They were not quite a year in Nebr. when they heard that there were people from the same place that they were from in Russia, living around Idalia, Co., so they once more packed their belongings and headed west.  They took up a homestead four miles southeast of Idalia where I was born; Eva Maria (Mary), on Nov. 27, 1892. 

    In the spring of 1900, when I was eight years old, we moved from Idalia to the "Settlement" north of Bethune, Co. where about 15 families of Russian German decent were living.  My Dad bought a relinquishment deed from a family by the name of Mack Bevier.  It is the place my youngest brother Karl Weisshaar still owns northwest of Burlington, Co. We were a family of seven girls and four boys.  Lena, myself (Mary), John Frederick, b. Sept. 15, 1894, died in 1967; Christina Margaret Fischer, b. Sept. 30, 1889, died in Nov. 1978; Fredericka Fischer, b. Mar. 29,1891; Margaret Stahlecker b. Nov. 15, 1894; Jacob (Jake) b. Dec. 12, 1896; Karl Frederick b 1898 and died at age 2 weeks; Pauline Schlichenmayer b. July 27, 19w-, William (Bill) Christian b. Sept 23, 1902.  Anna Dorthea Adolf b. Oct. 14, 1904; ana Karl Bernhard b. Feb. 19, 1910.  Mrs August Adolf, Mrs. William Adolf and Mrs. Sherman Yale were the mid-wives in the area. 

    We went to a little one room school located where Hope Church, north of Bethune now stands.  I was 8 years old when I started school and 12 before I ever got to go to Burlington.  By cutting across prairie and pasture land it was about 3 1/2 miles to school.  It was only on very cold days or stormy days that my Dad would take us to school and come get us with the horse and buggy.  We did not have overshoes and on the days when there was snow a couple inches deep Mother would tie gunny sacks over our shoes to keep our feet from getting wet.  I was confirmed at age 15 and this also ended my going to school.  Allof us kids were confirmed at the Immanuel Lutheran Church. 

   I remember Dad hitching up a team to the wagon and all of us going out in the fall of the year to pick up dried cow chips for fuel.  Since there were no trees for firewood, this was often the only fuel we had, especially at Idalia.  We also burned corn cobs to get the fire started.  We also went along the railroad to pick up coal.  This was a long ways to go so didn't go very often.  One time when we were hunting for coal, a train came by and when the men saw us kids they threw out a couple shovels full of coal for us.  Later on we bought coal in Burlington. 

    My folks are both buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery.  Dad died at the age of 53 on Dec. 6, 1916 and Mother died Feb. 28, 1946 at the age of 80. . On Nov. 12, 1912 1 was married to A.W. Adolf in the Immanuel Lutheran Church.  It was a beautiful day.  A.W. and I, along with our attendants had to sit on the front pew thru the morning services.  Right after church, we then were married.  Afterwards the whole Congregation came to my folks home where they ate dinner, spent the afternoon, ate supper and stayed until late that night. It was a long ddy but a lot of fun. 

A.W. bought a 1/2 section relinquishment land from a mon named L.L.Leonard for $400.  Our youngest son, Allan and his wife still live there.  This is where I went as a bride.  It had a small shack and a rock barn.  We started with very few possessions; a team of horses and a top buggy, and my folks gave us a wedding gift of two milk cows, a dozen chickens, and a hog. 

    The first summer I had cream, butter and eggs to sell so I could buy groceries.  Of course I always raised a big garden, about a acre of potatoes, along with a bigwatermelon patch. 1 remember when coyotes would bite a hole in a watermelon, eat out the insides and leave the shell!  What we didn't eat fresh from the garden I always canned or pickled.  Always had a barrel of sauerkraut, one of pickles and even made watermelon pickles.  Oh, this was so good!  We also (continued Story # 4). Dried corn and beans.  In the fall Papa would sell a wagon load of wheat to buy flour to last for the winter. 

    Bill Davis, a neighbor, drilled our well shortly after we moved on to the place.  He drilled most of the wells in the neighborhood.  If we had a good corn crop, we would burn the cobs in the cook stove and buy a little coal for the heating stove.  The house, adobe, was warm during the day, but we slept in cold rooms at night.  A lot of mornings there would be frost on the blankets.  We used a lot of dried cow chips for fuel too. 

    Papa and I were married about 6 years before were able to purchase our first car, a Ford Touring car.  I never did learn to drive as the kids and Papa always did the driving.  For social life, besides going to church, we attended literary meetings held in different country school houses.  An early day school teacher, Tom DiRion, who lived near Bethune, organized them.  On Sunday afternoons, after church, people would go visiting and the children played singing games like: "Last Couple Out", "Drop the Hankie", "Home on the Range", and also played "Andy, Andy Over".  I would often play the mouth harp to furnish the music.  I still play the mouth harp once in a while. 
As the family grew to six girls and two boys, my days were full of cooking, cleaning, sewing, tending the garden and milking as we always milked 8 or 9 cows.  I raised a lot of turkeys, ducks, geese and chickens.  Our first mattress was filled with corn husks, but I made the pillows of duck and goose down.  I never bought a pillow and I gave each one of my children a pair of these down filled pillows when they married. 

    The most difficult times for us was the drought and the "dust bowl days".  How we survived is beyond me.  The wind would blow day and night and many mornings when we got up you could see where we laid on the pillow, outlined in dust which sifted in.  I remember one dust storm which came up like a dark cloud, all of a sudden with no warning. Our oldest son, Art, was out in the field. He couldn't see where to go, so he unhitched the horses and let them find the way home.  He was almost choked to death by the dust before he got home.  During worst of the storms we had to light the lamps during the day because it was dark outside.  A lot of mornings after one of these storms we took a shovel and scooped out the dust from in front of the door and the windows. 

    All of my children. except Allan, was born on the home place.  He was the only one born in the hospital.  The two mid-wives for the area were Mrs. Sherman Yale and Mrs. August Adolf, Sr. who was my mother-in-law.  My children are: Hilda b. Sept. 26, 1913, married Otto Ziegler Sept. 30,1932; Amanda b. Feb. 20, 1915, married David Richards Sept. 6, 1933; Leona b. June 3, 1916, married Harry Hefner Sept. 11, 1946; Gladys b. Nov. 27, 1920, married Hugh Patterson June 20, 1947; Art b. June 5, 1918, married Mary Hielsel Sept. 24, 1945; Della b. Oct. 17, 1929 married Robert Pugh April 8, 1949; Eva Marie b. Dec. 4,1933, married Edward Wood June 5, 1955 and Allan, b. Feb. 22, 1935 married June Cole August 23, 1956. 

    During the 42 years Papa and I lived on the homestead we made many changes and improvements.  We retired and moved to Burlington in 1956.  My husband and I celebrated our 72nd anniversary in 1984.  He passed away on Feb. 12, 1985 at the age of 94 and is buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery.