No credit cards are accepted.
See downloadable order form at the bottom of page.
See downloadable order form at the bottom of page.
May 21st 1918 Cyclone ~ A Path of Destruction
The Old Franklin Township Historical Society through the assistance of a grant from the Sauk County Arts and Humanities would like to announce their book titled, “May 21st 1918 Cyclone – A Path of Destruction.” The book covers the cyclone from its start in the state of Iowa to its end near Poynette in Columbia County, Wis., where it hit the encampment of the 161st Artillery of 3000 men enroute to Sparta, Wis. Featured in the book is the damage in Lone Rock where much of the town was destroyed, destruction around and in the village of Plain where St. Luke’s Catholic Church was destroyed and the destructive path across Sauk County. The book of 300 pages contains a large number of postcards and photos submitted from the local area, as well as recollections of people who lived through the cyclone. We would like to thank the local communities for submitting all their photos and lovely memories. See order blank at the bottom of this page. Genealogies of Families that Immigrated to Sauk County, Wisconsin, from Bavaria, Germany
The DVD files (which can be viewed on any computer that has a DVD drive) can also be copied to the computer for faster access to the files. Keep the DVD as a backup. The DVD can be purchased for $20.00 from the Old Franklin Township Historical Society. Profits from sales will be used for further historical preservation and family history projects. The DVD can also be purchased from the Kraemer Library and Community Center in Plain. See order blank at the bottom of this page. Note: The DVD is not a movie to be viewed on your TV. It is for computer use only. So, what’s in the DVD?
WWII MEMORIES OF CLETE RING
On this DVD, Clete Ring tells of his WWII experience aboard the “Gambier Bay” as it was struck and sunk by the Japanese. Kenneth Kraemer recorded the interview on May 11, 2015, and William Schuette transferred it to a DVD that can be played on a TV or computer. This DVD can be viewed on TV or computer. 1955 CENTENNIAL PARADE VIDEO
This film was made by Gerald Lomasney with one of the first movie cameras sold for individual use, and so is not as clear as our present-day digital cameras, but what wonderful pictures he has captured! We are grateful to Maggie and Gerald Lomasney for donating their time, effort, and expense to place their film on DVD/VHS and giving the Old Franklin Township Historical Society the opportunity to sell them as a Fundraiser. The parade took place on Saturday, June 4, 1955 with “A Century of Progress in Farm Machinery” being the theme. This was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Town of Franklin. It was an eighty-three-float parade in which four hundred and fifty people took part. This DVD can be viewed on a TV or computer. |
A History of Plain, Wisconsin by Hildegarde Thering, 1982
The History of Plain, Wisconsin was published to commemorate the 125th anniversary of St. Luke’s Parish from 1857 to 1982. It has 230 pages with photographs. Since the book was out of print as of 2023, the OFTHS digitized and reprinted it for sale to the public. Paid members of OFTHS can purchase a book for $25 plus $6 shipping. The non-member price is $30 plus $6 shipping. It can also be purchased at the OFTHS museum in Plain during Open House hours. INDEX: A History of Plain, Wisconsin, Hildegarde Thering, 1982. Compiled 2004 by Sandy Stiemke and Karen Beth.
