Age at time of death: 94 years, 0 months, and 9 days

Over the course of several years, Aunt Etta use to come for visits, in my parents home and she usually stayed for a few days at a time. Most often her sister Gertie Casmey Nelson would come as well and they always traveled by train. Etta loved to help mother prepare meals and was an excellent cook and baker. She was also one of the most kind, loving and interesting woman I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

I looked forward to her visits and loved listening to her conversations with my mother, which usually took place at our kitchen table.

Aunt Etta was an amazing woman that possessed a keen memory for such things as; events, dates, places and names. She loved to talk about the "Good Ole Days", which almost always included stories about my Casmey Family as well as her husband, children, friends and neighbors. I could sit and listen to her for hours and never get bored.

Etta was well known and loved among her community and Presbyterian Church members. Her neighbors also loved her dearly. She attended the same church all her life and enjoyed many church activities such as sewing, knitting & crocheting, baking and teaching Sunday School.

After her mother died she remained on the family farm in Euclid Township to help her father raise her brothers and sisters.

On Dec. 15, 1915 Etta became the wife of Albert W. "Willie" Teal in Euclid. Etta continued farming in Euclid Township with her husband until 1923, when their family moved into Euclid.

Etta and Albert raised seven children in this four room house and also had her father Richard Casmey and Mother-in-law, "Grandma Teal", living with her for many years. In 1954 Etta's husband died.

During her elderly years, several of her neighbors would come over to her home on a regular basis to see how she was getting along and help her out with chores which had become difficult for her to do on her own. They tended her yard & garden, did a bit of grocery shopping from time to time and also chopped & stacked wood for her so they would not have to worry about her running out of firewood for her woodstove-- which she relied upon for heat.

Etta was always an old fashion lady who never gave up some of the ways of her past. Not only did she use a wood stove for heat, but she also used it occasionally for cooking and raising homemade bread and rolls. It took several years to convince her to get indoor plumbing and she could never be convinced to get an indoor toilet. Heavens no!-- she would say when ever someone would offer to install one. She firmly believed a toilet should be kept outside and not in the house. Let me tell you, it was one of the cleanest outhouses that ever was and she always planted beautiful, fresh smelling flowers all around it. When ever someone wrote to her, she always promptly wrote back and if you sent her a gift or Christmas/Birthday card, you would surely receive a thank you card or note from Etta in your mailbox within a few days.

God Bless Aunt Etta. She was a very special person.


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Source: Bicentennial History of Polk County, Minnesota Pioneers of the Valley

Polk County Historical Society.1976
Dallas, Tex. : Taylor Pub. Co.
Pioneers of the Valley

ETTA MAE CASMEY TEAL
Etta Mae Casmey Teal, born at Euclid, Minnesota, Feb. 28, 1889 is the oldest living member born in Euclid Township.
Etta was the seventh child in the family of twelve children
and she has two sisters still living. Bernice Casmey Raudel of Mayville, North Dakota and Gertrude Casmey Nelson of Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Her parents were Richard and Elizabeth Casmey who came to homestead in Euclid from Kingston, Ontario, Canada in 1887. Along with the homestead, her dad also did blacksmithing. The family lived off the fruit of the land, raising everything they ate and selling the extra. They sold eggs for 1O¢ a dozen. The wheat was hauled to Crookston and ground into flour for the year's supply. It took 1,300 pounds of flour, a 60-gallon barrel of dill pickles, a 60-gallon barrel of salt pork, and a 60-gallon barrel of sauerkraut; together with the potatoes, carrots, onions and squash that were kept in a root cellar to feed the family . There were seven boys: William, Charles, John, George, Frank, Thomas and
Howard; and five girls: Ellen, Mary, Etta, Bernice and Gertrude.

The house on this homestead was a 3-roomed house. They
had straw ticks for beds. The straw for these beds had to be put in fresh every spring and every fall. On the top of these ticks, they put feather ticks and it was such fun to crawl up on these to go to bed. Every fall the Indians would come and camp in our grove and at night we could watch them dance and play their drums. One morning after mother had finished milking, they took all the milk. We never trusted them so we let them have it with no argument. They stayed until after threshing when they picked all the screenings. We would have used it for chicken feed but they sold it. We had a lot of good times as kids. When company came, mother sent all the kids outside to pick up wood chips around the wood pile to start fire to get the tea kettle boiling. The kids who were company from town would come out on Sunday afternoon and we'd hitch up the goats and oxen to the bobsleds and go for rides. Then in the evening we'd make taffy and have taffy pulls. In the winter time mother would make scarves and mittens from the wool of the angora goats.

We went to the Presbyterian Church in Euclid which is still standing and I still attend. Our entertainment were house parties. We'd play cards, someone would play the violin or mouth organ, and we'd dance. We traveled from house to house.

Times were tough. Wood to burn would be so green one
would have to put it in the oven to dry out. There were no fires at night. The cook stove was used for cooking and heating. My mother died when I was 19 and we were still eight at home. We baked 20 loaves of bread a week. The pigs would get out and we'd have to chase them to put them in. One winter it stormed so badly for three days that we couldn't get to the barn to milk the cows. The drifts were so high the cattle could walk right into the hay loft.

I married Albert Teal on December IS , 1915. He was a
laborer on the Great Northern Railroad. We had seven children. three boys and four girls. We lived in Euclid in the house I still occupy, a four roomed house. Grandma Teal lived with us years, and my dad lived with us for many years. One winter we were nine all winter in a 2-bedroom house.

