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THE HANSON AND GLYNN FAMILIES

Part IV: GLYNN FAMILY HISTORY

Copyright © by Doreothe A. Hanson, 03/15/06. All rights reserved.

This history of the Glynn family was compiled with the help of Katherine Glynn Munneke and Irene Glynn Kirwan, Richard Hanson and documents supplied by Bridget Glynn Carsten and others. We hope we have acknowledged all those who have assisted us. The articles and books in the addendum and documents obtained by us from libraries, county court houses, genealogical societies, the Internet services, and other sources were relied on to document the information presented. We have recently contacted a Mrs. Karen Prokop who was previously married to a Glynn. She has been a geneaologist since 1988 and has begun to trace the Glynn family. She has given us valuable information and has generously agreed to share information in the future as we have agreed to share with her.

A. THE GLYNN FAMILY TREE

 

B.  JAMES AND BRIDGET McGOUN GLYNN FAMILY

  We searched census records for 1856, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1885, and 1890 and 1900.  We learned from Karen Prokop, formerly married to a Glynn, who lives in Omaha, NE, that James Glynn arrived in the U.S. on July 31, 1849 on the Ship Cremona which left Galway, Ireland and arrived in New York, NY.  James’ birthdate is taken from the immigration records.  Mrs. Prokop also sent us a copy of Bridget Glynn’s death certificate, verifying that she was born in County Clare, Ireland in 1815.  She died on July 6, 1902.

The name Michael was fairly common, i.e. Michael Glynn-Doreothe’s grandfather and also the name given to her uncle who was well known to both of us and well liked for his humor and generosity.  He was a very successful rancher who lived southeast of Kadoka, SD.

In recent generations, the name William appears often.  We think Doreothe’s brother was named William in honor of his great grandfather and grandfather both named William Boland.  Recently, we hope the name William among the Glynns and one Hanson honor Doreothe’s brother William, a person admired by all who knew him.

We have included the history of Michael, the son of James and Bridget, and his wife Anna Landsberger who are antecedants of the Charles Mix County, SD Glynns later in this history.

We have also searched homestead and land purchase and sales records in the Charles Mix County, SD courthouse, the Monroe Co. IA courthouse and geneological library and on the Internet.  We have been to the Albia library and Monroe County, IA genealogical Society where we searched microfilm records for obituaries and other records.  We finally paid a genealogist from Monroe County IA to search some records for us and have Glynns and Landsbergers and have made good progress toward an understanding of their history except for James who immigrated from Ireland.  This brief history is meant to accompany a photographic album record of the families through 2007.

James Glynn and Bridget McGoun were born in County Clare Ireland and were married in Ireland.  The year of James birth was found to be different in census records of various years but it appears that he was born between 1799 and 1801.  Bridget was born in 1815 (see gravestone photograph).  One son, John, was born in Ireland about 1846.  Further research indicates that John was Brigets son but was not a Glynn, that is he was not Michael’s son.  Briget Carsten indicated in her memoirs that Michael Glynn, her father had half-brothers and sisters and in the 1900 census it was indicated that Bridget had 9 children and only six of them can be shown to be Jame’s children.  Hannah (1850) and James Jr. (1852) were born in New York (1980 LDS census record).  Susan (1852) was born in Ohio and Michael (1853), Mary (1859), Alice (1861), and Eliza “Lizzie” (1862) were born in Guilford Township, Monroe County, Iowa, near Hiteman and Georgetown. One census record on the LDS Internet site indicates that James Jr. was born in Ohio in 1852.   These children were clearly children of James and Bridget.

In the Census documents we obtained from the Monroe County genealogist, James Sr. was listed as a farmer and Bridget as a housewife.  James Sr. bought 80 acres of land from James O’Brien March 28, 1857 in section 9 of Guilford township, west of where Albia Iowa was established in 1859.  The farm was just west of the coal mining settlement of Hiteman and north of the village of Georgetown, the present location of St. Patrick’s church.  James son, Michael Glynn, was listed as owner of the land in 1896.  Michael was the grandfather of the SD/MN Glynns, father of John Glynn, grandfather of Doreothe Hanson, Katherine Munneke, William Glynn, Mary Duncan, and Irene Kirwan.

Bridget Glynn, granddaughter of James and Bridget, was born in 1892 and remembered the farm. She described it in her biography.  She said the land was rather hilly but very beautiful.  The farm was along Cedar Creek, a tributary of the Des Moines River just west of Hiteman.  Hiteman, incorporated in 1890, was owned by the Wapello Coal Mining Company and later the Smoky Hollow Mining Company.  This land was in a coal mining area with Wapello Coal Company mines nearby and the company owned much of the surrounding land.

After James died about 1871, Bridget lived on the farm with her son Michael listed as the farmer.  She apparently lived with Alice for a short time and in the 1900 census; she is listed as living with Lizzie and her husband James Craig and their children.  Bridget died 7/6/1902 (Monroe County GenWeb).  We have a picture of her gravestone in the St. Patrick’s cemetery, Georgetown.

The years of James birth and the birth years of his children are hard to determine accurately from census records because of variances in different census documents recorded at different times.  Bridget could neither read nor write English but could speak the language according to Monroe County GenWeb records and it is possible that James could not read or write either.  He appeared in the 1856, and 1860 census records and was living with Bridget and his family.  Some family felt he died about 1863.  The newspaper records and obituaries before 1890 were not recorded on microfilm and we could not find one for either James or Bridget.

We can make reasonable assumptions regarding the years of the immigration of James, Bridget and their children and their migration across the U.S. to Iowa where they finally settled.  They came to the U. S. in 1849, after the birth of John, and before the birth of Hannah in 1850.  They stayed in New York between 1850 and 1853, because Hannah was born there.  They moved to Ohio for a short period during Susan’s birth in 1881- 1855, depending on which record of James birth is correct (i.e. whether he was born in NY or OH in 1852).  They moved to Iowa before the birth of Michael in 1853-1858 (1853 is the birth year on his gravestone).  We have traced Michael and his family since that time because he is a direct antecedent of Katherine, William, Mary, Irene, Doreothe and their families.

 

C.  THE MICHAEL AND ANNA LANDSBERGER GLYNN FAMILY

Michael & Anna (Landsberger)
Glynn

Michael was the fifth of eight known children of James and Bridget Glynn.  One census record indicated that Bridget had 9 children, seven of who were living in 1890.  According to his gravestone and his wife Anna’s obituary, he was born in 1853 in Guilford Township, Monroe County, Iowa and died in 1929 in Platte, SD.  However, Bridget Carsten, his daughter, believed that he was born in 1857.  He and his second wife Anna Landsberger Glynn are buried in St. Ann’s cemetery in Geddes, SD.  Michael first married Julia Shehan in a Catholic ceremony on January 18, 1881 when Julia was 23 years old and they had one child, James.  Julia apparently died shortly after the birth of James.

Michael married Anna Landsberger August 18, 1888.  Bridget, their daughter wrote that Michael was 31 years old and Anna was 31 when they married.  The Iowa GenWeb also indicates that Anna was 31 years old.  This does not agree with the birthdates in the tree above or their gravestones.  The date of 1857 for Michael’s birthdate may be correct but we have not been able to document  it with official records.  They had several children listed in their family tree presented above.

Anna Landsberger was born in 1867 in Troy (Albia) Township, Monroe County, Iowa according to two records and her gravestone.  Her parents were John Landsberger, born approximately 1828 in Bavaria and Annie M. Gaul Landsberger, also born in Bavaria in 1828 according to the 1870 census records of Monroe County, Iowa.  In the 1870 and 1880 census records, John and Annie Landsberger had four children, Rosa born in 1858, George, born in 1861, Anna born in 1867, and Katherine who was born in 1879.

The Landsbergers were among a group of German settlers that settled in an area of Troy Township on Coal Creek near the present location of Albia that was known as Dutch Ridge.  The Landsbergers were listed among the earliest settlers on Dutch Ridge.   John Landsberger bought land in Troy Township with Morgan Morgau in 1865 and bought the shares of this land owned by Morgan Morgau in 1899.  The description of the land is interesting as it is described in rolls and links (of a surveyors chain) in terms of distance from points on the map.  “It was a barren unpromising region compared to the garden spots of the county.  However, they prospered while others failed and became a creditable class of citizens.” (History of Monroe County Iowa)  In the 1870 census of Monroe County, John Landsberger was listed as a saloonkeeper in Albia when he was 42 years old.  “They were fond of their beer and they were not involved in politics although they were a large voting block in the county.  However, when the State Prohibitory Law was enacted, the citizens of Dutch Ridge became disgusted with the Republican Party and withdrew their allegiance to it.”  (Source; History of Monroe County Iowa).

Annie Landsperger, died 7/11/1880 and John married his second wife Catherine.

There were no Glynns or Landsbergers listed in the 1925 Monroe County census.

Michael and Anna Landsberger-Glynn sold the farm in Iowa and moved with their children Rose (1888), Mary (1890), Bridget (1892), Susan (1894), John E. (1897), and James (1882) a half brother to South Dakota in 1898.  They settled in Hamilton Township near the Town of Edgerton in southwestern Charles Mix County.  Michael and some of the older children moved the livestock and farm equipment by train and then by other conveyance to 80 acres of land he homesteaded in Hamilton Township southwest of where the city of Platte is today.  Anna and the rest of the family followed with the household items on a train to Armour, SD according to one account.  From there they continued in wagons to the farm in Hamilton Township. Bridget remembered the trip rather well and described it.  From her description, it seems they moved en familie.

In March 1899, Michael purchased an additional 160 acres of land very near the homestead for $1,450. This became the farm where their 12 children were raised.  Two of the children, George and Peter were never married and both died young.  Peter died at age 16 and George at age 25.  Of the remaining 10, John, Michael, Clara and Rose continued living in South Dakota.  After Bridget and Frank Carsten were married, they lived on several farms in SD, but eventually settled on a cattle ranch in Nebraska that they sold to their son (see Bridget’s biography).  She lived to celebrate her 104th birthday in great style.  The others all left SD during or shortly after the depression in the early 1930s.

Michael and Anna continued to live on the farm until Michael died in 1929.  Anna sold the farm and moved to a small home in Platte where she lived until her death in 1939.  Michael, Anna, their sons, George and Peter, plus a stillborn male are buried in St. Anne’s cemetery in Geddes, SD.

The land claims filed in Charles Mix County are listed below.  We obtained these from the Charles Mix County Register of Deeds Office and have copies of the deeds.

Homestead: Michael Glynn: The east half of the NE quarter of section 25 in Township 98, north of range 69 (Hamilton Township) containing 80 acres.  Dated June 22, 1911.  Patent no. 0309.  He obviously filed the homestead claim in 1906 or before.

Michael Glynn purchased the south half of the NW quarter and the north half of the SW quarter of Section 11 in Township 98, north of Range 68 (Hamilton Township), Charles Mix Co. SD containing 160 acres from Charles and Carrie Pratt for $1450 on March 23, 1899.

Bridget Glynn indicated that her father had very good stock, particularly horses.  He had a well-bred stallion that was used to service mares in the area.  The land needed a lot of work besides breaking sod.  She remembers picking rocks, digging and cleaning a well, and other work needed to make a farm productive.  Bridget married a nearby neighbor Frank Carsten.

 

D. THE BOLAND FAMILY

Great grandfather William Boland was born in Ireland in 1842, according to the 1880 census but we do not know where or when he emigrated to America. He married Mary Dolan at St. Raphael’s Cathedral in Dubuque on Nov. 27th 1864. We do not have a good record of Williams’s family except that shown below from an Internet search (family history site of LDS) for Boland’s in Dubuque Co. Iowa.

Descendants of FATHER UNKNOWN

1 FATHER UNKNOWN
. + MOTHER NOT KNOWN
........ 2 JAMES BOLAND
.......... + MARY DORAN
................... 3 JAMES P. BOLAND 		1851 -
................... 3 MORRIS BOLAND 		1852 -
................... 3 MARIA BOLAND 		1854 -
................... 3 JOHN EDMUND BOLAND 	1856 - 1943
..................... + MARY ELIZABETH ANDERSON	1860 - 193
................... 3 KATIE BOLAND 		1858 -
........ 2 WILLIAM BOLAND 			1842 - 1891
............ + MARY DOLAN    			1840 - 1902
................... 3 MARY BOLAND  		1866 -
..................... + WILLIAM MINAHAN
................... 3 MARGARET BOLAND  		1873
..................... + ROY McCLAIN
................... 3 MAURICE BOLAND 		1876
................... 3 WILLIAM BOLAND  		1878
..................... + (Irene) RENE 
................... 3 IRENE BOLAND  		1880 -
................... 3 HELENA BOLAND  		1870 - 1902
..................... + WILLIAM FLYNN  		1861 - 1938
................... 3 KATHERINE BOLAND  	1867 - 1935

In the 1850 census, a John Dolan Aged 50 was listed in Mosalem Twp. Dubuque Co. Iowa, District 7 as a farmer.  He was born in Ireland and his farm like many around his was valued at $1,000.  If he was born in Ireland in 1800 and was an independent farmer in 1850.  It appears that they arrived in Iowa between 1833 and 1837.

a.  Ann. born in Ireland in 1833
b.  Catherine. Born in IA in 1837
c.  Felix. Born in IA in 1838
d.  Mary. Born in IA in 1841
e.  John.  Born in IA in 1843

There was no wife listed for John Sr.  He may have been a widower in 1850.  Mary Dolan, the wife of William Boland, was listed as born in 1841 according to the 1880 census from the online service of the Church of Latter Day Saints.  However, her gravestone indicates that she was born in 1837.  Her obituary states that she was born on March 8, 1840 in Dubuque Co., Iowa.

Two other Dolan families living on property adjacent to John Dolan’s in 1850 were listed in the 1850 census.

William Boland was a steamboat captain and we will append a copy of his biography prepared by some of his children.  It appeared in the Platte Enterprise.  He captained steamboats up and down the Missouri and Mississippi probably with his nephew John Boland who homesteaded near him in South Dakota and also worked on steamboats.  John E and his brothers, Tom and James, had independent steamboat experiences including hauling supplies for Custer’s troupes as they marched westward.  John E. Boland is the grandfather of Mary Lou Hanson Kollar, my husband Richard Hanson’s cousin.  William’s nephew listed above, was born 1856, while in his biography, John was said to have been born in 1855. The John E. Boland listed above married Mary Anderson, who was Mary Lou Hanson Kollar’s grandmother.  In their biographies, it appears William and John Boland went many of the same places up the Missouri and their biographies describe very interesting experiences that make good reading for those who would like to know more about the history of this frontier territory.

John Boland’s biography is available through the South Dakota Historical Society.  It is very interesting in terms of the history of the western frontier.

William commanded an expedition of steamboats and barges up the Missouri River as far as The Little Big Horn River so families could be united at frontier forts that protected the white population of settlers beginning to migrate West and to prevent Indian uprisings after Custer’s defeat.  In March 1877, the US government chartered the steamboat Savannah, other steamboats, and several barges under the command of William to take wives and children of officers and soldiers stationed at locations along the Missouri as far as The Little Big Horn River.  The expedition left from St. Louis and the trip took seven months to complete.  The crews and passengers had to forage for fuel for the steam engines along the way.  Game was said to be plentiful and they could obtain food as they progressed upriver.  The passengers would shoot buffalo, deer, antelope, elk and other game from the passenger ships on the expedition.

William apparently liked what he saw along the river in South Dakota because he filed a homestead claim near Wheeler, as did John E. Boland.  Wheeler was a normal steamboat stop because of a trading post located there.  It was 11 miles south of where Platte was settled.   His claim was in Hamilton Township close to where the Glynn’s settled later and was filed in 1883.  The patent for the land was issued in 1891.  William had lumber etc. shipped previously so the home was nearly completed when Mary and the children arrived in SD.  The railroad had reached Armour and Kimball at that time. The supplies probably went to one of those towns and then were moved to the homestead on freight wagons.

