Engelmeyer Families

by Mona Taggart
A proclamation was issued by President Roosevelt, from Washington, DC for the entry of the ceded lands on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, on May 19, 1904.
Entry to the lands would begin on August 8, 1904. The lands were to be selected by lot, and a drawing was established for that purpose. Almost 400,000 acres of the ceded
land were available and some of it was very fertile.

The Engelmeyer family got it¹s start in Gregory County in 1904, when John Engelmeyer and his brothers, heard about the opening while residing in John was born on May 23, 1881, in Cole County, near Wardsville, MO, to Herman Engelmeier and Catherine Tonius of Westphalia, Germany. (As you can see the spelling of the name has changed through
the years.)

John¹s siblings included: Barbara Elizabeth, October 4, 1878, who eventually became Sister Mary Ludivica of St. Mary¹s in St. Louis, MO; Henry, September 18, 1879; Edward, who died in infancy; Steven, March 8, 1887; and Josephine who became Sister Protasia of the Order of St. Francis in Milwaukee. John¹s dad passed away and his mother remarried a man by the name of Tichelkamp. They had one daughter together, Rose, born on January 31, 1898, who later married John Twehaus. After Catherine had remarried, the children did not get along with their new stepdad, and John decided to move to his uncle¹s in Westphalia, MO, and work for him.

John worked hard on his uncle¹s farm, plowing fields by leading the horse and cutting the corn by hand, as well as shocking it. When the corn matured, they husked the corn out and hauled the stalks to the barn for feed for the animals. They spent a lot of their time clearing the ground of trees also. John finally decided that working for his uncle wasn¹t the life for him, even though his uncle tried to persuade him to stay by offering him $200.00 more per year. John declined his uncle¹s offer and moved on to Nebraska.

John traveled with a stallion to Nebraska and eventually settled near Fremont. He attended the Fremont Normal School specializing in business. He worked in a restaurant doing dishes and at various farms during this time to pay for his room, board and school expenses.

In 1904, John heard about the opening of the Rosebud Territory in Gregory County. He and his brother attended the drawing in Bonesteel. John drew property three and a half miles north, of what is now known as, Burke. He drew number 107. His brothers were not successful in obtaining a homestead site. There were a lot of people and the town was pretty wild and the bars stayed open all night long. After he drew his number, he went back and hired a team and wagon and a boy in Bonesteel to help him put up the shack. It was completed in one day. He went back to Nebraska to help harvest and pick corn and then came back here to live,² retold Joe Engelmeyer, John¹s son. When John had arrived back in Bonesteel, he purchased horses, a wagon and provisions to live on. He also bought lumber to erect a shed on the side of the shack to stable his team of horses. Next he proceeded to dig a well, by hand, however, he never found any water. He eventually found a water hole on the quarter south of his claim and was granted permission by his neighbor to water his horses. His drinking water came from a well on the Whetstone Creek at Emerys.

During the winter months, he would walk there with an empty pail, fill it up and wait until it would freeze, so that he could carry it home without losing a drop. John used cow chips as a source for fuel to heat his shack. On August 9, 1904, in Bonesteel, John paid $158.68, at $1.00 per acre for the 158.68 acres he acquired, as his first payment on his new property. Documents show that in 1904, he was twenty-three years of age, weighed a 167 pounds and stood five feet and five inches tall. John was granted a leave of absence from his claim from October 14, 1905, for four months. He noted his reason as being a single man, who was currently working near Elgin, NE, for wages, since he was unable to gain steady employment on the Rosebud Reservation and he needed the money to make improvements to his claim.

On January 29, 1906, John sent a letter to the General Land Office in Washington, DC, asking if there was any danger of him losing his homestead or if a contest could be filed on it, since he had just received notice from the land office in Mitchell rejecting his leave of absence from November to March. The reason he was denied a leave of absence to secure funds for seed for the next planting season and to survive the winter, was that there was no law authorizing such permission to be granted. The government land office however, advised John that if he were to be away from the claim for more than six months, a contest for abandonment could be initiated against him. John also advised the General Land Office that he did indeed live on the homestead from February 5, 1905 till November 14, 1905, in which time he broke 77 acres for planting and had about 45
acres in crops. By this time he had also fenced a mile and one-quarter, built a 12 x 14 house and added a 12 x 12 addition onto it for a barn, with the said improvements totaling $320.00.

