Ancestry and Family Trees Storlie Delaney Robinson

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Family History by Jill Storlie for Professor James Hippen, Luther College – May 10, 1979

The generations of the Delaney family reflects not only the history of a people, but also that of a small community, Freeport, Iowa. This family was an important part of its growth and livelihood for nearly a century. Though Freeport today remains a small town on the outskirts of the county seat, it was at one time a larger community than Decorah and a rival for that distinction. This is a story from an early newsclipping about that debate.

“Stories of the fights, at least one of which was carried to the halls of the Iowa legislature, have been told in history and otherwise recounted in print. Simeon Leach, one of the very early settlers in Freeport, was sent to Des Moines to lobby for Freeport with the legislators. He was an ardent prohibitionist. When he appeared before the legislators, he forgot to argue the towns case, but launched into a scathing denunciation of the liquor traffic. He may have had every reason for his convictions, but Freeport was like most other frontier towns in that it had its saloons and their usual accompaniments. However, the body politic had yet to be sufficiently educated to the banal effect of liquor, the legislators were not interested in temperance lectures, and when a vote was taken on whether Freeport or Decorah should have the county seat, Decorah won in a walk.[1] –E.C. Bailey

As a frontier town, Freeport had its own hotel, The Puss House which stood next to the store. The stage stopped overnight at a half-way house and soldiers getting ready to go off to fight for the Union came together in Freeport. Later when the railroad came into the community, it went to Decorah to avoid crossing the river thus giving the advantage to that town. [2] And…

…with the railroad into Decorah came Patrick Delaney. He had immigrated from Canada to Jackson county, Iowa and in 1880 helped to construct the track to Decorah. His grandparents had immigrated from Ireland a half century earlier following their arranged marriage. Pat, himself a Catholic, married a woman from Iowa named Emily Bakkemoen, a Lutheran whose parents were immigrants from Telemark, Norway. To this union six children were born, all being raised in the Lutheran faith. One child died in her mother's arms from whooping cough.[4]

While the children were growing up, Pat did almost any type of work asked of him. He was a carpenter and a storekeeper for many years in the Freeport store which stood until a newer structure replaced the original in 1977.[5] Pat was said to have been working on a patent in conjunction with a Decorah man and "the prospects were good for him realizing handsomely on it," but the details will probably remain a mystery for Mr. Delaney was found dead on October 16, 1914 by some men on their way to work. His body was laying two-thirds of the way across the Dry Run creak face down in about six inches of water. It was thought that he had fallen through the openings in the Milwaukee railroad bridge and hit his head onthe rocks below as he was walking home between 1:30 and 7:00 on that Saturday morning.[6] This accident left Emily and her five children without a husband and father. [The patent work involved a windmill that could be tipped over at the half way point for maintenance].

However, the U.S. involvement in the Great War [W.W.I] took Mory, the oldest of the brothers, to France in 1917 with the 337^th machine gun battalion.[7] During training at Camp Dodge with the 88^th Division of the A.E.F. [Allied Expeditionary Forces], Private Delaney came home only once, which was to be the last time his family would ever see him for he died in Belfort, France on October 10. 1918 of the Spanish flu [Spanish Influenza]. One month later his mother received word that he had passed away.[8] Not until 1921 was his body returned to the states. [9]

By 1925 Freeport had two radios, one at the Knutson Store, and the other owned by Emma Delaney. Her sons had helped to bring electricity to the area a few years earlier while he worked at the well-paying job of lineman before the war took him to Europe.[10]

[see the photo of Delaney, M.I., Pvt., 1^st Cl. (Dec 1. R.F.D. No.6, Decorah, Iowa]

[see two photos and news blurb: “Morry Delaney departed Sunday for Armour and other points in S.D., where he will be employed by the Interstate Power Co.”]

Part I Delaney Robinson

The other brothers remained in the community for a time. Jim attended Valder’s College in Decorah and graduated as a C.P.A. but instead became the manager and proprietor of Delaney’s Standard Service at the corner of Broadway and Washington streets in Decorah, Iowa. He worked here for seven yhears before selling out to an employee and moving to Waterloo, Iowa to work in the packing plant. Later he again moved, this time to Sterling, Illinois where he met and married Margaret Allen in 1947.[11]

[See photos and newspaper blurb “Although Jim Delaney (center) may not have won any hog-callling contests, he is doing a good job telling the world about the new stock of Atlas tires he has just received with the big display showrxxx above in front of his Standard Dealer station in Decorah, Ia.”

