Tolstoy Family Biographies

Joe Titgen Family

Joe Titgen was born at Alsace-Lorraine, a place between France and Germany, in the year 1852. His wife, Katherine (Schmidt) Titgen was born at Cologne, Germany in 1860.

They came to America and settled at Peru, Ill. in October 1878. The Titgens had  eleven children, six of whom were born in Peru, Ill. Catherine 1879-1880; Mary (Goebel) 1881-1960; Tina (Nestor) 1883-1909; Fred 1884-1947; Elizabeth (Christenson) 1885-1966; William 1887 - date of death unknown.

Five children were born after the Titgens moved to Tolstoy, S. D.: George 1889 residing in Hoven, S. D.; Charles 1891 of Colton, Calif.; Minnie (Schaefer) 1894 residing at the Gettysburg, S. D. rest home; Frank 1897-1971; Joe 1899-1913.

Joe Titgen passed away in 1937 and wife Katherine passed away in 1921.

Joe worked as a harness maker and in the coal mines before coming to Tolstoy. After moving here he did veterinary work, never charging for his services. Joe and his family homesteaded around 1887 on the place where Marvin Schmidt now lives. Joe's father "Hubert Titgen" and mother "Regina Perdu" homesteaded on the west quarter. Joe built a sod house with the help of the Schmidt brothers.

When it was time to move into their first wooden frame house they all hated to move because the sod house was so cozy and warm and it stayed cool in the summer. The sod was cut in squares and built as you would bricks. The roof was also sod with layers of heavy paper. Dirt was put over the sod to fill the cracks and watered and dried. To this day, George still wishes he could live in the sod house. He also remembers picking cow chips and twisting hay to burn in the stove for cooking and baking. For heat they had three 50 gallon straw burners. They burned flax straw which lasted most of the night when they could get it, otherwise any available straw was used.

George recalls a time when he was a young boy, "It was the year John Lavery built his new home. The snow was 3 or 4 feet deep on the level. Dad had me haul a triple wagon box of wheat to Lebanon as there was no town of Tolstoy at that  time. We had a well traveled sleigh road. I was to unload my wheat then go to the lumber yard and load a wagon full of shingles for Lavery's new house. I went to the livery barn to feed my horses. I had 2 gallons of oats in a sack for their feed. John and Pete Hoven were running the livery barn at the time. They told me to run up town and get a bite to eat and come right back. They had a general call on the telephone that a big snowstorm was coming from the northwest. I went uptown, bought a 5 cent can of sardines and one 5 cent package of soda crackers. When I got back to the livery barn they had my team hitched up, the sun was shining but they told me to "get the hell for home". It was about 4 p.m. when I got about I mile out of Lebanon the storm hit. It snowed and the wind blew so hard the horses bowed their heads and faced the wind. I knew they would take me home so I did not urge them to go faster; They just walked. All I had with me was a spring seat, 2 horse blankets, and a scoop shovel. Suddenly the horses started breaking through the snow. I knew they had lost the road. I did not know where we were. The horses must have cut straight for home. I had to shovel them out 3 different times. When they played out I unhitched them and put the blankets under the hames. I spent the night walking around and around the sleigh. Towards morning it quit snowing and the wind died down. I could see farm buildings all around but I was so lost I couldn't tell one from the other. I again hitched up the horses and they took me home which was about 1/2 mile from where we spent the night. I put the horses in the barn. walked in the house and everybody was still in bed. Mother got up and when she saw me she started crying. She realized I had spent the night out in the storm.

My parents thought I had stayed in Lebanon". Back to Index

Charles Trefz was born Aug. 21, 1888 at Glucksthal. Russia. On Oct. 11, 1898 his father Heinrich, 46 years old, Mother Katherina (Jundt) 45, sister Rosina 15, Jacob 14, Johann 11, Charles 10, Friedrich 6, and sister Christina 3, who died on the trip, boarded ship at Bremen, Germany and arrived in New York. The trip by sea cost 1120 mark, and the transfer from New York cost 414.45 mark.

They settled on a farm near Tolstoy, close to the present George Bieber farm.

Charles Trefz became a citizen when he was 21. He homesteaded at Heron, N. D. and built his house on top of a vein of coal and had fuel very handy.

Elfrieda M. (Hagenlock) was born in Poweshiek County. Grinnell, Iowa Sept. 5. 1886. She came to Seneca, S. D. with her father William Hagenlock and her step-mother Anna (Arns). Elfrieda had one brother Walter and one sister Louise.

