Creating Fiction from History: 7/27/2022

Frederich Charles Blumenfeldt was born to Frederich and Florence Blumenfeldt, German immigrants who had settled on Makee Ridge in the area of what would become Waukon, Iowa. The town itself would not be incorporated as such for several decades. So Fred, as he was known, born in the fall of 1846, did not technically grow up in Waukon, though he probably knew its environs better than anyone!

Along with the famous Shattuck family, the Blumenfeldts were among the first white settlers who dared venture into this region of the brand new state of Iowa. As such, they happened to have claimed their 360 acres fairly near a freshwater spring up on the Ridge. Though, in later years, they would discover an ancient structure the native Blackfeet and Sioux tribes had utilized to convey the water from the spring. The main reason Fred became so familiar with the territory was that starting at an early age, it fell to this brave little man to carry the water for the homestead. These Native American tribes still roamed the territory in the 1850s, but, for the most part, were fairly peaceful and posed no real threat to the hardy little water boy.

As tensions between the northern and southern states began to escalate further east, the Blumenfeldts were affected fairly minimally by the looming conflict, though they still could not escape the inevitable. When news of the attack on Fort Sumter finally reached the territory, almost a year later, in the spring of 1862, both father and eldest son joined the ranks of the Union Army under the command of Brigadier General Samuel Curtis. Father Blumenfeldt never made it home from the conflict, but Frederich Charles, who filled the role of chaplain to the 2nd Iowa Infantry returned, almost unscathed, to his mother and sisters. In his later years, he became the pastor of the First German Reformed Church in Waukon.

The accompanying photograph could possibly picture a young Frederich Charles in 1862, just before father and son set off for the conflict raging further east.

If you would like to create fiction from history with one of the museum’s photos, please contact the Ledger at (406) 287-5301 or email whledger@gmail.com.