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MORE ABOUT ANNA M.P.K. CRAMER
In previous issues of the Cramer-Gram I told of Anna being left in Denmark
when the rest of her family left for America. You will recall that she was
living with a person she referred to as "Uncle Dupont". It was assumed that
this was a title of respect she may have used for an employer to whom she
had no actual blood relationship. I have since found evidence that this
person was, indeed, married to her Aunt Ane Margetha Thomson, the sister of
her father Niels Peter Thomson. Her older sister Yeromine had gone to live
with the Duponts in 1884 and Anna joined the family when she was about 9
years old. She remained with them until she was 16, at which time she also
immigrated to America to rejoin the rest of her family in South Dakota.
Apparently "Uncle Dupont" was of French ancestry since, by the time she
arrived in America, Anna could speak French. It seems that there is here a
connection with the famous French Dupont family which dispersed throughout
Europe and America during the French Revolution to avoid the fate of many
nobility on the guillotine.
PETRA PETERSEN CRAMER
The following was taken from a narrative by Petra, relating her early
contacts with the Cramer family
That year (1889) Dad was down with typhoid fever he had a piece of sod
flax. Your grandpa, Jens Cramer came out with Sam Nelson's horses and
reaper. Us three kids walked behind him round after round watching when
those reels came around and pushed the flax off the platform. That was a
wonder for us to watch. I sure never dreamed at the time that I would one
day be married to one of his boys. We got together more after Uncle Julius
married Mary (Cramer). We did not like those boys very much. They were
always making fun of us and teasing. They were great at that. Both your Dad
and Chris. Lars was good at the game too, but he was so much above us, he
was grown up when we were just kids. They all made fun of the way we
talked. Their speech sounded just as queer to us. We did not get together
much before we were all grown up and got to go to dances and so on. That
was long and far between. There was the fourth of July celebration that we
were sure of. There were a couple or three dances during the winter months.
It was not like it is now, one or two every month, both summer and winter.
We enjoyed the few times we got together to the fullest extent.
THE NEXT REUNION
It is almost a year until the next reunion. If anyone has any suggestion as
to dates or locations please let me know. I can act as a sort of
coordinator and collect every ones ideas.
Orville was born on the Lars Cramer farm South of Colman, SD. The fourth
child, and first son of Lars and Anna. As a young man he liked to hunt and
trap. He often accompanied his cousin, Harlow Cramer, (son of Pete and
Petra) to hunt for birds for the table or trap animals for hides to sell.
He continued this love throughout his life, and while farming on his own
farm North of Madison, spent a good part of each winter trapping fox,
weasel, and skunk and selling the hides for extra income.
After their marriage in 1928, Orville and JoAnn lived in a small white
house on the East edge of Dell Rapids, next to an identical house owned by
his sister, Florence, and her husband, Vanus Peterson. Orville built a
garage behind his house which was still standing in 1999. By this time the
house and garage of his sister had been razed. Orville was working for his
brother-in-law Vanus who managed the Farmers Co-op Creamery. Later Orville
and Vic Frederickson (brother-in-law of sister Louise) operated a butcher
shop.
Upon the death of his father he moved, with his wife and infant son, to the
Cramer farm. Younger brothers Carl and Clark, the only children still
living at home, were too young to take over the operation of the farm at
that time. Orville remained there for a
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