Onken, Anna Katherine 1841-1915

ONKEN, ALRICHS, EILKS

Posted By: Doris Hoffman, Volunteer (email)
Date: 11/24/2018 at 23:22:00

MRS. ONKEN IS KILLED

SKULL IS FRACTURED IN RUN AWAY ACCIDENT

DEATH WAS INSTANTANEOUS

Four People Were Returning From Visit in the Country When Horses Became Scared—Claus Mammen Suffers Severe Injuries in Mishap.

Mrs. John Onken, residing at 810 Howard street, for many years a well known resident of LeMars and Grant township, was the victim of a fatal accident on Friday afternoon. Her skull was fractured when a team ran away. With her in the carriage were three other persons, one of whom was badly hurt and two escaped with minor injuries.

Mr. and Mrs. Claus Mammen and Mr. and Mrs. John Onken were returning home on Friday afternoon between five and six o’clock from a trip to Washington township where they had been to visit Ben Eilks, a brother of the two ladies, who was sick. They were driving a livery team hitched to a two seated rig with a canopy top. Mr. Mammen, who was driving, and Mr. Onken were in the front seat and the women in the rear seat. Approaching the village of Dalton, coming down a hill, they passed a tractor engine and threshing machine. One of the horses shied to the side of the road and a wheel of the surrey dropped into a ditch alongside. The rig lurched to one side and the jolt was sufficiently severe to throw Mr. Mamen and Mr. Onken from their seats.

The horses started running down the hill. Mrs. Mammen, with admirable presence of mind, attempted to reach over to the front seat and seize the lines which were still dangling over the dashboard but they eluded her grasp, falling to the ground. Mrs. Mammen they held onto the side of the rig and placing her foot on the step hung there for a few seconds and then threw herself clear of the vehicle and escaped with a sprained ankle and a number of severe bruises.

The horses dashed through Dalton over the railroad tracks and Mrs. Onken either jumped out or was thrown out between the bridges on the grade. When picked up blood was pouring from her mouth and nostrils and from a deep wound on the back of the head. Death must have been almost instantaneous. Dr. Mammen was summoned from LeMars to attend to the injured.

The body of Mrs. Onken was conveyed to the Beely undertaking parlors. The buggy was upset in the ditch a few feet from where Mrs. Onken’s body lay and the horses freeing themselves, ran to the Fred Remer farm where they were stopped and caught.

Claus Mammen was found to be painfully hurt. Two ribs were fractured on his right side and he was badly bruises and cut. He was progressing favorably yesterday and his recovered is thought to be assured if pneumonia does not set in. Mr. Onken is suffering from a sprained back and bruises and Mrs. Mammen from a sprained ankle and severe bruises and nervous shock.

The horses which ran away were considered a gentle team and had been hitched up in the morning before making the trip in the afternoon.

Mrs. Anna Katherine Onken was seventy-four years of age and was a native of Germany. She was born at Rhibshold, Ost Friesland, on April 11, 1841, and grew to womanhood in her native village. She was married to Thomas Alrichs in Germany in 1863 and lived happily with him until his death in 1873. In 1889 she came to Plymouth county to join her brother, Ben Eilks, and in 1890 was united in marriage with John Onken. They made their home on a farm in Grant township for fifteen years and then moved to LeMars to make their home. They celebrated their silver wedding in June of this year. Beside the bereaved husband Mrs. Onken leaves a daughter living at the old home in Germany and daughter, Mrs. Ben Reelfs, of Grant township, and several step-children, who are: Mrs. Ben Reelfs, of Grant township, and several step-children, who are : Mrs. Kate Siebens, Mrs. Rheinhold Fischer, Mrs. Leonard Schoenrock, Onno Onken and Fred Onken, of this county, and Mrs. W. A. Janicke, of Marshall, Minn., and a sister, Mrs. Claus Mammen, and a brother, Ben Eilks.

The funeral was held yesterday. A service was held at St. John’s church yesterday morning at twelve o’clock, Rev. J. J. Vollmar officiating, and the body was then conveyed to Grant township, where services were held at half past three in the Grant township Lutheran church, Rev. J. D. Meyer officiating, and the interment made in the cemetery there.

Many hundreds of people attended the funeral testifying to the esteem in which the dead woman was held and expressing sympathy for her tragic fate.

Mrs. Onken was a good Christian woman, a faithful wife and mother and a homemaker in every sense of the word. She enjoyed the friendship and respect of a large circle of neighbors in Grant township and in LeMars.

Lemars Semi-Weekly Sentinel
Tuesday, September 7, 1915
Le Mars, Iowa