Note: to see photos of Mom's home in Montana, see this website.
Don's 100th birthday party. Link here.
Documents:
- Confirmation certificates, wedding certificate, Ekke and Reka.
- Ruth's baptism certificate, October 9, 2027.
From Ruth's niece:
Gilbert Wessel: link here.
Don Flessner, age 96: letter from Don; school; early childhood.
- letter and photo from Don, received July 14, 2021
Edith Flessner, wife of Don; obituary.
Reka Flessner, obituary, Storm Lake Pilot-Tribune.
Ruth Flessner Oksol
September 13, 1927 - September 7, 2020.
Obituary in The Williston Herald, September 22, 2020.
Ruth passed away quietly and peacefully -- pretty much how she lived her entire life -- on the early morning of September 7, 2020, 5:15 a.m. Pacific Time, in a nursing home in Portland, OR.
[Later: there is some irony, I suppose, that when the elderly were hit pretty badly by Covid-19 during the entire calendar year, 2020, mom did not get vaccinated and she never became infected with the virus.]
After her last child left home, Ruth started spending more and more time at her beloved home on Flathead Lake, on Lakeshore Drive, with an unobstructed view of the lake, and the Mission Mountains on the other side of the lake.
Between 1982 and 2004, Mom had not less than four homes often concurrently:
- Sioux Falls, SD: townhouse
- West Fargo, ND: apartment
- Williston, ND: family home
- Lakeside, MT: summer home
By 2015, Ruth had pretty much stopped her cross-country traveling and resided pretty-much permanently in Montana. That year, her youngest daughter, who watched Ruth as closely as Ruth had watched her own six children grow up, noted that mom really couldn't live out at the lake any more on her own.
With a bit of coaxing, Jan was able to get Ruth to a wonderful nursing home in Portland, OR, where Ruth would be close to Jan and her family, and close to Laura and Tim, one of Ruth's granddaughters and her family.
Between 2015 and 2020, Mom's mind continued to deteriorate but she never completely lost all her memory for her children.
Ruth had minimal physical problems throughout her life, never requiring any major medical care. She took care of herself physically and, with her nursing background, knew what to "watch out for." Around 2016 a biopsy revealed a very slow-growing lymphoma in her right axilla. Mom was about 90 years old at the time and the decision was made to leave the lymphoma alone. Ruth made it clearly known she did not want any further medical intervention regarding that small tumor.
Over time, the tumor grew in size, obstructing lymphatic return, resulting in a swollen right arm.
She received outstanding nursing care at the nursing home and there were days when she was doing mentally and physically very, very well, but in general, slowing down.
She was placed in hospice care at one time but improved and was discharged back to her regular retirement home status.
Sometime in early 2020, she was placed back in hospice care due to her general physical and medical condition.
In early September, 2020, it was clear to the nursing staff that Ruth might not be with us much longer, but as usual, Mom's history suggested she might surprise all of us.
On Labor Day weekend, Sunday, September 6, 2020, Ruth's hospice nurse telephoned Jan suggesting that Jan might want to see her mom. Jan could see this might be the last time her brother and sisters might get a chance to talk to Mom, so she called each of her siblings who in turn talked with Mom one last time.
Jan said that Mom did smile when reminded that September was her birthday month and that she had celebrated many birthdays.
One daughter spoke of the weather, a subject mom always turned to when she wanted the conversation to change direction. No doubt, speaking of the weather was a most common activity when she was growing up on the farm in northwest Iowa.
During the night of September 6 - 7, 2020, the nursing staff checked in on mom hourly. At four a.m. she was sleeping peacefully and comfortably. At five-twenty a.m. when they came in to check her, she was found unresponsive. Official time of death will be recorded as 5:15 a.m. Pacific Time, September 7, 2020.
Funeral arrangements are pending. A memorial service will be planned for a later date so we have time to reflect on all that Mom did for us.
Ruth's husband, Carl, passed away in 2018; one of her six children, Craig, died way too soon, in 2011, as did one of her granddaughters, Kallie Ann, Yvonne and Terry's third child.
