In 1883 my father, Adelbert N. Lesher, and his friend, George Cole, of Grand Meadow, Minn. came to Dakota Territory and took up adjoining quarters of land. My father's was the southeast one-fourth of section twenty-nine and George Coles's was included in what is now the north side of main street. They built a little shack that covered part of each quarter as required by the Homestead Law that each live on the land for a certain time. My fahter wanted to be sure of a good supply of water so he looked for land with a creek running through it.
Later, but before 1892, my father sent to Minnesota for two carloads of lumber to build my present house and barn. The house has had two additions and several changes. The original barn was torn down and rebuilt useing the same lumber and some new lumber because the shed was added.
I have a picture that shows the two buildings stood alone on the prairie without a tree in sight. Between the railroad tracks and our home there was only a flour and feed mill. Later the International Building was built on the same location as the mill had been. Stillman Anderson ran the mill at first but when I remember David Clark managed it. Later in connection with the mill, C.B. Hershey installed Langford's first electric lights.
Langford had several good artesian wells. There was an especially strong one between the railroad tracks and the mill. It was destroyed by Stillman Anderson when he threw pieces of iron into it.
On the south side after you left the depot and railroad tracks there was only a two story house that was destroyed by fire and replaced by the house now occupied by Arnold Stolsmark and the one owned by Tamlin Sandve. The Ed Heinz children and the Clare Richard's children from the second house and the Lesher children had a path between the depot and those two houses that we used to go to school. We had an hour and 15 minutes for lunch so I walked home for dinner but my brothers, Clifford and Lyle, usually carried a lunch because they wanted time to play.
Langford's first school was a small one room school. I do not remember it, but the one I started in had two stories, a belfry and a bell. Later an addition was built on its north side. The downstairs was used for the fifth and sixth grades and the upstairs was used for the high school. When they were building the addition, piles of rocks were piled on the east and the west sides of the school. We played in them during recess and noon and I cannot remember that anyone was seriously hurt in spite of no supervision.
In 1886 the branch line of the Milwaukee Road from Andover reached Langford and the town was immediately incorporated. Early Langford was a thriving community for it drew trade from a big territory from all directions, but especially from the hills. We had three general stores, two banks, two drug stores, a furniture store, a jewelry store, a harness shop, a meat market, a millinery and dress shop, a restaurant, a hotel, two lumber yards, and a livery stable.
The first sidewalks were made of about eight foot wide planks laid crosswise and only in front of the stores. The first cement sidewalks were made by Frank Puntine.
In 1905 the town hall was built and its opening was a gala affair with printed programs and a big banquet. It was the first time my brother Edwin, who was twelve, and I was seven were left alone. My mother worried a good deal about us being alone but she needn't have because we made and ate one batch of taffy and made another. We were having too good a time to be afraid.
While I was still young my father gave us all a nice surprise. We knew he had taken a load of wheat to Groton one day and the next day he came home pulling a nice, new, black surrey behind the wagon. It didn't have a fringe on top but a good top and a lamp on each side of the front seat. My father always had good, small horses and when they hitched to the surrey we had a good looking outfit. We were all thrilled!
There were winters when we had lots of cold weather and plenty of snow. I remember the winter of 1910 in particular. My mother had sent for a Bible for my thirteent birthday. The train didn't get through from Andover for six weeks. It finally got through with the help of a rotary snow plow used on the Main Line. Every window of the depot was tightly boarded up because the rotary threw such big chuncks with such force that every window would have been broken. It came during the noon hour so all of us children came to watch from a safe distance. Six weeks was a long time to be waiting for a birthday present. Other times someone got tired of waiting and a man with a team and bobsleigh went after it.
The first rural mail route from Langford started in 1909 with Fred Johnson as the first carrier. In the beginning there were three routes. We lived on route two. One of our first carriers was Oscar Nelson, who carried our mail for many years. If the weather was very bad, such as a blizzard, all carriers had to make an attempt to go and go out of town. Since we had the first box on our route, he came as far as our place. If in the open country it still seemed to hazardous to go, he would return to Langford.