On May 26, 1906, it was recorded that John asked for an extension from the General Land Office in Washington, DC, on paying seventy-five cents an acre for his land on the Rosebud Agency. He advised the land office that the crops would not be ready in time for the payment to be made by August 9, 1906. John made payments of $119.01 in August of 1906 and again in July of 1907. On June 22, 1908, John paid $1.50 per acre totaling $238.00 for homestead Number 107. In April of 1908, Frank Vladyka, S.W. McDonald, Oliver Dion, and Charles S. Graham made final proof that John had established his claim. A shed measuring, 8 x 10; a corn crib, 8 x 24; hen house, 5 x 8, had also been added to the homestead making improvements totaling $1,000.00. He had been off the claim for a total of three and half months during the beginning to earn monies to establish himself, from November 17, 1905 until March 3, 1906. The testimonies in 1908, showed that 125 acres were broke and he had raised three crops, sixty ton of hay and grazed his own five head of horses. John eventually purchased a breaking plow and planter and used this equipment to do custom work for others, too. He started with planting corn first and small grains followed in later years.

John also raised shorthorn cattle. It was also during this time that John was elected to the board which represented Burke in the fight for the county seat. Joe recalls his father telling him about hot tempers and many fights that occurred during several years of debates. He had prospered well and needed more ground and eventually purchased the south and east quarters nearest his homestead in 1908. Some of the land he had acquired was purchased from a man that had previously purchased it from the Native Americans. John had hired a couple to work for him. The husband helped with the farming and the wife prepared the meals. ³My father remembered they were fencing a straw pile when the Burke bells signaled the end of World War I,² advised Joe. Later, the homestead shack was used as a granary, when he built a house north of the present home.

He built a barn in 1918 and in 1920, he erected a south barn. In 1919, Ed Leibel purchased the farm that Butch Leibel now has, and moved to the homestead with his bride, Clara. Joe Liebel¹s sister, Marie, from Elgin, NE, came to visit and they went to pick wild plums in John¹s pasture, with a team and wagon. That¹s where Joe Leibel introduced Marie to John and romance seemed to fill the air. Marie returned home to Nebraska, however, a long distance romance ensued. On February 1, 1921, John and Marie were joined in holy matrimony in Elgin, NE, by a neighbor boy who had become a priest. The newlyweds then traveled to Omaha, NE, for their honeymoon where John had dental work done. Joseph Charles joined his parents on earth on November
29, 1921. In 1925, the banking situation was at one of its worst times. John and Marie decided to build a house with all of the workers being paid in advance with checks for their services. Joe remembers them building the house and itstill stands today and is occupied by his grandson. Joe recalled, ³I was barefoot and it was muddy outside, I tracked across the sub floor. My behind paid the price!² John Huseby and his son, Ole, were the main carpenters during the erection of their new home. After the house was completed they had lived there for a couple of weeks, before Johnny was born on November 21, 1925. Pauline followed three years later on May 23, 1928.

The Christmas before Joe was to begin his school studies, he had received some pencils and a color box. He took his new belongings and ran off to attend school. He made it to the schoolhouse and sat down with the rest of the students. "Because the teacher was new, she didn¹t know that I wasn¹t supposed to be there. Bill Haines saw me pass by the on the way to school and called my folks to come get me," remembered Joe. He finally started school in 1926 and attended the Streeter School. His first teacher was Catherine Cassidy, she later became Catherine Graham. Graham¹s had the filling station in town and later owned and operated a hardware store in Gregory,² recalled Joe. In later years, Catherine commented about Joe¹s need to sit on her lap during class. The year Charlie Graham passed away, they had a sale. When Joe was returning home from school, he stopped at the sale and found his father there. He then rode home with his father after the sale had finished. "When I was in the first and second grade, I would pass
by the neighbors, the Grahams, to the south of our place on my way home from school. It was about at that point that I would get thirsty and they would offer me water. The best part was the woman¹s baking abilities," laughed Joe.

John purchased an older pony, named Pony, for Joe to ride to school. John had bought the pony from Pete Leibel for $10.00. ³I remember cutting her loose one day and getting caught by my dad. I told him I couldn¹t hold her back and that she wanted to run. Dad went out and purchased a new bit for her,² chuckled Joe. Joe remembered that there was a lot of turkeys in the section line. One day, Joe and Johnny decided to have some fun and they cranked Pony up to run through the turkeys. ³When we got right to the turkeys, Pony put on her brakes and we went over her head into the mess of turkeys,² recalled Joe.

Joe¹s third grade teacher, was Ms. Thora Ford, daughter of O.E. Ford, who was an attorney in Gregory. By fourth grade, Joe¹s folks thought he should become a priest and sent him to parochial school in Gregory. He boarded in Gregory on Sunday night and stayed through Friday. The second year Joe attended school in Gregory, Johnny joined him.

Rhoade¹s School District had four schools and three supervisors. Streeter School did not have a supervisor. When he returned back to Streeter School in seventh grade, his teacher was Frank Vladyka. Vladyka¹s lived for a time in the Charlie Graham place. Around 1912, John was elected treasurer of the Burke Civil Township, a position he held until 1952. Johnny also was elected as treasurer, after he passed away, Duane, Johnny¹s son was elected to the same position. He remained treasurer until Gail Engelmeyer sold their farm.