Her other five children
-- Jan, Kathy, Karla, Yvonne, and Bruce -- are all in good health;
spread across the United States, all with healthy children of their own,
and several great-grandchildren.
Jan Greenwald
2725 NE 35th Avenue
Portland, OR 97212
********************************
Ruth: b. 1927
Don: b. 1923
photo received from Don, July 14, 2021
Nursing Student, about 1948
Nursing Program, Sioux City, Iowa
Ruth's brother Don
August, 2020
Pennsylvania
*********************************************
Family History
Note: at the time of the original post, there were only two granddaughters (Arianna and Laura), and the blog had them in mind. Since then, a third granddaughter, their sister, Sophia, and then Laura had twins, Levi and Judah, in early 2020. The original post below will not always reflect all five cousins: Arianna, Olivia, Sophia, Levi, and Judah.
Ruth Flessner: last address (2015 - 2020) -- Portland, OR
- Bruce: daughters, Kiri and Laura
- Arianna (17 y/o), Olivia (14 y/o), and Sophia (6 y/o) -- 2020 -- Kiri's daughters; Ruth's first great-grandchildren (all daughters)
- Levi, Judah -- Laura's twins, born early 2020; Ruth's first great-grandsons;
- Reka: 1899 - 1990
- Ekke: 1897 - 1978
- Ekke Flessner, died: 10 - 29 - 1978 (Bruce was 27 years old)
- Reka Flessner, died: 11 - 09 - 1990 (Bruce was 39 years old; he and Laura attended the funeral)
Link here (or here):
Photos:
Reka.
Reka, Yvonne, Eric's baptism, Ruth, c. 1980. Reka passed away 1990, age 90 years old.
Family diagram (from Ruth, 2001, with annotations, 2020):
- two brothers: Bill, Jerry
- two sisters: Bertha, Freda
Narrative
For Arianna, Olivia, and Sophia, and Laura's twins, Levi and Judah (the latter born March 3, 2020):
You heritage includes four “nationalities”: Grammy May and Papa Bruce --
- Japanese (Tamaru)
- Mexican (Garcia)
- German (Flessner/Folkerts)
- Norwegian (Oksol/Tangvold)
A separate website is devoted to the Mexican / Japanese side of your family, Grammy May’s family (still to be posted).
This is the story of your German heritage by way of Papa Bruce.
My mother, one of your four great-grandmothers, is Ruth Elaine Flessner Oksol.
For the Nevins, the other three would be
- Grammy May’s mother, Mariko Tamaru. Mariko -- adopted American name at citizenship, Katherine (“Kay”) Tamaru
- Grammy Betsy: Josh's mother
- Papa Bob: Josh's dad
I do not know the origin of Ruth's middle name, “Elaine.” Perhaps Elaine comes from “Eilert” who was Ruth’s paternal grandfather.
Ruth Flessner Oksol, then, would be one of your great-grandmothers. Ruth was the daughter of Reka Folkerts Flessner and Ekke (“Ike”) Flessner. So, there are two German families in your Oksol/Flessner heritage you need to keep track of: the Flessners and the Folkerts.
The Flessners and the Folkerts settled in northwest Iowa in the early 1800’s.
If you look at a map of Iowa, go to the northwest corner of the state and look for Sioux City, the big city in this area, and then look to the east and look for these landmarks: Pocahontas County, Storm Lake, Fonda, Pomeroy, Manson and Fort Dodge. A railroad track connects those five towns. The railroad was important for agriculture, and later, there was a meat-packing plant in Storm Lake, so I assume the railroad was a factor in locating that plant there. This area of Iowa, and particularly Fonda, is where most of your Flessner / Folkerts history takes place.
Both the Folkerts family and the Flessner family originated in Ostfriesland, Germany. Ostfriesland is in the very north of Germany, bordering the Netherlands, and northwest of the large city of Bremen, Germany. It appears that Ostfriesland’s name has now changed to Leer. It is on the Ems River which flows into the North Sea. I also notice that a small village named Weener is a few miles southwest of Ostfriesland. One of the Flessners emigrated from Weener according to my notes.
