Husmann, Margaretha CELEBRATING 97 YRS

HUSMANN

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 10/9/2010 at 10:33:09

LeMars Daily Sentinel
November 23 & 24, 1977

ONE OF LE MARS’ OLDEST RESIDENTS WILL BE 97

One of LeMars oldest residents, Margaretha Husmann, will reach 97 years of age this Friday.

Mrs. Husmann has lived most of her life in Plymouth County and moved to LeMars in 1946 when she and her husband, Fred, retired from farming.

She lives in her home at 327 4th Ave. NW with a daughter, Tena.

Mrs. Husmann continues to do her housework, cooking and laundry as she has done nearly all her life.

So what is her secret to longevity?

“I just never thought about it, “ she laughed. “I went from year to year.”

And with her picture in the paper, she teased, “now you can see how old you can get!”

Mrs. Husmann was born in Germany, Nov. 25, 1880. When she was five, her parents and three other children left Germany and moved to Remsen. There the family grew to 14 children with Mrs. Husmann as the oldest.

Her husband, Fred, also came from Germany. With the help of an uncle in Hawarden, he immigrated from his homeland as a young man.

The couple met through Fred’s uncle, who sold groceries out of a wagon in the country. He saw Mrs. Husmann’s family with a lot of girls and told them he had a nice guy for them to meet.

“So he brought Fred up from Hawarden,” she said. “That was the way we did things then.”

Fred and Margaretha were married in 1901 and farmed around Plymouth and Sioux counties and in South Dakota for a time. The couple had nine children. In 1963, Fred died.

As a child, Mrs. Husmann contracted both diphtheria and scarlet fever. As a result, she lost her sight in one eye and hearing in an ear.

Other than that, Mrs. Husmann has had few medical problems.

“I feel great,” she said. “I used to walk up town all the time. But now I don’t have to. The girls always come and take me out.”

“I take it easy now,” she said with a smile and sinking into her easy chair.

Mrs. Husmann’s African violets and activities at St. John’s American Lutheran Church occupy her time as well as housework.

Seven of Mrs. Husmann’s children are: Tena, at home; Henry, West Brook, Minn.; Julia Baack, Hinton; Albert, Merrill; Christine Carstensen, LeMars; Dorothy Madden, Kingsley; and Alfred, Westfield.

In addition, she has 26 grandchildren, 55 great grandchildren and several great-great grandchildren. ~Article written by Karen Brown of the LeMars Sentinel

[Photo Caption: Margaretha Husman will celebrate her 97th birthday Friday, Nov. 25. She still lives at home, doing her housework and laundry. Mrs. Husmann is especially proud of the beautiful African violets she keeps blooming in her sunny windows.]

~TRANSCRIBER NOTE: Further investigation reveals that Margaretha L. Husmann 1880-1984, buried at Merrill Hill-Side Cemetery, Plymouth County. The Soc. Security Death Index gives her date of death as April 1984--this dear lady was 103 years of age at the time of death!

Plymouth Documents maintained by Linda Ziemann.
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