2023 LEISZ FAMILY REUNION IN TURTLE LAKE, WISCONSIN—A BIG SUCCESS!
Turtle Lake teacher
In the fall of 1916 at age 21, Estella Irene Paul came to teach at White Clover School, south of Turtle Lake. Stella boarded with a Turtle Lake family, the Haase's, as was customary in those days for single young women.
She had just completed a five-year teaching stint in Valley City, North Dakota, where she went at age 16, having just attained her teaching degree in River Falls, Wis. Stella had left her home of Troy, Wis. in St. Croix County, where she was born on May 25, 1895, to teach in North Dakota.
Bachelor farmer
Shortly after coming to Turtle Lake, Stella met John Franklin Leisz, one of six children of Leisz Brother John and his wife Agnes. Three of his siblings were already married and starting families. John, born August 15, 1895, was 21, single, and working the farm of his father, then 55 years old, widowed after the 1904 death of his wife Agnes, and remarried to his second wife, a Hungarian woman named Gertrude.
By spring of 1917 John and Stella were dating—attending local dances and basket socials. By summer, their friendship began to blossom into romance. Stella spent the summer of 1917 in Hudson, Wis., about 50 miles south of Turtle Lake, with her father George Paul and stepmother Margaret.
John seemed jealous of Stella's life in Hudson. After all, there he was back in Turtle Lake, laboring tirelessly on the family farm while Stella enjoyed the summer months with her family.
John's youngest sibling Tess Leisz, 18, was also living in Hudson that summer, and John kept telling Stella to look out for her as "she was running around with everyone." Anna Leisz, 20, another sister of John and Tess, was living back in Turtle Lake, and John felt that if Stella could keep Tess in Hudson for awhile, then both sisters Tess and Anna could go to the Twin Cities in the fall to find work.
Dodged a bullet
In August John wrote to Stella that his "number" had been drawn for the Army. World War I was on, and he would have to take a qualifying exam—not much chance of getting out of it. (See John's World War I draft registration card HERE.) In late August, all local soldiers convened in Hudson to depart for military service, but John was not among them. He had been rejected for service, being the only man to run the farm owned by his father John Leisz Sr.
Uncle Frank comes to rescue
By late summer 1917 Stella did not yet have a teaching assignment for the upcoming academic year. It was then that John's paternal uncle, Frank Leisz, decided to give Stella a job at White Clover School. So it was there that she returned to teach there for a second school year. She is shown in this photo, third from right.
Over the Christmas 1917 holiday, Stella returned to Hudson to visit her folks.
Single and spirited
By June of 1918, John wrote that he was so "run-down sick" that the doctor thinks he'll never return to his old self again. And he is just 22 years old! He never said anything about meals, and still attended dances three or four nights a week.
John also wrote about rising at 3:30 a.m. to milk the cows, then traveling about six miles to Almena where he sheared 102 sheep that same day, working until 6 p.m. Then John returned home, milked the cows again. His day's wages? $10.20, or $185 in today's money. John then followed this 18-hour work day with a ride in friend Bill Leister's new Overland automobile. "No wonder he's sick!"
John was also negotiating with the local Buick dealer for a new automobile, but the dealer was only offering him $200 for his Ford and John wanted $250. He said, "That Buick is sure a dandy though."
Separated yet again
At the end of summer 1918, Stella had a teaching offer in Cushing, Wis., northwest of Balsam Lake. The pay? $85 per month—$1,530 in today's dollars.
John told Stella to suit herself, but he wasn't very happy that she was moving way over there, 35 miles west of Turtle Lake, to teach.
Stella accepted the position in Cushing, and moved in with a local family by the name of Jensen. John wrote to her about every other day. But he never asked about her school or students. He was so wrapped up in his own loneliness, constantly worrying when they can see one another, and wondering what Stella was up to in her spare time.
John was terribly lonesome. He was also physically sick, working exceedingly hard on the family farm, while his sisters Julia or "Juel," 32, and Mary, 27, were living in Billings, Montana, married and having families. Between Juel and Mary they had four little children, ages 1 to 5, and a fifth on the way, to be born in 1919.
John's older brother Joe was working at the Clover Lake Cheese Factory between Cameron and Rice Lake. Married to Lizzie Thome, Joe had a son, age 2.
John's two kid sisters Anna and Tess were working in Minneapolis, and coming back home to Turtle Lake occasionally to help out on the farm. Tess later moved to Billings to join her sisters, and worked in the jewelry store owned by Mary's husband Axel Calif (see photo of newspaper advertisement at upper left, listing Axel Califf's name), while her sister Anna remained in Minneapolis.
Meanwhile John's extended Leisz family in Turtle Lake—the families of his uncles Leopold, Joseph, Frank, Anton and Michael—all lived on near or adjoining farms, so John's male first cousins visited back and forth frequently. These included John Francis Minnichsoffer, 18, Leo Jr., 21 and his brother Andrew, 20, Frank Jr., 18, and his brother Tony, 16. The boys went to many barn dances, while the elder parents visited at one another's homes, eating and playing cards together.