She also had half brothers, William, Ernest, Henry, Otto, Paul and Edwin (Oscar). Her half sisters were Loucielle and Emma.

Charles Trefz and Elfrieda Hagenlock married at Seneca March 12, 1913. They farmed the homestead at Hebron, N. D. Martha and Henry were born there.

They bought the Charles Kunkel farm east of Tolstoy, the rest of the children were born here: Anna, Emma, Martin, and Helen. Helen passed away in 1961. Father died in 1969 and Mother in 1973. Back to Index

Christ Trefz was born Feb. 10, 1889 to John Trefz and Frederick (Jacober) Trefz in a sod house, one mile east and 1/2 south of Tolstoy.

Christina was born Oct. 15, 1890 to Jonathan and Christina (Albrecht) Hottmann in a sod house seven miles northeast of Hosmer, S. D.

Christina's mother passed away when she was only three years old. Later on her father remarried. When Christina was nine years old, they moved to Potter county to the Springs Community. Her education was just up to the first half of the third grade. From then on she was able to help on the farm. This consisted of sewing for the family, knitting stockings, and working in the fields.

Christ's formal education was through the third grade. Christ helped his parents on the farm by plowing with the walking plow, and digging wells for the cattle. Water was drawn from the well with a pail and a rope and then carried to the livestock. If the well was to far from the home, the stone boat with barrels on it was used.

Hours were long and hard when everything was done by hand.

Christ and Christina were married on March 14, 1910, in the Jonathan Hottmann home by Rev. Westphal. They lived with his parents for a few months until they had established a farm 1 1/2 miles east of Tolstoy. Rowland Geist, a grandson, lives on this farm today.

Christ C. Trefz Family. Front, left to right: (mother) Christina Trefz, Robert Trefz, (father) Christ Trefz. Back, left to right: Viola (Dutt), Otilla (Hagen) and Anna (Geist).

Times were hard. Clothes had to be washed on the washboard, soap made, butchering and rendering lard. There were years of drought and hardships.

They attended church in the schoolhouse which was 1 1/2 miles northeast of Tolstoy. After the church was brought into Tolstoy, they then went there.

Christ was a Sunday school superintendent, Sunday school teacher, and directed the choir for many years. Christina taught Sunday school and furnished flowers for the alter for many years.

They bought their first car, a Reo, in 1917. In the winter; the battery was removed and stored in the cellar until spring. The wheels were jacked up to save the tires. A trip to Aberdeen was like taking a trip to California today. The day before they would have to grease the car, check the water, and oil the car.

In the spring of 1919, Christ's parents retired and moved to Tolstoy. Christ and his family moved to the farm in which his father had homesteaded. Besides being a farmer; he was a carpenter, and an insurance agent for the Milbank Mutual Insurance Company. Christina always had a large vegetable and flower garden. Christina took in sewing and they boarded many of the school teachers.

Again drought struck and a good hatch of grasshoppers in the 1930's. They picked cow chips by the wagon loads. The chips were used to heat the house and to cook with.

They bought their first radio in 1930. The batteries at that time would only last for three months. In the fall of 1938, they moved into town to take care of Christ's mother. Daughter Viola and her new husband, John C. Dutt, went to live on their farm. Christ continued his insurance business, carpenter work, and was the village blacksmith for a few years. Christina still found time for a big garden, sewing, and boarding teachers.

To this union were born five children: Anna (deceased, 1969) married Alvin Geist (deceased 1964); Maria (deceased, 1912); Viola married John C. Dutt (John, deceased 1975); Otilla married Henry Hagen, West Pittsburg, Calif. Robert (deceased, 1971) married Charlotte (Monserud) who still lives in Tolstoy.

Viola still lives on the farm now owned by daughter and son-in-law Larry and Kathleen Helm. Christ Trefz passed away in 1965. Christina now lives in an apartment in the Tolstoy Community Homes. She still does her housekeeping and has her garden and flowers.

Their dad passed away probably in 1912 or 1913. Back to Index

In the year 1924 I completed a course in teachers' training and graduated from Scotland High School. Scotland. S. D. I accepted an offer to teach in a country school in the Madison Township in Edmunds County northeast of Tolstoy.

