Joseph Shape II

Joe Shape was the second oldest of six children born to Joseph and Rosetta 1 Shape at Henry, South Dakota, on February 2, 1886, and is the only surviving member of this family. He came to North Dakota from Henry, South Dakota, in March 1909 and worked for John Woodcock, which is two miles south and two miles west of Rogers, for two years. In 1911 he decided to start farming on his own so went back to South Dakota, to get some horses. He brought back ten horses to a farm five miles south of Leal; Charles Woodcock was his hired man.

He married Clara Bruchoff, a long time sweetheart, on March 19, 1913, at Clark, South Dakota. They came to Eckelson, North Dakota where they owned a home. There were ten children born to this union and they are all - living. Two of the sons are still living at home and two are living with their families in Hemen Township.

  1. On April 8, 1914 daughter Jean was born;

  2. Howard was born August 13, 1915;

  3. James was born: January 26, 1917 and

  4. John was born April 22, 1918. In the spring of 1919 they moved to Section  4 in Svea Township and

  5. Orval was born on Christmas Day 1919.  Then in the fall of 1920 they moved back to Section  5, Svea Township, where they, have continued to reside to this day. Joe is the oldest pioneer that has continued to live in Svea Township. Mrs. Shape always had a big garden and did a lot of canning. With ten children in the family there was lots of work to be done. In 1920 Jean and Howard started school at Svea school and when the weather got bad Mrs. Shape along with the other children moved into the teacherage so they could continue going to school.

    Joe got the first combine ever in the county in 1928 which brought curiosity seekers from all over to see how it worked. They also had a threshing rig and did custom threshing for a lot of the farmers in the area. 

  6. Three sons, Buster,

  7. Orval and

  8. George

are in partnership having bought out their Dad in 1949. About 1956 Mr. Shape' started working with Diamond Willow. He has made a lot of lamps, and tables etc. He has entered some of his work at Fairs around the area. In 1963 Joe and Clara celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary. Clara passed away in April 1964. Joe continues to keep house for Donald and George and is an expert at making jams and jellies. He drives his new 1975 Torino and enjoys life. He has 17 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 222