"In 1934, mom raised 200 to 300 ducks for several years. Every day, morning and afternoon, Johnny and Pauline would take them to the field north of the house. They herded them out to eat the grasshoppers. To slaughter them, we only gave them water and no food for three days before. Dad had a knife that he stuck them in the brain with. They bled out and then we scalded them. We then washed the feet and the head and packed them in fifty gallon wooden barrels to be shipped to Chicago, IL. They went on a truckline out of Gregory," advised Joe. He added,"Mom and dad remembered the grasshoppers so thick that you couldn¹t see the fence posts. The government furnished poison and bran to be mixed, which was scattered to treat the hoppers. My father would get me up early in the morning and we used an end-gate seeder to spread as I would drive the team. We killed a lot of hoppers, but more came to the funeral!" Joe said that they didn¹t have them as bad as they did in the Dixon country. "The fields there looked like nothing had even been
planted or that a hail storm had come through. In fact, I left a pair of gloves on the mower and the hoppers chewed part of them up."

In 1928, Bill Oliver had a steam threshing outfit. Fred Arnold was the separator man and it took eight or ten bundle racks, three to four grain haulers, and a boy to pump water out of the creek for the steam engine. Oliver stayed nights and slept on the ground. Early in the morning, they had to get the water going to heat up the engines for threshing.

When they stopped for dinner, or at quitting time, Oliver would blow a whistle. John Leibel helped stack the straw and Joe ran the blower. Joe remembers getting his pants dusted that day too! Louie Matucha told Joe to get a bottle that Mr. Arnold carried and Joe sneaked it out. Of course, Joe got caught and he never tried it again. In 1931, Joe¹s dad built a granary. They hauled rock from Klufa¹s land (Darrel Vaughn now owns the property). In 1970, Joe remodeled the granary and added additional bins. He designed a feed system to accommodate the number of cattle they were feeding. The new system contained a rolling mill. A fire scorched the bins in the 1980¹s, and ruined the corn that was being stored there at that time. Both the Burke and Gregory Fire Departments were called to assist. "You could see the fire for miles around," advised Mildred, Joe¹s wife.

Doug Gerard, their hired man, was able to save the truck, however all the corn was lost, as nothing could be done to save the stored crops. It was determined by the fire marshal that a staple that had been put too close to the wiring and was what caused the fire.

In 1934, it was so dry, I remember having a hard time finding pasture for the cattle. We eventually found a pasture south of Jamison, NE, and some east of Terry Lubber¹s current place. We ran out of water, too, so we sold some cows to the government and the rest went to Grant Reber¹s by Jamison, NE, in July. We went through Burke Lake and through Staley brothers (Ed Bartling¹s current residence), on our way to Nebraska. The next morning we started out with the cows when it was still dark. It was so hot, we would rest at the top of each hill we came to. It was the latter part of the afternoon when we reached Reber¹s. My father insisted that we return back the same night, because he expected it to cool off. When we got back to Burke, the hotel was still open, so we hitched our horses and went inside to get something to eat and drink. Doc Kelso was
running the cafe part and fixed us a good tongue sandwich. My dad bought me my first bottle of beer since prohibition. Until then, I had only had home brew,² advised Joe. When they brought the cows back home in the fall, they took them to Labahn¹s at the top of the river. They took the cows all the way to the river though, so that they would know where to drink. The only hay they had were thistles that they cut and stacked. However, they would take a bucket of salt out every now and then. Because of the drought disaster, the government bought cattle. Top cow sold for $20.00 and calves sold for $8.00 per head. Those bought by the government that couldn¹t make the trip were taken to a spot southwest of the current Hillcrest and were shot and buried. After church on Sunday, onlookers went out to survey the dead cows. They were quickly hurried away by those working on slaughtering. John told them they would leave when they were ready. Each farmer was allowed to bring home one calf to butcher. They decided on an old milk cow that they didn¹t milk, but she had a nice calf. Joe drove her home with a horse. The government men came out and shot her and sliced up the hide and she was used as feed for the pigs. They butchered the calf the next morning, took the carcass to Kallendar¹s to cool and Marie canned the meat. At the time, the government had another program where they came out and counted the pigs. Joe¹s dad had so many pigs and it was a hassle to count them all, so they finally took his word. Then he took them to Sioux City, since the government had sponsored the program that filled the stockyards with pigs. The pigs were able to get out and got mixed with the others, so Joe¹s dad was paid for
more than he took there.