I have been to the Netherlands, but I have not been to Ostfriesland, but I suspect Ostfriesland, like the Netherlands, is very flat, with many rivers and canals.
From wiki: 1848 is historically famous for the wave of revolutions that swept Europe and the world, starting in France. They significantly altered the political and philosophical landscape and had major ramifications throughout the rest of the century.
There were mass migrations from the Ostfriesland area of Germany between the years of 1848 and 1900 due to war and wide-spread hunger. During 1850 – 1900 there were many conflicts in the Germanic world among Denmark, Prussia and the German Confederation. The most famous outbreak was the Franco – Prussian War, 1870 – 1871, but it was just one of many conflicts during this period of time. The famous Otto von Bismarck was chancellor of Germany during this period. (See http://www.alaska.net/~dsewell/).
Most of these groups settled in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Wisconsin. Interestingly, the port of entry for a large number of these immigrants was New Orleans; from there they traveled up the Mississippi River to the heartland of America. I don’t know if your German ancestors came to America through New Orleans, New York City, or perhaps even Baltimore. However, it seems most likely they entered through New Orleans and then came north up the Mississippi River. Coming up the Mississippi, they may have stopped at Davenport, Iowa, which is due west of Chicago. From there, they would have gone west to Pocahontas County or east to Chicago. My guess is, if they came up the Mississippi River, they got off at Davenport and then headed west.
One website (http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/b/o/w/Judy-Bowman-rhodes/index.html) mentions “Flessners Folkerts Saathoff, Franzen, Ostfriesland, Germany, Illinois,” and might be a source for additional information.
The Flessner and the Folkerts names are fairly common and there are many references to these family names on the web.
Now that you have the big picture of the European history of the Flessner and Folkerts name, now you can turn to the family diagrams.
On one diagram, I show both the Flessners and the Folkerts, so you can see how they came together in America, about halfway down the page, where Ekke Flessner marries Reka Folkerts. It appears their families were living in or near Fonda, Iowa.
In addition to that diagram, with both the Flessners and the Folkers, I have a separate page as well for the Folkerts and the Flessners.
Barbara Flessner (?) married Ekke Flessner (born, 1824) about 1845; they were distant cousins and perhaps Barbara was already a Flessner when she married Ekke. They emigrated from Ludwigsdorf / Weener (near Ostfriesland [Leer]) in 1869; Ekke would have been 45 years old. This would have been during the mass migration mentioned above, one year before the Franco-Prussian War.
Eventually Barbara and Ekke ended up in Pomeroy, Iowa, and later moved to Fonda. Fonda seems to be the center of activity for your German ancestry in the United States. Barbara and Ekke had seven (7) children. Their second, Eilert, was Ruth’s grandfather, and your great-great-great grandfather. I think I have that right. Can you keep track of all those “greats”?
Eilert (1869 – 1941) married Hilka (1876 – 1961) and are buried at the Fonda, Iowa, cemetery. I have photographs of their gravesites. Everyone knew Eilert, a truck driver, as “Ole.” Eilert, born in 1869, the same year that his parents emigrated, means that he was an infant on the ship coming to the United States, was born on the ship, or born shortly after his parents arrived in the United States.
Eilert and Hilka had five children, presumably all born in Fonda: Jergen (“Jerry”), William, Frieda, Bertha, and Ekke (“Ike”). Ike was Ruth’s dad. I remember Ruth talking a lot about Jerry, her uncle Jerry. I know he was a farmer and perhaps he took over a farm owned by one of the other Flessners, or perhaps even his dad, Eilert, had some land. It’s possible I spent some time visiting Jerry’s farm when we visited Iowa when I was growing up. I remember going out to a farm on numerous occasions when we visited Iowa, and my guess is that it was Jerry’s.
I don’t know much about William. Your grandma Ruth remembers that he drove a Hamms beer truck. I remember the Hamms beer commercials when I was growing up. The Hamms icon was the Hamms bear, and I loved the commercial, although I never recall ever drinking Hamms beer. By the time I was old enough to drink I was not living where Hamms was sold; it was a very regional beer.
