Charles William Walter Kaufman was born September 1, 1855, in Merton, Wisconsin, the son of Charles Walter Kaufman and Martha Washington Marsh. He was the eldest of 8 children. His siblings were Mary Emily Sophia (1857), Caroline Amelia (1860), Samuel Sanford (1862), Violette Melissa (1865), Josephine Adela (1869), Eddie (1872) and Mattie Ann (1874). All reached adulthood except for Eddie, who died before he was a year old. Charles grew up in Merton where he attended school and helped his father with the farm labor. His father died in 1875 of injuries, when Charles was just 19 and his youngest sibling Mattie was not yet a year old!
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| Charles William Walter Kaufman, Wedding Day (1878); Kaufman Album, Page 5, in the possession of Dorothy Crooks. |
The back of the photo has writing that is a bit difficult to interpret! A reference is made to 'Terelman'. Then there appears to be a description of the photo. Eyes-Blue. Hair-Dark Brown. Suit-Brown. Nectie- Blue. Frame-Granite.
On April 22, 1878, Charles Kaufman married Frances Jane Coon in Palmyra, Wisconsin. Palmyra was about 30 miles to the southwest of Merton and I do not know how they met! Per Gramie, Charles' mother, Martha Marsh Kaufman, opposed his marriage to Jenny. This may have been because Jenny was several years older than Charles, or Jenny was raising a boy Frank Coon, or Martha may have just felt that she was superior... The young couple was farming in Merton in 1880, immediately adjacent to his widowed mother. That fall, their eldest child Hattie was born.
Per obituaries of his daughters, the young family briefly resided in Nebraska in late 1880, but had moved to the Dakota Territory by March 1882, settling on a homestead by 1885. (South Dakota became a state in 1889.) Here, Charles applied for a homestead of 160 acres and a timber claim of 160 acres in Walnut Grove Township, Douglas County. In order to obtain the land, he paid a filing fee, resided on and farmed the land for 5 years, and then filed for the deeds. In addition, the timber claim required that he plant 10 acres of timber. Gramie said that cottonwood was the most popular tree... Several relatives applied for homesteads on nearby land! His mother-in-law, Harriet Coon Willson, had 110 acres. His brother-in-law, Hiram Coon, had 280 acres. And Ernst Erdmann, future father-in-law of his daughter Hattie, owned 320 acres. In 1890, he was granted the deed for the homestead claim, and in 1894, for the tree claim.
Farming in South Dakota was very challenging due to fires and blizzards. The blizzard of 1888 was especially harsh. Gramie mentioned that school was held in a sod building 2-4 months each year. Later, a wooden building was used for school, church and general meetings. The initial family home was also a sod house.
Three additional children were born in Walnut Township, near Corsica: Winifred (1888), Walter Charles (1891) and Lillian Blanche (1895). In 1898, Hattie married John Erdman, the son of a neighbor, so Gramie did not live with Hattie very long!
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| Charles William Walter Kaufman. Photo from Lillian Kaufman Carroll, in the possession of Dorothy Crooks. |
In 1902, the Kaufman family moved to Armour, South Dakota, to give the younger children better schooling opportunities. While in Armour, Charles worked as a sheriff. He was also a charter member of the Masons. On May 21, 1907, age 51, Charles William Walter Kaufman died in Armour, South Dakota, of spinal meningitis, and was buried in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery. Gramie was only 12 years old when he died. Per Mom, his doctor was Ed Ward, who was a cousin of Buffalo Bill.
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