FAMILY STORIES

19, 1946 to Josephine Bouc, has two sons, James and Douglas. On April 2, 1963, Douglas lost his life in an auto accident. He was seven years old.

James and Mary Egr

Beatrice, married June 10, 1946 to Leonard Zimmerman, has two sons, Larry and Richard. Leona, married April 9, 1947 to Joseph Vasa, has five sons, Thomas, James, Robert, Gerald and Joseph Jr. and two daughters, Joanne and Kathleen. Adeline, married April 9, 1947 to Milo Vasa, has six sons, Steven, Edward, Michael, Timothy, Patrick and Donald and one daughter, Loretta. Wilma, married March 1, 1954 to Arnold Kaspar, has two daughters, Linda and Kaye, and two sons, Mark and John.

We all attended District #83, a one-room school house; across the fields the distance was one mile. Most of the time we walked. If the weather was bad, we were very happy to see the horses hitched to a wagon to take us home. Those days the roads had no gravel, so the car was not driven when it snowed or rained. Classes are still held at the same school building.

James and Mary lived on a farm close to the home place. They had five beautiful mules which were used for farm work; in later years a tractor was purchased. They also had a big garden and orchard to take care of. In 1946, they moved to a farm home which his parents built in 1932 when they left the homestead. Mary was deceased in October 28, 1978. James is still living at the farm home. He drives to Prague for whatever he needs, and to Plasi for church.

   Milton and Alice Eichmeier have their roots in Saunders Co., living on the farm that Milton's grandparents, August J. and Magaretha (Hennings) Eichmeier, purchased south of Ithaca in the early 1890's. They had originally come from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany.

Mr. and Mrs. Milton Eichmeier

   August H. Eichmeier, the oldest of five children, married Ida Witte of Hardin, Missouri in 1922. She passed away five years after their son, Milton, was born. August married Martha Cornell five years later in 1933.

   Alice's great-grandparents, Andrew and Louisa Quick, coming from Sweden, settled near Swedeburg in 1870. Emil, the fifth of seven children, married Sadie Rowell in 1899. Seven must have been a good number for they had seven children. Earl was the oldest and he married Martha Hageman. She was the seventh child of eight children of Albert and Mathilda (Ott) Hageman.

   Alice's other great-grandparents, Johann and Fredricka Hageman, settled in Saunders Co. in the early 1870's, coming from Saxony in Germany.

   Earl Quick and Martha Hageman were married in 1921 and had three children: Wallace and wife, Alta, now living near Ithaca; Earlene and husband, Berneal Warner, now living near Waverly; and Alice.

   Milton Eichmeier and Alice Quick were married in 1948 and raised four daughters.

   Shirley and her husband, Joseph Chaput, were married in 1977 and are living in Lincoln. They have two children, Jill Eichmeier Chaput, born April 13, 1980, and Paul Chaput Eichmeier, born on Nov. 21, 1982.

   Nancy, the second daughter, married John Burke in 1973. They have built a house just ¼ mile from the home place.

   Judy and Robert Iiams were married in 1980, and moved within a mile of the home place and is interested in farming.

   Mary, the youngest, married Russell Bryan in 1976. They are building a log house less than a mile of the original homesite. They have a son, Casey August, born on Jan. 4, 1983.

   Milton and Alice continue to live in the house which was built in the early 1880's, enlarged in the early 1900's, and kept in repair as a comfortable home.

   Although we sometimes complain of the hot dry summers and the cold icy winters, we are sure this is where we belong and are the happiest, in Saunders Co., where we have our friends and families.

   Wilmer Leroy Ellison was born on April 28, 1914 to William and Edna Merle (Hoagland) Ellison. He had two sisters, Leona and Eula. The family lived on a farm in the Marietta Precinct.

Wilmer and Virginia Ellison

   In 1923, Wilmer's mother became bedfast and died in 1939.

   Wilmer attended the Mead Public School and in, 1932, was voted state basketball player of the year. He was captain of his undefeated basketball team. They won the Class B state championship in 1932. After high school, Wilmer did post-graduate work at Mead and drove the school bus. He started farming with his dad in 1932. Wilmer met Virginia Belle McFarlane from Fremont, Nebraska in 1935, and they were married in 1937.

   In 1938, Butch and Virginia operated a service station on the north edge of Fremont. A fire destroyed their living quarters in the station, and they lost all of their wedding presents, pictures and family items.

   In 1941, they moved to Seattle, Washington and worked for Boeing Aircraft until 1945, when they returned to the Mead area and started farming. They bought Wilmer's mother's homeplace in 1957 and lived there until they built a new home one-half mile north in 1968.

   Wilmer and Virginia had two children, Sharon, born on March 34, 1941 and James, born on December 5, 1942. Sharon attended the University of Nebraska, married Donald Sinner from Wood River, Nebraska and they now have two sons, Don Jr. and Daniel. They live in Prior Lake, Minnesota. Don manages the plant of EL Laborator & Research & Development. The two boys are attending the University of Minnesota.

