Name/Title
Ackerman family: Joseph and Mary (Lemerick) Ackerman, 1881 settlers in Buxton Township, Traill County, Dakota TerritoryEntry/Object ID
2023.324.1Description
This family history folder contains copies of documents, a map and photograph on the life of Joseph and Mary (Lemerick) Ackerman (photo, left), who came to America in 1881 [info, Traill County History, Vol. I, below].
Joseph Ackerman was born on 21 December 1857 in Otterstadt, Rhineland, Germany to parents Jakob and Franziska (Schotthoefer) Ackerman [info, courtesy "Stockert_2015 In Progress" Ancestry.com, Public Member Tree]. On 13 November 1880, Joseph Ackerman married Anna Maria "Mary" Lemerick in Otterstadt. Mary was born on 27 April 1858 in Otterstadt, Rhineland, Germany. Joseph and Mary had a son, Julius Ackerman, earlier on 24 January 1879, In the Spring of 1881, Joseph, Mary and son Julius came to the USA and settled on land near Buxton in Traill County, Dakota Territory [info, Traill County History, Vol. I, below]. Buxton Township tax records for 1882 document that Joseph had claimed the SE Qtr. (160 acres) of Section 11.
However, by 1884, Joseph had evidently sold his farmland to Carl Hegar and Joseph, and family went to St. Paul to earn some money. Joseph Ackerman was a skilled carpenter and tax records indicate that he worked in St. Paul, MN, for about five years, having at least two children, Rosie and Joe, born in St. Paul in 1885 and 1887, respectively [info, courtesy "Stockert_2015 In Progress" Ancestry.com, Public Member Tree]. Their daughter, Hattie, was born in 1889 back in North Dakota. Tax records indicate that by 1894, Joseph (and family) had definitely returned to Buxton Township, to a farm in the SE Qtr. of Section 3 [1909 Traill County Atlas map, below]. As a skilled carpenter, Joseph did a lot of work for the Catholic Church and the Buxton community after he came back from St. Paul [info, courtesy Mary (Berthold) DeMers].
Tax records document that by 1903, Joseph Ackerman also owned the SW Qtr. of Section 2 in Buxton Township and by 1905, Joseph also owned the NE Qtr. of Section 10 [1909 Traill County Atlas map, below], Note that in 1909, the Joseph Ackerman family residence was in the corner of the SW Qtr. of S. 3, and a barn was located across the road in the corner of the NE Qtr. of S. 10.
Joseph Ackerman and Georg Berthold (Michael Berthold's oldest son) worked together on their lands after Michael died in 1908, as indicated by the shared threshing rig in a photograph (below) contributed to the TCHS by Mary (Berthold) DeMers. This photograph was taken on 22 September 1915 by a Grand Forks photographer. Joseph and Georg were cousins [info, courtesy Mary (Berthold) DeMers]. Joseph was a nephew of Georg's father, Michael Berthold. Joseph was the only living son of Michael's wife, Helena's sister, who had married Joseph's father, Jakob Ackermann in Bavaria. But, Jakob died, and Joseph's mother married Mathias Flory, and they came over to the USA with Michael and Helena Berthold in 1882.
Mary (Lemerick) Ackerman died, age 81, on 3 May 1940 at her home near Reynolds [obit, below]. After funeral at the Catholic Church in Reynolds, Mary was buried at the Catholic cemetery west of Reynolds [grave-marker photo, below].
Joseph Ackerman lived to the grand age of 96, passing away at the farm home of his son, Fred Ackerman, on 4 June 1953 [ND Death Certif., below]. After funeral services held at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Reynolds [obit, below], Joseph was interred at the Catholic cemetery just west of Reynolds [grave-marker photo below].Acquisition
Accession
2023.324Source or Donor
Mary DeMers