Although I probably did not meet William, and I don’t recall Jerry, I was fortunate to meet two of grandpa Ike’s sisters when I was older. I visited Frieda and Bertha in Watsonville, CA, during my college years. Frieda and Bertha were both retired, living in adjacent houses in a retirement-like community. Frieda had retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Bertha had been a Navy nurse (retired). I remember how much they looked like their brother “Ike.”
And, of course, I knew “Ike” very well. I knew him when he was living in Storm Lake, Iowa, and working at the meat packing plant.
I don’t know the details of the Flessners and Folkerts in Iowa but I assume it went something like this.
The Flessners lived in and around Fonda. Somewhere along the line “Ike” met Reka Folkerts in Fonda and they got married. There will be more on the Folkerts below. I remember photographs of my mom (Ruth) on a tractor when she was a young girl, probably around ten years of age, so at least for a time Ike and Reka lived on a farm. They had two children, Don (born 1923) and Ruth (born September 13, 1927).
At the time Don and Ruth were born, their parents Ike and Reka were farming on rented land, raising hogs. Don was born in Palmer, IA, one mile to the north and one mile to the east of the farm. Ruth was born in Manson, IA.
At some point, the family moved from the farm to Storm Lake. It's possible they lived in Fonda before moving to Storm Lake. It seems I recall Ruth graduated from high school in Fonda.
Following graduation from high school, Ruth moved in with Edna to help with her two children, Gilbert and Margaret Ann. That must have been a very short period of time. If she moved in with Edna to help with Edna's children after Ruth completed nursing school it would have been a very busy time for her. She married Carl in 1950. See Gilbert Wessel at this link.
In Storm Lake, as mentioned earlier, Ike worked in the meat packing plant, and Reka was a schoolteacher. I visited the meat packing plant on at least one occasion. I remember the smell and did not enjoy that visit. I remember it as being very scary. By the time I was old enough to remember my visits to Storm Lake, Reka was working in a drugstore. When we visited that drug store, it seemed she was the only one there, so it was always my feeling that she “owned” the store.
Remember Jerry? He was mentioned earlier; he was one of Ike’s brothers, the one who had the farm. Jerry had a daughter, June, one of mom’s (Ruth’s) cousins. I remember Mom talking a lot about June. June died of cancer in “middle-age” leaving behind five children. Mom told me that she and June were the closest of cousins, about one year age difference.
So, that’s an overview of Ike and Reka Flessner, Don and Ruth, in America. The next section is on the Flessners in Germany before they came to America.
At this point you can skip ahead to the next section to read about the Folkerts in Iowa.
However, if you want, you can stay with the Flessners. I will take you farther back in the Flessner history, back to the time when they were living in Germany, before they came to the United States.
Again we will start with Barbara and Ekke. On the Flessner family trees I show another name, Ekken, as the surname of some of those listed as Flessners. I am not sure what that is all about. I obtained this part of the family tree from a distant relative of Ruth’s.
Ekke was the youngest of five Flessner children born in Ihlowerfehn to Ecke Andreehsen and Anna Katharina Elisabeth, Ihlowerfehn is a small village in the same general area as Ostfriesland (Leer); the former is about 30 km due north of Leer. It appears that Ecke had been born in 1768 in Weener, Germany, also near Ostfriesland (Leer). Ecke was one of four children born to Andreas Hinrichs Flessner and Engel Ecken Saathoff. This is the first time I came across the name of Saathoff; note the reference to these three families (Folkers, Flessners, and the Saathoffs) in the above-referenced webpage. This would suggest that the families did indeed pass through Chicago on their way west.
My notes state that Thomas Onnen changed his name to Flessner, and the first Flessner in the Flessner family tree is Andreas Hinrichs Flessner. Today in America he would be known as Andrew Henry Flessner. I have not been able to reach the website, but a google search of Flessner/Onnen/Saathoff/Ostfriesland resulted in one hit (archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/OSTFRIESEN/2001-01) and in the subject line referenced Lutheran parish registers. Considering that this must have been a relatively small village, one would have to surmise that the Flessners, the Onnens, the Saathoffs, and the Folkerts living in the Ostfriesland area were your ancestors.
