Title
MR. AND MRS. ELMER DIERS
Creator
Mrs. Elmer Diers
Coverage
TOWNSHIP 139N RANGE 96W
Text
MR. AND MRS. ELMER DIERS
Elmer Diers was born at Howard Lake, Minn., came to Stark County when three years old, received his education in Stark County rural school, Model High at Dickinson Normal School, and later attended Wahpeton State School of Science. In 1940 he married Edna Berreth and they then purchased the farm from his parents and operated it for many years. In 1956 he began his seed cleaning and treating business. 1he business soon became so big it interfered with the farming so he decided to lease out the farm.
Getting the children to school became quite difficult so in 1957 they built a home in Dickinson and have lived there since. In 1974 Elmer decided to retire so sold the grain business to Art Dohrmann.
Edna Berreth Diers was born in Scotland, S.D. to Jacob and Sophia (Schweinforth) Berreth. When only six weeks old, her parents moved to a farm southwest of Burt, N.D. She went to grade school in Burt and later in Mott, graduating from Mott Lincoln High School and then on to Dickinson State College. She taught schools in Hettinger and Stark Counties, before marriage.
They have three children: Cleon is head of the math dept. at Corona High School at Corona, Calif. And is married to Shirley June Kostelecky who also teaches at Corona. Janice is married to Capt. Patrick O'Neill and they live in Anniston, Ala. They have a daughter Jacci. Kenneth is in Stark County, employed with a coal exploratory company and does silversmithing.
Elmer remembers having to walk one and one-half to two miles to school every day. As they got older all three children had to get up early and help milk cows by hand before walking to school. The name of the school district was American New Hungarian which was later changed to Lincoln School District. One of his rural teachers only had her 8th grade diploma and three months of normal school training. Most rural teachers were high school graduates and then had the three months of normal school training. The rural schools usually had only eight month terms. The rural school programs, box socials or pie socials were always well attended by the community.
Getting in the winter coal supply was quite a project as they'd get up about 3:00 am., hitch four horses to the large tank wagon and two horses to the double box and Elmer and his dad would go 12 miles to an open mine, load the coal by hand, and hurry to get back home before midnight. The grain also had to be hauled the 17 miles to Dickinson with horses. There again they would load the grain tank in the evening. Next morning before daybreak they would hitch up the horses and start for Dickinson. Often it would be so cold they had to walk beside the wagons to keep warm — no heated cabs.
He also remembers plowing with a gang plow pulled by four or six horses, didn't get as much accomplished in a day as they do in 1977 with the big tractors with air conditioning and many other conveniences. Often he would have to stay home from school and help with the field work. One of his least favorite tasks was having to walk behind a harrow pulled by four horses from early morning until evening which gave him plenty of physical fitness but made him a very tired boy.
Life wasn’t all hard work. The community had its own baseball team and many interesting games were played with the whole community turning out to support them. They were also fortunate to have a good band instructor and their own community band. There was always a lot of community spirit and neighborliness in the little community on the prairies 17 miles southeast of Dickinson.
By Mrs. Elmer Diers
Elmer Diers was born at Howard Lake, Minn., came to Stark County when three years old, received his education in Stark County rural school, Model High at Dickinson Normal School, and later attended Wahpeton State School of Science. In 1940 he married Edna Berreth and they then purchased the farm from his parents and operated it for many years. In 1956 he began his seed cleaning and treating business. 1he business soon became so big it interfered with the farming so he decided to lease out the farm.
Getting the children to school became quite difficult so in 1957 they built a home in Dickinson and have lived there since. In 1974 Elmer decided to retire so sold the grain business to Art Dohrmann.
Edna Berreth Diers was born in Scotland, S.D. to Jacob and Sophia (Schweinforth) Berreth. When only six weeks old, her parents moved to a farm southwest of Burt, N.D. She went to grade school in Burt and later in Mott, graduating from Mott Lincoln High School and then on to Dickinson State College. She taught schools in Hettinger and Stark Counties, before marriage.
They have three children: Cleon is head of the math dept. at Corona High School at Corona, Calif. And is married to Shirley June Kostelecky who also teaches at Corona. Janice is married to Capt. Patrick O'Neill and they live in Anniston, Ala. They have a daughter Jacci. Kenneth is in Stark County, employed with a coal exploratory company and does silversmithing.
Elmer remembers having to walk one and one-half to two miles to school every day. As they got older all three children had to get up early and help milk cows by hand before walking to school. The name of the school district was American New Hungarian which was later changed to Lincoln School District. One of his rural teachers only had her 8th grade diploma and three months of normal school training. Most rural teachers were high school graduates and then had the three months of normal school training. The rural schools usually had only eight month terms. The rural school programs, box socials or pie socials were always well attended by the community.
Getting in the winter coal supply was quite a project as they'd get up about 3:00 am., hitch four horses to the large tank wagon and two horses to the double box and Elmer and his dad would go 12 miles to an open mine, load the coal by hand, and hurry to get back home before midnight. The grain also had to be hauled the 17 miles to Dickinson with horses. There again they would load the grain tank in the evening. Next morning before daybreak they would hitch up the horses and start for Dickinson. Often it would be so cold they had to walk beside the wagons to keep warm — no heated cabs.
He also remembers plowing with a gang plow pulled by four or six horses, didn't get as much accomplished in a day as they do in 1977 with the big tractors with air conditioning and many other conveniences. Often he would have to stay home from school and help with the field work. One of his least favorite tasks was having to walk behind a harrow pulled by four horses from early morning until evening which gave him plenty of physical fitness but made him a very tired boy.
Life wasn’t all hard work. The community had its own baseball team and many interesting games were played with the whole community turning out to support them. They were also fortunate to have a good band instructor and their own community band. There was always a lot of community spirit and neighborliness in the little community on the prairies 17 miles southeast of Dickinson.
By Mrs. Elmer Diers