That fall I came by train from my hometown. I had to change trains at Mellette, S. D. to go west to Tolstoy. Shortly after leaving Scotland, I met a young lady on the train. She attended Mt. Marty College in Yankton but was called home to Onaka, S. D. because of an illness in her parents' family. Since I did not know that area, I did not realize that Onaka was that close to my stop at Tolstoy.

I was met by my uncle, Carl Litke, who lived in Tolstoy at that time. I boarded with Mr. and Mrs. John Dickhaut and their three children: John, Henry, and Rose (Bertsch). I taught the school about 2 1/2 miles east of their farm. Their farm is the present home of Mr. and Mrs. William Bomesberger.

I was given a horse and buggy for transportation to and from school. Before the opening day of school that fall, I went to get the schoolhouse key from the school clerk, Lorenz Deis. I knocked on the door and who should answer but the same lady I had met on the train. She was their daughter, Josephine. She, too, was surprised.

I wasn't very impressed with this north central part of South Dakota with its wide open fields and very few trees. I did continue my teaching though which consisted of schools in the Madison Township, Edmunds County; Logan Township, Potter County: and Sherman Township, Faulk County. I met a fine, young Christian man named Anton Strouckel, whom I later married. The wide open fields didn't look so bad after all. My husband was a farmer and after our marriage, we settled on his parents' farm. Here we raised our three sons: Lloyd, Allen, and Ronald; and our two daughters: Elaine (Lloyd Hettich) and Sharon (Jerry Guthmiller). Two of our sons, Allen and Ronald, still operate the Strouckel Ranch.

The farmstead had its beginning in what is now Cloyd Valley Township in Edmunds County. My husband's parents. Mr. and Mrs. John Strouckel and their 1 1/2 year old daughter Mary, came to America from Austria approximately in the year 1886.

While living on this farm seven more children were born. 3 daughters: Antonia (Mrs. Emery Clark), Otillia (Mrs. William Meyers)' and Anna (Mrs. Dewey Finley), four sons: Joseph (married Minnie Chader). Adolph (married Edna Chader, Anton (married Elsie Schubert), and William (married Lavina Schutz).

Mary, the eldest daughter, married Melchior Wolf. I am still living in the sod house built by Anton's parents, although my husband passed away in 1963. This sod house is one of a few left that is still occupied. It took many hours of hard labor to build this house. Grandpa John Strouckel had dug a trench in which he hauled dirt, straw, and water. He then used horses to mix it. This mud and straw mixture was put into boxes to form blocks. When the blocks were dry, they were used as cement blocks to build the new house. The outer walls, being 15 inches thick, provided good insulation keeping the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The deep windows make appropriate places for my plants. The outside walls now have siding and the inside walls were plastered and papered.

 Also on the Strouckel Ranch is the "Silver Spring" with good spring water. It was named the "Silver Spring" because of the silvery deposits found on the rocks in the spring during the early years. Many of the neighbors back then and others from miles around visited the spring getting water with barrels and tanks. They even drove their stock to it as wells were scarce in those days. It had been told by the early pioneers that Lewis and Clark stopped to water their horses at the "Silver Spring" during their journey to the West. Relics, such as a double barreled muzzle loading shotgun and an old time musket, were found around the place during 1885-1886 which indicated that it must have been known to trappers and hunters. From the looks of their condition, they must have lain there many years prior to 1884. One of the journals of an officer with Lewis and Clark tells us that they were near this area in 1805.

In conclusion. I wish to pay tribute to all the old pioneers who endured the many hardships and severe winters: who had paved the way for future generations, to promote the welfare of our nation and enjoy living in the "Land of Liberty and Justice for All". God Bless America, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Back to Index

John Trefz and his wife (Fredericka Jacober) Trefz left southern Russia shortly after the holiday season and arrived at the New York Harbor on April 25, 1885.

They experienced storm at sea and it had been a long rough voyage. They had no baggage except what they carried on their backs. There was no one to meet them.

The Trefz's took a train west and kept going until their money ran out. They got off the train at Scotland, S. D., penniless. As they stood by the depot, they heard some people talking in the German language. John Trefz asked these people if they knew where he could find work. It happened that Andrew Schatz had come to America from a different village in Russia some 20 years earlier.

The Schatz family had by now accumulated a frame house and some 100 head of cattle. Mr. Schatz took the homeless new comers to his farm. Here they worked and were given a room in the family home. Their wages were $100 plus room and board for one year. It was here at Scotland, that John Trefz became an American citizen.

