This story was composed from notes and letters written by Josie Schlund Campbell (Max Schlund Sr, Fidel Schlund). It was included in the Huey-Haase papers that were compiled in the 1950's.
A SHORT SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF MAXIMILION SCHLUND AND HIS FAMILY
Maximilian Schlund was born May 21,1844 making him the next to the youngest son of Fidel and Josepha Schlund. Karl the youngest son died when only 4 years old in 1852. Max came to the United States with his parents and other living members of the family except Anna who was married and stayed in Immenstadt, in 1852.
They settled in Newark New Jersey at first and Fidel had a dairy farm and a herd of Ayrshire cattle and sold milk and cream in Newark. Later they moved to Oak Park, Waukegon and Chicago Ill.
While in Newark they went to the Catholic Church as they had belonged to the Catholic Church in Immenstadt, Bavaria. Once when sending their children to church to get ready for confirmation,, the Irish Catholic children stoned them on the way home from church. Then the priest came to see them and demanded a lot of money from Fidel and told him what to do. Fidel resented this and told the priest that he had come to America to enjoy freedom and that the priest could not tell him what he had to do and with that they left the Catholic Church and joined the Lutheran Church. The descendants now belong to the Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, Congregational Universalist, Unitarian and Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons).
When Max was not quite 18 years old he enlisted in the Civil War and he served along with his father, Fidel Sr. and brothers Joseph, Alois, Fidel Jr., and Anton. Max was in the Battle of Gettysburg and he hid behind tombstones for protection. He was never captured but some of his pals were and had some terrible experiences. He did not want to be an officer so he walked and carried a gun. He was a quartermaster for a time. He was with Joseph on Sherman's memorable march to Atlanta and the sea. He was injured in the knee which bothered him in his later years.
After the war he came back home to Oak Park and learned the leather trade and harness making, which was in great demand at that time. He went back to college and and studied law but never practiced. Later he became a justice of the peace and all his efforts were to settle cases out of court.
On October 20,1864 he married Wilhelmina Sothman, a beautiful blond girl who had come from Immenstadt and whose father was a prosperous and well to do resident of lmmenstadt. She had been working for a wealthy Lewis family in Oak Park and took care of their only child. She learned English there and worked for another family in Oak Park.
Max bought a large expensive railroad hotel in Valparaiso Indiana but the work proved to be too much for them both so he sold it, but before it was paid for it burned to the ground and the insurance policy had lapsed. They lost everything they had in that fire.
In order to get a fresh start he found that as an old soldier he could get a 160 acre homestead land and another 160 acres for a tree claim so he went to Shelton Nebraska which was on the Union Pacific Railroad about 14 miles south of the homestead. He and two other pals from Chicago built a story and a half frame house in which they lived for years and which still stands. He then went back and moved cattle, horses,
hogs, chickens and the necessary farming equipment, in a freight car. Mr. Sothman, his wife's father, being alone at the time, went along with Max riding in the box car with the furniture. Wilhelmina, Max's wife, and four children stayed with Uncle Crysant and Uncle Joseph in Oak Park until they were settled. Uncle Joseph took their trunk and baggage to the railroad station in a wheelbarrow and put them on a passenger train and they arrived in Shelton Nebraska. Max drove to town in his wagon, the 14 miles to Shelton; rested and watered the horses at Max Schman's parent's home at noon and then took the family on home to the homestead but were taken in and given a good meal by Mrs Sam. Chandler, a good Samaritan living only a couple of blocks away to the north.
The land was all prairie and the tall waving grass was plowed under, trees planted and wells dug. The old oak bucket hung in the well close to the house. Bathing was done mostly in Cherry Creek and the water for washing was carried to the house up a steep bank about a block away from the house. Bass and bull heads were plentiful and wild fowl lived in the creek. Wild geese, ducks, prairie chicken, quail, and rabbits were plentiful and as the boys were good shots they had plenty of game to eat. There were some Indian scares but they were not bothered much with the Indians.
Max and the neighbors used to haul their hogs to Grand Island about 25 miles away and would walk most of the way to spare their horses. Wilhelmina raised turkeys which she sent to Grand Island and used the money to buy clothing for the children. They did not know much about weather predicting but they soon learned the Indian signs, birds swarming and feeding and leaving in a rush, hogs carrying grass to their nest, cattle turning up their noses and sniffing the air, hogs, cattle, and horses dancing in circles, kicking up their heels and running and jumping, red sunsets, good sun-dogs in the west, red east in the morning prepare for something gray, and other signs.
Max bought some red cedar posts and built a good barbed wire fence around the 60 acre pasture southwest of the house. He also had the first post office and helped to build the first sod school house half a mile from home. He hauled lumber and helped to build the first Lutheran Church one and a quarter miles from home. He built the first Presbyterian Church at Sodum, later called Sodtown (in Cherry Creek Township) and turned the post office over to Sodtown.
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| Sodtown, a cluster of hastily erected, crudely fashioned sod buildings at the crossroads of four section corners in Cherry Creek Township, became the first thriving settlement in the northeast corner of Buffalo County. It was a promising site for a new town in the late 1870's. Max Schlund Sr was one of the first settlers of Sodtown, NE and one of its early postmasters. |
Fuel was often a problem in those days and they had to burn com cobs and corn stalks at times when the snow was deep. Good comforters and feather beds kept them warm. He went to Wood River over the hard packed snow to get supplies. He learned to fight fires with wet sacks and back fires. The fires were very dangerous. The railroad four miles to the north often set fires to the heavy grass and the flames would jump the creek and burn lots of feed. Hay was hauled and stacked in long stacks usually in August, with hay racks.
The family all rode horses and loved to ride. Many of the family still live in the neighborhood, in Ravenna, Cairo, etc. Others have gone to Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California.
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| Max Schlund, his wife Wilhelmina "Winne", and their eight children as adults. I made this collage, the original family picture was provided by an Ondrak cousin (a descendant of Matilda "Martha or Mattie" Schlund, pictured above). |
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| U.S. Appointments of U.S. Postmasters 1832-1971 Max Schlund (2nd from bottom) listed as Postmaster of Cherry Creek Township Feb. 17, 1779 |
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