Tolstory 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

Karl was born in Weinbergeren in Galacia, Austria, on Aug. 27, 1886. At the age of seventeen, Karl, his parents, one brother and seven sisters came to America and settled in the Tolstoy vicinity in Logan township. The Weber family lived at this location for 51 years.

Their reasons for leaving Austria were too many border changes, wars, freedom of speech, and religion. They could homestead 160 acres of land free, and raise their families in peace in America.

They first lived in a sod house and later purchased a house from the Stephens brothers and had it moved by steam engine to where it still stands 2 miles north of Tolstoy. They built a barn and other buildings to complete the farm.

Karl married Elizabeth Hettich in 1908. She was born at Klunbergdorff Odessa, Russia and came to this country in 1899 with her parents who also settled in Logan township.

Karl and Elizabeth were the parents of eight children: Fred, Josephine, Bruno, Otto, Frank, Mathilda, Erika, and Herbert.

Some of the highlights the family enjoyed were going to town on Saturday and listening to the band, attending the circus in Gettysburg once a year, and ice skating.

When the depression hit in 1928 with dust storms, grasshoppers, lack of feed for livestock, and money was scarce, Karl and his sons worked on W.P.A.

Otto went to Montana and found work. He came home and convinced his parents to move out there, which they did in June of 1937. They lived near Ennis, Mont. and later moved to Jeffers, Mont. Karl died October 1937, and Elizabeth passed away on March 1959. Both are buried in the Lutheran cemetery north of Tolstoy. Back to Index

A short history of the John Wies family, by Clara M. Wies, wife of Walter L. Wies, the former Rural Mail Carrier out of Tolstoy, South Dakota from July 1, 1925 to July 1, 1940. He, however, died quite suddenly on July 22, 1951.

As I did not know my father-in-law who passed away I believe in 1916, 1 will have to trust to memory. My Mother-in-law, Mrs. (John) Bridget, Wies, migrated to the area between Seneca and later Tolstoy. John Wies came from that generation of Germans who migrated to Russia in the '80's to escape the draft in Germany of 12 year-olds. After one generation they came to the United States where freedom of worship and other freedoms were theirs. The third so called International was already at work in Russia. Those who left relatives behind were sometimes punished by near starvation, causing the settlers untold anxiety in the New Land.

Mrs. John Wies came from the Pennsylvania Dutch area. Her parents came from County Cork, Ireland. They settled in Pennsylvania, then migrated to Calendonia, Minn. Then she and her brother came to Seneca. John Wies and Bridget Flynn walked to Zell, S. D. to be married, a distance of about 50 miles.

The new country presented many problems namely a home in a sod shanty with greased paper for windows. To this union seven children were born. Paul, Mary, Joseph, Walter, Helen, Fred and Glen.

In 1925 Walter my husband and I established our residence in Tolstoy, hence our children, L. James and Beverly were born there and attended grade school there until 1940 when we moved to Sunfield, Mich. so our children could live at home during their formative years. The others all drifted west to California and Oregon' all are deceased except Glen and his wife who live in Salem, Ore.

The early period of their lives on a farm south of Tolstoy were plagued by periods of drought, grasshoppers and Indian scares. There was no indoor plumbing or running water.

One incidence stands out in my mind, that I learned from my husband, was the fuel they used to burn. An old fashioned boiler was solidly packed with straw.

Then inverted over the two holes of the range. It produced a flash fire and sudden heat but cooled as rapidly.

The good old days were not all that good, but students of that time have done very well for themselves. Our daughter Beverly was a counselor in Ferndale, Mich., but is now teaching in the West Branch-Rose City High School. She is married to Roy L. Krueger, a retired coach from River Rouge. Our son, Jim, has been practicing dentistry in East Lansing since 1951. He and his wife, Connie, have five children. Only one is still at home. Back to Index

Mr. and Mrs. Christian Wolff immigrated to the United States from Russia in 1886 and landed in New York. They came to Eureka and later on homesteaded north of Hoven known as the Baer Community. They farmed there until 1909. They sold the farm and moved to Bowdle where he operated a saddle shop. Later they moved to Tolstoy where they remained until they passed away.