   Jim married Hermine (Storm) of Yutan and is farming near Mead. They have five children: Deborah, Cynthia, James Jr., Mary and David. Deborah is attending Kearney State College and the others are attending the Mead schools, as did Jim, Hermine, Wilmer and Wilmer's mother, Edna Merle.

   Wilmer and Virginia spend their time buying and selling antiques. They have many of their family heirlooms in their collections. Submitted by Hermine Ellison

   My mother, Clara Christine Holtorf, was the daughter of J.H. and Wiebke Holtorf, early residents of Malmo, where she was born. As a young woman, Clara taught public school in Malmo, and later taught music in Mead, Nebraska.

Winifred T. and John R. Elmborg

   On July 28, 1925, Clara married Arnold V.N. Thoren, who was at that time pastor of Edensborg Lutheran Church, Malmo. He was the son of Rev. Victor N. Thoren and Emma C. Thoren, who had served Edensborg Lutheran around 1904. My father had been ordained from Augustana Theological Seminary in 1923.

   I am one of four children born to Arnold and Clara, the others being Clara Pauline, Arnold Victor and Paul Nathanael. I was born in the Holtorf family home in Malmo.

   As a family, we lived in Hooper, Nebraska, Strandburg, South Dakota, Crosby, Minnesota, and Smolan, Kansas. My mother died while father was serving the Salemsborg Lutheran Church, Smolan, Kansas.

   I received a B.A. in Education from Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas, and began my teaching career in Salina, Kansas, where I taught for three years before moving to Lincoln, Nebraska. While teaching in Lincoln, I obtained a Master of Education degree from the University of Nebraska.

   On September 24, 1971, I married John R. Elmborg, an attorney in Blue Rapids, Kansas. John is a native of Lindsborg, who received a B.A. in Economics from Bethany College and an LL. B. from the New York University School of Law in New York City. John served in the Judge Advocate's Corps, U.S. Army, after which he practiced a number of years in New York City and Denver before moving to Blue Rapids.

   At the present time, we live in an historic limestone building in Blue Rapids, which houses John's office on the ground floor. We have refurbished and redecorated the second floor into a modern apartment where we live. The school where I teach first grade is just two blocks away.

   We are members of St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Waterville, four miles away, where we are active in the choir and other church activities. Submitted by Winifred Thoren Elmborg

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   My father, William Endres, born in 1870 in Altona, Pennsylvania, came to Nebraska with his parents in 1877, settling near Ceresco. He spent most of his life in Saunders County.

   On November 3, 1879, he was united in marriage to Julia Tracy, who was born on a farm near Ithaca, Nebraska in 1877. She and my father were married in this home, where they continued to live, raising a family of ten children, seven still alive. Four are living in El Cajon, CA. Three still live in Nebraska. My sister, Leora Rexilius, now a widow, resides on the original farm home.

   My husband, George, and I raised our family a few miles from the old homestead. My sister, Leora, and I are the only two members of our family still living in Saunders County. A sister, Mary, lives in Burt County.

   Our mother's parents, Caleb and Louisa Tracy, came to Nebraska from Ohio in a covered wagon. They homesteaded in the area of Ithaca, Nebraska in 1873. Later, they purchased more land adjacent to the original farm. Both my parents were very active in community affairs. Mother was the school district census taker for many years, president of the Methodist Ladies Aid, and performed as many other activities as she had time for outside of her home. My father was moderator of the school board for many years, also helping on projects involving the church and school as time would allow.

   Most of my brothers and sister attended a one-room school, District 30. Whenever we get together, we enjoy reminiscing over the years spent in this school, and of the interesting incidents that occurred on the way home from school.

   I did not attend this school, but went to school in the nearby town of Ithaca, finishing high school in Mead, as did other members of the family.

   We are blessed with families of our own. At this time in history, my parents have 10 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great-grandchildren, living either in Nebraska or California.

   After the death of my mother in 1941, my father moved to California to be near other members of the family. He remained there until his death in March, 1953. Submitted by Imogene Hageman

   My father, Axel Linus Erickson, was born in Kolsva, Sweden on September 9, 1893, the youngest of 8 children. In 1912, he sailed for America aboard the Lusitania.

Ida and Axel Erickson, Sept. 8, 1968

   Joe Paulson, who lived on a farm in the Weston area, hired Dad to help with the farming. Dad's cousin, Harry Nelson, and his wife, Augusta, also lived in the area at that time.

   After a few years (1920), he returned to Sweden, where he visited friends and relatives.

   When he came back to America, he worked for Ford Motor Co. at the Ford Building in Omaha. He lived in a large boarding house. He had a reputation of a daring motorcyclist.

   Dad met Ida Bernice Nelson, and in 1927, they were married. Mother was one of 9 children of Charley and Ella Nelson. They lived 1 mile east and 4 miles north of Mead. Dad became a greenskeeper for the Happy Hollow Country Club in Omaha. They lived in a house on the golf course where I (Ted) was born.

   Next, Dad worked for Central Bridge & Const. of Wahoo. We lived in a small house 2 miles north of Mead. In 1931, Dad bought a house in Mead on the SW corner of 1st and Cedar.

