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Martin Weiss was born in the settlement on 30 October 1890, his parents were Carl and Katerina Statle. He married Lydia Schmidke (b. 7 October 1890) whose parents were Sam Schmidke and Anna Margareta Hauser. She was a small, black-haired soft-spoken lady. Martin was only 20 years old when he was married on the 16 of March 1911. He and Lydia like many other families homesteaded on 160 acres and proved up on it. Their children remember many good times growing up on the farm, sleigh rides to church in the winter, and rides at home at night with the lantern's glowing. Winter time was also the time to take grain to town to sell. They used wagons and walked beside the wagon to stay warm. Martin had a full length coat and cap made of horse hide that went clear to his ankles; it was split in back to the waist to allow him to get into the wagon seat. School was only 1/4 mile away. The small children played "fox and goose" and the older kids played baseball. The girls had a baskethall team that would go to Bethune and play the town team. The kids would trap rabbits around the corn piles and use the back legs to make jerky and add to the pork for sausage. Planning for Easter celebration began weeks before when Lydia planted wheat in a small crock or kettle for each child. When Easter arrived she would place the children's colored eggs in the kettle of growing wheat for Easter morning. Just before Christmas the girls'porcelain headed dolls would disappear a month or so before Christmas to be returned on Christmas morning with new clothes. The 4th of July was celebrated in Bethune with pie-eating contests, races, games and bands. Martin's oldest daughter Anna was given a young coyote to raise by her father. When the coyote was full grown the pelt was sold to buy green dress material that was used to make a new dress. Discipline was administered by Martin and backed up by a leather strap 2" wide and 14" long which the kids remember as rarely being used. When Lydia died on 29 June 1936, Martin was left with 5 children still at home to raise. Martin was not only a farmer but also a local veterinarian that was well known throughout the area. Later on in life, after the death of Lydia he still did veterinary work but the person needing help would frequently have to wait until his bread dough was through rising and sometimes even baked. He was also known for making excellent dill pickles. Martin and Lydia had seven children that reached adulthood, Carl, Anna Schlichenmayer, Irene Adolf, Hulda Kniss, Amanda Hull, Daniel and David. One child, James, died at age five. |