Tracker Pixel for Entry

Venturia ND Native Pens New Book

Writer's Block | April 22nd, 2021

By Michael M. Miller

michael.miller@ndsu.edu; or go to library.ndsu.edu/grhc.

18 March 2021

Florence Dockter Scherbenske has authored a new book, “My Impossible Dream: You Can Do It Too, Germans from Russia Immigrant Grandparents Ethnic Lifestyle.” Florence grew up on a farm near Venturia, McIntosh County, south central North Dakota. She vividly shares the story of her German-Russian family.

In her Dedication, Florence writes, “I give tribute to my maternal grandmother, Katherine Helfenstein Esch Ritter, for the love and kindness she gave me when I was child. Also, for the letters she wrote to me when I was growing up. She came as a Germans from Russia immigrant to America at age eight. She was married to Heinrich Esch. He died in the 1918 Influenza, and left her a widow with five children under the age of ten. She endured the hardship of that time.”

Later in the book, Florence writes about her grandmother. “Dear Grandma Katie, times must have been very hard for you sometimes. Your oldest daughter, Helen (my mother) went to Ashley to live with her grandfather, Johann Helfenstein Sr. and her grandmother. Grandfather Johann Sr. hired her to farmers in the surrounding community. She was assigned to chores on the farm, yard work, housekeeping, and caring for children. She also did field work. She knew how to harrow, seed drill, and disc with a team of four horses.”

In the Dedication, she also includes, “I give tribute to my paternal grandfather, Gottlieb Dockter, Jr., who was man of wisdom and generosity, and was well respected in his community. He taught six sons the industry and art of farming and livestock. He was a Germans from Russia immigrant. After hard work and hardships, he acquired enough property to set up each of his sons in farming. It was of benefit to my parents and to us siblings. We had the good fortune to have food and a house to live in during the dust storms and depression of the 1930s.”

Florence later expands on her grandfather’s story, “Grandfather Gottlieb Jr. was a bonanza farmer. There was some money to be made farming in the 1920s. Grandfather built an eighty-foot cattle and horse barn. He owned forty draft horses. He, with his six sons, farmed a sizeable number of acres of crop land. The result was acreage of approximately fifteen quarter sections of land.

After his sons were twenty-one years of age, he gave each 160 acres of land with the farm buildings, and another 160 acres of land which he expected them to pay him back for his retirement. In addition, he gave them a complete set of farm machinery, four work horses (complete with harnesses), a cream separator, 100 pounds of flour, some sugar, plus many other items to set up farming and a household. He gave each of his three oldest daughters 160 acres of land, six milk cows, and a complete line of household furniture. He compensated his two youngest daughters with homes and money.

At the end of the twenties, he was considered a wealthy man. However, after the crash of 1929, with several years of drought, he bankrupted and applied for welfare. He had given all of his land away. Because of the economy, he was never paid back. The end result he died a poor man. Grandfather gave my parents a farmhouse, a place to put a pillow under our heads, and never had to move. During my childhood, we visit him often. We were never allowed to go up the stairs. It was later in life that I found out that he had stored his coffin in a room upstairs. He had arranged his funeral complete with the purchase of a coffin. Grandfather was a kind and generous father. He also demanded a lot of work from his children and taught them a great deal about life.”

In her Preface, Florence writes, “I grew up in a home never having a childhood, was not allowed to go to high school, and had a teenage marriage. I took charge of my life and lived a life of volunteer, business, and hard work. I worked hard to overcome my physical and mental abuse in my childhood, which continued into my adulthood. To the reader: Never give up. You can take charge of your life. I did, and you can do it too.

From learning to cook on a cookstove (a stove with black lids that burned coal and mischt), snaring gophers in the prairie pasture on Sunday afternoon, and bucking the northwest wind in south central North Dakota while riding a two-wheeled chart hitched to a non-stop pony in January of 1938 – to flying in an Eastern Airlines jet that served gourmet meals and endless champagne in 1968, traveling in a 747 jet airliner, and enjoying ocean and river cruises in my life as world traveler. My life story.”

Florence was interviewed in July 2005, in Bismarck, N.D., for the Library of Congress Americacorps Story Program. She shared, “My ancestors were Germans from Russia. I vaguely remember my maternal-great grandmother. I was six when she died. She was born in Ukraine and was a midwife in Ukraine and on the prairie of North Dakota. She delivered over 1,000 babies. I went to a country school and walked most of the time or went with horses. It was a one-room school. There were thirty children in all eight grades with one teacher. I learned to milk a cow at age seven. I could butcher a chicken and prepare a dinner for a family of seven at age ten. At that time, I was also taking care of four siblings while my mother worked in the field. My weekly allowance was five or ten cents.”

