1938 - The Brookings Register, newspaper obituary, April 4, 1938

Mrs. Gustave Kurtz

    Louise Vogel was born in Gunns, Austria, March 17, 1859.  On December 12, 1879 she married John Unger.  To this union, three sons were born, two of whom preceded her in death.  Mr. Unger died March 10, 1884, and she later married Gustave Kurtz on June 10, 1888.  This couple came to America March 27, 1893, and settled near Elkton, S.D.  They then moved to the vicinity of Pipestone where they resided seven years, and then returned to Brookings county.  They lived on a farm near Bushnell until 19 years ago.  They then moved to the city of Brookings which has since been their home.

    To Mr. And Mrs. Kurtz were born nine children, three of whom preceded her in death.  The surviving relatives are her husband, six sons--- John Unger of Hugo, Colo., Gust Kurtz, Jr., of Bushnell, Fred and Ed Kurtz of White, and William and Ted Kurtz of Casa Grande, Ariz.; one daughter, Mrs. Louise Bain of Leola, S.D., and 33 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

    Mrs. Kurtz died on Thursday, March 31, at 5:30 a.m. at the age of 79 years and 14 days.  She enjoyed fairly good health until about a week before her death when she developed asthma and other complications which she was unable to overcome.

    Funeral services were held on Saturday, April 2.  A short service at the home at 1:30 and services at the Methodist Episcopal church at 2:30 were conducted by the Rev. Edward W. Stodghill.  Burial was made at the Greenwood cemetery.

    Relatives and friends from away who attended the services were Mrs. Anna Bain, who made the trip across the ocean with the Kurtz family, Henry and George Bain and Mrs. Richard Jenske, Mrs. Louise Bain, Iva and Ada Bain, all of Leola , S.D. Mr. And Mrs. Harvey Meyer of Frederick, S.D.; Mrs. Clara Reynolds and daughter Maxine of Pipestone, and Mr. and Mrs. Earl Stewart of Wilmont, S.D.

Louise (Vogel-Unger) Kurtz

by Jerome Sutton, compiled June 28, 2000

            Louise (or Alois) Fogle [the German 'F' is converted to 'V' in English; e.g., Folksvagan to Volkswagon] was born March 19, 1859, is Oberloisdorf, Austria-Hungary. Her Mother was a midwife and her father, who had a very good voice, belonged to a quartet that performed at weddings, funerals and great occasions. Her Grandfather was a teacher.

            Indications are that she was raised Catholic and likely attended Catholic school. She married Johann Franz Unger on December 12, 1878. They had two children: John born May 21, 1879 and Joe born May 10, 1881. Johann Unger died March 10th, 1884.

            Four years later, on June 12, 1888, Louise married Gustav Adolph Kurtz. He was a miller by trade and had been born June 10th, 1852 in Gunns, Austria-Hungary. Their first child, Louise, was born June 22, 1889 and Grandfather Gus was born September 15, 1890. Their second son, Karl, was born in 1882. Little Louise attended a parochial pre-school in Germany at the age of 3.

            One needs to put the 1890 world in context. It was changing dramatically.  Between 1890 and 1910 the population increased 43% in Germany and 35% in Austria. Emigration from Europe to America and Australia amounted to 26 million individuals as families sought opportunities in the New World. Steamship tonnage surpassed sailing-ship tonnage for the first time in 1893.

            Gustav and Louise were part of this migration as they embarked for America in 1893. They had scraped together enough money for 15t class passage. Was it steam or sail? - the record doesn't say. There are indications however that through misinterpretation or fraud, when they got on the ship in March 1893, they were directed to steerage and endured the cramped conditions of 3rd class.

            During the three-week voyage, the infant Karl contracted pneumonia, died and was buried in the wintry North Atlantic. Mother Louise was seasick the entire trip. They apparently landed at, and processed through, Ellis Island off New York City. In the confusion of the new land, they were bilked out of most of their remaining funds when exchanging currency. The Red Cross financed passage on a train to Elkton, South Dakota, where they arrived March 27th, 1893, in an impoverished state. Louise's cousin, Anton Berghauffer, who lived in Elkton and clerked at a store owned by N.A. Schouweiler, met them. [They arrived on the tail of the Dakota Territory boom following discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1876. A train track was being laid through Elkton at its inception in 1880. South Dakota entered the union as the 40th state November 2, 1889.]

            Their ages upon arrival were: Gustav, Sr. - 40; Louise - 34 (& pregnant); John -14; Joe - 12; Louise - 4; & Gus - 3.

            Their first residence in America was small structure on the Catholic parish farm 3 miles north and 1 west of Elkton. This structure was subsequently used as a chicken coop. Although there was a large German community with which the family associated, they did not speak English. General communication was difficult. Great-grandfather worked on the parish farm but when the crops were laid-by in late September, he went to Oklahoma to look for free land. While delayed. [The Oklahoma land rush had occurred in 1889 and Oklahoma Territory had been established in March 1890. Land was still available.]

            On October 4th, 1893 during an early snowstorm of classic South Dakota proportions, in the absence of her husband and without doctor or midwife, Louise delivered her sixth child, Fred E. 'Fritz' Kurtz. Did a kindly neighbor lady attend? Or was she alone with only the children to help? In any case she was obviously of hardy stock because on October 30th of that year, they moved to 'a shack south of Pipestone, MN'. The younger Gus Kurtz often indicated that his earliest memory was walking behind the wagon carrying the family chamber pot during one of the early moves.

            That first Thanksgiving in America was bitter cold and they were so poor they burned twisted flax straw to keep warm. John Unger's classmates brought them coal, flour, pies and supplies for Thanksgiving. Years later John would describe this event as, 'Gee! It was grand! I While in the Pipestone area, Gustav sought work as a miller and Louise took in laundry for income. The milling methods were quite different from Germany, so he did not stay long and they moved to a farm south of Cazenovia. Between 1894 and 1901, four more sons, Edward (1895), William (1898), Elmer (1900) and Theodore Roosevelt (1901), were born.

            In 1901, Gustav and Louise bought a farm 6 miles east and 3 Y2 south of White, SD for $20.00 per acre. Their granddaughter Mildred related how her Grandfather described this farm to his wife Louise when announcing the purchase. He said, "Ya! It is a good farm, unt it has lots of rocks to build with."

            In October 1902, little Elmer about 2 Y2 years old wandered away one evening. It was thought he tried to follow his brother, Fritz (Fred E.), who was herding cattle. The family and neighbors searched for many hours. The next day, E.U. Kretsinger and another neighbor found Elmer's body in a deep pool while searching along the creek near the home. [E.U. Kretsinger became the father-in-law to both Gus and Fritz when they married his daughters, Iva and Elta, in 1912 and 1919, respectively.]

            In September 1919, Gustav and Louise held an auction of their chattels at the farm and moved to 811 Third Ave., Brookings, SD. The younger Gus and his wife Iva purchased the farm. Great-grandfather Gustav kept bees, Louise maintained the household and they raised a large garden. Their children provided produce and beef. A number of their grandchildren boarded with them while attending high school in Brookings. They resided on 3rd Ave. until their deaths; Louise died March 31 st, 1938, and Gustav on December 4th, 1943.

            Louise's Granddaughter, Mildred, related that although Louise had been separated from the Catholic faith by time and circumstance, she requested a priest while in her final illness. The priest after talking to her about her life indicated he was sure God would understand.

 (This narrative was gleaned from various family notes, records and lore of the Kurtz family. J.P. Sutton. 6/28/00)