Title
ANNA AND EMIL STOXEN AND CHILDREN
Coverage
TOWNSHIP 140N RANGE 93W
Text
ANNA AND EMIL STOXEN AND CHILDREN
I was born in Stark Co. at the Milt M. Bobb farm home on Dec. 6, 1898. Being the eldest, I was Dad's helper. I learned to ride horses at a very young age and herded cattle for Dad in summer. There were few fences in those days.
As I grew older I cut and bunched hay, shocked grain and made many round bundle stacks. It was hard work but I enjoyed outside work.
My early school life was a helter-skelter affair. The first year was in the living room of the Collins sod house. It was clean and cool in summer and warm in winter. Then one year I stayed at the home of an aunt, Mrs. Henry Stoxen, northwest of Taylor. A country school two miles north of our home, in Dunn Co. was then started, with a Collins girl as teacher. The second year Laura went too. We continued there until we moved to Stark Co. in the spring of 1910. We went to another country school two miles north of us until November. After that we stayed in Taylor during the cold months and drove back and forth the rest of the time. I went to the Taylor school from the fifth grade through three years of high school, then one year at Dakota Business College in Fargo.
During the 1917 flu I helped at various homes, as sometimes the entire family was sick with some stage of the flu. I had only a light touch of it.
March 1, 19191 was married to Emil Stoxen, son of Louis J. and Mary (Koelle) Stoxen. We were married in Dickinson by Rev. Armbrust, and left that afternoon on the train for Minnesota. We spent almost four weeks visiting friends and relatives. When we returned the men started work on the basement of our house. The house was finished by the first part of July and we moved in. During the building of the house we lived in a one room school house, which was just across the road from us.
That summer was very dry and there was no grass to cut for hay, so my husband, his dad and two of his brothers rented some hayland near Tappen. They spent six weeks there cutting, baling and loading hay into railroad cars to ship home. There were other drought years when the harvest didn't produce enough grain for the next year's seed. This meant that we would have to take a government loan to purchase seed for the coming year.
The time came when we had to sell most of our cows, which the government bought at $20 a head. At that time eggs were 6C a dozen, and a five gallon can of cream brought between $5 and $6. It was barely enough to supply the most needed groceries, with little to spare.
On June 26, 1920 our first baby, a girl, Ethelyn was born at the farm home. She was joined by a brother, Leland, on Jan. 5, 1922. Ethelyn and Leland were always the best of friends. July 1, 1935 another boy, Laurel, was born in Richardton, in a house that had been converted into a temporary hospital. Dr. Christ Dukart, who was our doctor, was just starting his practice. He left a couple days after Laurel was born, to get married.
The kids went to grade and high school in the Taylor school. Ethelyn went to D.S.C. for two years and taught school one year. She was married during the school term to Leroy Marcusen. They live on a farm south of Taylor.
The boys both went to NDSU and became pharmacists. Leland has a store in Rhinelander, Wise, and Laurel has a store in Rugby, N.D. They are both married. I now have 21 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren.
In 1954 Emil suffered a stroke. He was never really well after that. He died on Dec. 14, 1956. He was a patient, kind and loving husband and father, whose home and family were his pride and joy.
I lived on the farm until the next fall, when I moved to Taylor. I obtained work as a nurse's aid at St. Luke's Nursing Home in the fall of 1958. I worked there almost three years, then came back to the farm and stayed until Dec. 1964. In the meantime I sold the farm to Leroy Marcusen and bought the house I'm living in now from Grace Corbin, have lived here 12½ years and hope to live here as long as I am able to care for myself.
By Anna Stoxen
I was born in Stark Co. at the Milt M. Bobb farm home on Dec. 6, 1898. Being the eldest, I was Dad's helper. I learned to ride horses at a very young age and herded cattle for Dad in summer. There were few fences in those days.
As I grew older I cut and bunched hay, shocked grain and made many round bundle stacks. It was hard work but I enjoyed outside work.
My early school life was a helter-skelter affair. The first year was in the living room of the Collins sod house. It was clean and cool in summer and warm in winter. Then one year I stayed at the home of an aunt, Mrs. Henry Stoxen, northwest of Taylor. A country school two miles north of our home, in Dunn Co. was then started, with a Collins girl as teacher. The second year Laura went too. We continued there until we moved to Stark Co. in the spring of 1910. We went to another country school two miles north of us until November. After that we stayed in Taylor during the cold months and drove back and forth the rest of the time. I went to the Taylor school from the fifth grade through three years of high school, then one year at Dakota Business College in Fargo.
During the 1917 flu I helped at various homes, as sometimes the entire family was sick with some stage of the flu. I had only a light touch of it.
March 1, 19191 was married to Emil Stoxen, son of Louis J. and Mary (Koelle) Stoxen. We were married in Dickinson by Rev. Armbrust, and left that afternoon on the train for Minnesota. We spent almost four weeks visiting friends and relatives. When we returned the men started work on the basement of our house. The house was finished by the first part of July and we moved in. During the building of the house we lived in a one room school house, which was just across the road from us.
That summer was very dry and there was no grass to cut for hay, so my husband, his dad and two of his brothers rented some hayland near Tappen. They spent six weeks there cutting, baling and loading hay into railroad cars to ship home. There were other drought years when the harvest didn't produce enough grain for the next year's seed. This meant that we would have to take a government loan to purchase seed for the coming year.
The time came when we had to sell most of our cows, which the government bought at $20 a head. At that time eggs were 6C a dozen, and a five gallon can of cream brought between $5 and $6. It was barely enough to supply the most needed groceries, with little to spare.
On June 26, 1920 our first baby, a girl, Ethelyn was born at the farm home. She was joined by a brother, Leland, on Jan. 5, 1922. Ethelyn and Leland were always the best of friends. July 1, 1935 another boy, Laurel, was born in Richardton, in a house that had been converted into a temporary hospital. Dr. Christ Dukart, who was our doctor, was just starting his practice. He left a couple days after Laurel was born, to get married.
The kids went to grade and high school in the Taylor school. Ethelyn went to D.S.C. for two years and taught school one year. She was married during the school term to Leroy Marcusen. They live on a farm south of Taylor.
The boys both went to NDSU and became pharmacists. Leland has a store in Rhinelander, Wise, and Laurel has a store in Rugby, N.D. They are both married. I now have 21 grandchildren, and 15 great-grandchildren.
In 1954 Emil suffered a stroke. He was never really well after that. He died on Dec. 14, 1956. He was a patient, kind and loving husband and father, whose home and family were his pride and joy.
I lived on the farm until the next fall, when I moved to Taylor. I obtained work as a nurse's aid at St. Luke's Nursing Home in the fall of 1958. I worked there almost three years, then came back to the farm and stayed until Dec. 1964. In the meantime I sold the farm to Leroy Marcusen and bought the house I'm living in now from Grace Corbin, have lived here 12½ years and hope to live here as long as I am able to care for myself.
By Anna Stoxen