Mary Franzen Pettit

PETTIT FRANZEN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/13/2010 at 19:53:06

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Mary (Franzen) Pettit
By Lani Pettit, daughter

Mary Franzen came to Sioux City in 1935, to study nursing at Methodist Hospital School of Nursing. In 1938, she graduated as a registered nurse. Since then, she has worked in both the Methodist and Lutheran hospitals in Sioux City, as well as Gordon Memorial Osteopathic Hospital and doctors’ offices in the area.

In 1938, she married Frank Allen Pettit, Jr (see story). During the war years, she worked as a nurse at the Army-Air Force Specialized Supply Depot 847. Soon after, her daughters, Lani and Julie, were born.

It was on June 30, 1915, that little Emma Maria Wilhelmina Franzen was born, on the family farm near Coleridge, Cedar County, Nebraska. She was the sixth of ten children born to Lehndert Heinrich Franzen and Maud Christina Hines Franzen.

The Franzen family came to American in November 1882. Mary’s father, then age 8, and his parents, Hinrich Dirks and Rensche Gerbers Franzen, along with a sister and brother, left their home in Grosoldendorf, near Remels, Ostfriesland, Germany, to join two brothers already here. They traveled on a steamship called ‘he Elbe’, and settled first in Illinois.

In 1886, the family migrated to Nebraska, traveling by train in a ‘immigrant car’, which enabled them to take their animals along, and also take care of them along the way. There was a chimney so they could cook. The trip was made during the winter, so the rain could cross he Missouri River on a bridge right on the ice. It had posts down into the water, and Hinrich could see the water bubbling out beside them.

Mary’s Hines ancestors also lived in Cedar County, Nebraska, but their roots go back to New York and Pennsylvania, with Scotch-Irish and German ancestors. Her maternal grandparents were Joseph Charles and Juliana Frost Hines. Through the Frost line can be found Mary’s Pennsylvania ‘Dutch’ heritage, with names like Kindt, Heller, Dietz and Pfeiffer, which go back into 17th century Germany and Switzerland.

Mary’s first love has always been her husband and family. She enjoys sewing, a favorite hobby. There are at least three people who will attest to the fact that she is the ‘best cook this side of the Mississippi’! She’s a ‘Mom’ or ‘Aunt Mary’ anyone would be proud to have.