Mary (Dolan) Boland
1840 - 1915, Charcoal Portrait

Mary must have been a formidable woman to undertake this move from Dubuque, IA to the prairie of South Dakota with seven children.  Not only did she have the children to care for alone, she had to oversee the beginning of a working farm.  This meant breaking the sod, plowing the fields, planting the crops, supervising the harvest, and purchasing the animals, machinery, and supplies.  William was home for only a few months in the winter when the rivers were frozen and occasional short stops on trips up or down the river.  The only roads were government and Indian trails; the source of water was limited to rivers and creeks and had to be transported.  There were still roving bands of Indians on the prairie. This family, the Flynns and others helped build the first Catholic Church in Charles Mix County and organized the first ladies Altar Society. Mary was the Secretary-Treasurer of the newly founded group.  John E. Boland owned a saloon and store in Castalia as well as a ranch nearby.

William and Mary had several children Including Mary (1866), Katherine (1867), Ellen (1870), Margaret (1873), Maurice (1876), William (1878), and Irene (1880).  All were born on the years in parenthesis in Iowa.  Helena, not to be confused with Helena Flynn, is referred to as Ellen in the 1880 census.  Mary was very insistent that all children get an education and all of the daughters were awarded teaching certificates.  It is said that they all contributed well to their profession.  William died of Bight’s disease, a chronic or acute kidney disease of various causes that is an obsolete term now, in 1891 in Mercy Hospital, Dubuque, Iowa where he was taken for treatment.

We know that Katherine taught school at Ward Academy, the village where Richard Hanson, my husband grew up.  Mary married William Minahan.  He was in real estate and they lived in Wheeler, the county seat of Charles Mix County at that time.  They later moved to the town of Geddes when it was established after the railroad arrived in 1900.  They are buried in St. Anne’s cemetery in Geddes

I was given an autograph book of Katherine’s that she had signed by students at Ward Academy between 1893-1896.  She became the assistant postmaster in Platte.  She held this position for many years.  She was known as Aunt Kate to our family and raised Helena Flynn, my mother, from infancy when her mother died in 1902.  We believe Helena’s mother, my grandmother,  was killed in a horse and buggy accident in the same year that Helena was born.  Mary Boland and Katherine raised Helena in Katherine’s home in Platte.  Both Mary Dolan Boland and Helena Flynn were living with Katherine at the time of Mary’s death.  She is buried in St. Peter’s cemetery in Platte.

Katherine died in a hospital in Mitchell, SD in March 21, 1935 almost the time of my birth on March 21.  She apparently survived to know that I was born.  She had not married.  Margaret married Roy McClain who was also in the real estate business and they lived in Sioux City, IA.  Maurice became a successful rancher in Western South Dakota near the towns of Bixby and Imogine.  I believe they were in Perkins County.

William Jr. trained himself to be a master contractor.  Some of his achievements were the Winfield-Serven hotel still standing in Platte, the Farmers and Merchants State Bank, Platte School (still the Platte School), a supervisor for construction of a dam and spillway at Lake Platte on Platte Creek, and a clothing store on Platte’s main street that later became DeHaan’s grocery store for many years, and several others in and outside Platte.  One of the crew that built the Platte School Building was Leonard Hanson, Richard’s uncle.  William was Mayor of Platte from 1911-1912, 1931-1932, and 1936.  He was known to us as Uncle Willy and was a very nice man.  Obviously, William had a rather important role in the development of Platte.

 

E. THE JAMES AND MARY FLYNN FAMILY

From the 1880 Census of Fillmore Co., MN. and other census information and records.

