Bio: Grap, Martha (Turns 100 - 1978)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Grap, Kalsow

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 9/14/1978

Grap, Martha (Turns 100 - 1978)

If anyone looks like the perfect grandma, it is Martha Grap. And there are a lot of people who call her “grandma” since she has five living sons, eleven grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren, all of them proud that this Thursday September 14, Martha Grap will reach the 100-year mark.

Grandma Grap, as she is affectionately known by family and friends in the Globe area, lives alone on the family farm and manages to tend, cook and care for herself with little help. She is reported to be a good cook and active in the Globe area social life, often seen at Globe Lutheran Church activities, including weddings, funerals and family gatherings.

She appears a little over-whelmed by all the fuss being made about her reaching the century mark but when visited twice in the last week by this writer she was taking everything in stride. The excitement has made her a little tired, but she was eager to meet and talk with all those who came to bid her good health and a happy birthday.

Grandma Grap lives in a modest home filled with photos some of them dating a 100 years. She is eager to point out her special favorites, especially one of she and her granddaughter, Tuesday afternoon, two of her sons were at hand, placing a special family plaque on the living room wall commemorating her 100-year-mark.

On the table in the living room was the remains of a large rainbow shaped cake. She quickly showed a picture of the cake before the rainbow, complete with 100 candles, ended up in great-great grandchildren’s stomachs. She wanted it mentioned in the newspaper that this was one of the many baked created to mark the occasion of her special birthday. In fact, six have been baked so far and more are sure to come.

In good health with only a few aches and pains, Martha is neat in appearance all the way to her tightly braided hair, perhaps a mark of her upbringing by immigrant German parents, ten decades ago. She is also a little modest and was apprehensive when answering questions on her reputed sheepshead playing skill.

Martha was born one-half mile west of the Globe corner, the daughter of Frederick and Emelia Kalsow. Her father was a farmer and logger in an area that was heavily forested. Martha can remember times when what are now expanses of tilled farmland were nothing but miles and miles of trees. She joined three brothers in the rough pioneer lifestyle.

On October 12, 1899, Columbus (and the rest of the story is not found. Dmk)