The following article is part of the Diamond Club Member group that began in the January 7, 1943, issue of the Rock County Star Herald. Members of this group consist of persons of age 75 and older.
The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Sept. 9, 1943.
(Continued from last week’s Star Herald.)
Emma Hamann worked hard for her salary, though, for her job meant getting up at 5 a.m. in the summer, milking seven or eight cows morning and night, as well as doing inside work. The weekly washing for eight or nine people was all done by hand on a wash board, and whenever she would bake bread, she would have to bake at least 10 loaves at the time.
After working for her uncle for about a year, she obtained employment as a dish washer in a hotel at Van Horn, Iowa, with an increase in salary of $1 a week. The hotel served many dinners as a rule, as trains would stop there so passengers could eat their meals. “I saw all kinds of people,” Mrs. Hamann recalls. “There were people there from all walks of life, from all parts of the country. It was interesting to see them.”
On June 30, 1885, she was married to August H. Hamann, at Vinton, Iowa, and immediately afterward they began housekeeping on Mr. Hamann’s farm near Remsen in Plymouth county, Ia. They lived there seven years, then a friend of theirs, Albert Ahrendt, induced them to come to Minnesota. Mr. Hamann bought a farm northwest of Luverne, and they lived there until they moved to Luverne in 1919.
During her early years on the farm, Mrs. Hamann often worked in the fields during harvest and corn picking. She did this in addition to her house work and to rearing her six children.
She never went away from home a great deal. For one thing, she didn’t have the time, and for another thing, traveling in those days was not easy. “When we went to town, it was just too bad if we forgot to buy something, because it usually meant that we would have to live without it for about two weeks, when we would go to town again.”
There was no German Lutheran church here then, and she recalls attending services in the county court house with Pastor Brinkman as the minister. Later, enough money was raised to build the school house near the present St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, and finally the church was built. Mrs. Hamann was one of the first members of ladies’ aid of the church, and was active in its function until later years. She is still able to attend church, however.
Direct descendants of Mrs. Hamann include six children, 21 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Her children include: Rudolph A. Hamann, Clear Lake, S.D.; Mrs. Albert Priesz, Mrs. J. W. Ahrendt, August F. Hamann, Arthur Hamann and Herbert F. Hamann, all of Luverne.
Mrs. Hamann still maintains her own home, and although she has given up gardening on a big scale, she still raises a few vegetables for her own use, and has many beautiful flowers. She at one time did considerable sewing and fancy work but in later years, she has been unable to do so because of her poor eyesight. She is able to read somewhat, enough to “keep up with the times,” she says.
Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.