was at the home at the time, but our neighbor saw
it, and it was put out before there was too much
damage. The whole neighborhood was so helpful in
aiding us while our home was repaired. I think we
have the best neighbors in the whole world!
We are very proud to be a part of this communi-
ty. David Fiser
MARGARET L. FISER
I was born in Ladysmith on May 16, 1956. I am
the oldest child of Verlyn (Bud) and Elaine Fiser.
Except for the years I spent at college I've lived
here all my life. I have a great fondness for the
area. I love my community, and I love the land.
I have many fond memories of my life in Dairy
Center. Every summer when I was young the local
4-H club would sponsor a community picnic.
Everyone who lived in the community would come.
We'd play softball or shuffleboard. Some would
pitch horseshoes. And there were so many good
things to eat and ice cream for dessert.
Holidays were special. All of our relatives would
assemble at my Grandma Fiser's house. It was
very tiny, but we always managed to squeeze the
twenty-plus persons inside. No one went away
hungry. In the winter time she had the best sliding
hill, and she had a big swing in the back yard to
keep us kids occupied in the summer.
We used to have family picnics where we'd
throw old car seats in the back of our truck and
take off to explore old roads. Aunt Margaret
(Fiser) Guns would lead us in singing some of the
cute songs she knew.
A more modern tradition includes a 4th of July
trip down the Flambeau River in innertubes. It is a
trip that is enjoyed by young and old alike, and we
are the marvel of every canoeist who passes us
along the way!
One accomplishment of which I am quite proud
is the house in which I am presently living. It is a
cabin of sorts built around the time of the coloniza-
tion of Big Falls Township. Two very conservative
bachelors, Rufus (Putt) and Martin Girod, lived in
it. (The last one died in 1970.) The house was very
rustic, with 1920's and '30's newspaper for wall
paper and homemade or antique furniture. With
the help of my family, I am remodeling the house,
but I am trying to keep much of the flavor of the
time they had it. I still have much to do on it, but I
am proud of the progress I have made. And I hope
to be in the area for a long, long time! Margaret
Fiser
THE FLATER FAMILY
Emil August Flater (1868-1956) and Augusta
Amelia Marks (1873-1930) came from Germany
in their early years and were married in Hatley,
Wis., in 1889. They lived in Manawa, Wis., having
5 children - Edward (1892-1962), Amanda
(1895-1981), Elsie (1900-82), Harry (1904-1953),
and Carl (1907-1967). They moved to the
Holcombe area in early 1900's which had mostly
Indian population at that time. Emil worked in the
lumber camps in the winter and farmed in the
summers, raising an excellent orchard. Son, Harry,
married Mary Brainerd (1902) in 1926. (Mary
was a life-long resident or Rusk Co., being raised
on a farm on the Chippewa River just south of
Bruce.) They farmed on the Flambeau Hills just
south of the Rusk Co. line having 5 children - Ar-
dythe (1927), Hilda (1928), Earl (1930), Harold
(1931), and Raymond (1940). Much of the land