The book has twenty-six chapters, including: Wedding, Farm Purchase; Dockter Family; Helfenstein Family; John Ritter and Children; Florence Schooling; Childhood Responsibilities; Inez; Sibling Death – Florence Pearl, Stanley Julius; Cooking; The Chick Project; World War II; Beginning Travel; The Winter of 1950; Farming; Friendship Force; Divorce; Goodbye Elder; Climbing the Mountain; 4-H Related Activities, Jocie, Glenny; Recovering from Shame; Lee; Health Failure; Personal Development and Accomplishments; Leadership and Accomplishments; Closure; In a Nutshell.

Inez Dockter, sister of Florence Dockter Scherbenske, authored the book, “Prairie Girl Memoir,” available from the GRHC.

______________

Editor’s note: Michael Miller is the man behind the Germans from Russia Heritage CollectionNorth Dakota State University Libraries, FargoFor more information about the 24th Journey to the Homeland Tour to Germany and Ukraine (May 2022), donating a family history and/or photographs, or how to financially support the GRHC, contact Michael M. Miller, NDSU Libraries, Dept. 2080, PO Box 6050, Fargo, ND 58108-6050, (Tel: 701-231-8416); 

Recently in:

Proposed Bills Could Take Books off Library ShelvesBy Laura Simmonslaurasimmons2025@u.northwestern.edu The passing of ND House Bill 1205 and ND Senate Bill 2360, which would prevent sexually explicit books from being in public…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comHPR chats with a local legendThe following interview was done in February of 2016, just a few months after Mr. Josef Olivieri's 90th birthday. We're sorry to hear of his passing at the age of 97 on…

Tuesday, March 21, 6:30pmZandbroz Variety, FargoAuthor of “Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land” Taylor Broby will discuss the important role libraries play in their communities as sanctuaries of acceptance. He will…

By John Strandjas@hpr1.comOur Opinion: Who on Earth would ever want to move to North Dakota?Let’s talk about the left hand and the right hand. Or, more correctly, let’s focus on the right hand, being as there is no left in ND…

By Ed Raymond  fargogadfly@gmail.comHas Christianity Gone Bankrupt Because of Evangelicals, Stupidity, and the Vatican?The word “bankruptcy” refers to money because…

Well shiver me timbers. After weeks of sampling some of the finest drinks in F-M from more bars than we could shake a belaying pin at, the results of High Plains Reader’s 6th Annual Cocktail Showdown are in! For nine weeks,…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.comWhen thinking of popular sandwiches associated with the Upper Midwest, the sloppy joe immediately comes to mind. But let’s not forget the sandwich with a spicy side – the taco grinder. It’s a…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Upon discovering the music of Arkansas-based musician Nick Shoulders, there are a couple of things that come to mind. At first listen it’s no secret that his sound is a celebration of past music…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.comOn Saturday, March 25, filmmaker Mike Flanagan returns to the Fargo Film Festival, where “Absentia,” his debut feature, made its world premiere in 2011. This time, he will be joined by his…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comIf you’ve ever driven down the Enchanted Highway, the 32-mile ribbon of road connecting Regent to Gladstone in western North Dakota, home to the world’s largest salvaged metal sculptures,…

By Jessica M. Hawkesjmhawkes84@gmail.comIt wasn’t long after the founding of the railroad and river town of New Rockford that entertainment venues started to put down their own roots. Its population bolstered by booms of nearby…

By Jan Syverson  Jan.r.Syverson@gmail.comFor the past 30 years live, stand-up comedy has had a place in the Fargo Moorhead area, Starting with…

By Kris Gruberperriex1@gmail.comSpring is here (mostly), and our area is buzzing with people eager to get back out and about -- many newly vaccinated and feeling a bit safer. Partnering with Jade Events, Fargo Brewing is just…

By John Showalter  john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…

JANUARY 19, 1967– MARCH 8, 2023 Brittney Leigh Goodman, 56, of Fargo, N.D., passed away unexpectedly at her home on March 8, 2023. Brittney was born January 19, 1967, to Ruth Wilson Pollock and Donald Ray Goodman, in Hardinsburg,…

By Ken and Alice Christiansonsubmit@hpr1.com HB 1332 is currently before the North Dakota legislature. The bill proposes to permit social workers to use a discredited treatment method to convert the sexual orientation of gay and…