Emelie was born Marie Luise Emelie Lindenbaum to parents Karl and Dorothea Lindenbaum in 1870 in Salzwedel, a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. As a young woman, Emelie (often spelled Amelia after she emigrated to America)) was trained as a butcher, since girls as well as boys were expected to learn a trade. She was apparently very good at her trade, as her son Otto followed her example and became a professional butcher.
In 1891, Emelie married George Friedrich Schmidt and they soon had a family - Otto George Robert (b. 1892), Helen Anna (b. 1894), and Erwin George (b. 1896). In 1896, the family emigrated to Minnesota, where George's two brothers Emil and Robert were already living. The family settled in Blue Earth, Minnesota, where another child, Martha Emelie, was born in 1898.
After George retired, he and Emelie moved to Fairmont, Minnesota. There they took up parenting duties again when their daughter Helen and her two children Tom (b. 1919) and Betty (b. 1924) moved in with them after Helen's second husband abandoned the family in 1931. After Helen took ill and died in December (she was buried on her father's 65th birthday), Emelie and George raised Tom and Betty for several years, refusing to have them apprehended by authorities as "orphans." Even after the children moved in with their birth father (Helen's first husband) and his new wife in Iowa in 1934, they remained very close to their grandparents.
Emelie never spoke English, although she likely understood a lot of it. When her husband died in 1944 in Fairmont, she went to live with her son Erwin and his family in Huron, South Dakota. She died there on December 29, 1956, and was buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Fairmont, Minnesota beside her husband and daughter Helen.
In 1891, Emelie married George Friedrich Schmidt and they soon had a family - Otto George Robert (b. 1892), Helen Anna (b. 1894), and Erwin George (b. 1896). In 1896, the family emigrated to Minnesota, where George's two brothers Emil and Robert were already living. The family settled in Blue Earth, Minnesota, where another child, Martha Emelie, was born in 1898.
After George retired, he and Emelie moved to Fairmont, Minnesota. There they took up parenting duties again when their daughter Helen and her two children Tom (b. 1919) and Betty (b. 1924) moved in with them after Helen's second husband abandoned the family in 1931. After Helen took ill and died in December (she was buried on her father's 65th birthday), Emelie and George raised Tom and Betty for several years, refusing to have them apprehended by authorities as "orphans." Even after the children moved in with their birth father (Helen's first husband) and his new wife in Iowa in 1934, they remained very close to their grandparents.
Emelie never spoke English, although she likely understood a lot of it. When her husband died in 1944 in Fairmont, she went to live with her son Erwin and his family in Huron, South Dakota. She died there on December 29, 1956, and was buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Fairmont, Minnesota beside her husband and daughter Helen.
Emelie was born Marie Luise Emelie Lindenbaum to parents Karl and Dorothea Lindenbaum in 1870 in Salzwedel, a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. As a young woman, Emelie (often spelled Amelia after she emigrated to America)) was trained as a butcher, since girls as well as boys were expected to learn a trade. She was apparently very good at her trade, as her son Otto followed her example and became a professional butcher.
In 1891, Emelie married George Friedrich Schmidt and they soon had a family - Otto George Robert (b. 1892), Helen Anna (b. 1894), and Erwin George (b. 1896). In 1896, the family emigrated to Minnesota, where George's two brothers Emil and Robert were already living. The family settled in Blue Earth, Minnesota, where another child, Martha Emelie, was born in 1898.
After George retired, he and Emelie moved to Fairmont, Minnesota. There they took up parenting duties again when their daughter Helen and her two children Tom (b. 1919) and Betty (b. 1924) moved in with them after Helen's second husband abandoned the family in 1931. After Helen took ill and died in December (she was buried on her father's 65th birthday), Emelie and George raised Tom and Betty for several years, refusing to have them apprehended by authorities as "orphans." Even after the children moved in with their birth father (Helen's first husband) and his new wife in Iowa in 1934, they remained very close to their grandparents.
Emelie never spoke English, although she likely understood a lot of it. When her husband died in 1944 in Fairmont, she went to live with her son Erwin and his family in Huron, South Dakota. She died there on December 29, 1956, and was buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Fairmont, Minnesota beside her husband and daughter Helen.
In 1891, Emelie married George Friedrich Schmidt and they soon had a family - Otto George Robert (b. 1892), Helen Anna (b. 1894), and Erwin George (b. 1896). In 1896, the family emigrated to Minnesota, where George's two brothers Emil and Robert were already living. The family settled in Blue Earth, Minnesota, where another child, Martha Emelie, was born in 1898.
After George retired, he and Emelie moved to Fairmont, Minnesota. There they took up parenting duties again when their daughter Helen and her two children Tom (b. 1919) and Betty (b. 1924) moved in with them after Helen's second husband abandoned the family in 1931. After Helen took ill and died in December (she was buried on her father's 65th birthday), Emelie and George raised Tom and Betty for several years, refusing to have them apprehended by authorities as "orphans." Even after the children moved in with their birth father (Helen's first husband) and his new wife in Iowa in 1934, they remained very close to their grandparents.
Emelie never spoke English, although she likely understood a lot of it. When her husband died in 1944 in Fairmont, she went to live with her son Erwin and his family in Huron, South Dakota. She died there on December 29, 1956, and was buried in Lakeside Cemetery in Fairmont, Minnesota beside her husband and daughter Helen.
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