In the spring of 1886, the Trefz's bought a second hand wagon, a team of young oxen, a breaking plow, and a few hand tools also a cow. For love, the Schatz's gave them a rooster and two hens for a start in poultry.

They started out in the early spring of 1886 with a covered wagon and all of their possessions in search of unclaimed land.

They arrived in Potter county in May. They found unclaimed land west of the Faulk county line. There were no other settlers in that area at that time, just sky and prairie. John and Fredericka went right to work breaking sod and erecting a sod house dwelling. For a door, they used the canvas from their covered wagon.

The required number of acres were broken by ox team and the walking plow. Mrs. Trefz planted the required number of acres to squaw corn. They had brought the corn seed from Scotland. Planting was done by chopping a hole in the broken sod and dropping the seed in the hole and tramping on the hole to cover the seed.

It was a season of little moisture, so the corn grew only fourteen inches high. They cut the corn stalks for feed after the first frost came in August.

On July 7, 1886, John went in search of work. He started out barefooted, because the shoes he had when they left Russia had long since worn out. Mrs. Trefz made a pair of pants using the blue denim straw bag that served as a mattress for their bed. She also made a shirt using flour sacks.

John kept walking in a northeast direction. He walked until sundown. A storm was coming up and he noticed some homesteader's place. Here he asked permission to take shelter in a barn. Two fierce dogs were tethered to a post. The farmer said, "Leave at once or else I'll turn the dogs loose, and they will tear you to pieces. John went on and finally noticed a haystack, this was his bed for the night. Early the next morning he started walking. Some fifteen miles northeast of Aberdeen, he said a man harvesting wheat with a three horse team pulling a binder. John asked if he could get some work. The man replied, "yes shock this wheat as fast as it drops from the binder. Your wages will be 50 cents a day and board. He thankfully went to work and kept up with the binder.

At dusk, they quit field work, and John had the task of caring for the horses.

Then came supper and then a bed in the barn. Oh, how grateful John was to have a job, food, and a place to sleep. He worked for this man until November. When he collected his earnings and started home on foot, he stopped off at Ipswich to buy supplies for the oncoming winter. He bought a 100 pound sack of flour, 10 yards of blue denim, salt, sugar, yeast, and thread.

All this time Mrs. Trefz was not idled. The cow. Blossom, had produced a calf, the hens had hatched and raised a brood of chickens.

Mrs. Trefz had to haul water from a slough some miles away. The oxen had become frisky from the prolonged idleness, and made sport at being hitched to the wagon. One time when the baby was sleeping she laid the baby on the back end of the wagon while she put the yoke on the oxen. After the oxen had been hitched up, they took off on a run with Mrs. Trefz running behind the wagon. Finally she was able to grasp the baby's clothing and pull her to safety. The oxen headed for the slough where they got their water. The oxen stayed in the slough until they were ready to come out. She found out that a few cornstalks would entice the oxen to come out of the slough after the barrels were filled.

With John home again, provisions had to be made for the livestock. A sod barn was made, slough hay was cut with a scythe and stacked close to the barn.

Winter soon came with much snow. At this time a barrel was brought into the house and filled with clean snow. That was the water supply for man and beast.

Gradually other settlers came. A Swedish family homesteaded seven miles away. They all experienced the Indian scare. Some of the settlers were soon discouraged and left for good. For the Trefz's there was no place to go. So they stayed on. They never had to go hungry even though all the meals were the same. For several years they were unable to raise many vegetables. Water was very scarce. John would dig wells at the edge of some sloughs and water was dipped from the twelve to sixteen foot hole. When hot weather would come, the slough would dry up so would the well.

In January of 1888, John started early in the morning for Gettysburg. He walked because he could cover the distance in less time; then by driving the oxen. It was a beautiful morning, the snow was deep four or more feet on the level. John did his business in the land office and was on the way home. He was almost home, when suddenly a fierce wind struck with such a force; that he lost all sense of direction. John kept walking he thought he would finally reach home.

Tired, cold, hungry, he kept going. He knew that death would be certain unless he kept moving. He often lost his footing, but always struggled to his feet. Suddenly John was thrown against something. It was the door of a homesteader's house. The homesteaders were Charlie Vail and wife. They had just gotten up for the day, when they heard a noise at their door. When they opened their door; a frozen man rolled in. The Vail's put the frozen stranger to bed and worked to revive the storm victim. It took hours to revive the man to where he could swallow warm tea. The following day John felt recovered enough to walk home. He had frozen his cheeks, ears, fingers, and feet. By spring he had grown new skin on the frozen parts of his body, and went ahead with seeding the ground and breaking more acres of farm land.