James and Mary Flynn emigrated from Ireland to Sheffield, England and then to Fillmore County, Minnesota at an unknown date.  Fillmore County is on the very southern border of southeastern Minnesota. They were in Sheffield England for the births of James Jr. in 1860 and William in 1861 and would have left after 1862.  James his wife and two sons were in Forestville Township, Fillmore County, Minnesota during the recording of the 1870 Federal census in June of that year.  James was a farm laborer at that time according to the census.  He bought 80 acres in York Township, Fillmore County, on June 25, 1877 and two lots of 5 acres in Forestville township on June 6 and June 28 1877.  He and his wife plus James Jr (age 20) William (age 19) were also living in the household and were listed as farm laborers and James Sr. as a farmer.  The 80 acres was in west cental York township (northeastern quarter of section 18), 4 miles north of the Iowa border.  It is in relatively flat country on the southern perimeter of the bluff country that extends through Forestville Township which is adjacent and to the north.  It is presently very productive and fertile farming country with large farms, no towns or churches remaining.  However York township at one time had a store, post office, and a hall where performances and presumably dances occurred (History of Fillmore County, 1884).  Several Flynns lived in Forrestville, Preston and adjacent townships.  Patrick Flynn and his wife were large landowners and attended St. Ligiore Church in Carrimona township about west of Preston, the county seat.  The church no longer exists in 2006, but Patrick and his wife are buried in the cemetery.  Mary and Thomas Flynn were also substantial landowners.  Their land was held in Mary’s name.  William Flynn, J. J. Flynn and his wife, Edward Flynn and a few others also owned land in Fillmore County and most of them are buried in St. Ligiore cemetery, Carimona.  There are no Flynns currently living in Fillmore Township, Minnesota but many lived across the Iowa border near Lime Springs about 15 miles to the south.  There are apparently some in Rochester but we do not know the number or if they are closely related.

Flynn was the fifth most common Irish name in Cork and other counties of Ireland.

Richard and I went to Fillmore County in July 2005 to search records and obtained confirmation of all the information cited above.  We copied land and other records after many problems with the searches.  We went to the county historical society and on our second visit we found plat maps with the help of a good geneologist.  The plat maps listed a farm of 80 acres with James Flynn as the owner in York township in 1878.  We had been to the county courthouse but could not find the deeds in our first search.  On our second visit, armed with copies of the plat maps, we were told the recorded deeds for that period would be in books severely damaged in a flooding of the basement of the old courthouse.  They were stored separately with limited access.  We were given access to parts of the records and found the recorded deeds for the land James Sr. bought that is listed above.  At any rate we have good records for the information cited above.  We do not know when the land was sold but we know the family was in South Dakota in 1883-1884.  Therefore, they did not stay on the land in Iowa that James owned for long.

The country from Forestville Township to the Wisconsin border is called bluff country and reminded us much of the Baraboo Hills region of Wisconsin.  It is beautiful with caves, beautiful valleys and a national scenic highway (old federal highway 16, now Minnesota hwy. 16) running from Preston to La Crosse Wisconsin.  This country has beautiful trout streams where we saw people that caught several nice trout, very nice surfaced biking and hiking trails along the Root river and its branches and some quaint old towns including Preston and Lanesboro which now have good theatres and art colonies.  It is a great place to visit and has some nice restaurants.  We found Lanesboro to have too many tourists and Preston was much quieter and still in marvelous country about 7 miles away.  We had a great time there in spite of the problems searching for records.

William was listed as one of the early pioneers in Dakota Territory when he homesteaded in Signal Township of Charles Mix County.  He homesteaded land in Castalia township in 1891.  James Sr. and James Jr. were there at the time.  James Flynn homesteaded land in Charles Mix County, then Dakota terristory on Aug. 25th 1884.  We don’t know if this was James Sr. or James Jr.  James Sr. would have been 52 years old, and William 23 years old. James Jr. 24 years old in 1884.  Charles Mix County homestead records indicate that he filed a claim in 1884 while James filed a preemption claim in the same year on adjacent land.  Williams patent was issued in 1891.  James purchased and sold land in Gregory County and in Castalia Township of Charles Mix County and owned land on an island in the Missouri River.  William had purchased lots in Platte in 1919.  William was Doreothe’s grandfather, known as Papa Flynn and James Sr. was her great grandfather.