The youngest son Roger also worked with Jim at the Standard Oil station before receiving a civil service appointment in the Railroad Retirement Fund commission which was being set up by the federal government.[12] Roger had graduated from Luther College in 1930 and was assigned to work on the Indian Service post on the Fort Berthold reservation from 1939 to 1946.[13] His wife Myrtle and daughter Kaye lived with him in Elbowood, North Dakota while he taught in the Indian school. During the war, Roger was in charge of Indian registration. He reported that forty men from the reservation were already in the armed forces and two-thirds of them were volunteers.[[14] In the early 1950’s he became superintendant at Cibecue, New Mexico on the Navajo reservation.[15]

[See Roger Delaney photos and scans of

· Cibecue, Myrtle Ramay Delaney and Kaye;

· South Dakota Mandan Indians in full headdress with Roger

· Commencement Exercises Luther College, Sixty-Ninth Year. C.K. Preus Gymnasium, Wednesday Evening, June 4, 1930 8:00 o’clock

· Roger in his 1930 graduation gown and cap]

[See Hagar Delaney Dinger photos in dress and hat]

[See Harold Dinger postman pictures with two horse team and with Harley Davidson 1914 – unsure if borrowed for pleasure or a work cycle]

Teaching was one of the few professions open to women at this time. Though the pay was minimal, the prestige was great. Hagar Delaney, the only daughter and oldest child attended Breckenridge, later to be called Valders' Business College. This prepared young women for normal training and business. She taught for several years in the country schools and in 1917 she married one of Uncle Sam's rural route carriers, a gentleman from Clay Hill named Harold Dinger. They took up residence in a home purchased earlier by Harold. Hagar spent much of her time in volunteer work for the American Legion Auxiliary, Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary and the Decorah Lutheran church. Her compassion and friendliness toward others brought her in correspondence with area soldiers during the wars and as a teacher and superintendent of the Freeport Sunday school. Even the amputation of her right leg didn't curtail her commitment to community involvement.

As the only son to remain in Freeport, Iowa, Chester Delaney had attended Valder's Business College in Decorah for a short time. He then became apprenticed to the barber at Buckno's Barber Shop in Decorah while only 16. He eventually took over the business and opened Chet's Barber Shop in the Ben Bear Building. He had often helped a neighbor drive his teams (of horses) as his brother did. In 1937 he married that neighbor's daughter Frances (Ada Francelia Robinson).

A MISCELLANEOUS - 7 advertisement from the local paper read "DON'T READ this unless you wish to know where Chet's Barber Shop is, 410 West Water St. Good services, prices reasonable. Chet Delaney, Prop. 49-4

[See PDF of Souvenir, Freeport School, Independent Dist., Decorah Twp.. Winneshiek County, Iowa, 1901-1902. Presented by Chas. L. Child, Principal, Emma L. Schaub, Primary. C.Skinner, President, A.B. Robinson, Secretary. Names of Pupils: Maud Lee, Alice Chapman, Dilla Logsden, Lulu Klien, Ida Lane, Florence Kniss, Hattie Hallman, Cora Eskew, Pearl Skinner, Ethel Kniss, Nellie Lee, Pearl Stevens, Mabel Rude, Hattie Kirkland, Mable Roney, Cora Dickenson, Edith Hallman, Guy Robinson, Arthur Robinson, Francis Lee, Helmer Peterson, Leonard Logsden, Bonnie Erickson, Claud Hallman, Guy Hallman, Glen Hallman, Henry Anderson, John Lee, Anna Lane, Hagar Delaney, Anna Rude, James Warn, Jay Roney, Allie Robinson.

PRIMARY DEPARTMENT: Elsie Harris, Mary Harris, Evan Sohrs, Hazel Sheetz, Ida Tollstad, Rosy Rude, Lily Rude, Willie Erickson, Bennie Anderson, Mory Delaney, Earl Stevens, Jessie Stevens, James Hardesty, Chester Sheetz, Percy Kniss, Roy Lane, Harry Erickson, Andrew Anderson, Ingvald Haugsness.

Backside of program “PUPILS” Guy Robinson, Percy Kniss, Pearl Skinner, Jaines Hardesty, Bessie Kniss, Ellen Klevyer, Nellie Lee, Arthur Robinson, Ethel Kniss, Ralph Lee, Anna Rudy, Levee Neshiem, Mabel Rudy, Levee Neshiem, Mabel Rudy, Helmer Peterson, Hattie Kirkland, Wayne Synder, Anna Lane, Ida Lane, Rose Rudy, Mary Delaney [mory written in margin], Eva Stohr [note Stohrs on other side], Willie Erickson, Lulu Klein, Harry Erickson, Vila Stevens, Lester Pearson, Hattie Hallman, Glen Sheetz, Leonard Logsdon, Chester Sheetz, Mary Harris, Elsie Harris, Lloyd Logsdon, Chester Delaney, Hazel Sheetz, Myrtle Rude, Hagen Delaney, Andrew Anderson, Bonnie Anderson, Andrew Anderson.]

[See photos in the pdf of: Bust of Sharon Delaney Storlie; Emma, Myrtle, Kaye and two retriever dogs; Dinger house in Freeport with child flying a kite; Chester in bola hat and mutton chops for some festival; Delany house with two

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