Harold Flater Family

was burnt over around there in 1934. Many times,
as Harry and Mary and family drove on "D"
towards "40", when they got by Mudbrook, Harry
would look across the river at some beautiful bir-
ches and say - "Someday we'll buy that land.
And in 1938, they bought the point of land where
the Chippewa and Flambeau Rivers meet in
southern Rusk Co. Harry moved the large office
building from  the Bischel Lumber Co. in
Ladysmith to the point to make a home and tavern.
(Quite a job in those days!) The family cleared
land to farm, finding many Indian relics. The point
was an obvious place for all travelers to use - in
long ago days as is now. A fishing resort gradually
developed with Harry guiding 1-2 day trips on the
rivers. Two Indian guides were hired also. There
was no electricity so they had a Delco power plant
for their lights. Ice was also cut each winter and
stored in an ice house to use year-round. The fami-
ly also raised capons to supplement their income.
Son Harold "Tubby" married Jo Ann Klund
(1936) on June 14, 1954. Jo Ann's family were all
life-long residents of Rusk Co. Her grandparents,
Klund, started a resort on Pulaski Lake in south-
central Rusk Co. and grandparents Arndt lived in
Ladysmith since the early 1900's. Harold "Tubby"
and Jo Ann bought the resort and kept building
and changing it with the help of their 3 children -
James (1955), Joseph (1955) and Jane (1963).
The original main building burnt in 1962 but was
rebuilt soon after. Jim Flater married and has 2
children - Brett (1976) and Tiffany (1979) and is
living 2 miles from the resort on the Chippewa
River near the old Ora McNeil farm. The wedding
of Joe Flater and Linda Craker (1961) of
Holcombe was held on the point where the two
rivers meet. They have 2 sons: Matt (1978) and
Austin (1982). Joe and Linda live at the resort and
help run it. Daughter Jane attends school in Eau
Claire training for legal assistant. There have been
5 generations of Flaters at Flaters Resort in Rusk
County, and they are the first family to have built
and lived on this property.
ASTRID FLINT
My parents Hans and Mathilde Swanson were
married in Norway in September 1904 and came
to America right after their marriage. My father's
name was really Svendson, but when he came to
America, he changed it to Swanson. They
established themselves on a farm northwest of
Glen Flora and that's where I was born a year
later. My two sisters, Lily and Mildred, were born
there also.
I attended the one-room little red schoolhouse in
Glen Flora from grades one through eight. That
schoolhouse was later moved to Ladysmith and at
present is a historical site next to the Rusk County
Museum.
My first teacher was Mabel Hanson (Pepper)
who was also my second cousin and is still living at
age ninety in Glen Flora.
In a one-room country school you heard the
recitations of the upper classes so you learned not
only from the teacher but the upper class students
which was to the student's advantage.
We had very interesting programs fitting the
holiday occasions such as for: Christmas, Valen-
tine's Day, Washington's, and Lincoln's birthdays
and the last day of school.
I had five different teachers during my eight
years of grade school. The teachers were good,
strict and very good disciplinarians, which was
condusive to good learning. It made the big boys
behave and study. We played Pom Pom Pull-away,
Prisoner's Base and numerous other games.
I can recall one particular night when my folks
weren't home and I was only eleven years old when
my two younger sisters and I heard a coyote howl-
ing near-by. We delighted in mimicking it. We did
the howling to perfection as if we were three young
coyotes repeating his call.
My dad wasn't much of a farmer, as by profes-
sion in Norway he was a draftsman. My mother,
two sisters and I did the milking while my dad did
the barn chores and the heavier labor. In the spring
when he did the plowing, we all picked rocks. My

dad also held various community positions such as:
school clerk, town clerk and assessor.
My mother died in 1949, and my dad died in
1962 at the age of ninety-two.
When I grew up I worked at the County Farm
for three years, and I also worked at Callahan's
and Voldberg's doing housework.
I married George Flint at the age of 22 in 1928.
We both farmed in Glen Flora, Ladysmith and
then back in Glen Flora again. We had 2 children
that died, George "Sonny" b. 1932, d. 1943 and a
daughter who died at birth in 1931. Our other 6
children, 3 boys and 3 girls are all married now so I
have   13  grandchildren  and   one  great
granddaughter.
My husband died of cancer January 30, 1960 at
the age of sixty.
At present I'm a retired housewife living in
Ladysmith. I occupy myself by participating in
various activities and enjoy the company of the
people at the Senior Center. I'm still enjoying the
surroundings as I did when I was a young girl with
my treasured memories of by-gone days. Submit-
ted by Astrid Flint

Astrid and George Flint Family - 1952
THE FAMILY OF CLARA
ALBRECHT FLOHR
Clara, daughter of Karl and Bertha Albrecht,
was born in Helbra, Germany, November 23,
1879. Her father, Karl, grew up in a castle at
Vitzenburg, Germany, as his father was perosnal
bodyguard to Count Von Schulenberg. Karl had
the good fortune to receive private tutorship with
the Count's son, who was the same age. Then he
received a commission as an officer in the Kaiser's
Imperial Navy where he served with distinction in
the engineer corps for 4  years. This training
prepared him for his later position at the Mansfeld
Copper Works where he became master mechanic
of locomotives from 1885 to 1914. In later years,
he often related incidents of his life while growing
up with the Count's son and his adventures while
in the Navy to his grandchildren and to neighbors.
Bertha's brother was one of the early dentists. In
1914, just before World War I, Karl and Bertha
came to the United States to make their home with
their daughter, Clara, Mrs. Ludwig Flohr, who
had come here in 1910 with her husband and
family.
Clara was a trained seamstress, did tailoring and
was also a mid-wife. After coming to America,
these talents were used in helping relatives and
friends rather than for remuneration. She also
worked very hard with her husband and family to
develop a productive farm.
Her husband, Ludwig, and son, Carl, worked in
a pulp mill at Port Arthur. At this time most men
working there were young and single. So a
boarding house was built by the company. Clara
and her sister-in-law, Emma, age 18, operated it in
1916 and 1917. They furnished, prepared and
served the food, cleaned rooms and did the laundry
by hand (washboard) for $15 a month, per man.
Clara's daughter, also named Clara, became a
teacher. She had as many as 42 pupils in all eight
grades in a one room rural school. This meant
reparing lessons for all subjects in all grades and
uilding the wood fires. Some of the pupils walked
two miles to school. Parents and children were very
cooperative and respectful. Her first school was
Pleasant Valley just east of the Barron County
line. It was the last school in the county to still
have double desks. The term was eight months.