From 1915 to 1917, he operated a garage and sold the Elgin car. This building is now the cafe. He sold the building to Eugene Heck who operated a harness and shoe shop.

They were the parents of six sons: Matthew, Christian, Philip, John, Edward, and Jacob. Three daughters; Mrs. William Bonen, Mrs. Gottlieb Banik, and Carolina.

One son Edward C. Wolff of Roscoe is the only survivor. Back to Index

Edward C. Wolff was born Nov. 17, 1892 in the Bowdle-Hoven area known as the Baer Community. His parents were Christ and Magdalena (Fry) Wolff who immigrated to this country from Russia in 1886. Louisa Seidel was born Feb. 10, 1893 in Russia to Frank and Elizabeth (Kautz) Seidel. At the age of 9 she came to America with her parents and settled at Meadow, S. D.

Edward and Louisa were married at Bison, S. D. on Feb. 8, 1913. To this union 14 children were born. Seven daughters and seven sons, Two sons passed away. David in infancy and Carl died in Aberdeen in August 1933. Evelyn married Henry Dickhaut at Onaka, S. D. and are the parents of 8 children, a daughter died in infancy; Reinhold is living in Yankton and is employed at the State Hospital; Katherine married Vincent Engel at Gettysburg and they have 10 children, one son passed away at one year, Mr. Engel passed away on Aug. 17, 1979. Mrs. Engel lives at Colona, Ill.; Adolph was in the service where he met his wife Ruby Craine of Dave Creek, Colo. they live in Denver, Colo.; Esther married Norman Schatz at Akaska, S. D., they have 2 children and live on a farm near Roscoe, S. D.; Edward married Alice Schaffer of Moline, Ill. at Moline and are the parents of 4 daughters; Clara is married to James Stanley of Lebanon and they have 7 children; Lillian married Marvin Schroeder at Rapid City, they have 2 children, they are semi-retired and at the present are living in Rapid City; Lucille met Charles Johnson in the Service at Rapid City and are living in Philadelphia, Penn. and have 2 children; Clifford and Delores Fleck were married at Bowdle and have 2 daughters, they live at Hanford, Calif., Robert and Jackie Lee Bowden were married in Denver, they have 3 children and reside at Lake Wood, Colo.; Shirlee Ann and her husband Charles Kleeman were married at Rapid City, they are the parents of 3 children and live at North Glen, Colo.

Mr. and Mrs. Wolff are the proud parents of 40 grandchildren, 66 great grandchildren, and one great great grandchild.

In the early years of their married life they lived in the Meadow and Bison area where they homesteaded. Later on they bought a farm close to Meadow, S. D.

In November of 1927 they sold the farm and moved to Tolstoy. They lived in Tolstoy and Onaka area until 1941 when they moved to a farm south of Tolstoy.

They lived there until they moved into town in 1957 and retired. In September of 1976, they moved to Bowdle to be near a doctor and hospital because of Mrs. Wolff's health. They sold the house in Tolstoy to Mr. and Mrs. Bert Myrann. In February of 1978 Mrs. Wolff entered Colonial Manor in Ipswich where she is a patient. Mr. Wolff moved to Roscoe in September 1978 so he could be closer to his wife. Mr. Wolff will be 89 on November 17, 1981 and Mrs. Wolff will be 89 on February 10, 1982. The Lord willing they will celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary on Feb. 8, 1982.

They endured many hard times raising a large family. The only income in those years was the egg and cream check to buy groceries and other necessities. In the fall after threshing, some wheat would be taken to the flour mill and traded for the winter's supply of flour.

