Tolstoy Family Biographies

Walter Miller Family

Walter came with his parents, as a small child, from Beaver Meadow, N. Y. They settled on the James River at Rondell in Brown County. Elizabeth came from Whitehall, Wisc. as a small child. Her parents settled on the James River near Armadale Island. Walter and Elizabeth came to South Dakota in 1882 and 1883 respectively. Walter's parents were from Beaver Meadow, New York and Elizabeth's from Norway.

Walter and Elizabeth Miller and three children Lewis (Cully), Fred, and Eunice came from Brown County on the M and St. L R R to early Tolstoy in 1907. Walter had built a house and livery barn in the eastern part of town. There the family lived for eleven years. During those years Hazel, Walter (Casey), Verna, Donald, Delbert, and Inez were born. The livery barn burned and in 1909, he built a saloon and pool hall. After prohibition, Walter built a large garage. It was later moved to the south end of main street. It later burned. In 1919, Walter moved his family two miles west of Onaka. A short time later, he decided they must have more grassland for the cattle. This is when the family moved to Ziebach Co. south of Dupree. There he and his family lived their lives, some of the children and grandchildren still do.

The family's life in Tolstoy were very happy years. Back to Index

Thomas Penrod, an early homesteader, was born July 15, 1862 in Filmore County, Minn., where he lived until 1882, then he spent a year in Livingston, Mont. and in Spink county. In 1883 he filed a homestead in Potter county and became a successful farmer.

On March 30, 1888, Thomas Penrod married Ursula Nold. They drove a team and a lumber wagon to Bowdle and were married. They bought a little furniture and came home to start their life together in a sod house, which was built on the south corner of the land they always lived on. From the sod house they moved into a frame house and later built a large two story addition onto the frame house making it one of the largest homes in the neighborhood. So the Springs Church Socials were held at the Penrod home once each winter.

Almost everyone in the entire Springs Community attended these gatherings and some would attend from Lebanon. At these gatherings almost every room in the large house was used. One bedroom was used for all the winter wraps, and one was used for the babies to sleep in.

Long tables were set up between the living room and the large bedroom. There was a sliding double door between these rooms and when opened gave a large space for tables, besides the long table that was set in the large kitchen. The tables were bountifully laden with the best of food that the different families had prepared and donated. This occasion was indeed the highlight of the year and enjoyed by all.

To their marriage Tom and Ursula had the following children Jessie, Nina, Ida, Obert, Nora, Mabel, and a set of twins Eddie and Freddie who died at a very young age. Their mother Ursula died Oct. 29, 1916. The only child living is Ida, she is in a nursing home in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Thomas Penrod continued farming until his health failed. He died May 24, 1946.

His son Obert then took over the family farm. Obert married Alice Umiker on June 24, 1931 in Lebanon. To this union five children were born, Obert Jr., Leland, Leota, Marillyn, and John. Obert died Dec. 11, 1971. His youngest son John is living on the family farm at the present time. This marks the 3rd generation of the Penrods to live on the same farm. Back to Index

Christ Roesch and Rosina Buechler were married March 8, 1903 at the farm home of Mr. and Mrs. Heinrich Trefz near Tolstoy. Their first home was 4 miles northeast of Tolstoy which later became the Jake Hettich or August Stotz farm.

A year or so later they moved to a farm southeast of Tolstoy on the farm presently owned by Loven Stoecker. It was spring time when they bought the new farm but had not yet moved. There was much work to be done. It was time to put in a garden. Christ was busy in the fields so Rosina would put her young son.

John, in a baby buggy, some lunch, water to drink, seeds, and garden tools then push the baby buggy all the miles over rough prairie to the new farm to plant her garden so they would have potatoes and vegetables to eat.

Straw and hay were twisted to burn and keep the house warm during the long cold winters. How glad everyone was when spring came and they could shed their heavy underwear. Horse and buggy or wagon were the early means of transportation.

Rosina would put a foot warmer or stones in the oven to heat, these we would place by our feet in the buggy along with big robes to keep us warm as we went to church or town. Christmas Eve there was always a program at the church which they never missed, often going with the bobsled with everyone wrapped in blankets.

When the parents took cream and eggs to town, there was always a bag of candy in the egg crate given by Mr. William Gundert or Jake Grosz owners of the Tolstoy mercantile to show their appreciation of our business. The children so looked forward to this.

When the railroad was being built there were men who called at the homes. Each family was asked to donate $25 toward the building of the railroad. It was built with horses pulling a scoop shovel. The man behind maneuvering it. Such hard work for the horses often caused big open sores.

