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The Victoria

GAZETTE

November 2010

         The fact that there’s a street in Jonathan called Geske Road doesn’t tell much of the story, but Kieth Geske knows the story back to Abraham Lincoln, U.S. president from 1861 to 1865. 

         “The original deed on that farm was signed by Abraham Lincoln,” he said.  “Then it was deeded by the U.S. Government to Christian Bender.  In 1903, Mr. Bender sold it to my grandfather August M. Geske for $5,710.”

         Kieth reads details from the deed:  “For that price my grandfather got the 80 acres plus two horses, harnesses, ten milk cows, 12 hogs, a one-horse hayrake, a mower, a platform spring wagon, one plow, one harrow, one lumber wagon, and 30 tons of hay in the barn.”

         Kieth has another deed in his care from when his grandparents (August and Anna Geeske) sold the 80 acres in 1948 to Alton Bender Geske and his wife Viola, Kieth’s parents.

         Kieth’s dad bought his first milk machine from George and Lillian Kroening, Joan’s parents.

***

Joan was born on September 11th, 1932, to George and Lillian Kroening, on an 80-acre farm that is now part of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.  “Their Learning Center is where our farm buildings were located,” said Joan, who has a younger brother John.

         “My Grandma Anna Kroening owned the farm,” said Joan.  “We lived with Grandma.  It was a dairy farm.  I used to get the cows from the pasture and I helped in the barn, cleaning the cows with warm water before milking.  It’s part of what you did growing up.”

         “Kieth’s parents and my parents were friends,” continued Joan.  “We kids played out in the yard while they played cards.  I taught those boys everything they know about football, under the yard light.  I’d borrow a pair of their overalls so my clothes wouldn’t get soiled.”

         The Kroenings did most of their shopping in Victoria.  “Like everybody else, we exchanged eggs for goods at Notermann’s on Saturday night and went to the band concerts,” she said.  “On Saturday morning we had confirmation at the  Lake Auburn Moravian Church and I’d walk from the farm to church.”

         “Kids today can’t believe we’d walk that far -- it was about four miles -- but we did,” said Joan.  “I’d stop on the way and pick up my cousin Ruth Kroening, daughter of Myrtle and Wally Kroening who lived at the Research Farm, then Bill Kaufhhold, who lived on the farm where Pete and Irene Kerber live today on 78th Street, and when we got into town we’d pick up Jim Fink and his cousin Jean Plocher.   The five of us would walk together to confirmation.  It was kind of fun and I probably got out of a lot of work at home.”

         Joan’s public schooling was the Chaska system, grades 1 through 12, and she rode the same bus as Kieth Geske.  Did she have a crush on him then?

         “Absolutely not,” she replied.  “He was like a brother to me.  We didn’t start going together until 1970, after his divorce.”

 

Click here to continue Geske Gravitas.

        

Text Box: Geske Gravitas Continued

The youngest person in this photo is Kieth’s father, Alton B. Geske, Sr.  The gentleman on the right is Kieth’s grandfather, August M. Geske.  That’s Kieth’s Uncle Paul Bollman on the far left.  The project at hand was butchering pigs.  Part of the process included scraping hair off the pig’s skin until it shined like a silver dollar.