The Last Link: Dakota Territory Logan County, 1887 By Thomas G. Mueller Old North Dakota Memories & The Weispfennings & Muellers: Our Early American Experience in Dakota Territory Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University Libraries, Fargo, North Dakota, 2004, 198 pages, softcover

Thomas Mueller, owner of Dakota Belt and Buckle, Jamestown, North Dakota. at the Pride of Dakota Holiday Showcase.

Mueller, owner of Dakota Belt & Moccasin Company in Jamestown and a native of Napoleon, ND shares in his book: "A collection of short stories that reflect life here on the plains of North Dakota, going back to 1886. Some old, some new, but all encompass the German spirit brought here by my great grandparents, Germans from Russia. These stories reflect by-gone-days, days worth remembering."

Mueller shares in the Introduction: "While I was writing my family history story, `The Last Link: Looking Back', I realized that I had hundreds of stories I could tell, especially about my time spent on my Aunt Hulda and Uncle Martin Ehmann's farm, southeast of Gackle, ND."

The author's writing includes these subjects: 1) The clay brick house; 2) Farming the old fashioned way; 3) Stacking hay on the North Dakota prairie; 4) Herding cattle cowboy style; 5) Shocking oats in the 1950s; 6) Saturday night boxing at the Mueller's; 7) Receiving the German Brauche; 8) They came to America with their children, their suitcases, and their hopes and dreams; 9) Otto & Mathilda's wedding dinner; 10) Grave-witching for Great Uncle Johann Weispfenning; 11) Grandpa Johannes' Prayer; 12) Coming to Logan County, Dakota Territory in 1887; and 13) The Flat White Cooking Rock.

Christ Weispfenning and Otto Weispfenning Foreground - 1888 clay-brick house built by John and Susie Weispfenning on their homestead claim. Background - Wood frame house built about 1912 when their son Christ was married.	Magdalena, Maria, Christ, Rebecca, Justina, Otto, Grandpa John, Grandma Susie. Oldest son Fred is missing, he would have been 22-23 years old then and was on his own. Circa 1902.
Tom Mueller with the buffalo rock.	The manure bricks Great Grandma Susie was stacking on the day she died in 1932.
Tom Mueller, Jamestown ND, autographing his book at the Gackle Centennial, Gackle, ND, June 26, 2004

The Last Link

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