Joseph Sauer

The Joseph Sauer family came to Sanborn in 1881. My father Jacob J. Sauer was born in Canada in 1879. He was two years old when the family came here. Dad's sister Katherine was the first white child born in Sanborn. The family lived in the building on main street that eventually became the blacksmith shop. Catholic Church services were also held there.

Dad's father Joseph took up a homestead south of Sanborn. There were several more brothers in my Grandfather Joseph Sauer's family; John, Andrew, Michael, Jacob and August. All of the brothers helped with the building of the Catholic Church in 1884. Although my father Jacob was only five years old at the time, he helped with the building of the church by picking and hauling rocks and also helped drive a team of horses.

My grandparents Joseph and Katherine Sauer had twelve children.

Eight sons:

  1. Andrew,

  2. Peter,

  3. Joseph,

  4. Jacob,

  5. John,

  6. Frank,

  7. William and

  8. George.

    Four daughters:

  9. Katherine,

  10. Anna,

  11. Margaret, and

  12. Helen.

Of these children, William still lives in Montana and George lives in Valley City.

My grandfather Joseph and a couple of his brothers, and my father Jacob, operated a lime kiln along with Leo Noecker and his sons on the Noecker homestead south of Sanborn. The men also built several basements and barns in the Sanborn area. My father, Jacob Sauer, married Regina Stroh in 1912 in Sanborn. My mother Regina was the daughter of John Stroh of Cawker City, Kansas. Mother came to Sanborn in 1900 when she was 21 years old. She worked for several families in and around Sanborn, and also for a time kept house for the Catholic Priest. My parents had five children: four daughters- myself (Cletus) Mrs. Edward Wagner; Charlotte, Mrs. Henry White, Castre Valley, California; Mary, Mrs. Bernard Wagner, Sanborn, North Dakota; Lucille Gaffney, Fargo, North Dakota, and one son, Joseph, Sanborn, North Dakota.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 215