Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin January 18, 2012, Page 7 Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press" Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon. Index of "Oldies" Articles    Compiled by Dee Zimmerman   Clark County News

January 1932

 

A pretty church wedding was solemnized at the Congregational Church at 3:30 o’clock in the afternoon on New Year’s Day, when Mr. Allan C. Covell and Miss Marie E. Woelffer were united in marriage, Rev. G. W. Longenecker officiating.

 

The church decorations were unique in design and beautifully carried out. The altar steps and platform represented a miniature fir forest; the shades were drawn and lights covered to five the appearance of sunshine, the effects being heightened by cream-colored tapers.  Over the center aisle were constructed arches of evergreens. The design and construction of the decorations was the work of the members of the church choir, and was a tribute to the bride, who had been pianist in the church services since she was a young girl.

 

Before the entrance of the bridal party, a solo, “At Dawning,” was sung by Dr. Sarah Rosekrans. The bride, on the arm of her father, preceded by the bridesmaid, Miss Irma Woelffer, her sister, advanced under the arches to the strains of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March, played by Mrs. Arthur Flynn and joined the groom and best man, Mr. Louis Bradbury, before the altar. The single ring ceremony was used.

 

Miss Esther Jackson, Hazel Lee, Anne Tompkins and Pearl Chapman, all members of the church choir acted as ushers. The bride wore an all over lace dress, cream colored and trimmed with the same colored crepe de chine, with a turban to match. She also wore long lace gloves and carried a shower bouquet of cream-colored chrysanthemums with a touch of pink roses. The bridesmaid wore a pale green and white net dress and a tulle cap to match; she wore a corsage bouquet of yellow roses and sweet peas. The ushers wore chiffon dresses of pastel shades.

 

After the ceremony, a reception was held and a fine wedding dinner was served at the home of the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. V. C. Woelffer, 202 South Oak Street with about 35 being present.

 

The bride was born in Neillsville and has lived here all her life, graduated from Neillsville High School in1925.  Later she entered the office of Schuster & Campman, where she was employed as an abstracter until her marriage. She is a young lady of rare grace and beauty, an excellent musician and is possessed of a fine mentality.  In her work and social actions she has made friends of all who came to know here.

 

The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H. Covell of Hudson, Wis.  He graduated from the Hudson High School in 1915, and later from the University of Minnesota as a civil engineer. During the summer of 1930 he was employed by the State Highway Department in the construction of concrete paving here by the Lex Construction Co. and made a number of local friends by whom he is held in high esteem.  He now has a position in the same department and is located at Ellsworth.

 

After a short visit with relatives at Hudson, the bride and groom will go at once to Ellsworth, where they will make their home for a time.

 

(Mr. and Mrs. Covell returned to live in Neillsville and Allan Covell worked several years with Clark County Forestry management. D. Z.)                                                                                     

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Earl Miller, who left Neillsville 35 years ago to go on a farm near Spencer, was in the city Thursday visiting old friends.  Mr. Miller worked in the Hein saw mill at Veefkind, the mill at Heintown and the furniture factory in Neillsville during the early days.

 

Thirty-nine years ago Mr. Miller was hired by Charles Sherman to haul mail by horse and buggy from Neillsville to Marshfield, making three trips a week for which he was paid $8 a month.  People along the way often asked Miller to bring things from town to them for which they paid him small sums, thus helping to swell his income.  Mr. Sherman took the contract to haul the mail for $425 a year, but did not make any money on the venture, according to Mr. Miller.

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The city council Tuesday night acted favorably on an appeal by Otto Lewerenz to close off a street where children can coast down hill and not be in danger of automobile traffic.  The council decided to close Court Street from Fifth street north from 7 to 11 p.m. daily and on Sunday will be allowed on that part of Court Street and the crossing on Sixth Street will be blocked off during those hours.

 

Several children make a practice after school of sliding down the concrete sides of the public library steps, often going to fast that they run across the sidewalk and into the street, where there is great danger of their being struck by passing automobiles.  Parents should warn their children against this practice.