   After a few years, Dad went to work for Ralph Meese Const. Co. of Wahoo as mechanic foreman. They worked in every part of Nebraska, building roads. Dad bought a new 1936 Chev. for $636. We moved to each project. In 1939, we moved to Ogallala to work on the big dam. It was completed in 1941 and we moved back to Mead.

   Dad worked on construction of the Nebraska Ordnance Plant and later with Firestone at the Plant as a mechanic. A year later, he went to the Yukon in Canada to work on an airstrip which was used as a fuel-stop for planes going to Russia. He worked for Metcalf-Hamilton and Kansas City Bridge Companies.

   When he returned, he went back to the Plant as Foreman in charge of Locomotive Maint. As the Plant closed, he took a job as shop foreman for the Saunders County Highway Dept. He had a widespread reputation in the construction industry of being one of the best mechanics anywhere. Even in the later years, he received calls and offers of employment from some of the largest contractors in the country.

   After his retirement, he worked part-time as bus mechanic for Mead School. Mother passed away in 1971 while they were in Arizona for the winter.

   In 1977, one of Dad's nephews and wife, Karl Gustav and Ewe Eriksson, from Vasteras, Sweden came for a visit. They were the only relatives from Sweden to visit this country. In 1979, my wife and I visited many Erikssons in Central Sweden.

   On October 20, 1980, Dad sat down to rest at home and passed away at 87 years of age.

   Surviving were: Son Ted, and wife, Alice; granddaughter, Connie, and husband, Jim Eckley, with great-grandson, Jay; grandsons, Michael and John, all of Mead. Submitted by Theodore A. Erickson

   My maternal grandparents, Anna Wahlstron and Nels F. Lindgren, were both born in Sweden and came to America when babies with their parents to Knoxville, Illinois in 1853. They were married in Knoxville in 1871. They came to Saunders County in a covered wagon in 1875 and settled on a farm 5 miles northwest of Wahoo. They were blessed with 11 children. The next to the youngest, Lillie, born in 1891, was my mother. My father, Eric J. Erickson, was born in Dala-Floda, Sweden in 1890, came to America in 1909, and stayed with an aunt, Johanna Nordquist, in Malmo, Nebraska. Lillie and Eric were married in 1915. Eric became associated in a grocery sore in Malmo. In 1918, he sold out and bought in a clothing store in Wahoo, "Dvorak & Erickson", which he operated until 1932. In 1932, he closed the clothing store to become Wahoo City Clerk, which post he held until 1964.

E. Gerald and Arlene Erickson

   My first wife, Genevieve Johnson Erickson, and I, E. Gerald Erickson, were married in 1941 at Washington, D.C., where our first son, Eric, was born. We moved back to Wahoo in 1946, and I became associated with Wilmer G. Johnson in an engineering and construction business. Our last two sons, Charles and Warren, were born in Wahoo. In 1973, Genevieve lost a battle to cancer. Our oldest son, Eric, is a member of the firm of Johnson-Erickson-O'Brien & Associates, Inc., which is a continuation of Johnson-Erickson Engineering Company. All of Arlene's grandparents came from Germany except her maternal grandmother who was from St. Paul, Minnesota, and her parents were from Germany. Arlene's father, Harry Schmidt, and her mother, Ruth Wolters, were married in 1919 and lived for many years on a farm two miles east of Wahoo. Harry and Ruth had one daughter, Arlene.

   Arlene and her first husband, LeRoy "Jake" Yarmon, were married in 1947. They had two children, a son, Michael, and a daughter, Julie. LeRoy lost his life in a farm accident in 1971. Submitted by E. Erickson

   I, Dorothy L. Erickson, the second child of John R. (Ford) and Ruth Torrens, was born on a farm near Colon, Nebraska on December 27, 1919. We moved to several different farms while I was growing up, and attended several rural schools. We always had ponies, either to ride or drive to school. When I was in the 5th grade, we moved to Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska where I graduated from High School in 1937. Times in the '30's were tough. I helped my parents in the Produce Station, did housework in private homes, and went to several different places, and helped cook for threshing crews during harvest, which meant long hard days but still was a lot of fun. Breakfast would be fixed for a few of the crew, then morning coffee, a big meal at noon, plus afternoon lunch and supper at night for 8 to 12 men. We were cooking on the old cob and wood range on very hot days, which is hard for the child of today to imagine.

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Erickson and Family

   After graduation I moved to Wahoo to find work. I was a waitress in several cafes, among them was the City Cafe owned and operated by Lily Gibson. I worked for R.L. Whaley who owned and operated the Rexall Drug Store, then in the Register of Deeds office with Selma Hageman until my marriage to Joseph E. Erickson, son of Augustine and Hermanda Erickson of Swedeburg, Nebraska.

   Joe entered the service in March, 1942 and spent many months on active duty in the South Pacific. On his return home, we were married in the Presbyterian Church in Wahoo on November 30, 1945. We moved to a farm four miles north of Ceresco and lived there for nearly 25 years, farming. We also had a dairy herd. We have three children, all of them presently living in Lincoln, Nebr. Nancy Jo, our oldest, graduated from Midland College at Fremont, Nebr. and has a Master's Degree from the University of Nebraska, and is now the Director of

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