Before I proceed with today’s story, I want to inform you that we may now know how the sport of dartball entered Perry/Cape Counties.  We heard from our friend and guest blogger, John Popp.  John tells us that his father, Teacher Popp – My Pop, learned to play dartball when he lived in the Chicago area and loved the game.  Teacher Popp came to Altenburg in 1945, and he may have indeed been the one to introduce that sport here.

 

 

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Now on to today’s story, which begins in Farrar, Missouri, but ends up in Nebraska.  The Perry County surname is Aurich, and I have published other stories from this family before.  In fact, this is not the first Aurich story that ends up in Nebraska.  Also, not long ago, I wrote about Henry Rauss who moved to Nebraska in the post titled, Henry Becomes a Husker.  Henry’s wife was an Aurich.

Oscar Aurich was born on February 8, 1886 and baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar.  Oscar was the son of Adolph and Josephine (Antonier) Aurich.  Below is his baptism record.

The only other church record we have for Oscar was the one for his confirmation.  I included some of his classmates in this image of his 1900 confirmation record.

The 1910 census shows a houseful of Aurichs living in Union Township in Perry County.

Meanwhile, in Nebraska we find a girl by the name of Anna Dahlkoetter.  Anna was the daughter of Herman and Mary (Laaker) Dahlkoetter.  She was born on December 16, 1893.  In the 1910 census, we find Anna living with her family in Pilger, Nebraska.  I have placed arrows on this image to show both Anna and her sister, Martha.  These two sisters would later marry Aurich brothers.

I cannot find a document of any sort, but it is said that Oscar married Anna Dahlkoetter on July 15, 1914 in Pilger, which is in Stanton County.  I wrote a previous post about Oscar’s brother, Edwin, who married a girl from Beemer, Nebraska in December of 1914.  Beemer is in nearby Cuming County.  Later, in 1920, another brother, Elmer Aurich, married Anna’s sister, Martha Dahlkoetter.  All three of these Aurich spouses come from the same general area in Nebraska.

Oscar and Elmer, the brothers that married the Dahlkoetter sisters, would end up on different ends of Nebraska.  A few of the Aurich siblings would settle in Cheyenne County in western Nebraska, but Elmer Aurich remained in the Pilger area after he got married.  The  map below shows the two locations in Nebraska that were the homes of several Aurichs.   These areas also became new homes for plenty of folks who were originally Perry County, Missouri natives.

When Oscar filled out his World War I draft registration, he was already farming in Cheyenne County.  He lists his address as Gurley, Nebraska.

Gurley is located north of Sidney, Nebraska.  This map shows that vicinity which also includes Potter, another town that was populated by several Perry County natives.

The green circles on this map indicate where farmers are utilizing irrigation.

Salem Lutheran Church was started in Gurley, Nebraska in 1910.  I found this older photo of this church in Gurley.

Oscar and Anna spent the rest of their lives in Cheyenne County where Oscar was a farmer.  We find his family in the 1930 census.

In the course of my research, I ran across a website that contains weather photographs that were taken in Cheyenne County, Nebraska.  They are some very impressive photos.  I cannot show them here because the photographer is in the business of selling these photos, but I will share the link that gets you to these photos if you are interested.

http://susanspiritusgallery.com/artist/camille-seaman/the-lovely-monster/

Elmer Aurich can be found in the 1930 census from Brenna Township, Nebraska.

Brenna Township is the same township in which Henry and Emma (Aurich) Rauss lived.

Elmer died in 1963; Martha died in 1990.  They are both buried in the Beemer Cemetery in Beemer, Nebraska.

 

Oscar died in 1975; Anna died in 1990.  They are buried together in the Dalton Cemetery in Dalton, Nebraska.

Even though they were living on opposite sides of Nebraska, these two Dahlkoetter sisters died within two months of each other in 1990.

Someday, someone is going to have to do a thorough study to document all of the Perry County natives that ended up living in these two areas of Nebraska.