HISTORY OF WOOD COUNTY



20 years, and has a host of friends throughout the community. The family
church
is the Norwegian Lutheran.
   Anton 5. Ashbeck, a progressive farmer of Auburndale Township, was born
in
Austria, April 6, 1873, son of Anton and Caroline (Walner) Ashbeck. The father
was employed as a carpenter in Austria; the family came to America in 1881,
the
son Anton being then eight years old, and settled in Auburndale, in Wood
County.
For the first three years here the father worked in the mill operated at
Auburndale
by the Connor Lumber Co.; in 1884 he bought a farm in Milladore Township
two
and one-half miles east of Auburndale village, and on this property the family
es-
tablished their home, the father having erected a log house to serve as a
residence.
The land was wholly unimproved, and this region was in a very primitive state
at
that time, so that the task of developing a farm was an arduous one and the
family
suffered all the hardships which the pioneer must bear. In the course of
time,
however, the task was accomplished and a fine agricultural property developed,
with good buildings and improvements, and with a total area of 120 acres,
the 60
acres adjoining the original farm having -been added. The father is still
living in
Auburndale village and is now in his seventy-sixth year. The mother died
soon
after moving to the farm, and the father subsequently remarried. Anton J.
Ash-
beck remained under the parental roof until he was 22 years old; he attended
the
public school at Auburndale for a time, but went out to work at the age of
13, his
first wage being six dollars per month, which he received for cutting cordwood.
In 1895 he bought 60 acres of wild land in Section 35, Auburndale Township,
built
a log shack on the place, and began the work of clearing the land. He kept
bach-
elor's quarters for the first two years, but renounced this form of life
when he
married Barbara A. Schriener, of Auburndale, who was born in Austria Nov.
27,
1874, a daughter of Ignatz and Rose (Greiner) Schriener. Mrs. Ashbeck came
to
the United States with her parents as a child; both her parents are now living
in
Auburndale Township. For the first year following their marriage Mr. and
Mrs.
Ashbeck boarded in Auburndale, living on the salary of $32 per month which
Mr.
Ashbeck was then receiving. In the spring of 1899 they moved to the farm
whose
development Mr. Ashbeck had started, and this has ever since been their home.
They endured many years of hardship, privation, and unremitting toil, but
they
emerged at last upon the fields of prosperity. They have added 40 acres to
the
area of the farm, giving them a total of 100 acres, all of which they have
cleared.
The little frame house which was their first'home has been replaced by a
comfort-
able two-story nine-room frame house, and their other equipment has been
improved
to correspond. In 1904 they replaced their log barn with a frame structure
36 by
60 by 16 feet in dimensions, and in '1913 they built a second barn 36 by
76 by 12
feet with a stone basement 36 by 60 by 8 feet and all modern equipment, including
steel stanchions, running water, drinking cups in each stall, etc., being
one of the
most modern barns in the township. Mr. Ashbeck has erected a large stave
silo
in connection, and a garage and machine shed 24 by 40 feet with granary above.
His operating equipment is all good, and the farm takes its place as one
of the
finest in this section of the county; its development is an achievement of
which
Mr. Ashbeck can well be proud, and it will continue to add to the agricultural
greatness of this region long after he has passed on. He is carrying on general
farming and dairying, having the place well stocked with Holstein cattle,
including
a pure-bred sire. He milks about 26 cows on the average, and dairying is
the chief'
field of his endeavor. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ashbeck.
Rose L., born Aug. 26, 1898; Anton A., April 6, 1900; Frank J., March 14,
1902;
Leonard T., Jan. 27, 1904; Veronica M., Feb. 2, 1906; Henry I., Feb. 9, 1908;
George W., March 15, 1910; Louis E., March 13, 1912; Charles J., March 21,
1914,
and Theresa G., March 31, 1918. Rose L. is now Mrs. Joseph Koller, of Sherry
Township, having married on Nov. 6, 1922. Anton A. is employed in a railroad
roundhouse in Fond du Lac, Wis. The other children are living at home; the
older ones have been given the advantages of St. Mary's parochial school
at Au-
burndale besides a common school education, the family being members of St.
Mary's Catholic Congregation in the village.



618