GUSTUS, Anna S. (1830-1925)

GUSTUS

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/7/2020 at 11:27:08

Anna Stina Gustus
(March 25, 1830 - November 30, 1925)

Saw Chicago a Small Village
Mrs. Anna Gustus Came There 77 Years Ago. Road Over Wooden Rails to DeKalb
Anna Stina Gustus was born in Sweden in 1830 and came to America 77 years ago last October, or in the year 1847. At that time, Chicago was only a few years old and about the present size of Ida Grove. The railway westward from Chicago was laid on wooden rails and she traveled upon it, until she reached Dekalb, then a metropolis of three houses. The railroad ended at Malta, the first town beyond Dekalb. When the line was completed to Clinton, using ox teams and spades by men dressed in homespun clothing, she settled in that city where she was married at that age of 23 years to Eric Gustus. Seven children were born to them of whom five are still living; Oscar C. and Mrs. C.O. Larson of DeKalb, V.E. and Wm. H. at home, Mrs. John Wibe of Sioux City. She has fourteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The husband died in 1879.
In December 1880, they came to Ida County and located on a farm in Hayes twp. where they still reside. Mrs. Gustus says the winter of 1880-1881 was a terror and the snow was so deep that on one occasion when they were driving across fields to Odebolt, in a place they encountered a hard bump and on investigating, found that they had driven over a haystack in the field.
Mrs. Gustus is in years past, achieved quite a fame as a home doctor when the M.D.’s were few and far between. She helped dozens of women in childbirth and doctoring the little ones. When the great diphtheria scourges struck this part of Iowa in the early eighties, she nursed many a child and brought it back to health. For herself she had never been under a doctor’s care and attributes her excellent physical condition to her use of Home Remedies. he is said to have a firm strong grip equal to that of the average person at middle age. She gives the credit for her long life to careful dieting and exercise. Her eyesight is good and she can read, sew and thread a needle without the use of glasses. When the cherry season arrives she climbs the trees and picks her own fruit. Mrs. Gustus says that when she first came to this country everybody wore homespun clothes of their own manufacture. When she lived in Illinois she cut what with a cradle and bound the sheaves by hand. Mrs. Gustus keeps house for her two sons, Victor and William. She baked the bread and does most of the work in the dwelling. She has in her possession a violin that is highly prized by the family and was manufactured in 1730 and is now 195 years old. The other day, when visitors called and one of the boys played airs on this violin, Mrs. Gustus danced a Swedish Polka. She has also a family Bible that she has owned for over three quarters of a century and was printed in 1810, being 115 years old.