 

 

 

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Farmers who are entitled to a rebate on gasoline tax should get busy and file their claims before February 1, as failure to file before that date will forfeit the rebate. Blanks may be secured at oil stations.

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Miss Ruth Schlinsog and Mr. Victor Turner were married Sunday afternoon, Jan. 24, at the Granton Zion Lutheran parsonage by Rev. Hoeh, the double ring ceremony being used. The bride is the oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Schlinsog, a graduate of the Neillsville High School. She wore a dress of tile crepe and carried a bouquet of ferns, roses and orange blossoms. The bridesmaid was Sadie Schlinsog, sister of the bride. She wore a dress of tile flat crepe and carried a bouquet of roses and sweet peas.

 

The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Abie Turner.  He wore a brown suit and was attended by his brother, Clayton, who also wore a brown suit.  The bride and groom are both popular young people.  There was a wedding supper at the home of the Bride’s parents. The house was decorated in orange and white. The evening was spent in playing cards. A wedding cake was made by Mrs. Anna Haberland of Neillsville.                    

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Neillsville is becoming a mecca for hoboes.  Tuesday night 10 tramps spent the night at the city hall and Wednesday five bums put up at the hall, according to chief of police Fred Rossman. The city spent $30 for hobo lunches during January, according to city clerk Herb Brown.

 

January 1952

 

The City of Neillsville is starting the New Year with a balance of about $8,800.  In other years the city had to borrow $10,000 in December; but not this year. A check from the state for snow removal helped the healthy state of the budget.

 

The first instrument recorded in the register of deed’s office was a warranty deed in which Alvin Reddig of Clark County sold 80 acres in the Town of Sherman to Ellison John Scott of Cook County, Ill.  Described as lying in section 11, the farm brought consideration of about $7,000.

 

The first caller in the county clerk’s office was Gus Holtz of Neillsville. A stamp collector, Mr. Holtz regularly visits the offices in search of new stamps. The first long distance phone call was made to Mike Krultz’s office was made by Charles Perko of Marshfield.  The first taxpayer of the New Year in the City of Neillsville is Otto Roessler of Neillsville.  Willard H. Allen bought the first dog license.

 

Cold weather greeted the New Year with a temperature of 23 below zero recorded at the Indian School farm.

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Mr. and Mrs. Edward Miller of Milladore have purchased the William Seeman cheese factory in the Town of Loyal for about $23,000. The purchase price includes 10 square rods of land, the truck fleet and the contents of the cheese factory, which is located a mile and a half north of Loyal on County Trunk K.

 

Mr. Miller, who operated an American Cheddar Cheese factory at Milladore for five years, took over the Seeman plant on December 16.  He plans to continue making American Cheddar cheese at the Seeman factory.

 

The bottled milk plant was discontinued following the sale.

 

William Seeman, who operated the plan for 23 years, will retire.        

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Memories of ten years spent in concentration and detention camps are rapidly being forgotten by the Felix Tanbalski family, who arrived during the holidays to take up residence on the John Zajac farm near Globe.

 

The Tanbalskis are the first displaced family to be brought to Clark County by someone other than a relative. Their coming was arranged through the Department of Agriculture. They were as unknown to John Zajac and he was to them.

 

“I went down last summer to Chicago and visited a Catholic agency to get a displaced family to help on my farm,” he said.  “Since I was not Catholic, they didn’t think my chances were too good.  When I got back home, I went to see Stan Ihlenfeldt, the county agent, and he put in an application with the Department of Agriculture. Then in December I got a letter.  The family was in New York and would arrive here December 20.  I didn’t know what to do.  The house I was building for them was still incomplete and I didn’t expect them until spring. Also, they didn’t know a word of English.”

 

The family consists of Felix, who is 43; his wife, Anne, who is 29; their son, Victor, who is six and was born in one of the camps; and Felix’s mother, Mrs. Victoria Tanbalski.

 

The family arrived and was temporarily put up in the Zajac home while the little house was finished. It will be their first home since 1942, when the Germans overran Poland.