A google search of Onnen/Ostfriesland resulted in numerous hits, which I have only begun to explore. A fascinating hit is a genealogy webpage for Ida County, Iowa. Ida Grove in that county is only a few miles southwest of Storm Lake, Iowa.
Now, we turn to the Folkerts. This is Reka’s side of the family; Reka is my maternal grandmother. Reka was my Grandma, just like May is Grammy May for you, Arianna. So, I had a Grammy Reka, and you have a Grammy May.
We can begin the story of the Folkerts with Wilhelm (“William”) A. Folkerts who was 18 years old when he emigrated from Germany, in 1891. Wilhelm was of the same generation as Eilert (“Ole”). So, Wilhelm, like Ole, is one of your great-great-great grandfathers. Wilhelm was the first of his generation of our Folkerts family to immigrate to the United States. Soon after he arrived, he returned to Germany for a short time to bring his parents, Wilhelm H. Folkerts and Folka Tammen, to America from Brake, Oldenburg, Germany. I have found a diary on the internet of a German man who traveled from Brake, Germany, to New Orleans, to Missouri. It could have been written by one of your ancestors from Germany.
William, at age 18, emigrated in 1891. The famous German chancellor Otto von Bismarck resigned the year before, in 1890. Again, it was a time of political upheaval in Germany and perhaps that was one of the reasons William decided to come to America.
William was one of the first electricians in northwest Iowa. I have a copy of his obituary (1873 – 1948). He was very highly respected in his community; the obituary in the local paper was quite long; he was 75 years old when he died. William was one of seven children, and some of the others were also in the states, including Minnie Theesfield in Windom, Minnesota, and Chris in Manson. My mother, Ruth, was a second-year nursing student in Sioux City when her grandfather died in 1948.
The Folkerts lived in Manson. Look at your map and you will see that Manson is only about 20 miles from Fonda, on the railroad line. William married Henrika and they had four children: Reka, Clara, Edna, and Frederick (Fred). Clara died at a young age during the flu epidemic in 1918. This was also known as the Spanish flu and was a worldwide pandemic at the time. If I remember correctly, Ike Flessner (see above) was hospitalized in France in 1918 due to this same Spanish flu, but he recovered.
Fred married Laura, and I remember Mom mentioning Aunt Laura on a number of occasions.
And finally Edna. Edna married Roland Wessel and lived in Waverly, Iowa, but they had a farm two miles from Manson. They had two children, Gilbert and Margaret Ann. Roland died as a young man in a farm accident – a hired hand rolled a tractor over him – leaving behind Gilbert as a young boy, and Margaret Ann who was not yet born. Poor Edna now had to make her own living and had two children; Margaret Ann was born soon after her dad died. So, Edna went back to school to become a teacher.
To return to school, Edna had to find someone to take care of her children. Gilbert, probably about 2 – 3 years old at this time, went to live with Ike, Reka, Don and Ruth in Fonda, while Margaret Ann, an infant, went to live with her grandpa and grandma Folkerts (Wilhelm and Henrika) in Manson. This way, Margaret Ann’s mom could still be close to her while going to school.
The nearest teachers college at the time was the Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Rapids, about 75 miles southeast of Waverly. Cedar Rapids was 175 miles from Manson. It is possible Edna went to school in Fort Dodge which would have been much closer to Manson (just 21 miles). This would have been about 1935.
So, Gilbert was a cousin of Ruth’s who lived with Ruth when she was growing up. Ruth was probably about 9 years old when Gilbert first came to live with them. And, you remember from above, that June, on the Flessner side, was one of Mom’s closest cousins.
So, although Reka’s home was Manson, Iowa, probably because it was close to the Folkerts farm outside of Manson, she eventually ended up in Fonda. Perhaps she was hired as a teacher there. Regardless, Fonda became the home for Reka Folkerts and Ike Flessner, my grandparents, your great-great grandparents.