The dirty thirties were especially hard with several crop failures. In 1934 Russian thistles were cut for hay. Everyone worked on W.P.A. Postage was 3 cents at the time and many time there wasn't any 3 cents to mail letters. There was no T.V. or radio, couldn't afford a daily paper, but everyone worked hard and made a living. They say "those were the good old days". Back to Index

Mr. Gottlieb J. Wolff and Louise Wolff nee (Bertch) were born in Bergdorf, South Russia in the years 1861 and 1860 respectively. They were married in 1881 and their first child was born in 1883.

They migrated to the United States in 1884 and homesteaded in McPherson county about 13 miles east of Eureka. Mr. and Mrs. Wolff together with some of their neighbors built a two room sod house and a sod barn for their two cows and a two yoke team of oxen.

Their first crop was quite poor so Mr. Wolff sought work with farmers who had a larger farming complex than he. While harvesting and threshing, the crew worked their way as far north as the Ellendale, N. D. area. The laborers received $1.50 a day to pitch from daylight until dark. By staying with the rig until late fall when all the jobs were completed, each man would receive a bonus of $5.00. The wives all stayed at home and did the work that needed to be done and worried about their husbands being so far from home. There were no telephones and mail was hard to come by.

After several years in this area the Wolffs moved to Bowdle, S. D. There Mr. Wolff started the first livery barn in that town. Livery barns were big business at that time. The two youngest children were born in Bowdle, namely Edward G. and Lydia. Being the only boy in the family, the six sisters often remarked that Ed G. was given much more liberty. The children were as follows: Louise, Christine, Freda, Hetty, Lena, Edward G., and Lydia. All are deceased except Ed G. and Louise.

After a few years in the Livery business, Mr. Wolff sold the barn and bought a farm in Edmunds county from Henry Henselman. When the town of Tolstoy began springing up he sold the farm to the McCray brothers and moved into a new house in Tolstoy built by a contractor by the name of P. D. Jones. In 1907 Mr. Wolff was in the produce business buying cream, selling flour and feed and in the fall of the year he sold apples which were shipped in, in barrels. This produce building was adjacent to the south side of the Dr. Button drug store and clinic, now the Marvin Stotz building. After Mr. Wolff retired he planted an acre of trees. Fruit trees and shade trees. It was located in the area where Fred Lassles now live. When the fruit was ripe in the fall, Ed and sister Lydia would make deliveries around town. A 12 quart pail of compass cherries would sell for 75 cents. Edward also had the chore of delivering milk to households for 6 cents a quart.

Edward started school in Tolstoy in 1907. One teacher had all eight grades in the early years. On Friday afternoon the teacher would hold a spelling and arithmetic match. This added something to education. Ed worked wherever he could find a job. As a teenager he worked on farms, then for a couple summers he worked on the railroad. About this time he met Miss Em Bieber. After they married their first venture at business was to operate a grocery and variety store. After several years they sold out and moved to Seattle, Wash. where he was employed with the Army Engineers and later in a store #22 at Boeing Aircraft. In 1946 they returned to South Dakota taking up residence in Ipswich.

Ed and Em had one son, Clyde, born on June 5, 1927. He died unexpectedly at the age of 7 years. Em passed away in 1953. Back to Index

Jacob A. Wolff and Katie Stotz were married at the Methodist church in Tolstoy, S. D. on Oct. 12, 1919. At that time Jake worked in a cream station and also at the Will Gundert and Al Oestrich mercantile store. Five children were born to this union.

Floyd R. born Aug. 8, 1920. He married Phyllis Hallauer of Watertown, S. D. on Nov. 30, 1945. They have five children: Karyl, Diane, Sandy, Ron and Janet. Floyd is the Standard Oil dealer in town.

Wilma V. was born Oct. 4, 1922. She married Bob Mooney, Jr. of Indiana on March 6, 1944 in Watertown, S. D. They have lived in Flint, Mi. for the past 36 years. They have 3 children: Barry, Ron, and Jeri Sue.