Diphtheria outbreak strikes Turtle Lake
In September 1918 Uncle Frank Leisz closed White Clover School due to a case of diphtheria in the district. John Franklin was sick, and wondered if diphtheria was what he had. He was so weak that he couldn't work and had to stay in bed. A couple days later, on September 7th, John was so sick that Uncle Frank went to town at 12:30 a.m. to get the doctor. The diagnosis was pneumonia with a fever of 107 degrees, and bedrest was mandated.
Meanwhile, Stella had finished her first week of teaching in Cushing, and John couldn't figure out why in the world she accepted a teaching job that fall.
A new law had just gone into effect, barring automobile driving on Sundays because of excessive traffic congestion. John decided to drive to Cushing to see Stella on Saturday afternoons and come back on Monday mornings from then on.
On October 30th, John wrote that all the public buildings and schools were closed because of the "bad sickness" going around (Spanish Influenza Pandemic), and John thinks the flu was what he must have had when he was so sick in early September.
Wedding unites John and Stella
By late April 1919, the roads were all dried up and the weather had been nice. So John Franklin started the seeding on April 25th.
June was coming, and wedding plans seemed to be in the making, though Stella was talking about teaching another year at Cushing at the $85 per month salary. John was not very happy about this.
He must have convinced Stella to abandon teaching, as the couple was married on September 10th, 1919 in St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Hudson. They made the Turtle Lake farm of John Franklin's dad, John Sr. (1861-1939) their home for the rest of their lives, Stella passing away in 1974, and John in 1977.
Together they had four children: Muriel Leisz Klingelhoets (1921-2009), Agnes Elizabeth Leisz Donatelle (1923-1994), Richard "Bud" Leisz (1925-1995), and Vernon George Leisz (1926-1982), and 21 grandchildren.
Epilogue
The above story is taken from a document called "Our History," written by Muriel Leisz Klingelhoets (1921-2009), eldest child of John Franklin and Stella.
Muriel concludes this document with the following:
"I was born December 21st (1921), and exactly 21 years later, in the fall of 1942, I started a three-year teaching stint at White Clover School."
It was the same place her parents had first met in 1916.
More about Muriel
After attending an elementary rural school, Muriel Leisz Klingelhoets graduated from Turtle Lake High School and attended River Falls State College for two years, attaining a degree in rural education and teaching in the area for five years.
In 1944, she was united in marriage to Ambrose J. Klingelhoets at St. Ann Catholic Church in Turtle Lake, while he was on furlough from the Army. Upon returning from the military, they moved to Madison and from there to Shawano, where Muriel continued to teach.
After his transfer to Brookings, South Dakota, they started a family and in the following years six children were born. Eventually, her husband's employment took him to Madison, where they lived since 1954.
Muriel was an active member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church and its St. Anne Society.
She returned to college at age 45 and earned her B.S. degree in education from Edgewood College in 1971. Muriel taught a total of 33 years, ending her teaching career in the Madison School District as a long term substitute. Other activities included 15 years as organizational leader of the Nichols Nuggets 4-H Club, Monona P.T.A. president, CCD teacher at Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Girl Scout leader.
Her many interests included cooking and baking, reading, needle crafts, fishing trips with her husband, and her main hobby, traveling worldwide and visiting more than 75 countries around the globe in 25 years.
Muriel Leisz Klingelhoets died on January 2, 2009 due to congestive heart failure. She was 87 years old. Survivors include her husband, Ambrose; daughter Kathleen Schoener; sons William, Robert, Paul and Mark; two grandsons, a sister-in-law, and many nieces, nephews and special friends.
Muriel was preceded in death by her parents John Franklin Leisz and Estella Irene Paul Leisz; infant son James; sister Agnes Donatelle; and brothers Richard and Vernon Leisz.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held at St. Ann Catholic Church with Father Dave Lusson presiding. Burial was at St. Ann Cemetery, Turtle Lake.
JOSEPH MINNICHSOFFER AND THEODORA GREENE
A Leisz Love Story
Introducing LEISZ STORY LORE, a compilation of audio and video stories chronicling our past — and informing our future.
What is it?
Leisz Story Lore is family stories — as told by descendants in specially recorded audio monologues.
When did it begin?
At the September 2018 Leisz Family Reunion, some of those in attendance took part in an Oral History Workshop. Our brave cousins stepped forward to a microphone and tape recorder — and their audio stories were laid down for posterity.
How does it work?
Audio recordings from the last Leisz Family Reunion were recently edited, and the process of setting these spoken stories to photo visuals is now underway. We're using historical family photos to further inform the audio recordings our cousins have contributed.
What's next?
Periodically this website will feature a new Leisz Story Lore audio/video project. This first one features our cousin TONY MINNICHSOFFER, who tells the story of how his grandpa and grandma first met in the early 19th Century.
Have any ideas?
Do you have any suggestions for new Leisz Story Lore features? Contact us through this website. All are welcome to record their stories to lay down the history of our family for generations yet to come.