Edna remained in Waverly, and I vaguely remember visiting Aunt Edna, probably in Waverly. If my memory serves me correctly I remember that being a long drive on a hot Iowa summer afternoon. The map shows Fonda and Waverly about 150 miles apart.
Reka and Ike started out in Fonda, and that’s where my mom grew up, first on the farm and then in town. I don’t recall ever seeing the house Mom grew up in, but maybe I did and just don’t remember it.
At some point Reka and Ike moved to Storm Lake and that’s really the city I know best, having spent one to two weeks many summers in Storm Lake visiting my grandparents.
In later years, Ike moved into a nursing home in Fonda (?). If that’s correct, that makes sense. Fonda was Ike’s first home in America and it probably held many fond memories. Of course, at that age, I didn’t think much about memories, or genealogy, or Germany, but now it means much more to me.
Reka stayed in her home in Storm Lake throughout her life. I believe she was still living alone in her home at 711 Elmwood Drive, Storm Lake, Iowa, on the day that she was rushed to the hospital with congestive heart failure. Your aunt Laura and I were able to get to her bedside so that Laura’s great-grandma Reka would get to see her at least once. Your mom, Kiri, and the rest of us were stationed in Germany at the time, so that would have been a long flight for Laura, who would have been about six years old at the time.
So, that’s your German heritage. I will continue to flesh out this story, filling in the gaps, and adding what I can find with regard to the families, as well as the German culture and the events going on worldwide during this period.
Ruth’s maternal family: the Folkerts.
Ruth’s paternal family: the Flessners.
The Flessners represent the maternal side of my (Bruce’s) family.
Northwestern Iowa: Fonda is located in Pocahontas County.
Ruth’s grandparents, Hilka Flessner (1876 – 1961) and Eilert Flessner (1869 – 1941) are buried in the Fonda, IA, cemetery.
I have a photocopy of a newspaper clipping reporting that Ruth Flessner, my mother, was to represent her school in the “Iowa Student Nurse for 1948” contest to be held during the Iowa State Nurses’ Association convention in Fort Dodge, October 13 through 16. At the time, Ruth was a third-year student at the Lutheran Hospital at Sioux City. The article states that she was chosen by the student body (not the faculty) on the basis of her personality, attractiveness, scholastic achievement, and because “she exemplified the high ideals of her profession.”
Most likely, Ruth would have graduated in the spring of 1949; I was born in the summer of 1951. With the subsequent success of my father and this information regarding my mom, it suggests that I was the product of two high-achieving parents. Had circumstances been different, it is very possible that my mother would have distinguished herself in the nursing profession, particularly if she had moved to one of the larger cities in Iowa, or even to Minneapolis, instead of to Williston, ND.
A website
(http://www.rootsweb.com/~ialyon/bookhist/buncombe/badwin2.htm)
mentions that a Henry W. Flessner was listed as a casualty in a November 13, 1918, list of 22 men from Lyon County who had died in WWI. The county seat of Lyon County is Rock Rapids, and is in northwestern Iowa but a fair distance from Ruth’s family.
According to Google maps, Rock Rapids, on today’s roads, is 121 miles (3 hours) from Fonda. I do not know if Henry W. Flessner was related to our Flessner’s but my genealogy shows that my grandfather Ekke had two brothers, William (Bill) and Jerry; and two sisters, Bertha and Freda.
Sioux City, Sioux Falls, Rock Rapids, Fonda, are all in the same general area, and it is easy to imagine that all Flessners in this general area are related.
This website is also very interesting with regard to reports of the seriousness of the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918. The website also mentions that a Caroline Wallace went to France as a Red Cross nurse where “she was assigned to a new hospital being built there to care for 40,000 wounded men.
She had charge of five wards in each of which 50 men were to be cared for.
She told her parents [by letter] she made her rounds with a lantern on her arm, as the electricity had not been hooked up as yet.” The website also says that the people of Little Rock “decided there was no place there for the speaking of German it was agreed that the German language would be dropped. The language course in the public schools, for the teaching of German, was also dropped.”
Ruth’s maternal family: the Folkerts.
Ruth’s paternal family: the Flessners.