William married Helena Boland at Castalia.  One daughter born to them died in infancy.  Katherine Helena, was born in 1902 shortly before the deaths of her mother and sister.  She was my mother and was known as Helena.  Helena E. and an infant daughter both died in 1902 apparently from a horse and buggy accident.  William died at the home of his daughter Helena Glynn (born Katherine Helena Flynn) in Platte at the age of 76 years in 1938.  All his Glynn grandchildren had been born by that time and I, Doreothe Hanson, was 3 years old.  He was buried at St. Ann’s cemetery in Geddes alongside his wife Mary.  James Sr., Mary Flynn, and James Jr. are also buried in the same family plat marked by a large monument.  A photo of the monument is presented in our photographic collection given to some family members.

 

F. THE JOHN AND HELENA FLYNN GLYNN FAMILY

John E. Glynn
1897 - 1971

John Ernest Glynn was born on January 9, 1897 in Georgetown, IA and baptized in St. Patrick’s church in Georgetown.  His family moved from Iowa to a homestead in South Dakota.  This was south of where Platte is today.

There were 12 children in the family and the older children had to work on the farm or in the home except for a few winter months.  Consequently, like many others living at this time, few received a formal education beyond perhaps the third grade.  As adults, they could read and write and were probably home-taught for the most part.  I remember my father always reading the evening paper, which we received a day late because it was published in Mitchell, 60 miles northeast of Platte.  He was very fond of western fiction as well.

My father was a “real cowboy” before he and my mother were married.  There was a large ranch across the Missouri River just west of the Glynn farm called the Mulehead Ranch and John worked there
K. Helena (Flynn)
Glynn
1902 - 1967 for a few years.  He was a drover on many cattle drives and they also herded pigs onto boats to be shipped to slaughterhouses in Sioux City, Iowa.  At one time he spent six full months on the open range without a roof over his head.  I do not remember him as a picky eater, but he absolutely could not eat squash because the chuck wagons served so much of it.

My mother, Katherine Helena Flynn, was called by her middle name and was born October 4, 1902 to William and Helena Estelle Flynn.  An older sister, Irene Catherine, was born in 1897 and died young in 1899.  Helena’s mother was killed in 1902 shortly after Katherine Helena’s birth. Her grandmother Mary Dolan Boland and her aunt Katherine Boland who lived together in Platte, SD after William Boland’s death raised Helena.

Katherine Helena graduated from Platte High School in 1921 and continued her education earning a teaching certificate at the SD Normal College in Aberdeen, SD like her aunt Katherine and other children of Mary Dolan Boland and William Boland.  Katherine Helena taught school for a year or two in a one room school eight miles south of Platte before she married.

John and Helena Flynn were married on John’s birthday, January 9, 1924 in Bonesteel, SD.  Early in their marriage, they lived on a farm in what was known as Robey, about 7 miles north and a mile east of Platte.  The village had a mission Catholic parish served by priests from Saint Peters Catholic Church in Platte when we were young.  When the farm failed in the depression, they settled in Platte where their children were born and raised.  Their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great, great, grandchildren and their dates of births (and deaths in some cases) are listed in the Glynn Family tree at the beginning of section V of this history when known.

John & Helena Glynn Family
John, Helena, Katherine, Mary, William,
Irene, Doreothe

John and Katherine Helena had six children, all born in Platte, SD.  Genevieve died in infancy.  Katherine Olivia (Munneke) was born 2/20/1925. William Michael was born 12/1927 and died 6/24/1980.  Mary Estelle (Duncan) was born 4/30/1929 and died 4/9/1968.  Helena Irene (Kirwan) was born 7/1/1931 and Doroethe Ann (Hanson) was born 3/21/1935.

Helena did not return to teaching until the youngest of their five children, Doreothe, was 10 years old.  John worked at many different jobs.  He did anything that would bring in a bit of money to support his family of five children during the depression.  I remember being told that at the time of my birth in 1935 he was earning $2.69 a week and that my formula cost $1.33 a week.  Fortunately, they owned their home and had a good garden.

