‘SONHEIM FAMILY - LEGACY AND LEGEND’

The roots of the Sonheim family run deep. John and Elizabeth Sonheim arrived in the Neillsville area in 1904. They came from Chicago and purchased 40 acres of land, sight unseen, for $25. They raised eight children on their farm south of town, and ties to that farm drew many grandchildren back for a family reunion this past weekend.

"This has always been a close family," said Robert Sonheim, grandson of John and Elizabeth. "The family has scattered all across the country but we have always kept in touch."

Sonheim has led efforts to collect memories of the Sonheim family and has gathered those memories into a book, "Sonheim Family, Legacy and Legend, Three Centuries." He began collecting papers, photographs and documents several years ago. "I had a large box of this stuff on the shelf and it was something that I always wanted to organize some day," he said. That "some day" came in January of this year when he contacted all the members of the family and requested they send information on the family and also asked each family member to write some memories, including a family history on their particular branch of the family tree.

He took all the records, newspaper clippings, information and photographs he received and with the help of his daughter-in-law, Carla, put together the book. "This book came from a great deal of effort on the part of a lot of people," Sonheim said.

The Sonheim family has been holding regular family reunions since 1973. These reunions have taken place in Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico and every place in between. Every other year the reunion includes mostly third generation grandchildren of John and Elizabeth. On alternate years, all generations gather, which generally draw about 60 people.

Just one daughter, Caroline of Black River Falls survives of John and Elizabeth’s eight children. Two of Caroline’s children still live in Wisconsin. The rest of the Sonheim family has moved all across the United States and currently live from New Jersey to California and Washington to Arizona.

"The family has done very well," said Sonheim. "And the best thing that our grandparents could have done for their children and later the grandchildren, was to cause them to leave the farm," he said. "It was a hard life on the farm and the farm certainly could not have supported the children and their children, had they stayed. Everyone had to leave and they went looking for better things."

Sonheim explained that the hard work, honesty, love, discipline, devotion and faith in God the family learned from his grandparents is what helped them to find a better life for themselves.

The farm has since been sold, but the current owners, Dale and Lois Struensee, allowed the Sonheims to hold the family reunion on the farm. Their son, Kevin Struensee, was also very helpful gathering old newspaper clippings and other information for the family book, said Sonheim.

Over 30 members of the family, including daughter Caroline and four great grandchildren attended the reunion. The original home is gone, but an Ash tree, planted by two of John and Elizabeth’s children remains. A stipulation of the sale of the farm was that that Ash tree could never be cut down. Just as the roots of the entire Sonheim family lives on.

Preface from the book, "Sonheim Family Legacy and Legend Three Centuries" is as follows:

This book is a testament to the courage, determination and strength demonstrated by this young couple of Austrian descent to somehow create, out of this wild and unproductive land, a home, food and education for eight children. We, the third generation, dedicate this book to John, Frank, Henry, Catharine, Caroline, Phillip, Dan and Evelyn, for passing on to use the qualities they learned and inherited from our grandparents.