By 1898 there were six children in the family and the Trefz's were in the process of building a frame house. In November of 1898, diphtheria struck the family. The oldest daughter became very ill. The family believed it to be a bad cold. Soon all of the children became ill. A week after the oldest daughter had been ailing, she died very unexpectedly. A week later two more girls died in one day. Due to deep snow and severe cold, the bodies of the dead were kept in the granary until milder weather. The three other children gradually recovered from the diphtheria epidemic. The children who had died from the diphtheria were laid to rest on the families land. The spot where the three Trefz daughters were buried became the community burial place.

More settlers came as time went on. Relatives came from Russia and settlers from other areas settled in Potter county.

The John Trefz farm is still in the family, now in the fourth generation. The homestead is being farmed very differently from the humble beginning.

There were ten children in the John Trefz family. Katherine Nold is the only one still living. Katherine resides at Gettysburg.                        By Katherine Nold Back to Index

Alois Unfried and Walburga Hertline were a young couple in Bavaria, a spirit of adventure filled them. Walburga had a brother, Andrew, who lived in America, near Tolstoy, S. D. So they decided that was the place for them. They boarded a ship for New York, but when they came to New York their money ran out and a trip to South Dakota was impossible. They got married in New York and both got jobs. Walburga worked cleaning cabins for people who came to vacation by the sea. Alois worked at a fishery cleaning fish and oysters to be canned.

When they had saved up enough money, they continued their trip to South Dakota. They came to Bowdle by train where her brother met them and brought them to his home which was just west of the Litzen farms near Tolstoy. Dad soon took up a homestead. It was then that Dakota was becoming a state.

Years later her brother died in a tragic accident while working for some neighbors, the Lavery Brothers. He had a 'runaway' with his horses while discing the land. He was caught under the disc and dragged to death.

Young Alois filed on some land about three miles west of Tolstoy and built a sod house on it and this became their home for many years.

It was there that George was born in 1893. A brother Joseph, died at the age of 7 followed by sisters Dora, Gertrude, and Emma. They went through all the usual hardships of the early pioneers. Being of Catholic faith, they had to drive a team and buggy to Hoven to attend Sunday Mass. And it was on rare occasions that they missed Mass. Driving 8 miles in the cold and dark on Sunday morning for the 8 a.m. Mass and without a drop of water or a bite to eat before attending Mass, was indeed a great hardship, but one which early pioneers gladly endured for their faith.

George attended school during the winter months when he wasn't needed at home. Even though the school was just a short distance from their place he had to quit after about three years and helped his father with the farm work. The rest of his education he obtained with lots of reading, which he still does.

As their family grew and the little sod house which had been their home all these years became almost unlivable. They built a new home in 1919 which they all enjoyed. In her desire for a new home, Mother Walburga would secretly help the destruction of the old sod house along by getting her young ones to pick away at the sod on the house, all this, of course, with out the knowledge of their father who presumed it was all natural deterioration. The house is still the home of the Frank Hoven family.

George never married but remained on the farm until 1955 when he moved to Hoven. His sister, Dora married Leo Krzyzopolski, a young man of the neighborhood who the George Schmidt family adopted and raised. They lived at several different places in the community and after living in Aberdeen a number of years, and work harder to find, they left for California with their eleven children and where they both have passed away. One of their sons is the Rev. Father Aloysius Kryzyzopolski presently at Sioux Falls.

It wasn't until 1920 when George had the joy of driving his first car.

In 1926 George's father passed away, so with the help of sister Emma they managed the farm and cared for their aged mother. When Emma married George Casey they continued making their home with George to care for their mother.

She passed away in 1942 at the age of 80. Soon after, Emma and her three boys moved to California where she still lives. Her husband, George, had passed away years before.

Several years of batching proved too much for George, so he sold his farm to Frank Hoven and moved to Hoven. He had a small house on the south end of town and built a shop where he collected old iron machinery and dismantled it while at the same time growing a large garden and flowers. For years he supplied the alters in St. Anthony's Church with fresh flowers during the summer.

In 1975 he left his small home and moved into one of the Hoven Enterprise Apartments where he enjoys the many conveniences. He still does his own work and carries on with his gardening as usual.