Irene D. was born Jan. 10, 1924. Married Earl Zemlicka of Hazel, S. D. on May 16, 1948. They make their home in Covina, Calif. and have 4 children: Maurice, Paula, Lori, and Mark.

Milton was born Jan. 6, 1926. He married Jeanette Schimke of Sioux Falls on Feb. 28, 1948. They make their home in Sioux Falls.

Larry D. was born Aug. 12, 1937. He married Bonnie West of Watertown, S. D. on July 6, 1958. They live in Bettendorf, Iowa and have 3 children: Randy, Nancy, and Susan.

Jake Wolff was born May 24, 1898 near Hoven, S. D. by Swan Lake. His parents were Christ and Magdalena Frye Wolff.

Katie Stotz was the only daughter of John and Julia Stotz and was born Jan. 13, 1897.

The family moved from Tolstoy to Watertown, S. D. in July of 1940 where Jake was employed at the Langenfeld Dairy.

Jake passed away March 4, 1971 in Watertown, S. D. Two years later Katie came back to Tolstoy and lived in the Senior Citizen Apartments until she went to the Good Samaritan Center in Selby, S. D. where she now resides.

The sketch of the bandstand and our 75th Jubilee emblem was designed by Margie Litzen of Tolstoy. The eagle, the national emblem of the United States is symbolic of freedom. Nestled in it's wings you will find a church and farm, also the railroad which gave birth to our town. The rising sun represents a new dawn of freedom which was the hope of all the pioneers. Back to Index

Tolstoy is a place that holds beautiful memories for me, Lurana (Schlein) Murphy. It held me secure and gave me a good foundation of knowing the love of many, many people for the eight years I lived there.

My father, Rev. William Schlein came to Tolstoy in 1919. In 1921 he married Martha Isler. Mother was a valuable helper to Father in his church work. She was also a registered nurse and helped deliver many babies and took care of the sick.

I was born in 1923. When my parents were busy Katherine (Dufloth) Dutt would take care of me. Her voice today still has a comforting quality to me.

I had the privilege of going with my parents when they would make their calls. The three of us in the buggy with Dixie pulling us. When we reached our destination Father would say, "you know, Dixie sure would like a sack of oats".

Every place we visited holds dear memories, too lengthy to mention.

I remember the cloud burst when we were having a tent meeting. Many people sought refuge at the parsonage and I thought it was great. Saturday evenings the band playing in the bandstand while we walked up one side of the street and down the other. Some one would usually buy us children an ice cream cone.

My father had trouble adjusting from the horse and buggy to driving the car. When he said "Whoa", the car didn't stop like Dixie did. As we were driving, my mother would say, "William, William, look how fast you are going". My father would look down at the speedometer, forget to watch the road and in and out of the ditch we would go.

Oh, then there was school, that dear old schoolhouse. Mrs. Oliver Brekke, (Miss Hottman) taught the first three grades. I wanted to be just like her. I even tried to stand and walk like she did. She taught us well. I recall her asking us if we would like to donate some money for the carving of four presidents faces that were being carved at Mt. Rushmore. It seemed impossible then but I know I gave a nickel and thought how great it would be if this would really happen and of course it did. In 1979, I finally got to see Mt. Rushmore.

My father went home to be with the Lord in 1931. My mother and I moved to Minnesota and in 1934 we moved to Portland, Ore.

Mother is in a Christian nursing home and receives excellent care. She is 94 years old and has been totally blind for the last two years. She is in bed most of the time except for meals. The nurses pick her up and carry her to her wheel chair. She has no pain and if you get her started she says the 23rd Psalm, (like no one else can). She also remembers the words to "Blessed Assurance".

When I visit her, I'm fortunate to have some conversation with her. For quite some time there was none, just a squeeze on the hand.

I am so thankful for the beautiful memories for the people of Tolstoy and the beautiful welcome I received when I finally got back to visit in 1979. Back to Index