This history will obviously branch into multiple directions as I’ll try to portray both paternal and maternal information. First the paternal branch.
Fredrick Oliver Erb migrated to the United States from Liestal, Basel-Country, Switzerland somewhere around 187?. Some of his brothers settled in Pennsylvania, others in Missouri and Kansas. F.O. as he seemed to be known settled in Banner Township (Timken), Rush County, Kansas. F.O. was my grandfather Herman’s, father. Obviously, he was my great-grandfather. He married Marie B. Kellar, who migrated from Herdelsheum, Balden, Germany around the same time as F.O. They were married in Larned, Kansas in 1881. It is my wish to visit both of those countries to ascertain more information about their lives and other ancestors from that time period.
They had 12 children, Anna, Mary, Fritz, August, Emma, Adolph, Walter, Herman, Otto, Flora, Lena, and Bertha. The following is some info about these siblings. Anyone with more info, please send the info to the manager of this site (jerb@satx.rr.com). Flora married Charles Kraisinger. Flora is Ida Mae Bieber's and Virgil Kraisinger's mother. They lived on the same site that Ida Mae and Vernon lived on in Timken, Kans. The original house was located a couple hundred feet west of Ida Mae's house. The foundation was still there when we grew up. Ida Mae & Vernon lived just about a block down the street from our family home. The Bieber's and Erb's were very close and spent a lot of time visiting together. Flora eventually moved to LaCrosse. She was killed as she was walking across the street in LaCrosse by a car. Otto Erb was Irene Hagerman's father. Irene and Irvin Hagerman were close family friends when we were growing up. Otto eventually moved to LaCrosse, Kans. Fritz originally settled in Bazine. During the depression, things got so bad that he moved to Marshfield, MO. Some of his children were born in Bazine, and some in Marshfield. Some of his kids moved back to Kansas, and some still in Missouri. If you are interested in seeing the families of each sibling, look at the family tree on Ancestry.com. See the Home Page of this site for a direct internet link and information on how to access it.
All the brothers were wheat farmers and there is a picture of all of them working at harvest time standing around or sitting on a combine. It may have been referred to as a “thrasher” at that time.
Grandpa Herman and his next older brother, Walter, settled in the Timken, Kansas area. Others spread out over Kansas and Missouri. Fritz settled in the Bazine, Kansas area. Otto settled close to Rush County somewhere, but I’m not sure where. Flora and Lena married and settled close to the Rush Co. area also. Anyone with information as to where they all settled, feel free to let me know and I’ll add it here. Since our immediate family was raised for the most part in Timken, here is a link to a historical web site that tells the history of Timken, Ks. http://www.rushcounty.org/RushHistoricalMuseum/rchhistory.html
Grandpa married Mary Viola Sell from Timken, Kansas, in Lindsborg, Kansas on Oct 12, 1916. Information I have says she was born in Timken, as many Sell's lived there in the beginning, many later settled in the LaCrosse, Kansas area. Grandma was born to Marie Sell. Her father was unknown. Marie died 3 days after Grandma was born. There are a couple rumors surround her death, one was she died from complications of the birth, another is she committed suicide because she was unmarried and in those days, it was a bad thing to have a child out of wedlock. If the latter was true, can you imagine the anguish and stress she went through during the pregnancy to make a finality decision like that. I doubt that we will ever know for sure. There is no documentation as to her father either. There are a couple rumors of that as well. One is, he was an Indian from the local area, another is, he was a custom wheat cutter that traveled through that area in the summer. Timing of the custom cutter rumor matches as she was born in Mar 1898 and wheat harvest is around 9 months before that. I’ve heard others tell of the color of Grandma’s complexion resembles that of someone with Indian blood. Guess we’ll never know the truth of it all. She was raised by her maternal grandmother. Regardless, Grandma was a beautiful and kind person who left this earth too soon. She died in 1958 at the age of 60. I was in the 8th grade and remember getting the call at school from my brother Jim who was a freshman in high school. We knew she was ill, but we were kept from knowing the seriousness of her illness until after she died. Grandma was a very religious person and a member of the Methodist church in Bison, Kansas. She was also a member of the “Eastern Star” and I have no idea what that organization is or was in those days.
There were 3 children from Herman and Mary; Arthur Ceaser, Leonard Ivy (Dad), and Irvin Edward. Dad's nickname was "Chink". Apparently when he was young, his smile reminded his peers of a Chinese person, and they laid that nickname on him. It stuck with him throughout his life as his closest friends refered to him as Chink until his death. Uncle Art was close to our family, which I believe is because he couldn't have children of his own and he looked to us for that family association. Irvin, known as "Little Red" because of his red hair, was killed in a car accident as age 23. He was a fun loving youth and loved to drive his car at breakneck speeds. He was driving to the family farm home from LaCrosse in an effort to beat his previous time. The sandy road had many sharp curves and he wrecked his car on a curve just a short distance from home.
Additional Lore from non-family friend:
The following is a story relay to Jim from George Reha. The Reha’s were long time family friends of ours. George’s Dad, Frank and his wife Lilly were very close to Mom & Dad. George’s brother Dan was the Timken State Bank Manager. Dad and Dan went to high school together. Frank worked for Dad when he managed the Timken Lumber and Hardware Store in Timken.
From George Reha: Setting here thinking about a story that my dad used to tell. Thought you would enjoy reading.
Dad worked for a Martin Lewis before he was married and also stayed with them. They took the team and went to Timken and were playing pool. When they came out the team and wagon was gone. Someone told them that they saw them running toward their home, so someone took them home in their wagon.
Martin’s home was about ½ mile west of the Edward Pechanec’s farm, no longer there. When they got home the wagon was there and horses were in the barn. Martin’s wife said that the Erb brothers had brought them and that Martin and Dad had gone to Bison to play pool with some other people and asked them to bring team home for them.
Good joke, so Martin and Dad waited about a week, until Halloween, they stole Otto Erb’s buggy and loaded it on a freight car and shipped it to Albert, Ks. Agent at Albert notified Otto that it was there so he had to take a team and go get it. They had lot of good laughs over them 2 things.
Now I know why you are so damn onery. You get it honest from your grandpa Herman and your dad. Guess I will just have to learn to put up with you ha ha ha.
Your mom was a very special person. She did many nice things for my mom. She was more like a daughter and sister than just a friend. Any how enjoy, and keep in touch. Your friend George
Thought of something else. Dad used to say that when you heard a hell of a roar in the south, just wait and the Erb bros would ride in on their Harleys. ha (The Erb bro's didn’t have Harleys, they rode Indian motorcycles.)
To be continued.
F.O. Erb Family Harvest Crew 1910 Timken, Kansas
ERB ANCESTORIAL LORE
Leonard & Frances 50th Wedding Anniversary
Erb Family Farm House
South of Timken, Ks
Herman & Mary (Sell) Erb
Wedding Picture - 1916
Wedding picture - 1942