stirk land was burned (not known whether by design or accidental) the burning noise of the age old cattails, thistles and buck brush reminded Fred Richardson of the sound of rifle fire in battle.

—Mrs. Margaret DeWalt

In the beautiful valley formed by the Wang River and the Danube River, my grandparents lived until they came to America. Both were born and raised at Friedstadt, Moravia; then a part of Austria.

Grandpa William was the son of Frank Dietrich and Josepha LaSeour, his father was Austrian and his mother French.

He had one brother Frank who settled near Spalding, Nebraska. His wife was the postmaster there when I was a little girl. His only sister Josephine never came to America, but stayed in Moravia. We never knew what happened to Josephine and her family.

Grandpa was a graduate of the University of Vienna and grandmother attended a school for young ladies in Bavaria, I can't recall the place. Her maiden name was Julia Zimmerman. We know nothing of her parents. A marriage contract had been made for her when she was a baby, but when she grew up she met my grandfather, fell in love with him and married him without her parents' consent in the year 1857, the exact date not known.

After they were married they lived with my grandfather's parents until they came to America. My great grandfather was a grain speculator and my grandfather helped him in his business. He often spoke of the thrill of riding on the great grain barges on the Danube River.

Grandmother Dittrick had a brother Joseph and a sister Tresia, as well as a half brother Vincent and a half sister Bertha. Grandmother had a half brother who lived at Columbus, Nebr., so when they came to America they came to Nebraska where they had relatives.

When they left for America they had five children and so much luggage that could not get everything and everybody in a carriage, so they took a hayrack and an uncle hauled them to Vienna where they got on the train for Hamburg, Germany, where they sailed for America. The uncle unloaded everybody and everything at the depot, then turned without another look or goodbye and left for home. He knew he would never see them again and could not bear to say goodbye.

They arrived at Columbus on July 3, 1877 and spent their first 4th of July there. Columbus was a wild western town at that time and they never forgot that first 4th of July.

A week later they filed on a homestead located on Section

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