 

The Tanbalskis originally had a small farm near Vilna, Poland. When the Germans invaded, the Tanbalskis and other able-bodied people were shipped in freight cars, like cattle, to Germany to work on German farms.

 

“We were fed only enough to keep us alive,” Mrs. Tanbalski told Mr. Zajac, who is acting as their interpreter.

 

After Germany was defeated, the Tanbalskis were kept in a detention camp near Frankfort while the Allies tried to figure out what to do with the thousands of displaced persons.  Russia took over the Vilna section of Poland because of the mines, so the Tanbalskis were left without a country or a home.

 

“We were told we could go back to Vilna if we wanted to. We didn’t know.  We hadn’t seen it in three years.  We didn’t know if there was a house there to come back to, or if someone else had settled there, or if the Russians had built something on the land. We decided we would stay in the camp, where we knew we would have a roof over our heads. Then they told us we could come to America to work on farms. So we decided we would come if we could,” Mrs. Tanbalski said.

 

John Zajac lives on a 240-acre farm near Globe.  His children are grown and he has been unable to get help to run the farm.   “If I couldn’t get anyone, I was going to sell and move to the city. The displace persons service was my last hope.  I wanted help, someone that would stay and make their home here.”

 

Little Victor Tanbalski, who is a bright and alert lad, has already begun to pick up expressions in English. The Zajac Christmas tree was the first he had ever seen and he openly admired it, but always from a distance.  He didn’t quite understand the principle of it.  He will soon be joining the other children at the Worchel School.

 

“In about six months he will know enough English to get along well in school,” Mr. Zajac said of him.

 

The contrast in European and American methods of farming were clearly brought out when the family started helping Mr. Zajac.

 

“The way I thought it would work,” he said, “was he would help me on the farm, milking the cows, running the tractors, and her only job would be to strip the cows and wash the utensils.”

 

“I discovered that over there it was done differently.  The women took care of the cows and the men worked in the fields.  Of course, they were smaller farms, plowing with maybe an ox, but the rest of the planting, fieldwork was done by hand. So he doesn’t know how to milk, or drive a tractor, and the machinery is completely new to him.  He is learning fast though.  But the work is pretty difficult for him.”

 

The small house built by Mr. Zajac for the hired man, is hidden from the other house by a clump of large evergreen trees.  On the first floor are the kitchen, living room, and bedroom.  Upstairs are two unfinished bedrooms. Small, but compact, the white painted house seems like heaven to the Tanbalskis, who have known only barracks for 10 years.

 

The horrors of the gas chamber, of the torture by the Nazis, were not unknown to the Tanbalskis.

 

“You could tell whether the people being gassed were alive or dead by the color of the smoke,” they said.

 

Mr. Zajac’s mother died from shock in one of the camps and two of his brothers died of tuberculosis from exposure in the camps.  He also has a reason for taking in a displaced family and giving them a home, in addition to the one of economics.

 

In the quiet countryside surrounding the Zajac farm, the Tanbalski family is gradually coming back to life, to peace, the way it was on their farm before the war.                                                 

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Four Clark County boys have recently joined the United States Navy. They are: Norman Davis, son of Mr. and Mrs. Irving Davis of Chili; Roland E. Quicker, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Roland Quicker of Granton; Ralph Riedel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Riedel of Granton; and Raymond Barth, husband of Mrs. Shirley Barth, and son of Mr. and Mrs. John Barth.

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Red Owl Store Specials – Smoked hams, whole or half, 49¢ lb.; Lean bacon squares, 43¢ lb.; Meaty spareribs, 39¢ lb.; Aged Cheddar, 60¢ lb.; Oranges, doz. 39¢; Jonathan Apples, bushel, $2.95

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Thursday, Friday & Saturday at Kearns Rexall Drug Store, Fountain Special, Pineapple Sundae 15 cents

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McCain’s – First Time! Nylon Hosiery, 51 gauge, Dark seam, dark heel, in latest shades, $1.00 pair

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