Henry & Minnie Gloe

GLOE DAMAROW

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 8/27/2010 at 22:42:19

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Henry and Minnie (Damarow) Gloe
By Lucille Marie Gloe Lundberg

Henry Gloe was born in Germany, July 14, 1861, and came to America in 1885. He died January 31, 1945.

Minnie Damarow was born March 15, 1860, in Germany and came to America in 1888. She died in 1948.

They met and were married in either 1890 or 1892.

They farmed in both Nebraska and Iowa, and had a family of four children: Fred, born in March, 1895; Elsie, born on September 29, 1897; Minnie, born on July 22, 1899; and Otto, born on March 23, 1902, died 1937.

Henry and Minnie owned a number of farms in both Nebraska and Iowa. Some of the towns they resided in were: Nacora, Iowa; Bennington, Washington and Dakota City, Nebraska in the early 1900’s.

Sometime between 1922-23, Fred Gloe met Marie Steinert, daughter of Christian and Anna (Ernst) Steinert of Irvington, Nebraska.

Christian was born August 18, 1860, in Schleswig-Holstein, province of Germany. He came to America at the age of sixteen in 1876. After arriving in New York, he was given the wrong directions to Omaha, Nebraska, and ended up in Oregon, penniless. He finally worked his way to Nebraska. He died December 17, 1925.

Anna (Ernst) Steinert was born on March 20, 1868, in Frankfurt, Germany. She came to America around 1885.

Christian and Anna were married around 1887-88. They settled in Bennington, Nebraska.

He ran the first hardware store there, which is still in business this year, 1983. He saved his money and bought a farm about 4 ½ miles from Bennington and was a farmer until his death.

Anna, his wife, bore him eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. They were: Elizabeth, born March 20, 1890, died January 5, 1919; George, born November 20, 1891, died May 22, 1979; John, born February 19, 1895, died September 30, 1977; Marie, born September 11, 1897, died February 1, 1978; Margaret, born in July of 1899, died 1972; Henry, born June 1, 1901, died February 21, 1924; Celia, born February 12, 1903; and Laura, born August 16, 1905.

Grandma Anna died at age 39, in 1907, and Grandpa Christian raised the family himself on the farm.

Fred Gloe and Marie Steinert were married February 6, 1924, and settled and farmed on her home place with her father, Christian Steinert.

A daughter, Lucille Marie, was born January 3, 1925.

After Marie’s father died, they moved to Woodbury County near Salix and farmed Fred’s parents’ farm that they had purchased in 1925.

On September 29, 1926, a son, Harold Alvin, was born. He was a tiny baby and I, his sister, loved to push him in my doll buggy when he grew a little bigger.

I always thought our farm was the best looking farm in Woodbury County. It had a large nine room house, a big barn, hog house, corn crib, tool shed, wood shed, two huge chicken houses and a garage. A beautiful orcahrd was to the south of the house. Towering cottonwood trees shaded part of the barn yard.

The farm consisted of eighty acres, which supported a family in the 1920’s and 1930’s very nicely.

We raised a lot of chickens, ducks and pigs. We always milked 24 to 26 cows.

My father farmed with horses until 1934 when he bought a Fordson tractor.

My mother always had a big garden and did a lot of canning. I remember picking large dish pans of strawberries.

At one time in the early 1930’s, my Grandpa and Grandma Gloe lived with us for about one year.

They talked German quite a bit, and my brother, Harold, and I soon learned some of the words. One sentence we learned very quickly was when it was time in the afternoon to have a glass of homemade beer, with a raw egg beaten up in it. A lot of times we made ourselves scare by hiding in the corn crib. That drink was not our cup of tea.

Harold and I went to the Salix Public School and were picked up by bus at our gate. Dave Dunn was the bus driver. Sometimes our road, which was gumbo, was too muddy for the bus to come through and he came to get us with a wagon and horses. Several times in the winter time, I remember riding to school in a bob sled. Those were fun days.

In the fall, sometimes we would gather big pumpkins and use them for seats around a camp fire. The neighbors would bring a hot dish or salad and all the children would raost weiners and marshmallows. We always raised a lot of watermelons and several of these were saved for this Harvest Festival.

A trip to Sioux City was made every Saturday to sell eggs. A nickel ice cream come cone was our treat.

Back in those days we didn’t get to play with our friends every day. There were always chories to do, so it was a treat when we got together.

I remember the wild roses growing along the raodside. They were such a beautiful sight, as fragrant and pink as we romped through them.

I was ten and my brother was eight when we had to leave the farm at Salix in 1935, after my parents divorced. My father disappeared, and nobody has seen or heard from him since.

My mother, brother and I moved to Bennington, Nebraska, and then later to Omaha where we spent the remainder of our childhood years.

I, Lucille married Earl Sigfried Lundberg on July 5, 1941. He was born May 21, 1919, and died Janaury 19, 1978.

We lived in the area called Florence, Nebraska, which is the north end of Omaha.

Three daughters were born to us: Shirley Ann, born March 7, 1943; Janice Kay, born June 27, 1945; and Carole Sue, born May 9, 1950.

Harold, my brother, married LillianKeasling, June 7, 1952, and had two chidlren: Barry, born July 14, 1953 and Cheryl, born December 28, 1956. He died in March of 1967.

I had a great thrill the summer of 1982 at the 500 Salix School Reunion. It was so nice to visit with school chums that I hadn’t seen since age ten. Also, I got to visit the farm I used to live on. It was so nice to sit there and reminisce.

I still live in Omaha and now have seven grandchilden and two great grandchildren, but I’ll always remember my childhood days on the farm near Salix, as very special days in my live.

WCGS Note: Fred Gloe, Lucille’s father, apears in the SSDI, with a death date of 14 April 1957, last residence of Sacramento, California.