Heritage Renewal

It was totally unscientific, but KFYR Radio - which operates in the Bismarck market, where the Bismarck Tribune and a small group of politicians have vocalized opposition (in fact, ridicule) of the purchase of Welk Homestead by the State Historical Society of North Dakota - decided to run an online poll. The question was whether state funds should be expended for preservation of the historic site. The Welk Homestead won, 70% to 30%. When was the last time you saw a poll wherein 70% of North Dakotans voted to spend money?

Ludwig Welk commenced the formal process of applying for a homestead on 4 May 1894 when he went before the clerk of the district court in Emmons County and swore an affidavit. In it Ludwig declared he was “over 21 years of age, the head of a family," and had "filed my Declaration of Intention to become a citizen of the United States.” This wording was meant to satisfy the explicit conditions of the Homestead Act, which offered land to

any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the naturalization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its enemies."

Boilerplate in the affidavit, which was a form with blanks to fill in, assured that the prospective claim was "for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation," which also replicated wording from the law.

Affidavit in hand, Ludwig proceeded to the US Land Office in Bismarck to file Homestead Application No. 7655. He listed his occupation as "Farming" and his residence as "South Prairie, Emmons County." South Prairie was the name of a township and also of a rural post office that existed 1892-99.

Ed Neal, Register of the Land Office, certified Ludwig's legal filing of a homestead claim.

Bismarck Tribune columnist Clay Jenkinson has some positive ideas about the Welk Homestead.

From basic American history we are familiar with some of the requirements of the Homestead Act, under which Ludwig Welk received 60 acres in Emmons County from the public domain. Residence, improvements, and filing fees--but what sort of fees?

The patent file of Ludwig Welk details his fees. Ludwig initiated his homestead claim in 1894, at which time he paid initial filing fees of $14.00. On 7 May 1894 the receiver in Bismarck, Asa Fisher, gave Ludwig a receipt for that amount.

The name, Asa Fisher, illustrates a common aspect of the homesteading process. This, obviously, is an Anglo-American name. Ludwig Welk, on the other hand, was a German from Russia, and I am not sure about his English language skills at this time. The majority of homesteaders in North Dakota were immigrants, after all. So they had to navigate an administrative process couched in what was, to them, a second language at best.

The next fees paid by Ludwig Welk were on 21 September 1902, when he was proving up. Receiver John Satterbund then acknowledged receipt of $4.00, the balance required to complete entry. In addition, there was a testimony fee of $1.25. This was payment for the taking of 835 words of testimony, 15 cents per 100 words.

Thus there was an eight-year period of proving up the homestead, 1894 to 1902. What was the cause of delay? I have some ideas, but we'll work through this.

The National Archives has been extraordinarily swift in sending the homestead file of Ludwig Welk, reproduced on CD. This is of particular interest because the Welk Homestead will be the only state historic site to interpret the history of the homesteading experience in North Dakota. In coming days I'll share snippets from the file.

To begin with, let me correct a mistake I made earlier. Based on indications in the Bureau of Land Management patent index, which I used to get the identifications necessary to order the homestead file, I said that Ludwig took a homestead claim of only 80 acres, instead of the 160 allowable by law. Now, with the file in hand, I see that the full claim was, indeed, 160 acres, a quarter-section. Here is the legal:

SE/4 NE/4 & NE/4 SE/4 S20 T131 R7
N/2 SW/4 S21 T131 R76

If you sketch that out, you see that the claim comprises two 80s adjoining in a squat-L
configuration. The historic site, as defined by the National Register and prospective state purchase, is in the latter tract, the N/2 SW/4 S21.

Ludwig's application for patent was approved  by the Bismarck land office 31 October 1903. Patent issued 31 December 1903.

A few days ago one of my students inquired as to the work we would be doing to get the Welk Homestead into shape in accord with the purchase agreement with the State Historical Society of North Dakota. On hearing about the tasks to be done, he said, "It sounds like you're proving up the homestead all over again." And you know, I think he was right. We need to show we are made of as good stuff as were the homesteaders. I think we are.

The Center for Heritage Renewal stands foursquare with tribal advocates for the integrity of the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield.

Tom Dennis of the Grand Forks Herald, too, expresses support for SHSND purchase of the Welk Homestead.

The Fargo Forum has weighed in on the purchase of the Welk Homestead by the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Read the editorial.