In 1939, the Platte Valley Company was formed to dam Platte Creek to create Lake Platte and Henry Cool Park.  John along with my uncle William Boland and some other men were supervisors of this project.  I also remember him being employed at the Platte Hatchery and Gertin Chevrolet garage.  He later was hired by the Charles Mix County Maintenance Department were he worked until retirement.  He would normally get up at 4:30 AM and go to work building, repairing, grading, or plowing roads after snowstorms.  In the winter, he might start plowing after a storm, grab a few hours sleep while someone else relieved him and go at it again until all the country roads were open.  It was not an easy job but he was very content to have it.

I think it was 1943 when mother became an agent for the Omaha Cold Storage Company and opened a creamery on Main Street of Platte.  I remember going to the Platte School Band concerts on Saturday nights during the summer at the Band shelter, which was on the lot next to the creamery.

So much has been written about the problems of men finding employment during those years but life was difficult for women too with precious little money for food for children.  Mother was very inventive at stretching food and remaking clothing.  We children learned our conservative ways from her examples.  I am sure that mother’s imagination was stretched to the limit to feed and clothe this family of five children as well as she and dad did because the family was raised during the Great Depression and poor years after it was considered over.  The area suffered a severe drought followed by a grasshopper plague in 1936 that lasted in decreasing severity until 1941.  In 1936, the grasshoppers consumed nearly everything that grew.  The Midwest was slow to recover from the depression.  I remember always having decent clothing to wear and we had food to eat.  However, I still don’t much like pancakes, corn fritters and oatmeal, which were staples in our diets.

I believe it was in 1945 that mother resumed her teaching.  She again taught in a one-room country school 10 miles west of Platte.  She preferred being monitored by a county superintendent of schools than contend with a school board in town.  Mostly Lutheran children attended the school and they came to dearly love Mother.  To this day, we hear about her as a great teacher and influence on their lives.  She was the best.  She remained at this school in Castalia Township for 10 years until a vacancy opened up five miles north of Platte.  I remember her being reluctant to make the move, but the roads were still poor after rain and snow and being 5 miles closer to Platte on a state highway was the deciding factor.  She remained at this school until 1960 when she and Dad retired.

I know Dad tried to talk mother into leaving South Dakota during the depression, but she would not move.  She knew the Platte grade and High School systems to be good and the community was a good one, in general terms, to raise a family.  I am sure she would have had an easier life elsewhere, but I thank her for keeping us in Platte.  We were raised with expectations, which may not have been so important in other areas of the country.

They moved to California to be near their daughters Mary and Irene after they retired.  They followed Irene and Jerry Kirwan to Las Vegas where Helena died January 1, 1967.  John later married an acquaintance from the early days in White Lake, SD, Marie Kramer.  They lived in Aumsville, Oregon until John’s death from cancer in 1971.

In spite of his lack of education, John was a remarkable man.  His common sense and ability to retain what he read was quite amazing.  He was an uncomplicated person who dearly loved his family and provided for them as best he could during very hard times in this country’s history.

I never did properly thank Mother and Dad for raising our family in the way that they did.  It was during a very difficult time in this country’s history.  We always lived in a small house with little personal space but we had a great deal of love from our parents and truly learned the meaning of family.

Katherine married Alvin Munneke 2/16/1945, William married Carol Pigsley on December 26, 1951 and died of diabetes in 1980.  Mary married Herman Housek in 1969 and the marriage ended in divorce: she moved to California where she met and married Robert Duncan.  She died of heart disease and is buried in Rowland Heights, CA.  Bob Duncan died in 2003 of cardiopulmonary disease.  Irene married Jerome Kirwan in Platte South Dakota 1/17/1955.  They currently live in Las Vegas, NV, as do all their children except David who lives in Florida.  Doreothe married Richard Hanson in Platte on 12/27/1956.  They live in Minneapolis, MN.  Their family history is described in a separate section of the Hanson/Glynn history.

We hope each of the children or their families will write a history of their generations to pass on to their decendents.

 

Part V >< Part III

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