This is an index to Hildegarde Thering's book, "A History of Plain, Wisconsin" and is available for sale at $10 plus $3 shipping. Thanks to two of our members Sandy Stiemke and Karen Beth for creating the index. Several years ago these two girls spent many hours of their free time taking notes to compile this index to be used with Hildegarde's book. PLAIN, WISCONSIN
1937 MOVIE PLUS VINTAGE STILL PHOTOS With period background music Published & printed by William Schuette In honor of Plain's 100th Birthday, we have available for sale a new 25 minute DVD. Included on the DVD is the 16 mm film made in November 1937. This film contain video of the children at St. Luke's School and shots of people around the village. The first part is shown at regular speed; with the second part shown at a slower speed, so faces of children and people can be identified. Many people have already seen this old 16 mm 1937 film. But the third part is new and has a large collection of vintage photo postcards of the village. This DVD can be played on a TV/DVD player just like a movie or on a computer. It is for sale for $10 with $2.50 for shipping and handling. This was made possible because of the generosity of William C. Schuette for producing and printing as a donation. Bill produced the video with period music playing in the background. See order blank at the bottom of this page. This DVD can be viewed on TV or computer. THE GHOST VILLAGE OF WHITE MOUND
AND IT’S SURROUNDING AREA "BILLYTOWN" By Phyllis Liegel Dearborn As a child Phyllis (Liegel) Dearborn played in the field where this ghost village once was located. At one time White Mound (Billy town) was a very active and thriving community in Franklin Township consisting a Methodist Church, post office, cheese factory, general store, blacksmith shop, and a saloon with icehouse. By the 1930's White Mound was only a memory, with a few cement foundations and a cemetery remaining to remind folks that it existed at all. First printed in 2002 and reprinted by the Old Franklin Township Historical Society 2016 St. Anne’s Hill ~ The Plain Shrine
by Lorry Ann Erickson, Sherri Ann Erickson, and Martha Ann Erickson This book covers the story of a little chapel built high atop of Council Bluff in Sauk County. Council Bluff was used by the Winnebago, Fox, Sauk, and Sioux Indian tribes as a meeting place. They called it Council Bluff and sent smoke signals from its summit. Rev. Charles Surges along with two visiting priests erected a small cross at the top of this bluff on July 26, 1923. Since it was the feast day of St. Anne, the three discussed the idea of building a shrine in her honor. A must for read for people with links to this church. The History of St. Luke's Parish, the Town of Franklin, the Village of Plain, in the County of Sauk, State of Wisconsin, United States of America.
by Rev. Johann G. Laurer In Rev. Laurer's manuscript, he wrote the names and dates of early German emigrants who settled in the Plain area and details of the first three Catholic churches built in Plain. Original title by Rev. Laurer: "Geschichte der katholischen Gemeinde des hl. Lukas zu Plain, Wis." Transcribed from German handwriting to typewritten text by Georg J. Blau in 1997. He also created an index of names and places. The Hausner Foundation (Karl and Hermine Hausner) translated to English and published the first issue in 1999. See this page for more info about a 2003 expanded publication. |
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NO CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED
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NO CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED
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NO CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED
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KRAEMER SERIES OF BOOKS
Attention: The OFTHS will only sell these books at the museum in Plain.
For home delivery by mail, contact Ken Kraemer at the following address:
Ken Kraemer
8 Needlegrass
Newport Coast, CA 92657
Email: [email protected] -- Phone: 949-466-7588
Kraemer in Amerika: History and genealogy of the Kraemers from Tiefenbach, Bavaria, Germany, who immigrated to Stearns County, Minnesota, and to Los Angeles, California.
by Debra A. Blau and Kenneth L. Kraemer, Publication Date: Aug 21 2014, 342 pages
This book is about the Kraemers of Stearns County, Minnesota and Los Angeles, California who are relatives of the Kraemers of Plain, WI. They shared a common father, but had different mothers.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $30
Wisconsin Kraemers: I. In the old world of Bavaria. History and genealogy of the Kraemers of Tiefenbach, Bavaria and Plain, Sauk County, Wisconsin.
by Kenneth L. Kraemer, Publication Date: July 9, 2015
This book is about Paul Kraemer and his ancestors from Tiefenbach and Irlach in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany. It covers the period from 1625-1866. Winner of the 2016 Genealogy/Family History Book Award! Judges from the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society recommended the author receive the award. The Wisconsin Historical Society's Board of Curators approved the 2016 Genealogy/Family History Book Award.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $30
Wisconsin Kraemers: II. The new world of America. Paul and Walburga Kraemer and their children. History and genealogy of the Kraemers of Tiefenbach and Irlach, Bavaria and Plain, Sauk County, Wisconsin.