Reminder: The Flessners represent the maternal side of my (Bruce’s) family.
Northwestern Iowa: Fonda, Ruth’s hometown, is located in Pocahontas County.
I have a photocopy of a newspaper clipping reporting that Ruth Flessner, my mother, was to represent her school in the “Iowa Student Nurse for 1948” contest to be held during the Iowa State Nurses’ Association convention in Fort Dodge, October 13 through 16. At the time, Ruth was a third-year student at the Lutheran Hospital at Sioux City. The article states that she was chosen by the student body (not the faculty) on the basis of her personality, attractiveness, scholastic achievement, and because “she exemplified the high ideals of her profession.”
Most likely, Ruth would have graduated in the spring of 1949; I was born in the summer of 1951. With the subsequent success of my father and this information regarding my mom, it suggests that I was the product of two very high-achieving parents. Had circumstances been different, it is very possible that my mother would have distinguished herself in the nursing profession, particularly if she had moved to one of the larger cities in Iowa, or even to Minneapolis, instead of to Williston, ND.
The Flessners and the Folkerts settled in northwestern Iowa. All towns listed were in close proximity except for Waverly which was a bit farther west but at the same relative latitude. A railroad connected Fonda, Manson, and Storm Lake. Storm Lake was due west of Waverly. In one of the obituaries, Windom, MN, is mentioned; Windom is due north of Storm Lake, just across the Iowa-Minnesota border. (I never noticed this before until I started looking at the Google
maps: these towns in northwestern Iowa are literally at the same latitude as Chicago. It appears that Ruth’s ancestors must have come through Chicago, and either headed straight west toward Sioux Falls, SD, or first to Minneapolis, and then south to Iowa. Going to Minneapolis would have been out of their way. We will probably never know, but most likely they came from Chicago to the Des Moines area and then to Fonda.)
Ruth’s grandparents, Wilhelm (William) and Henrika (Wiemers) Folkerts settled in Manson, IA. William Folkerts was one of Iowa’s pioneer electricians who had learned his trade in Germany (thus, my mother was a second generation American). He died in 1948; depending on the time of the year, Ruth was either a 2nd year or a 3rd year nursing student. She represented her nursing school at the Iowa State Nursing Convention in 1948.
William had been born at Brake, Oldenburg, Germany, on October 4, 1873. He had emigrated to the states in 1890, at the age of 17. (I believe this is also the age my grandfather Paul Oksol emigrated from Norway in the early 1900’s.) William and Henrika were married in 1898 in Pomeroy, IA. He would have been 25 years old when he married. They had four children, including Reka Folkerts Flessner, Ruth’s mom, who was living in Fonda at the time of her father’s death. This means that Ruth would have considered Fonda her hometown – I believe she grew up on a farm but before she graduated from high school the family had moved to Fonda. Ruth frequently mentioned her uncle Fred and aunt Edna (both of whom I met, but vaguely remember). The genealogy charts I have show uncle Fred living in Manson and aunt Edna living in Waverly, all in Iowa.
My genealogy charts also show that William and Henrika’ fourth child, Clara, died early in life, in 1918, due to the Spanish flu pandemic at that time.
Ruth’s aunt Edna and her husband farmed two miles outside of Manson, but eventually moved to Waverly.
Aunt Edna’s husband died in a farm accident. (Perhaps Aunt Edna moved to Waverly after the death of her husband.) She was pregnant with Margaret Ann at the time of his death. Aunt Edna went to school after her husband died; her youngest child Margaret Ann, born after the death of her father, stayed with her grandparents, William and Henrika, while her mom was in school; likewise, her older child Gilbert stayed with Ruth’s family in Fonda: Ruth was about 9 years old at this time; Gilbert was much younger, about 2 years old.
