Christ and Christina (Strobel) Gramm, their 3 children, Jake, Gottlieb, and Elizabeth, and other relatives came to America from Russia in 1899.  They were on the ship for 21 days.  This was quite a trip for the smaller children, especially for Gottlieb who was 7 years old at the time.  His uncles likes to tease him a lot, so one day Gottlieb got tired of all the teasing and decided to hide.  He hid, and got lost, and it was quite some time before they found him sitting on the outside steps of the ship. 

     They settled north of Bethune, CO in the Tuttle community along the Republican River.  Christ worked for Harry Cox for many years.  This is where Pauline (Mrs.  Emil Schaal), William, and Chris were born.  Later the family moved to the Settlement Community and took up a homestead and built their own home in 1906.  They lived in a one room shack with the older boys sleeping in a granary while they built their house.  AR the neighbors helped put up the adobe wells and shingle it.  This is when John, the youngest, was born before the house was finished.  This is where a grandson, Edmund Gramm and his wife Esther are living today and a great-grandson, Fred, built a new house on the same place and is living there with his family now. 

     Gottlieb was born on October 5, 1891 in Ungeen, Russia.  He and his brother Jake attended the Tuttle School.  After several years of school, he started to work on the Cox Ranch at a very young age.  Later he worked on the J. Pugh Ranch.  The Pugh Ranch is now owned by Tom Price.  While he worked on the J. Pugh Ranch, he earned $17.50 a month and later $25.00. He remembered several incidents that happened while he worked there.  Once, he and another boy were cleaning out a stall in the barn where the stallion was kept.  The stallion grabbed Gottlieb by the arm and threw him in the corner.  The other boy took the pitch fork after the stallion saving Gottlieb's life although the horse had bit all the muscles in his arm above the elbow. 

     Another time he was by himself and went into the corral to catch a horse.  He got the rope around the horse's neck and the horse took off and went through the gate.  While he was trying to stop the horse he stepped into the loop, so the horse drug him around all over the pastures All this time he was trying to stop the horse or get out of the loop.  Finally he got out of the loop and had to walk home for many miles.  His shirt was all torn to pieces and he lost one boot and had several bumps and bruises. 

     Later he took up a homestead of his own and started his farm and cattle operation.  His main occupation was taking care of his cattle and kept that interest all his life. 

     On November 10, 1916, Gottlieb was united in marriage to Lydia Stutz of Bethune, CO. They lived on Gottliebs homestead on a one room shack for about four months.  Later they moved to the John Weiss place where they made their home for over 60 years and raised their family.  This is where their son Lawrence now lives.  To this union 3 sons and 2 daughters were born: Loyd, Lawrence, Edmund, Elma (Mrs.  Ted Schaal) and Esther (Mrs.  Mervin Corliss). 

     Lydia was born October 23, 1893 to Fredrich and Maria (Baltzer) Stutz in the Settlement north of Bethune, CO on the Andrew Bauer place.  Her sister Minnie (Mrs.  Karl Hammehnann), was born here.  Her parents came from Blotche, Russia with 3 children, Magdalene (Mrs.  John Dobler, Fredrich, and Maria (Mrs.  Issaih Stablecker), and landed in Scotland, South Dakota.  This is where daughter Ida (Mrs.  Jake Knodel) was born.  They and some families came by covered wagon to Colorado and settled on the prairies near relatives that had come from Russia earlier.  Here they lived in a one room dug out with their children.  This is where Emma (Mrs.  Jake Gramm) was born.  They had no table or chairs and hardly any dishes.  Grandpa Dobler gave them a fork and knife and made a bench for a table.  They ate mostly corn bread since they had very little to eat. 

     When it rained the water would run in the dug out.  They had to keep the few things they had up high to keep them dry. 

     Fredrich spent most of his time away working to earn money to buy food.  They planted a garden to help, but had no fence around it.  One good neighbor had given them 2 hens and a rooster which kept getting into the garden to scratch.  Maria finally tied up the rooster and the hens stayed out most of the time.  They had one milk cow which got bit by a rattlesnake and died so there was no milk for the children. 

     Maria and the children were alone most of the time.  On Monday mornings Fredrich would walk to work and Saturday evenings walk back home.  This walk was 10 or 12 miles one way.  He was working for the J. Pugh Ranch and got 25 cents a day.  This amount was slightly increased over the years. 

     Things went on like this for several years and they could hardly make a living.  Maria finally wrote to relatives in Scotland, S.D. for help.  They sent $50.00 and told them to leave Colorado and come to Dakota to live and they would help them. 

     In the spring they sold their land and oxen and bought some horses and made a covered wagon.  They loaded their belongings and' started on their journey with 8 other families and covered wagons.  It took about 3 weeks to get to Scotland.  Maria had baked a lot of bread.  She toasted it and dried it and put it into flour sacks to keep it from getting moldy.  The family hoped to have enough bread to last till they reached their destination.  They ran out of bread so they had to stop and build an oven and bake. 

     Other families also had a hard time financially during the dry years in Colorado and had decided to give up and try their luck in a new location.
Lydia was 5 years old at this time.  They had lived in Scotland for several years and got a good start there and were doing fme when her father Fredrich got sore eyes.  The doctor told him to move back to Colorado or else he would go blind.  The water there didn't agree with him. 

     They loaded their belongings again and returned to Colorado.  Reports from people in Colorado were much better now, so they weren't afraid of coming back.  So they and two other families started their return trip in September, 1898.  Lydia's youngest brother, Bill, was only 3 weeks old when they started on the journey.  Now there were 7 children in the family.  Lydia's oldest brother Fredrich and sister Magdalena had to walk several days and drive cattle.  A man wanted her father to take some cattle to Colorado and care for them on shares.  When they reached the railroad the cattle were loaded and shipped the rest of the way.  Magdalena went with the family on the covered wagon but her brother Fredrich had to ride the train to take care and watch the cattle. 

     When they arrived in Colorado, they settled again in the Settlement Community, but they had no place to live.  They went to her uncle's place and lived in a one room house till the next spring.  Some men dug a well along the Landsman Creek where the families went to get their water.  They hauled the water with 2 oxen and a sled with 2 barrels.  During this time they built a 2 room sod house on the homestead her father had taken.  This was built on the place where the Milbert Berringer family now live.  Martha (Mrs.  William Schlichenmayer) and Nettie (who died at the age of 17) were bom here. 

     Fredrich still worked away from home part time but things came easier for them. 

     Later the parents moved to Bethune where Karl Weisshaar lives. 

     Lydia remembered that when she was 8 years old her parents took her and her sister Emma to town to get some shoes.  They found a bargain table and some mismated shoes for 25 cents a pair.  The girls each got new shoes.  Lydia said she would never forget hers as one had a pointed toe and the other had a rounded toe.  All that mattered was that they had shoes they could wear. 

     Gottlieb and Lydia had hard times while they were raising their family.  One thing that kept them going was their faith in God to help them in their trials.  Their church, The United Church of Christ, north of Bethune meant a lot to them.  There they attended worship regularly.  They celebrated their 50th and 60th Wedding Anniversaries.  Their final resting place is in the church cemetery.