Eilts, Trinka Maria, 1851-1921

EILTS, BOHLKEN, BRABANDER, RAMHORST, BECKER, PETERS, RICKLEFS

Posted By: Glenna Rice (email)
Date: 1/24/2012 at 12:18:49

LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel; Friday, April 29, 1921; page 1, col. 7

Was Early Settler

Mrs. E. H. Eilts Came To Iowa In The Seventies

Mother Of Thirteen Children

Mrs. Eilts, wife of Hillert Eilts, died at her home on Court street on Tuesday. Mrs. Eilts had recently returned from Denver, Colo., where she had been spending the winter for treatment by specialists for cancer. On Monday, she was seized with an attack of heart failure due to excessive suffering and the strain of a long and painful illness and passed away on Tuesday.

Mrs. Eilts was a pioneer of northwestern Iowa having lived in Sioux county and this place since girlhood. Her maiden name was Trinke Maria Bohlken and she was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, on August 19, 1851, where she grew up and received her early education. In 1873 she came to the United States with her parents and and other members of her family and they came directly to Monticello, Iowa, where many of their compatriots had already found a new home in Jones county. In 1874, the Eilts family made a further move west and settled in Sioux county. There Trinka Bohlken was united in marriage on April 12, 1874, to Hilert Eilts, and there she spent a long and useful life, assisting her husband in the cares of the farm and rearing a large family, the members of which have all grown to be good and industrious American citizens.

Mrs. Eilts is survived by her husband and thirteen children, six sons and seven daughters who are Eilts J. Eilts, Hawarden; William, of Struble; Reiner, of Ireton; George, of Spencer, S. D.; John and Henry, of Ireton; Mrs. John Ricklefs, Ireton; Mrs John Peters, Craig; Mrs. Henry Becker, Idaho Falls, Idaho; Mrs C. H. Eilts, of Litchfield, N. D.; Mrs. Lizzie Eilts, Ireton; Mrs. Henry Brabander and Miss Bertha Eilts, of LeMars. There are forty-five grandchildren. She also leaves two brothers, Siefke Bohlken, of LeMars, Gerke B. Bohlken, of Monticello, Iowa. and two brothers and a sister living at the old home in Germany.

Mr. and Mrs. Eilts retired from the farm in Sioux county in1912 and came to LeMars to make their home.

Mrs. Eilts was widely known especially among the older residents of the northern part of Plymouth county and in Sioux county. She was a good Christian woman and highly esteemed in the community where she lived for nearly half a century.

The funeral services will be held on Sunday morning at the St. John's Lutheran church at 11 o'clock, Rev. J. J. Vollmar, officiating, and the remains will be taken to the Reading township Lutheran church cemetery in Sioux county, where a brief service will be held by Rev. C. D. Nuoffer at two o'clock.

FAMILY NOTE: According to German church records, Trienke Maria Bohlken was born in Reepsholt, Germany on August 19, 1851 to Wilhelm Bohlken and Gebke Sophia Kleihauer. Her parents remained in Germany with their other children. Only two brothers, Siefke (in 1868) and Gerke Bolhken (in 1870), immigrated to the US, as did their sister, Trinka, in 1873.