Miscellaneous hits:
1. Interested in FOLKERS, VOCKEN, and FLYR families who came mid 19th century from East Friesland ... to New Orleans up the Missippi to Illinois. Some family members moved south to Kansas, Wichita area. Some moved to Nebraska NOTE: new email address ... since I had a contact to my old one the other day, thought I had better get back to my geneology research. Thanks. From http://www.ogsa.us/guest_arc_2002.htm
2. Hi, this is V. Folkerts from Leer in Ostfriesland. Nice to find your page. My family comes from Mittling-Mark. (Folkert Hensmanns and Hensmann Folkerts). From http://www.ogsa.us/guest_arc_2002.htm
3. I am researching the name Tammen who came to America in 1860's. From http://www.ogsa.us/guest_arc_2002.htm. (Note the name Tammen – I have seen that on one of my genealogy family trees.)
4. My grandmother Elizabeth Willems settled in Peoria, Illinois, as many other Friesians did. She came from Norden with her mother and father Klaas Willems and Jantje Weyers(Weyerts). Other names I have in the family are Janssen, Hinrichs, Haykes, Onnen, Beenders, Claassen, Everts, Reemts, Harms, Pauls, Wilts, Eelkes, Grendel, Behrends, Edden, Stromann, Freerichs, Luken, Jauen. They mostly came from Norden, Engerhafe, Marienhafe, Lintel, Westermarsch, Osteel, Victorbur, Oldeborg, Grobheide. This is a wonderful site and hope to gain much information about the Norden area and the area surrounding it for 25 square miles. From http://www.ogsa.us/guest_arc_2002.htm. Note the name Behrends Anna Katharina Elisabeth Behrends married Ecke Andreehsen (Flessner), parents of Ekke Ekken Flessner, “Ike’s” grandfather. Onnen is also in this same note.
5. 12 MAY 2002: fornbev@aol.com
ANY ONE WITH INFORMATION ON EILERT FOLKERTS WHO ARRIVED IN THE UNITED STATES ARRIVED ON MARCH 9 1894. LEFT BREMEN GERMANY. WOULD LIKE INFORMATION WHY HE WAS SENT TO THE STATES AND HIS AGE . WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HIS MOTHERS NAME AND HIS FATHERS NAME AND HOW MANY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IF ANY. HIS BIRTHDAY WAS MARCH 23 1881? CAN BE CONTACTED AT FORNBEV@AOL.COM THANK YOU BEVERLY SHEARER.
From: http://www.ogsa.us/queries_arc_2002.htm
The Eilert Folkerts I “know” would fit: he immigrated; born 1869; d. 1941. In 1894 (as noted above), he would have been 25 years old! Unfortunately the dates don’t match.
6. http://www.immigrantships.net/1800/othyen18541108.html
Incredible page; includes a diary of a ship crossing the ocean in 1846 to New Orleans from Bremen.
7. 24 JUN 2003: heinrich.i.franzen@t-online.de
Hello, from Kleinoldendorf (Uplengen / East Frisia), where I was born, emigrated Anna Fraukea Ennen, *25.9.1856 with her son Enno Diedrich Ennen *21.2.1878.
Additional informations: They took the ship "Donau" from Bremen to New York, arrived Oct, 1st 1881, there were about 614 passengers on board, and in the list are mentioned just before the Ennens Tamme Folkerts, female, 26 years old, Minna Folkerts, fem., 32 and Dina Collmann , fem. 22. Does anybody know more?! Heinrich. From http://www.rootsweb.com/~mnogsm/queries_arc_2003.htm
8. http://www.rootsweb.com/~iacrawfo/grantmarr1.htm
Ida County. Onnen name is noted. Ida County is just southeast of Storm Lake.
Hallo,
ReplyDeleteI am Michael Fleßner from Germany. Ich sample Fleßner.
The Fleßner/Flessner/Flesner Family is very old. The last Flesner I found was born 1510. If you want more Infos, i can send you a pdf or jpg. For you to know: Flessner came from Weene near Aurich, not Weener near Leer. I read the Churchbooks of Weene. East Frisia ist a area like the Rocky Mountains.
Excuse my englisch.
Greetings
Michael Fleßner
Sorry for the very, very delayed reply. I seldom check this site any more. Thank you so much for taking time to write.
DeleteYour English is excellent.
Mein Deutsch is nicht so gut.
I will look up information regarding Weene near Aurich. Thank you.