Biography of John A. Ahrens
Gladys Ahrens
In the year of 1872, a son was born to John A. Ahrens and Theresa Ahrens. The son was named John A. Junior. John Jr. was born in Toyewell Township in Egypt Township near Pekin Illinois.
In 1876 they left this home and moved to Alta, Iowa. In 1895 John Jr. married Elnora York in Alta, Iowa. In 1896 a daughter was born who was named Grace Irene. In 1898 they moved to Waterloo, Iowa and here another daughter, Effie Viora was born.
In 1900 a son was born whom they named Elmer Curtis.
From Waterloo they moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa. In 1902 they moved to Lakefield Minnesota. In 1903 they moved to the state of North Dakota and located on a homestead near Sawyer. They came to North Dakota with the idea of getting rich.
In 1908 another daughter was born, and this girl was named Gladys Irene.
When they took up the homestead at Sawyer, they built a little house of two rooms which was made of wood and sod. This homestead was eleven miles from town, and they made on the average of one trip a week to town for provisions. The neighbors that were the nearest were John Calburin, Steve Streeper, Fred Hamilton, and N.D. Weltz.
They had three teams and all new machinery. They raised wheat, oats, flax, and speltz, but they received very low prices for their grain. Wheat sold for 52¢ a bushel and flax for 90¢ a bushel.
They burned lignite coal for fuel, for the lignite mine was just a mile from their homestead. The only hardships they had were losing cattle in blizzards.
In 1910 we moved to Rival, North Dakota where John A. Jr. took a job in an elevator. In 1913 we moved to Glenfield, North Dakota where he continued his profession. In 1916 Grace was married to Edward Hennings and to them was born a baby girl. In 1917 Grace and the baby died from the effects of burns caused by their home burning down. In 1918 Effie Ahrens married W.B. Turner and a boy was born to them in 1921. He died on April 21, 1924 from diphtheria.
In 1920 we moved from Glenfield to Logan, North Dakota and in 1922 we moved to Spokane, Washington. We lived there for two years, and we then moved to Fargo. In 1925 we came to Cooperstown where John Ahrens was employed in the Great Western Elevator.