Palmer, Iowa

From Behrens, p. 318

St Paul Lutheran Church, Palmer, Iowa.

The village of Palmer lies in northeastern Bellville Township in Pocohontas County. It was platted in December, 1899 in anticipation of the arrival of the railroad. The railroad was completed and the first train arrived in July, 1990, and the little village soon grew and prospered. 

It should be noted that Reka Folkerts Flessner was born in 1899, the same year that Palmer was platted. 

St Paul Lutheran Church had its beginning when Reverend William Weltner, pastor of St John Lutheran Church at Lizard Creek met with a group of Palmer area residents in the home of Fritz Bruns in April, 1902, to discuss the organization of a new church.

The result of this meeting was the organization of a new building in Palmer. The church, measuring thirty-two by forty-eight feet, with a seventy-five foot bell tower, was dedicated on November 17, 1902. 

The charter members of St Paul Lutheran Church were as follows:

John Arends    Arend Arends    Juergen Behrends    Herman Beneke    Fritz Bruns

Folkert Folkerts    Dirk Hartman    Ontke Ihnen    John Ihnen    Henry Ihnen

Tjark Ihnen    Christ Inen    Garrelt Johnson    Wm. Lage    John Nomann

H. E. Peters    Enne H. Peters    Wm. Wiegert    Charles Wiegert    Heio Wiese

Note: "Johnson": originally Janssen.

In  October, 1903, the congregation purchased land one mile south and one-half mile east of Palmer for a cemetery. Pastor Weltner served the congregation on a part-time basis until March, 1911, when St Paul called a full-time minister, Reverend V. F. Groth. He would serve the congregation until his death in 1932.

In 1934, the church's Ladies Aid and Missionary Society was formed. Among its charter members were Mrs Elsie Arends, Mrs George Block, Mrs Helen Malm, Mrs Grace Schow, Mrs Elsie Aden, Mrs Kathleen Wiegert, Mrs Henry Krie, Mrs Christine Wessels.

In 1967, the Methodist Church building was purchased for use as a Sunday School building. Today, St Paul Lutheran Church occupies a fine new brick building. 

Early confirmands during the early years of St Paul Lutheran Church's existence:

• 1903:
• Martha E. Wiegert
• Gretje F. Folkerts
• Jacobus V. Folkerts
• 1905:
  Johann R. Wiegert
  
• 1906: 
• Ikka Folkerts
  
• 1908:
• Hilka J. Folkerts

St Paul Lutheran Cemetery, one mile south and one-half mile east of Palmer. Selected tombstone inscriptions:

• several Janssens
• several Arends
• several Malms

*******************************
Folkerts

Reka and "Fred":

• Link: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130654462/frederick-wilhelm-folkerts.  -- Fred
• Link: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119643530/reka-flessner. -- Reka

It is interesting that in the screenshot below two of the siblings are not mentioned. The four siblings: Fred, Reka, Clara and Edna. Clara died in the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918, probably in her teens or early 20's.

Reka was born Dec. 18, 1899, to William A. and Henrika (Wiemers) Folkerts. She graduated from Manson High School and attended Iowa State Teachers College, Cedar Falls. She married Ekke Flessner on Nov. 10, 1920, in Manson. Preceding her in death were her parents and husband. (Storm Lake Pilot Tribune, 9-15-1990).

Of note: after her husband was killed in a farm accident, Ruth's Aunt Edna, Reka's sister, also attended that same college in Cedar Falls.

Ekke Flessner burial site:

Reka's mother, Hinrika: link here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35623903/hinrika-g-folkerts. Hinrika had nine siblings, and two children, a son "Fred" and a daughter, Reka.

So, "Fred" is Ruth's beloved "uncle Fred" by marriage. In addition, she would have had nine uncles and aunts with unmarried surname, Wiemers. Hinrika's maiden name: Bohlen. 

Reka's grandmother Henrika Bohlen:

• b. January 6, 1837: Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany
• married 1858
• immigrated 1881 (age 44)
  
• d. July 27, 1888, age 51: Iowa

Reka's grandfather Garrelt Gerdes Wiemers:

• b. November 19, 1834: Landkreis Aurich, Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany
• married 1858
• immigrated 1881 (age 47)
  
• d. October 7, 1915, age 81: Pomeroy, Calhoun County, Iowa,

So, Hinrika, Ruth's grandmother and Reka's mother, came over with her parents as a child. Hinrika, grandmother to Ruth, born in Germany, as were her parents, all of whom came to America. So, Ruth was third or fourth generation American depending on how you "measure it."

If I have the dates correct, Hinrika, Ruth's great-grandmother, immigrated to America with her parents when she was four years old. It looks like they immigrated with eleven children, all born before coming to the states, the eleventh born in 1880, the year before they emigrated in 1881.