The telephone was a great help when the country became more thickly settled. A group of men formed a telephone company. You were a member if you provided for a mile of posts and the wire for the posts. We didn't have a share at first, but my father bought Paddy Miles's share when he moved away. We were on line four. It was a heavily loaded line because it reached nearly to Spain. The telephone line was used for business and pleasure and sometimes for instruction also as a life saver. My brother Edwin made many trips to call the doctor when you couldn't get "Central".
Langford's first doctor was Dr. Chilgreen. He din't live long. Dr. J.F.D Cook came to Langford right from Medical School and lived among us for many years. Country doctors then had a hard life because they were on call both day and night. He often had a driver because the call could be many miles away and last for hours if it were for the birth of a child.
My mother, Elizabeth Scheidt Lesher, was a younger pioneer than my father. She came with her family from near Bango, Wisconsin. She was thirteen years old. Her family lived in Bath the first winter. In the spring, Grandfather Scheidt filed on land near Highlanda Church. She came with her father to bring the first load of household goods to the new home. She was homesick for her Wisconsin home because after you left the James River there wasn't a tree in sight. On the way it rained and spoiled her new new hat. She was in the sixth grade when they left Wisconsin. She went to a country school here but the teachers had only a small amount of schooling more than she had so she didn't go on.
Because there was little entertainment but what you created for yourself, her father taught the children to play cards. In the winter, he would take a bobsleigh loaded with young people to dances at Fort Sisseton. They had fur robes and heated soap stones for the ride was long and not very fast.
My mother said that even if the pioneer homes were small they made room for card parties and home dances. After Langford was started there was a dance hall in the upstairs of a building on Main Street.
On May 15, 1888 my father was given the title to his land. I have the document called a "land grant" that was given to him. It gave the description of the land, had the seal of the United States Government and was signed by Grover Cleveland, the president of the United States at that time. The homesteader paid the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents and acre.
My father courted my mother, Elizabeth Scheidt, and brought her home as his bride January 25, 1892. Five children were born to them: Edwin-October 1, 1892, Berenice-January 23, 1897, Clare-July 12, 1899, Clifford-November 25,1906, Lyle-March 16, 1912. My father, Edwin and Clifford were farmers. Lyle farmed for a few years until he moved to Seattle and worked for Boeing until he retired.
Edwin's farming was interrupted when he was called to the Army in 1918. He served in the limited service. He was a member of one of two companies stationed at Pigs Point, Virginia and later moved to Norfolk, Virg. There were stationed there to gaurd war supplies. During his stay there was a bad out-break of "flu". He helped care for the sick and dying without catching the disease. Neither was he injured. The commendation on his discharge was that he had given faithful and honest service. On the way home he stopped to visit a cousin in Bangor, Wisconsin. He slipped on ice and broke his wrist.
Howard Platt was Hickman Township's treasurer. He had been the first and only one and served until his death. Clifford took his place and served until his death. Clifford also served on the Langford School Board for twenty years. He was given a wrist watch and thanks for his work when he retired.
Lyle and I graduated from Langford High School. I went two years to Yankton College and earned my State Certificate. I also went to two summer schools in Colorado and several sessions of summer school at Spearfish. I taught in country schools, in Hartington, Nebraska for two years and the last thirty-two of the forty eight in the Langford Grades. I did a lot of traveling while I was young and my aim was to be in all of the states. I didn't finish that for I have about six that I didn't see.
My father died April 25, 1932. My mother died May 7, 1935. My brother Clare died July 20, 1906. My brother Edwin died May 17, 1964. My brother Clifford died November 12, 1976. All except Clifford are resting in Langford's Hillside Cemetery. Clifford is in Highlanda Cemetary.
Neither my father nor mother lived to enjoy Langford's fiftieth anniversary. I have been a part of our fiftieth and our seventy fifth. Let's hope our hundredth in 1986 will be as good or better than the other two have been.