He is a member of St. Anthony's Church, the St. Joseph's Society, the KC's and the Senior Citizens. His health remains good and can be seen either walking or driving his car to get his mail and groceries. He still does a lot of reading to pass the time during the winter months, but come spring he's back at his gardening. Back to Index

John Vail was an early settler in Fairview Township, Potter County, settling on NW 1/4 Sec. 7 119-73, (known as the Springs area) which he homesteaded in 1884 on which he received his final papers on May 22, 1890. He originally came from Northcumberland County, Pa. where he was born on Dec. 29, 1823. When he was about seventeen years of age he learned the carpenter trade and in 1852 at the age of twenty-nine he moved west to Iowa and to Filmore County, Minn. and located a claim in 1853 near a stream with a large volume of water but in the fall of 1854 transferred his claim to two men who became the founders of Preston, Minn. On this claim today stands the Courthouse of Preston.

In 1854 John was married to Margaret Reams and moved to Bristol township; Filmore County near harmony, Minn. where he farmed and did carpenter work. To this union were born nine children: William, Charles, George, Mary Jane, Margaret, Florence, Sophia, Daniel and Albert. Margaret his wife died on Jan. 16, 1871 at the age of 33.

In December 1871 John Vail was married to Anna Marie Bender Penrod at Cresco, Iowa. She had five children William, Mary Ellen, Nancy Jane, Samuel. Thomas. To this new union was born Willis, Clinton and Pliny.

In 1879 the family moved westward making stops in North Dakota and followed the Northern Pacific Railroad west to find construction work at Miles City and Billings, Mont. where they resided for 1 1/2 years.

In 1884 with the following children Dan Albert, Willis, Clint, Mary Ellen Penrod, Nancy Jane Penrod and Thomas Penrod they settled with the children in Fairview township, Potter County where John and Anna Marie had claims.

Ann and John became active in church, school and community work in Fairview Township. John died on June 10, 1897 and Anna Marie May 22, 1914; both are buried in the Springs Cemetery.

The only direct descendants living in Potter County are: Edwin Vail, Gettysburg-grandson and Orville Vail, Lebanon-grandson, Alex Vail, Gettysburg-Grandson. Charles Vail great grandson of Lebanon, Collette Kilian, Gettysburg-great granddaughter and Dana Vail, Gettysburg great grandson. Back to Index

John Voegele was born Jan. 22, 1859 and Elizebeth Jacober Voegele was born March 24, 1866, in Glucksthal, South Russia. They were both baptized and confirmed in the Evangelical Lutheran Church. They were married March 27, 1888, in the same church by Rev. Schrenk. Mr. Voegele served his Russian 4 year military service as a medic and was discharged with high honors. They lived in Glucksthal where John was also a parochial school teacher. Glucksthal became overcrowded so a group of people including the Voegele's decided to move to Ungende, near the Rumanian border. There they built a little house and planted a crop. Their first crop brought "much straw and few kernels", as John used to say. They couldn't make ends meet and again moved with other people to Siberia.

Even there, their luck wasn't with them and they went back to Ungende. When in Ungende for the second time, people talked about going to America, the land where everyone could make dreams come true. So in 1911 they arrived in the "Land of opportunity" and settled on a farm near  Tolstoy, S. D. Later they retired in the town of Tolstoy where they bought a home and lived there until 1941, when they moved to Roscoe, S. D.

They had six children: John, Jacob, Margret, and Christ, all deceased. Bernard of Roscoe, S. D. Lydia Utke of Milwaukee, Wisc. Elizebeth Jacober Voegele died in 1945 and John died in 1955 at the age of almost 97.

The hardships were many for the Voegele family, but their strong faith in God never faltered and gave them strength to carry all burdens and strengthen family ties.

Elizebeth was mid wife for many children born both in the Tolstoy area and in Russia. Elizebeth was a very generous woman. John would tell the story of how they were walking from Ungende with many people, there were many whose money and provisions had run out so Elizebeth shared with others. When they finally got to the train station, they too had no more money to pay the fare. Elizebeth always told John on the way, "Don't worry, God will provide." As they approached the train with their children; there stood the conductor, a man whose life John had saved while he was a medic in the Russian army. The conductor was so happy to see John and his family he gave them free passage on the train to the harbor, so they could board the ship going to America. So Elizebeth was right, the Lord did provide for the John Voegele family and they came to America and settled in the community of Tolstoy which seemed like heaven to them. Back to Index