My family was Everett, Orville and Alvin, and the girls were Dorothy (Mrs. Ray Dubuque), Lois (Mrs. Maynard Piker),
Violet (Mrs. Louis Schue), and Etta (Mrs. Bernie Schue).
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The completion of the railroad in 1878, the construction of
the bonanza farms, Buffinton and Keystone operations, the
construction of a hotel, livery barns, blacksmith shop, grain storage and buying facilities helped to bring new settlers to the new township at a rapid pace. During the period of 1879 through 1900. many of the well known families of the area moved to Euclid township.

The Canadian families who came from Ontario, Canada were : the Robert Casmeys, homesteading on northeast 1/4, section 29 in 1886; the Charles Teals who settled on east 1/4 , section 28. They built the first known brick home here on that location. The Richard Casmeys, homesteading on northeast 1/4 , section 35 in 1888 and Mr. Casmey's parents took up a homestead on northwest 1/4, section 26. Mrs. Etta Teal, a daughter of the Richard Casmeys', has been a continuous resident of Euclid township for nearly 87 years. She recalls that when she was a small girl , bands of Sioux and Chippewa Indians would stop at her parents' homestead in the summer months on their annual trips from Dacotah territory to the Red Lakes on fishing and berrying expeditions. She remembers other early residents of the area: the Robert Fairwethers on section 21 ; the Loseys; the Pitkins; a Mr. Eastby; the Chase Misners; the Coleman Kee-Iys; the John Teidts; the Ed Murneys, one of Euclid's first known blacksmiths; also J. P. Schell, early missionary; and Mr. L. S. Hancock, a Civil War Captain, who came here in 1885 and lived on southeast 1/4, section 10. He was one of the first persons buried in the new Euclid cemetery across the road from his farm.

Source: Bicentennial History of Polk County, Minnesota Pioneers of the Valley

Polk County Historical Society.1976
Dallas, Tex. : Taylor Pub. Co.
Pioneers of the Valley

Parents:
Richard William Casmey (1850 - 1935)
Elizabeth Walker Casmey (1858 - 1910)

Spouse: Albert Wellington Teal
Marriage Date: 15 DEC 1915
Marriage Place: Euclid, Polk, Minnesota

Children:

1. Teal, Alvin R
Date of Birth: 07 May 1917
Birth certid: # 1917-25422
Place of Birth: Euclid, Polk, MN., USA
Date of Death:
Place of Death:
(Deceased)
Burial:
Mother Maiden Name: Casmey

2. Teal, Everett
Date of Birth: 28 Sep 1918
Birth certid: # 1918-25892
Place of Birth: Euclid, Polk, MN., USA
Date of Death:
Place of Death:
(Deceased)
Burial:
Mother Maiden Name: Casmey

3. Teal, Dorothy Elizabeth (Dubuque)
Date of Birth: 25 Mar 1920
Place of Birth: Euclid, Polk, MN., USA
Birth certid: # 1920-25754
Date of Death: 18 Dec 1973
Place of Death: Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota, USA
Burial: Calvary Cemetery
Plot: New Addition, Lot 203, Grave 3
Crookston, Polk County, Minnesota, USA
Mother Maiden Name: Casmey

4. Teal, Orvie Wallberg "Orville"
Date of Birth: 14 Jan 1922
Place of Birth: Euclid, Polk, MN., USA
Birth certid: # 1922-25985
Date of Death:
Place of Death:
(Deceased)
Burial:
Mother Maiden Name: Casmey

5. Teal, Lois Lorraine "Piker"
Date of Birth: 12 Aug 1923
Birth certid: # 1923-25361
Place of Birth: Euclid, Polk, MN., USA
Date of Death: 20 Mar 2012
Place of Death: Warren, Marshall County, Minnesota, USA
Burial: Presbyterian Cemetery
Tabor, Polk County, Minnesota, USA
Mother Maiden Name: Casmey
Spouse: Vern Piker
Deceased

6. Teal, Violet 'Vi' Mae (Schue)
Date of Birth: 11 Feb 1927
Birth certid: # 1927-22866
Place of Birth: Euclid, Polk, MN., USA
Date of Death:
Place of Death:
(Living)Fargo North Dakota
Burial:
Mother Maiden Name: Casmey

Spouse: Louis Schue
Marriage Date: June 19, 1947
Marriage Place: Red Lake Falls, MN., USA
Birth: Dec. 16, 1923
Death: Mar. 8, 2003
Burial: Saint Dorothy Cemetery
Dorothy, Red Lake County, Minnesota, USA
Find A Grave Memorial# 33050102

7. Teal, Etta Luella "Bernie" (Schue)
Date of Birth: 03 Oct 1929
Birth certid: # 1929-21084
Place of Birth: Euclid, Polk, MN., USA
Date of Death:
Place of Death:
(Living)Bismarck, North Dakota
Burial:
Mother Maiden Name: Casmey


Note: Source information; her daughter Lois's Obit:

Lois is survived b her special friend, Ernie Slusar; sisters, Vi Schue of Fargo, ND. Etta (Bernie) Schue of Bismarck, ND; sister-in-law, Joyce Piker of East Grand Forks, MN; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; brothers, Alvin, Orville and Everett; sister, Dorothy Dubuque; sister-in-law, Edith Teal and brothers-in-law, Ray Dubuque, Louie Schue and Vern Piker.