The fifth child of eleven born to Joseph and Fredericka (Berg) Blohm, Martha was born on their farm near Sharon, Audubon County, IA. Her older brothers were William, Charles Frederick, Henry, and Louis Blohm. Her younger siblings were Minnie (married Sumner Collins), Frank Emil, Ella Fredericka (married & divorced Raymond Hoover), Mabel Blohm, and Fred Joseph Blohm.

Martha and her brother Louis were confirmed in 1904 by Rev. George Frederick Braun, minister of Atlantic German Evangelical Peace Church, 703 Walnut St., and Mina Blohm was confirmed by him in 1908. The Blohms were founding members of St. John's Lutheran Church in Audubon.


Memories of Aunt Martha, by her niece Arlene Blohm:
"Aunt Martha lived with Grandpa Joe and Grandma Fredericka Blohm; she never married. Martha and Grandma had flowers: dahlia, cosmos, peonies, and many others, with iris on the bank that sloped between the flower bed and the potato patch.

Aunt Martha was a very good cook. Sunday dinner was almost always roast beef and Monday (wash day) noon they had beef stew, hers was the best!

Grandma and Martha belonged to a neighborhood club. There was always quilting in the winter. Grandma's frame was the size of the quilt tied to four chairs set-up in the living room. They worked from all sides and rolled it under as completed. When a quilt was in there was always several ladies there to work on it every afternoon with a nice coffee for a break.

Martha spent weeks with families in the country, mainly to the north and east, when a new baby arrived. She was a very capable, taking care of the mother, cooking for the family, cleaning and washing.Her families remained her faithful friends. She helped at her brother William's home when Bernice was born in 1922. After that she became the housekeeper for Dr. and Mrs. Halloran.

The Hallorans had three daughters and Mrs. Halloran had problems with her feet. Their daughter and Martha's niece, Margaret Cora Hoover, were very best friends. (Martha helped with the upbringing of Margaret, as she was in the custody of Joe & Fredericka Blohm). LaRita Halloran died at an early age. The Hallorans also had a "yard man" they called "Mor's Pa'er". His name was really Pete Rasmussen. If weather was bad, they would send him after Martha, so she took a lot of teasing about her "boyfriend". He lived with his mother on Washington street and never married.

Aunt Martha always made you feel good. She had time to listen and never scolded. One Memorial Day, Arlene stopped by after being to the cemetery. Somehow Arlene's children got rather dirty. Martha said, "You can see they started out clean!" If she was home, Arlene could always count on Martha to watch the children while she did her shopping.

Martha never complained of any heart trouble, so it came as quite a shock to some of the family when she died at age 48. [She had been subject to heart trouble for about 2 years]. She was cleaning the snow off the walk west of the house. The milkman making his early morning rounds found her in the snow."