The Ancestry Library is a wonderful thing, allowing ready access to manuscript census returns. This gives us a shapshot of the Welk family on the Welk Homestead in 1900.



The number of children born to the household since arrival from Russia in 1893 gives us a clue how the Germans from Russia became the largest ethnocultural group in North Dakota!

How do we know that the Ludwig and Christina Welk Homestead, for which the State Historical Society of North Dakota is about to execute a purchase agreement, is historically significant? Because it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means that both the North Dakota Historic Sites Review Board and the Secretary of the Interior, who keeps the register, have established its significance.

The document that was the basis for this determination in 1993 is the nomination form, here posted for public information. It is interesting reading, providing both general background on German-Russian history and also specific details about the Welk farm.

Ludwig Welk, the German-Russian immigrant from Kutshurgen, received patent to his homestead claim in Emmons County on 31 December 1903, ten years after he and Christina arrived in North Dakota. Here is some information from the Bureau of Land Management patent index about the homestead.

There are two anomalies to note. First, although homesteaders under the law of 1862 were allowed to claim 160 acres, Ludwig's claim was only 80. This probably had to do with land availability at the time. Second, why did it take Ludwig ten years to prove up on a claim? There are many possible reasons for this, and further research may provide answers. It is possible that Ludwig, a blacksmith, made his living at first by his forge, and only after some years got around to availing himself of the Homestead Act. Or possibly he had to get his citizenship in order.

These are questions to answer, because the Welk Homestead will be the only state historic site providing specific interpretation of the homesteading and pioneer farming experience. Given the character of our state, it is amazing that we have no state historic site treating these important themes in our history, but now it looks like we will. It will be a matter of great interest to delve into the grassroots history of agriculture in German-Russian Country.

A starting point will be to fetch up the Ludwig Welk homestead patent file from the National Archives. That will take a few weeks, but I'll get started now.

This morning the state historical board voted to follow legislative intent and enter into a purchase agreement for acquisition of the Welk Homestead, in Emmons County, making it a state historic site. The press picked this up immediately, unfortunately propounding erroneous information and misleading ideas in its reportage. The center, therefore, as a friend of heritage conservation, will make this blog a source of factual and responsible information about the matter of the state purchase of the Welk Homestead.

To begin with, let's get the substance of the board motion right. The board voted to draw up and enter into a purchase agreement with the owners of the Welk property. The purchase agreement will stipulate certain repairs and improvements to be made to the property before the purchase is consummated. Local parties interested in German-Russian heritage and in heritage tourism have taken this in hand, and pledge to get the work done, so that the state can take ownership. All this is as provided for by act of the legislature.

Next, it is important to dispel the idea that the purchase is about Lawrence Welk. The illustrious entertainer and North Dakota Roughrider, Lawrence Welk, was indeed born and raised on the property, and his name has lent it a certain cachet. This is not the Lawrence Welk Homestead, however. It is the Lugwig and Christina Welk Homestead, so recorded in the National Register of Historic Places. When listed on the National Register in 1993, it was not for association with Lawrence Welk, the entertainer. The image below and right, copied from the National Register nomination, as approved by the North Dakota Historic Sites Review Board, states succinctly the historic significance of the site.

He we note that ARCHITECTURE is the first criterion of significance. The Welk residence was constructed of batsa brick, that is, homemade brick fashioned of clay, straw, and, pardon the expression, cow manure. Like most German-Russian pioneers, the Welks eventually sided over the earthen exterior, and plastered the interior, but the batsa brick remain intact as the substance of the walls. Batsa brick construction is a highly significant form of vernacular architecture. The covering of the walls only makes them the more historic, because it reflects the typical practice of the region, and it took place in historic times.

ETHNIC HERITAGE is the second criterion of significance, specifically the ethnic heritage of the Germans from Russia, the state's largest ethnocultural group, and one utterly lacking interpretation by any state historic site heretofore. Ludwig and Christina Welk emigrated from Kutschurgan, in the Russian Empire, to North Dakota in 1893.

Stay tuned to this blog for more facts about the Ludwig and Christina Welk Homestead and its purchase by the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

Thanks to Aaron for posting a visual record of our occupation of a suite of offices in the Knox Building, a.k.a. Fort Knox, located here, out west on 7th Avenue. This is excellent space that will allow a new level of enterprise by the center. It is adjacent to the new location of NDSU Archives. The center is planning some sort of open house, likely in February, to welcome the public and to make some announcements.