The Ernst Homeby Arlene HollenbeckMarcus Historical SocietyI
was contacted by a lady that had found an old postcard in an
antique shop in Idaho Springs CO with a picture of a large home and on
the back was simply written “The Ernst home, Marcus Iowa”. If I
could identify the home she would donate the postcard to the Marcus
Historical Society. A little research of census records found the
Ernst family had lived south of Marcus. John J. Ernst and his
wife Theresie were the parents of four children, John, Anna, Katie and
William (Bill). They lived on a farm in section 22 of Amherst
township approximately 2.5 miles south of Marcus.
I have little
information about the son John except he married and also lived in the
same section of Amherst Township. I have no information at this
time on Anna, I don’t believe she ever married as she is buried in the
Marcus/Amherst cemetery with her parents, brothers and sister.
Katie and Bill continued to live in this home after their parents
passed away. The home along with the other farm buildings was at
the end of a long driveway and mostly hidden from the road by a large
grove.
John Ernst raised Poland China pure-bred hogs and
at some point had visitors from Russia and some of these hogs were
shipped to that country. A hog show ring was located on the farm
and apparently John spent a lot of time working with his livestock as
the story is told of loading hogs into a truck with nothing but a ramp
of boards and John guiding the hogs with a cane up the ramp.
Not
much is said about Bill but many stories exist about Katie who was said
to be somewhat eccentric. One such story is of her banking
activities. She would drive her car to Marcus and park in front
of the bank until a teller would walk out to her car at which time she
would conduct her business with the bank. Gerald Pallesen tells
that she would call the McKernan grocery store in Marcus and order her
groceries and then Gerald would deliver them to her. Because of
this, she allowed him to hunt pheasants in her grove. She once
told Gerald she had run off some coon hunters by shooting at them
through an upstairs window. She stated they ran until they hit a
barbed wire fence. Apparently Katie could defend her home along
with the help of a large dog named Duke.
In early years Katie
would harvest corn with an Oliver tractor with cleat wheels and a one
row picker. The last crop she harvested was stored in a ring on
the farm. Larry Clausen of Marcus states he shelled that
last crib of corn after the Bindner family had purchased the farm from
Kate’s estate.
The house along with all the buildings and grove
were torn down at some point as no buildings exist at this site today
as is the case of many of the old farm stead's. Sadly the land
will always remain but the homes disappear. This has become all to
common today as a drive through the countryside will show.
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