Bio: Ebert, Lena (96th Birthday – 1967)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Ebert, Becken, Klieforth, Wiersig, Kobs, Dins, Markus, Kademan, Dix, Jackson, Rienow, Buss, Gosse, Sommer

----Source: Tribune/Phonograph (Abbotsford, Clark Co., Wis.) 28 Sep 1967

Mrs. William (Lena) Ebert, who will be 96 years old on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 1967, was honored guest at a surprise birthday party last Friday, Sept. 22, at the home of her son, William Ebert in Colby.

Mrs. Halvor Becken of Colby planned the early birthday party for Mrs. Ebert because she will be leaving Colby for the winter months to make her home with her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Klieforth, at Wauwatosa.

The guests provided Mrs. Ebert with a corsage and a beautifully decorated birthday cake. The afternoon was spent visiting and recalling the past. Mrs. Ebert stated that she was very pleased to think that the younger people remembered her birthday and she was delighted over their thoughtfulness.

Her guests included Mrs. Halvor Becken, Mrs. Walter Wiersig, Mrs. Norman Kobs, Mrs. Albert Dins, Mrs. R.H. Markus, Mrs. Ed Kademan, Mrs. Oscar Dix, Mrs. Frank Jackson, Mrs. Anne Rienow and Miss Martha Buss.

The group sang the birthday song for their honored guest.

In recalling the past, Mrs. Ebert stated that she was born in eastern Germany in the village of Raudne in 1871. She sailed to America with her parents, three brothers and two sisters when she was 13. It took 14 days to sail from Hamburg to New York.

From New York they journeyed to Chicago, and then to Clark County, Wis., where they settled on a farm in the town of Green Grove. Her parents bought a 40 acre farm with a frame house and a barn.

She recalled that their pastor in Germany had confirmed them before their migration to this country because of the shortage of ministers in this area at that time. She is a member of the Zion Lutheran Church.

Her education was meager, having been discontinued when she left Germany. She admits to poor spelling, but she writes a very legible and beautiful English script.

On Jan. 30, 1890, she and William Ebert were married and settled in the town of Colby (Clark County) on a farm. They had six children, two of whom died in infancy, and a son, Louis, who died in 1961 at Milwaukee. Ella (Gosse) who died in 1918, William Ebert Jr., Colby, and Mrs. Alfred (Selma) Klieforth, Wauwatosa.

She recalled the days of the first automobiles when she was on her way to town with a precious cargo of eggs, and their faithful team of horses. The team became frightened and ran off into a driveway, breaking all the eggs she was to sell in trade for groceries. Eggs were seven cents a dozen.

They went to church, a three mile hike, in a log school house, where the pastor came once a month from Dorchester.

Mrs. Ebert also remembered the time she was asked to be a bridesmaid for a very dear friend. She walked 14 miles in her bridesmaid's attire and was accompanied by her little brother. She was very weary and quite dusty when she arrived and spent the biggest share of the night ironing ruffles of a gown she had borrowed from someone else.

They retired from farming in 1919 and her husband died in 1930. She continued to keep house until 1947, and since then has been living with her children.

She has seven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

Her young brother, John Miller, lives at Memorial nursing Home, Neillsville, and her younger sister, Mrs. Otto (Anna) Sommer, lives at Neenah.

Mrs. Ebert loves to cook and sew, and claims she can still see better without glasses.

Her favorite hobby is knitting and just to prove it, she claims she has knit more than 600 pairs of mittens over the years, and has very generously given them all away for gifts. Among her many other talents is the ability to sew, although she has given this up in the past few years.

She is very alert and a marvelous conversationalist. The group of women at the party promised her they would have her as a guest on her one-hundredth birthday.