Margaret E. Feuerhelm 1850-1933

MAY, FEUERHELM, PARKINSON, WHITE

Posted By: Janet Koozer (email)
Date: 10/11/2008 at 21:10:01

Personel Sketch of Life Of Margaret E. Feuerhelm

I was born in Summit County, Ohio, on February 2, 1850. I was the fifth child of a family of 13. My father was miller by trade...

About 1851 my father heard of the rich cheap land in Iowa. He and my brother Hiram went to investigate. They bought a farm eight miles west of the Mississippi River. Lansing was then a small town of only a few houses. We emigrated to our new, home, leaving by steamboat from Willsville, Ohio, and arriving at Lansing April 27, 1852. We bought a wagon, yoke of oxen and a dog, and drove out to the farm. The same day we erected a tent in which we lived three weeks, in which time they cut logs and put up a house...We were all well and happy. Snakes were very plentiful. They were crawling all over. It was nothing uncommon to see the rattlers crawling around the yard, and as we had no doors, only curtains hung up, they sometimes came in the house. One morning when mother went to dress a big rattler fell out of her clothes.. The mosquitoes were very bad, and we used to set pans and kettles out with coals and chips in to smudge mosquitoes, One evening, a big rattler got too close to one of them and rattled. It was soon dispatched. Father broke some ground the first year and raised corn, turnips and garden stuff.

The nearest mill was at Yellow River and it took four days to take a load of grist and return with it. So instead, they cut a block of a large tree and hollowed it out in one end about as large as a dishpan, but deeper. then they pounded the corn and buckwheat in it, and after cracking, the grain was ground in a coffee mill, making whole wheat flour and graham flour. There was plenty of wild game, such as pheasants, prairie chickens and deer, so we didn't lack for meat...

Father was handy with tools and put up a shop. As Lansing had only one store it was hard to get furniture, so he got lumber and made his own furniture-- a table, a cupboard, and a bench to sit on... He made a bureau and writing desk conbined...I have it yet. It's about 75 or 76 years old, and it is a lovely, highly-prized heirloom.

We were happy and content. There was no school or church in those days. My mother heard of a church in a schoolhouse about ten miles away, so she and a girl that made her home with us, walked over on Sunday morning, this being the first religious service we heard of, taking all day to make the trip... About 1858 or '59' my father saw the need of a school house as other emigrants were moving in, so he turned his shop into a school house, which was the beginning of the Mays Prairie school. Andrew Baldwin was the first teacher. Roan, John, Matilde, Mary and I.
Peter Riser, Fred Glauser, John, Jim, Ed and Emma Bakewell, and possibly others, composed the first school.

In the year of 1861, father put up a large house, the present Will Fritz home, and during the building of this house he contracted a cold which proved to be fatal. In January, 1862, his weary body was laid to rest.

In the course of time, my mother was married to Chris Wehinger. The boys were all married except the youngest one, who helped with the affairs at home. After the close of the war, brother Hiram sold his farm to William Feuerhelm, who bought it for a home and moved onto it in the spring of 1867, where I became acquainted with and married the oldest son, who was a late civil war veteran of the First Wisconsin Cavalry. This was in the fall of 1868.

We bought brother Henry's farm in March, 1869, and moved onto it, and there we spent 14 happy years of married life, clearing and improving our home. Mother died in the year of 1879, and was buried in the cemetery beside my father..My stepfather, not caring to assume any responsibilities of the home, moved away and the home farm was rented for a few years. Then my sister Mary and we bought the balance of the estate, sister Mary taking the homestead. In the fall of 1882 we moved to the old homestead which belonged to sister Mary. We lived there until the fall of 1890, when sister Mary sold the old home. Then we built up the present home where we spent the remainder of our lives.

In the year of 1911, my beloved husband's health began to fail and continued to fail until December, 1914, when his Savior took him home. My deep loss was heaven's gain. Our home was blessed with eight children, seven boys and one girl, all of whom are living, and 26 grandchildren living.

After my husband's death, I remained on the home place with my youngest son, except for about three years which I spent with my daughter in California. Ten of my brothers and sisters are waiting over on the other shore. Brother Reuben of New Albin and sister Lois of Fairfield, Neb. both younger than I , are on their way there. I am now past 82 years of age, standing on the verge of eternity, waiting for the master's tender summons to call me home. All through my life his tender hand has been my guide.

Dated this first day of April, in the year of our Lord 1932.
(Signed)
Margaret E. (May) Feuerhelm

Margaret E. (May) Feuerhelm was born February 2, 1850, and passed on to be with her God on March 25, 1933, at 11:40 p.m.

She came with her parents to Lansing on April 27, 1852, and settled on what is now known as May's Prairie, just 81 years ago this spring, and she has made that her home ever since.

At an early age she gave her heart to God and accepted Christ as her personal Saviour, and joined the M. E. church on May's Prairie, and a few years later, with her husband, she joined the Evangelical church, and has been a faithful member for about fifty years. She was a devout
Christian and thoroughly enjoyed to be in the presence of God's people. She was always in the worship services of the church until her physical condition forbade her going. She was a devoted student of the Bible, and made that book the inspiraton and guide of her life. She was a faithful reader of the Evangelical Messenger for over 50 years.

She leaves to mourn her passing, her eight children: Will, of Omemee, N. D; John, of Jefferson, Okla.; Reuben, of Lake Park, Iowa; Charles, and Mrs. Ethel Parkinson, of Oakland, Calif.; Oliver and Arthur, of Waukon, Iowa; and Clarence, of May's Prairie; 26 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, one brother, Reuben May, of New Albin, Iowa; and one sister, Mrs. Louis White, of Fairfield, Neb.; and a host of relatives and friends.