Turner County Herald - 14 October 1923 ************************************************************************************************************************************************

"Hattie Wormmood and G. E. Masters--

Hattie Wormmood-Masters was born in Bloomfield, Wisc., June 25, 1856; she came to Dakota Territory in 1870. Living in Yankton until the spring of 1873, when she moved into Childstown, Turner County. Her father took up a homestead on what is now the Cornelius Unruh place, which land is still owned by the Unruh family. Her story of early days, told in her own words follows": "On the 30th day of October, 1870, at about noon, two families of the five that left Wisconsin September that year, crossed the Sioux River at Beloit, and stayed there until noon of the next day recruiting our teams and cattle; they had nothing but grain for three days after leaving Okoboji, as a prairie fire had wiped out everything. At about 12 o'clock that night we arrived at the homestead of Phillip Chandler near Lodi. My father, Levi Wormmood, then drove to Yankton on the third of November, and rented a small house near the 'River Rhine,' as it was called at that time; he built stables of poles and slough grass, then went to work driving nail for a contractor. The boys, George and John, freighted it from Sioux City all winter for Bamble and Miner. I attended school in the little Grout schoolhouse on Douglas Ave., that the women of Yankton had built several years previous while the men were defending the country from savages, in the Indian uprisings of the late sixties (1860's). My teachers were Jennings cousins, and some of my schoolmates were Emiel Brauch, Frank Brisbane, Jennie and Margaret Hays. There were about 75 scholars attending the two rooms. Father rented the Stone farm, just east of town. At one time I attended school in the small house on the spot where the Guernsey Nursery now stands, and LuLu Waldon was the teacher. Father and George got out ties for the C.& M.R.P. from Sioux City to Yankton - I was living there when Gen. Custer was stationed there for two months before going up river to Fort Abraham Lincoln. That spring we had a three day blizzard, and the horses and mules stampeded, the tents blew down on the families, as many of the soldiers had their families along. One pair of twins and three other children were born that night. My brother, John, was at the livery stable of Powers & Litchfield, and Gen. E. W. McCook hustled every available conveyance to get the soldiers and their families into town, under shelter. Gen. Custer was no better housed than his men, as he was in a small house near the camp. My sister was in bed with typhoid fever, and mother and I had to take care of the stock, and we even took the seven new calves into the house. Pa was up on the homestead in Childstown, in Turner County, building the house into which we moved sometime in May that year. There were only the three Childs Bros. there at the time, and a man by the name of Fred Lange, a bachelor. The same summer Osborn and John Cashman and a man by the name of Scott, settled across the creek. Pa took in cattle to herd, for we had so much range south of us and I did the herding. The Russians came in the fall of 1874 and bought out everyone. There was quite a settlement of us at that time - had a mail route from Canton to Milltown, driven by one little old German, name Smeedes, who drove a pair of burros. We went to Blue Earth County, Minnesota, where I married G. E. Masters in '78 (1878) returning to Hurley in '84 (1884). I have lived here practically all the time since, and six of my eight girls were born here and grew to womanhood, but only one now lives here, Mrs. Emil Sween. Who was where in Hurley in 1874: Julius Sargent ran a dry goods and grocery store where the John Kellar pringing office is and Mrs. Robinson ran a millinery shop in the house where Mrs. Kelley lived, on the Turner County Bank site. Lamson ran a hardware where Elliott's are, and we lived over the barber shop where the movies are shown now. Jerry Manning ran a saloon where the Christian Science Church is and Uncle Dan Dwyer had a boarding house in the building where Simon Delange now lives. Emiel Brauch kept a drugstore where the Turner Creamery is. Mack Davy had a skating rink and dance hall in the rear of the building where D. W. Classick now lives. Jack Swan ran the hotel at the time, in the old Hershey house. Judge Elliott, a lawyer, had his office where Fawrup Nelson's old store stands. Jim Hogan and Chas. Pier ran a store where Muns restaurant is. Peter Allen and his father ran a post office and general store where Nelson's new store stands. Wm. Conklin had a hardware store in the old Charlie Wallace building where Martinson now is located. Roland Reese had a hardware where the barber shop now stands and the Turner County Herald was printed in the present City Hall. (History repeats itself?) The stage used to run from Sioux Falls to Yankton with stopover at Swan Lake for fresh horses. Swan Lake was quite a town at that time. It is gratifying to see the new buildings go up in Hurley, and a wee bit saddening to miss so many old faces, but we all realize that 'like a circle ending never, time goes on forever, and ever, and ever.'"

George and Hattie (Wormmood) Masters were my great-grandparents. Contributed originally by Sandi Franklin ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************