William Henry Ziebarth (pictured here): After losing his farms and all of his assets, Uncle Will went into the Construction business. He had done a lot of this as a young man and he appears to have had a special skill in this field. There was much building going on, as this pioneer area grew and prospered. So, he was always busy (building houses, barns, granaries, stores, banks, and other kinds of buildings). He set up a headquarters shop at a place called Thompson, a town just southwest of Grand Forks; was joined in his business by his younger brother, Gustave (Uncle Gust); and they were engaged to work throughout the entire area. They were known as "The Seebart Brothers." Since their sister Amelia (Ellerman), was settled on a farm near Lakota, North Dakota, they moved their business to that area, as this was a new town and there was a lot of building to be done there. It was in this locality that they got into heavier construction such as stores, churches, the Court House and finally grain elevators. (Lakota is located in Nelson County.)

William Henry was the favorite uncle of the Emerado Seebarts. He was a frequent visitor at our residence, especially in the dead of winter, when the construction business slowed to a crawl. All of us enjoyed his presence because he was so jolly; a good conversationalist; and had so many interesting things to talk about. Another thing which made him popular, was—he always supplied us with lots of fruit, nuts and candy. All of us loved the fragrance of his expensive cigars (even the girls). He was careful not to smoke his cigars in the house, although he would light up before leaving the house, and sometimes finish off a cigar in the house after returning from down-town, but it never became obnoxious to any of us. He was a skillful checker-player and gracious enough to let us children win a game once in a while when we played with him, which we dearly loved to do.