If you own an old house, at some point you may have wondered about its history.
Reading through the abstract of the property or perusing old county plat books can provide you with information to track down former owners. Piecing together the ownership puzzle can be a challenge, but the information that comes forth from all the hard work can bring personal satisfaction and possibly some historical significance.
An example of this is a house that was situated a couple of miles north of Ellsworth. Duane Johnson sold his old home and three acres of land to his grandson, Darrin Christopherson. Johnson and his wife, Marion, had raised their children in the house and farmed the land for over 40 years. Additions were made to the house as their family grew and more land was purchased along the way to expand their farming operation.
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When Christopherson decided to purchase the house and land from his grandfather, he envisioned a more contemporary home with added space. To accomplish his goals, the old house had to come down.
Some wheeling and dealing began with a small company from Gaylord, Minn., for the purpose of dismantling the old house. Kevin Coffel, who owns Antique Woodworks in Norwood, Minn., drove down to Ellsworth to take a look at the old homestead and figure out the best approach to knocking down the house. He would try to preserve the wood from the house for use in his business to build farm tables, mantles and flooring.
As Coffel started ripping the siding from the house with his crowbar, he found a few surprises. Two layers of siding were used on the house, plastic over wood. He had been told that the current house had been structured around an old log cabin, but what he found was a historical bonanza.
The wood from the log cabin was in such good shape it was as if it had just been constructed. The first logs used along the base of the building were white oak. Rock elm logs were then used for the rest of the structure. Both of these wood types were common to the area. The original cabin measured approximately 18 by 24 feet.
Coffel, taking note of the logs used, said, “They were hand hewn on two sides and rounded on two.” He also said that German dovetails were used.
Square nails, which had been machine cut, were used to pound the logs together. Pieces of leather that were 3/8 inch in diameter were used with the nails for the siding on the cabin to prevent moisture from building up.
“Today,” Coffel said, “there are times when we’d use rubber washers on nails to keep the moisture out.
“The whole issue of log houses hidden within modern houses is interesting,” Coffel said. “There’s more than you expect, people just don’t know it. Ellsworth appears to be littered with them. I know of at least 10 over there.”
It took Coffel hours and hours of back-breaking labor over a four- to six-week period to raze the building. Coffel added that a couple of major tools he used to dismantle the house were “a lot of muscle and time.”
Another bit of interesting finds were names that were penciled onto a log in the back of the cabin. About midway up the cabin close to the right hand corner was what looks like the name Anna. Another name which is hard to decipher was written next to it. Since the Freiers had a daughter named Anna, it is very possible she wrote her name on the wood to be remembered.
Found behind several layers of old flower printed wallpaper in the house were old newspapers. The papers were written in German and had come from Nebraska. They dated back to 1901 and talked of the escape of the Biddle Boys and the $5,000 reward for their capture. Other papers found were from the St. Paul Dispatch and were dated about 1902.
Still other items found within the log cabin included a small child’s high top shoe, an old Schmidt beer bottle and a piece of metal from one of grandpa’s suspender straps. A well preserved old calendar was discovered as well.
Mental snapshots of barefoot children playing games under shady oak trees or dipping their toes in the cool water of Lost Creek which ran through the property came to mind. This piqued my interest for finding out more about the original owners of the log cabin.
Armed with a stack of old musty plat books, census records, vital statistic documents and using data compiled by the Latter-Day Saints, the search began for information on the original owners of the property. An 1877 plat book listed Thomas Freier as the owner of the land. Freier was born to Jacob and Christine (nee Zeiler) Oct. 14, 1844, in Ripley County, Ind.
Freier purchased 80 acres of good farm land on the outskirts of Ellsworth. Not long afterward, he took as his wife Albertina Thom. Albertina was the daughter of Carl Thom and his wife Anna (nee Schmidt). She was born May 28, 1856, in Niekosken, Posen, Prussia. Albertina and Thomas Freier were married in Ellsworth Dec. 20, 1883. But according to some family sources, Albertina had been married once before to John Martin in Germany. Interestingly, she also never obtained a divorce from him before marrying Thomas Freier.
Albertina and first husband John had a child together in Germany named Minnie.
The Freiers became parents to five children: Anna Lena, Franz August, Alma Christine, Harry Thomas and Cora Sylvia. All of the Freier children were born in Ellsworth.
Sometime before 1930, the youngest son Harry took over the farming operation. His father Thomas died Nov. 12, 1934, and his mother had passed away several years earlier on Aug. 10, 1921. Both parents are buried in St. Paul’s Cemetery in Ellsworth, as are their children.
Harry, the youngest son of Thomas Freier, was owner of the house and property for several years. A 1949 plat book listed a new owner of the house and property. John William Hanson had purchased the farm and lived there for several years. Then in early 1950s, Duane Johnson bought the land and started farming.
Picture all these children sharing space with their parents in the humble 432 square foot log cabin. The cabin had a loft which presumably was used as a bedroom for all of the children. Now take a look at the homes of today. A 2,000 square foot home is common today to accommodate the average size family of 3.14.
What goes around comes around in more than one way. Some of the wood recovered from the old house is being put to good use once again. Darrin Christopherson’s new home boasts some white oak flooring which had been part of the original log cabin.
