Wilhelmina (Tiews) BUTENHOFF

BUTENHOFF, TIEWS, POSSEHL, STOEK, STOCK, CANOPY, MARTIN, IVERSON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 1/18/2011 at 15:58:47

Clay County Family Album
A History of Rural Clay County, Minnesota, 1976

AUGUST AND WILHEMINA (TIEWS) BUTENHOFF

Mrs. Butenhoff related this to her niece, Mrs. Carl Butenhoff. "I never saw August before a neighbor brought him over and introduced us. He proposed and gave me two weeks in which to make up my mind. I decided to accept. I couldn't have found a better husband."

August and Wilhemina (Minnie) were married nearly fifty years - from June 11, 1878 until August 11, 1927 when she died. For thirty-five years they lived on a farm near Dows, Iowa. Their ten children were all born here. They had planted every kind of fruit possible in their yard. Later, about 1920, a grandchild sensed August's disappointment at the lack of care given his fruit. August was always an excellent gardener even long after they retired to the village of Baker in the middle teens. On his ninetieth birthday, his daughter Clara kept shoving more birthday cards into his mail box. He was really surprised.

The couple had ten children: Matilda, married H. C. Possehl; Rosa, married H. C. Possehl; William, married Ida Stoek; Ferdinand, married Emma Stock; Henry, married Edith Canopy; Otto, married Fannie Martin; Edward; Albert, Clara, married O. N. Iverson; Bertha, married R. E. Iverson. Edward and Albert passed away during their teens.

The family belonged to St. Paul's Lutheran Church at Latimer, Iowa. The deaf sons, Otto and Henry, attended school at Council Bluffs, Iowa. The others attended school near their home and the parochial school of their church. After moving to Baker, Henry and Otto were confirmed by Rev. F. C. Ahrens of Trinity Lutheran Church, Sabin. Trinity became the church of most of the family. August and Minnie sold their Iowa farm and moved to Baker in 1911. They followed nearly all their sons and daughters here.

Wilhemina was born at Sletten, Pomern, Germany on March 27, 1856. When she was seven her family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for fourteen years. A farm at Dows, Iowa was their next home. She passed away at the Baker residence in 1927. August was born December 12, 1845 at Zarben, Germany. When he was about twenty-one he came to the United States. He died November 17, 1936.