William F. Kerber was born in 1854 in Germany. Hearing of the free land in America, he came and homesteaded the NE quarter of Section 20-144-58 of the Dakota Territory, Broadview Township in the 1880's. He married Marie Krapf, who had come from Germany to visit the Jacob Steiner's in 1904. Kerber's lived in a granary for a few months until their house was built.
Marie and William Kerber had four children:
Emma, Robert, Flora, and Edward. William died after only six years of marriage. Marie then rented the land to someone and took her small children back to Germany since she had no way of supporting them here. She returned in 1924 when the children were grown. Robert then farmed his mother's land. Emma worked for the Andrew Morgan's at Luverne. She could not speak English and they could not speak German, but they managed to communicate. Edward and Flora worked on farms near Valley City. Robert farmed only four years and then went east. The homestead was again rented to others. Marie Kerber owned this quarter until her death in 1959. Her grandson, Howard Steiner, bought it.
Emma Kerber married William Henry August Steiner in 1925. William was better known as August. His father, Jacob, had homesteaded in 1885 in Steele County. In December 1887 Jacob's fiancee, Eva Schaal, came from Germany to join him. They traveled by oxen over the ice of the Sheyenne River to Valley City to be married. August, born in 1891, was one of three children. His parents retired in Valley City in 1926.
August and Emma Steiner rented various farms in the Karnak area. August supplemented their income by putting up ice during the winter, driving school bus with a team of horses and a sleigh with covered box, and custom sheep shearing. Emma and August's three children, Howard, Leah, and Lester, were born in the Wild maternity home in Cooperstown in the late 1920's. In 1943 they bought what was known as the Langdon farm, Section 7-144-59, Greenfield Township and farmed together until August's death in 1961. Emma moved to Hannaford a couple of years later. Her son, Lester, married Doreen Stangeland and they bought the farm from Emma. They are presently living there with their children, Scott and Stacey.
Howard Steiner worked in Fargo the winter of 194647. There he met Eva Block who was a nurse at St. Luke's Hospital. They were married in 1947. Howard and his bride lived in an apartment within August and Emma's house until 1949 when they bought the NW quarter of Section 18-144-59 in Greenfield Township. It was known as the Warn place. They have four children:
Dayle, William, Nichi, and Dorothy.
As a young woman, Leah Steiner worked as a secretary in Fargo. There she met and married Frank Green. They and their two children, Robert and Karen, live in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 144