Approximately 26 years elapsed between the Ziebarth-Weier settlement in the Sand Lake area of New York and the settlement on the Turtle River in Dakota Territory. (The private Weier family cemetery is pictured here. It stands near their farm in New York.) The Charleya August Ziebarth family came into Dakota after having pioneered approximately 14 of those 26 years in Minnesota. (Repeating: the migration to Dakota Territory was probably made in the year 1878.) Although Grandfather August was a professional Tailor by trade, and not a real dirt farmer, what his youngest son, Fred, said of him was very true: "Dad was always moving the the frontier." This show that there was a lot of the spirit of the pioneer in him. He loved the good earth and the open skies, and the spirit of adventure challenged him. This was why he heeded the call attributed to Horace Greely (But actually coined by John B.L. Soule in the Terre Haute Express, 1851): "Go West, young man, go West." West he went—first to America, then to Minnesota, then to Dakota. While pioneering in Minnesota they moved about considerably establishing residence in such places as LeSeur County, Litchfield, Sauk Center, Long Prairie and, finally, at Paynesville (Stearns County); which they sometimes spelled "Painsville." (Maybe that was a properly descriptive spelling for the place.) At any rate, the family had a relatively long residence there, and it was from this location that they moved to Dakota Territory to take up so-called "free land". Fundamentally, they were an agricultural people, living close to the soil, using their green thumb skills, and gaining great exhilaration from their constant struggle with the adversities of nature in the making of the living; and getting ahead through the utilization of the opportunities with which the native, fertile, cheap soil provided them. There were sad, disappointing and tragic consequences resulting from this exposure. In some instances the sacrifices were overwhelming; as was the case with the family of William Fechner (Louisa Fechner Ziebarth's brother) all of whom lost their lives in the Minnesota Indian Uprising or Massacre 1862-65.

First, let us state the two versions of what happened as recorded in Ed's Book.

1. Uncle Fred told me that my mother's brother's family of six or seven children were all massacred by the Sioux or Chippewa Indians sometime during the Minnesota Uprising of 1862-65. The massacre had its beginning on August 18, 1862, under the influence of Little Crow who started our to kill all of the whites within reach. When William (the father) returned from church services; which would indicate it was on Sunday; and saw what happened to his family, he ran toward the Indians and was also killed. Another brother was also killed during the uprising.

2. Cousin Emma related the incident to me in these words: "The family (of William) heard that the Indians were coming (to massacre them). They were fleeing in a wagon (pulled by oxen, horses or mules); when they remembered something they had forgotten to take. They turned around and drove back. When they returned to their home, they were all murdered there.

Still another version of this massacre was given to me by Ella Henrietta, my mother: "The father, William, returned home (presumably from church services) and found the heads of all the members of his family placed on stakes driven into the ground, all around the yard. He hid in a cornfield and thereby escaped the Indians." Here we have three accounts passed down to the generation of the Emerado Seebarts. There are vagaries, discrepancies and contradictions. In such a case, we have to do as brother Ed says: "You take your pick."

The above quotations present vivid and tragic portrayals of the kind of sacrifices which many pioneers endured during the early days of this land of the free and home of the brave. My own philosophy of life is: One has to pay, in one way or another, for everything he gets in this life, or in the next life. Certainly, the pioneers had to pay for what they got.