Frank Mathias Erschens
January 3, 1881 – August 4, 1957
Interment: St. Mary's Cemetery, Elkton, SD
Born the 3rd of January, 1881 in Manning, Carroll County, Iowa to Mathias Leopold Erschens (1848-1935) and Marie Anna Adams (1853-1933). His siblings included Nicholas Leonard (1877-1936), Mary (1879-1953), Mathias Leopold Erschens, Jr. (1883 to 1944), Anna M. (1887-1963), Peter (1889-1889), Johann Joseph (1890-1972), and Henry (1896-1970). In 1889, when Frank was nine years old, the family moved to Drammen Township, Lincoln County, Minnesota.
For a young man in rural Minnesota or a young, widowed woman with two children, finding an available companion in the early 1900’s was a daunting task. Through the use of the Catholic Correspondence Club (Established in 1914), a faith-based option of introduction, potential partners could meet and correspond in the hopes of establishing a relationship. From the introductory letter,
“This Club is formed for the sole purpose of introducing Catholic men and women who feel themselves called to the married state. A great many forget that the call to the married state, like the call to the religious life, comes from God, and that they must rely upon Him for all that tends to make that state happy. For a Catholic to be happy in that state it is of course necessary that he or she should choose a Catholic as a life partner.”
Frank and Agnes (Dowdle) Lilllpop, a widowed woman with two young daughters, began a correspondence through this club which led to an agreement of marriage on February 9th, 1926. Frank and Agnes added two more children, Paul and Miriam, to their family and they lived their entire married life in Drammen township.
frank was a farmer who also nurtured several varieties of fruits, berries, flowers, trees and grains. In his later years he spent much of his time on wood carving, his favorite hobby. Figures of people, birds and animals were his main subjects. He liked music and played violin in his earlier years. He could remember an ox team being used to break the sod and he once helped build a sod house in which to hide and hunt prairie chickens.
Survivors (at the time of passing): His wife, Mrs. Frank (Agnes) Erschens; a daughter, Miriam Nielsen (Wayne) of Culver City, California; a son, Paul (Lois) Erschens of Drammen township; a step-daughter, Helen (Virgil) Porter of Drammen township; a step-daughter Leona (John) Young of Minneapolis; two brothers, John and Henry and a sister Anna, all of Drammen township.
Frank was preceded in death by his parents and brothers Nicholas and Mathias and a sister, Mary.