During those drought years, feed for the pigs was expensive, so John decided to let the pigs fend for themselves. He only had sufficient feed for the mother sows and they had large litters. One day, while Louis Lillibridge stopped by to see John, he was amazed to find John knocking some of the pigs in the head and throwing them in a pile. The piglets were used to feed the sows for the spring farrowing. In 1934, John had some yearlings that he thought he would get more money for them in Omaha, NE. They drove them to the Burke stockyards and John ordered a train car to take them to Omaha, NE. There was a rancher from Montana who was keeping his cows at the Faust Ranch, who had also decided to ship his cattle, too. When they got ready to load the cattle, the rancher had his cattle in front of John¹s. The train was to arrive at midnight, but was very late. The train had to back up and unhitch half of the load because there were so many grasshoppers on the track that it made the track slippery. They brought half the train to Burke. By this time the sun was up. The part of the train that came to Burke had several loads of horses from Wood. Joe found some bailing wire and stuck the horses in the hocks to see them kick. He then proceeded to get on top of the railroad car and would stick the horses and they would buck and kick the roof of the railroad car. They had a lot of fun. That was the first time Joe ever stayed up all night.

In 1935, Joe began high school in Burke. "My dad bought a really good horse from Mr. Clayton, who lived east of Gregory. The horse¹s name was Billy and he had a lot of action. I went to school for three years riding that horse. The first year of high school, I took my dinner with me. I kept the horse behind the pool hall in a little barn. The second year, I ate dinner at Siler¹s garage. We would go to the Burke bakery and get a sack of day old rolls for a dime. We would head back to Siler¹s and eat those. The last year, dad bought a 1928 Model A Coup," stated Joe. Joe and Johnny drove that to school. Joe missed a lot of school that year, since they did not have a hired man and he stayed home to help with the farming and chores. Joe said, "Johnny was pretty smart so they wanted him to keep going to school." Joe graduated in 1939, and was the first grandson of Ed Leibel¹s to graduate from high school.

After school, J.C. kept on farming. He had to drive six head of horses with a two row lister. Joe¹s dad was a die hard horse farmer. He never had a tractor until later that year. He had bought a John Deere B, fully equipped, with power lift, lights and starter. In 1939, John bought the rural credit land, where Johnny later resided. Then John bought the land that was Claude Yeager¹s who used to be the undertaker. Claude owed $250.00 in taxes on the land, so John paid the taxes and gave Claude $250.00 for the quarter. It was all rough land. Later he bought the quarter south of that farm that the county had on a tax deed for $710.00. Joe proceeded to farm that quarter until he married Mildred Hlavka on February 3, 1945. Mildred was born on March 28, 1923, to James and Anna (Lopour) Hlavka. Mildred was born at their home north of Burke with Anna Sperl assisting with the delivery. Mildred also went to the Streeter School for four years before they switched to the Rhoade¹s School. Mildred¹s brothers are Milo and James. She also had
three sisters, Olga, Anna and Marie. "I remember herding a lot of cattle in the road ditches growing up. We had to move them a lot because it was so dry."

" In 1934, my family moved to West Point, NE, to run a pool hall. We lived there for nine months until school was out and then moved to Fremont, NE, where we stayed for three months, then we moved back to the farm north of Burke," recalled Mildred. Mildred graduated from Gregory High School in 1940. That summer she worked at Molly¹s Cafe in Gregory. She attended Springfield Normal School for one year. She taught at the Streeter School for three years after graduation. She had a total of sixteen students in eight grades. "I walked a mile and a half to school and a mile and a half back home everyday. I was paid $65.00 a month for teaching. The pupils were allotted grapefruits and oranges once a month and I distributed them. We had to go to Lund¹s for water. Usually the boys in the school would go there over the noon hour," Mildred stated. During that time, Mildred fondly remembers the house dances on Friday and Saturday nights when the neighbors would come. Anton Wempe had quite a few dances at his house. They just
moved the furniture aside, remembered Mildred. Mildred worked for the Omaha Cold Storage office located in Winner during the summer months. They wanted her to stay, but Mildred had already signed a contract to teach at the Holmes School. After Joe and Mildred were married, on February 3, 1945, they lived with his folks for awhile. "When we were married, we had to give all of our sugar stamps to the baker to make our wedding cake," remembered Mildred. Joe thought he was going to have to go into the Army shortly after they were married, during their honeymoon time. "There was a whole train carload that went to Minneapolis, MN, to take physicals. After my testing they called me back for retesting, and they classified me as 2C and I did not have to go," advised Joe.

The Englemeyer family has many wonderful memories, and they will continue to live on as the stories are retold. John and Marie would be pleased to see what has transpired over the years. They would marvel at the modern machinery and the use of computers in farming, and find today¹s conservation practices for the better. Over the years, the acreage has increased, trees and dams have been added to what John started over 100 years ago. Joe stated, "God willing, the farm will still be in the family, many, many, years from now."