William Henry FERTIG, known to all as "Bill," was born November 5, 1861, in Pine Bend, Minnesota. His fater was the owner of a trading post and traded with Indians to acquire furs which England wanted.

The Indians became hostile [Dakota Wars], so the FERTIG family left Minnesota, leaving before an Indian massacre occurred. They came to Ringgold County in 1863, and bought land where a few settlers already had settled.

In 1885, "Bill" went to Hadgeman County, Kansas, and homesteaded on 160 acres. He also took a lumber claim of 320 acres. His father had died, but his mother went with him. During the big blizzard of 1885, they lived in a sod shanty on the Kansas plains.

Bill hauled freight from Dodge City to Barnard, Kansas. He used his own outfit, which consisted of a wagon and trailer, hitched with four horses, and he led a saddle horse.

the famous outlaws, RAINES, died when he was too slow on the draw.

At the age of thirty-nine years, Bill married a girl that was twenty-one years younger than he, Sarah Elizabeth OUDERKIRK. She was born Easter Sunday, April 17, 1881, on a farm near Lenox, Iowa, and in 1883, when two years of age, she moved to Ringgold County. To this union, three children were born: Bertha FERTIG (SCHLAPIA), Cora A. FERTIG (HALL), and James FERTIG.

On March 23, 1950, Bill and Sarah celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They spent the day, with pleasant and golden memories, on their beautiful farm, known as Cedar Farm. The railroad crossing was known as Cedar Crossing.

NOTE: William Henry "Bill" FERTIG died in 1950. Sarah Elizabeth (OUDERKIRK) FERTIG died in 1956. Cora Amanda (FERTIG) HALL, wife of Albert Milton HALL, was born on April 20, 1903 and died on May 16, 1997. They were all interred at Benton Cemetery.

SOURCE: 1887 - Benton, Iowa Centennial - 1987. Pp. 179-80, 181. Courtesy of Mount Ayr Public Library, Mount Ayr IA

Transcriptions and notes by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2012

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