"The land of milk and honey"

DL: Florien Hartman married Marie Henle. They were both from Germany, born there and came here. Florien, how did he get the land? How did Florien come to be a farmer?

AH: I don’t know. He worked on that farm. Athaanasius worked on that farm. Grandma was a Sienks, Marie’s mother came from that area too. She was like a nanny or something to the Duke of Erbach and his wife. When Gwen and Vick were in Germany, they went to Erbach¬-- Hans said this is where my roots are – in Erbach. She got married to Grandpa in the United States when she came with her folks, the Sienks. They came over with this group, the German Society. They kind of owned the land. When the old deeds were recorded and stuff it always went back and forth so evidently Marie’s Dad and Mom must have had some money and could do that.

DL: What was the German Society?

AH: It was the German Land Society I think it was called. That’s where somehow or other they were promised the "Land of Milk and Honey," so they came here to find it. First they went to Chicago for a couple of years before they came here. It had something to do with the settlement. You go into this area and set up a homestead or something and then it’s yours. I really don’t know all the particulars but that’s how I understood it. So it went back and forth between the Sienks and the Henles very often, the ownership of the land.