After the railroad was built Martha and Mathilda took the train on Saturday to Hoven for music lessons from the nuns. Martha took piano and Mathilda took violin. They could make it in time to go from the depot to St. Anthonys school take their lessons and get back to catch the train back to Tolstoy. The round trip cost them 15 cents each. Sometimes they drove the horse and buggy to Hoven for lessons.

"Trust" in each other and your word was as good as gold. Much business was done by word of mouth. Christ rented his land in this manner. At threshing time the neighbors got together and helped each other.

Sunday was the day to go to church. Services were in the morning. They took their lunch along for noon, after lunch Sunday school was held. Christ Trefz was in charge for many years. Mr. Jacob Dutt Sr. and Mr. Christ Dutt were our Sunday School teachers. Christ Buechler usually took up the offering. Since there were no offering plates he used his cap in the winter and his hat in the summer to pass the offering. Mr. Gottlieb Wolff who loved to sing and had a good voice would often lead the congregation in a sing-spiration. He would start a verse and all joined in. Those wonderful precious years often make us lonesome and homesick.

When the mail route came through everyone was very happy. Living in Faulk County our mail carrier for many years was Mr. Ivan Gibson of Onaka. He drove a little car over all kinds of roads and in all kinds of weather. The first automobile father and mother bought was an Overland. The family was on cloud-9 that day.

After the children were married and gone from home, Christ and Rosina sold their farm to Stoeckers and moved into Tolstoy. Christ passed away Aug. 26, 1959. Rosina continued to live there until age 84 when she sold her house to Robert Trefz and went to live at the nursing home in Bowdle. She passed away on Nov. 18, 1973. Christ and Rosina are buried at the German Zion cemetery at Tolstoy.

To this union 5 children were born: John, deceased; an infant son who died at birth; Martha, Mrs. Charles Schock, Galt, Calif.; Mathilda, Mrs. D. G. Hottmann, Aberdeen, S. D.; and Marvin, Tucson, Ariz.

Christ and Rosina celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in May 1953. They were devout and faithful members of the Methodist church of Tolstoy all their married life. Back to Index

Mr. and Mrs. John Rau were married in Bowdle, S. D. in 1906. They set up housekeeping in Tolstoy where John built a blacksmith shop and a home.

Christina Wolff was born Oct. 3, 1885 at Tolstoy, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gottlieb Wolff.

John Rau was born in Russia and came to this country at the age of two, settling at Artas, S. D.

During the time they lived in Tolstoy, two children, Alvin and Verna joined the family. Later, they moved to Harrold, S. D. where two more children, Marvin and Morris were born. The 60 mile move was made with two hay racks and 4 horse teams.

While living at Tolstoy (1906 to 1912) John was a successful businessman, priding himself in being able to have two plowshares in the forge at the same time, meaning that a lot of skill and speed was needed to keep one plowshare from burning while hammering out the other. Another important phrase of blacksmith work in those days was "setting tires" on wagon wheels. He was a master at shrinking the iron rim and then heating it to expand the iron in order to make a tight fit on wooden wheels. After moving to Harrold in 1912, he continued in the blacksmith trade but later added an Automobile agency (Ford and John Deere Implements).

After living in Harrold until 1948 they bought a home in Rapid City where they lived until their deaths in early 1970's.

Yes, the hardships were many, but hard work and the will to succeed was ever present in the lives of this couple.

Many visits were made to Tolstoy by the family and enjoying the good fruit of Grampa Wolff's trees and garden as well as Gramma Wolff's German dishes and "Keka" baked like no one else could. Back to Index

Frederick and Margaretha (Goetz) Roesch came from Russia to the United States in May of 1899. They came to this country because homesteading allowed them to own land. They initially came to Bowdle, S. D. and stayed with friends north of Bowdle until a one room sod house was built on their homestead in Faulk county, 3 miles east of Tolstoy (the farm presently occupied by Fred and Johnny Hettich). A few years later (approximately 1903 or 1904) they moved to a site 2 1/2 miles southwest of Tolstoy where they built a two room sod house.

The Roesch family children are Rose (born in Russia), Margaret (deceased), Fred (deceased), Johnny (died at age 5), Emma, Bertha (deceased) and Anna (died at age of 7 months).

The most significant hardship endured by the Roesch family was surely that of their father's death during the flu epidemic at the age of 39. He left his wife with six children - aged 6 months to twenty years, five of them daughters and one son Fred, 15 years old, Mother, with her family and some hired help kept on farming until the brother, Fred, was married in 1925. The two oldest sisters, Rose and Maggie, had married by then so mother and her three youngest daughters, Mary, Bertha, and Emma moved to Tolstoy that year.

Mary married Harry Hauck, Bertha (deceased) married Edward Bieber, and Emma married Edward Lippert. Mary and Emma still reside in Tolstoy. Back to Index