by Kenneth L. Kraemer, Publication Date: Apr 22, 2017, 232 pages
This book is about Paul Kraemer and his descendants in America from 1866 when he arrived in New York to about the year 2000.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $30
Wisconsin Kraemers: III. The twentieth Century. Peter Kraemer, Anna Ring, Grace Ring, Katherine Eckstein and their children. History and genealogy of the Kraemers of Tiefenbach and Irlach, Bavaria and Plain, Sauk County, Wisconsin.
by Kenneth L. Kraemer, November 2017
Besides the families mentioned in the title, the book includes their children: John Leo Kraemer and wives Isabella Hutter and Martha "Matti" Haas; Edward Kraemer and wife Gisela Frank; Albert Kraemer and wife Mathilda Nachreiner; Anton Kraemer; Francis "Frank" Kraemer and wife Mary Bayer; Alphonse Kraemer and wife Mary Frank; Benedict Kraemer and wife Elsie Peters; Anna Kraemer and husband Clem Frank; Elizabeth Kraemer and 3 husbands Albert Liegel, Lynn Schult, Dr. Marcus Bossard; Esther Kraemer and husband Theodore "Ted" Frank; Leo Kraemer and wife Lucy Bauer.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $30
Leo: Leo Adam Kraemer (2018)
Leo Kraemer was born in 1905 on a farm in Wilson Creek, Spring Green Township, Sauk County, Wisconsin. He lived to be 97 and died from old age at The Meadows in Spring Green. He came from a family of 14, three of whom died as children. He never knew his mother as she died when he was two years old. His aunt raised him for the next three years and he returned home at age five to a rude awakening with his new step-mother. He was the youngest of the children that lived, separated from his next oldest brother, Ben, by three older sisters and eight years. He married the first and only girl that he kissed, Lucy, and celebrated 70 plus married years with her. He worked 45 years for Edward Kraemer and sons as laborer, truck driver, power shovel operator and foreman on road construction projects all over Wisconsin. He was a quiet man, with great dignity and although a loner, he was well-liked and respected.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $20
Lucy: Lucy Rose Bauer Kraemer Paperback – July 18, 2015
Lucy Bauer Kraemer was born in 1904 on a small farm in Franklin Township, a few miles south of Plain, Wisconsin. She lived to be 96 years old, dying of old age with dementia in 2000 at Greenway Manor in Spring Green. She came from one of the poorest families in the area, made poor by the early death of a father whose ambitions had created large debt that a widow with nine young children could not sustain. Despite the hardship and struggle, she had a rich life, also enriching all those who came in contact with her by her smile, laughter and tears.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $5
The Other Cramers (The Kraemers Series) (Volume 7) Paperback – August 1, 2018
This book is an important piece of the history of Plain, Wisconsin. It focuses on the Cramer family pioneers whose name first defined the place as “Cramer’s Corner” because two Cramer families owned all the land on both sides of what became Main Street, and north of the present Wachter Avenue or State Highway 23. The Cramers came in the early 1850s and hence were among the earliest pioneers in the area. The first generation were all farmers, but the second generation of one family were carpenters who built the beautiful farm shown on the front cover. They went on to build many houses and barns throughout Sauk County. In the early 1890s, they built a brickyard, sawmill, grist mill and timber/lumber business in Plain. Many houses and buildings are adorned with brick from the Cramer Brickyard and built from lumber cut at the Cramer Sawmill. In the early 1900s, three Cramer brothers built “The Big Store” as it was called – the large department store shown on the front cover. It provided all manner of goods from food staples to household goods to farm equipment and supplies. With the death of the family patriarch, Solomon Cramer, the Cramer brothers started divesting of their land and business holdings and were all gone from Plain by 1922. Their story and the reasons for the Cramer Exodus are explored in the book, which is full of photos and documentation. It includes Oscar John Cramer’s 1980 “The Cramer Family Tree,” which is a narrative on all the Cramer families to that date.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $25
Johann Sebastian Bauer - July 2, 2019
This book covers 200 years of Bauer family history from the mid1700s to the mid-1900s in Germany and America. The Bauers were essentially serfs who rented land from owners and eked out a living by subsistence farming and weaving. Johann Sebastian Bauer married into property, but became a drinker, gambler and murderer who was beheaded with an ax in the town square of Waldmünchen in the Oberphalz region of Bavaria in 1814. He had murdered his father-in law, strangled his wife and contributed to the death of his concubine by securing poison to abort her male fetus. Bauer’s children struggled to survive the stain on their family’s name, but the only surviving daughter succumbed at age 30. The son, Adam Bauer took over the family home, had seven children of which five girls survived. Bavarian marriage laws required a couple to have property in order to marry and the eldest son usually inherited the family property. Consequently, many couples had illegitimate children and many women were left to provide for themselves and their children. In an effort to escape their history and find a better life, three of the Bauer girls immigrated to the driftless area of Southwestern Wisconsin where they found husbands and new lives around the Village of Plain in Sauk County. There were struggles, poverty and tragedy here too as children died at birth or very young, and husbands died early from the hard frontier life and accidents. With hard work, persistence and patience these American Bauers achieved a better life for themselves and their children. They became farmers, tradesmen, businessmen and professionals, escaped Sebastian’s sordid past, gained respect in the local community and achieved the life they had hoped for.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $30
The Kraemer Company: 1996-2020
by Kenneth L Kraemer
The Kraemer Company is a classic story of business success in small town America. Located in Plain, Wisconsin (pop. 749), the company grew throughout the western half of Wisconsin creating around 200 permanent jobs at home and near its larger quarries. It was spun off from Edward Kraemer and Sons in 1996 because investment returns were deemed insufficient given the high capital costs but ended up with a value that was an order of magnitude greater than its purchase price. During its lifetime, the company successfully transitioned from aggregate production mainly for road building to production for commercial services, including building construction, asphalt paving, concrete paving, shoreline protection, agriculture lime, and landscape rock. This success was due to continuing innovation such as electrification of crushing equipment, treating production as a manufacturing process, converting quarries to self-service operations, maintaining permits on over 175 quarries, and motivating successive families of workers to career employment. The Kraemer Company had the same assets, revenues, and employees over 25 years, but the value of those assets increased greatly. The foregoing innovations and the quarries themselves were key to that increase in value as it became increasingly difficult and costly to bring new quarries into being, thereby increasing the value of existing quarries. The social value of the company was the jobs it created and the infrastructure that it helped to build throughout the State of Wisconsin.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $25 (hard cover) or $15 (paperback)
by Debra A. Blau and Kenneth L. Kraemer, Publication Date: Aug 21 2014, 342 pages
This book is about the Kraemers of Stearns County, Minnesota and Los Angeles, California who are relatives of the Kraemers of Plain, WI. They shared a common father, but had different mothers.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $30
Wisconsin Kraemers: I. In the old world of Bavaria. History and genealogy of the Kraemers of Tiefenbach, Bavaria and Plain, Sauk County, Wisconsin.
by Kenneth L. Kraemer, Publication Date: July 9, 2015
This book is about Paul Kraemer and his ancestors from Tiefenbach and Irlach in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany. It covers the period from 1625-1866. Winner of the 2016 Genealogy/Family History Book Award! Judges from the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society recommended the author receive the award. The Wisconsin Historical Society's Board of Curators approved the 2016 Genealogy/Family History Book Award.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $30
Wisconsin Kraemers: II. The new world of America. Paul and Walburga Kraemer and their children. History and genealogy of the Kraemers of Tiefenbach and Irlach, Bavaria and Plain, Sauk County, Wisconsin.
by Kenneth L. Kraemer, Publication Date: Apr 22, 2017, 232 pages
This book is about Paul Kraemer and his descendants in America from 1866 when he arrived in New York to about the year 2000.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $30
Wisconsin Kraemers: III. The twentieth Century. Peter Kraemer, Anna Ring, Grace Ring, Katherine Eckstein and their children. History and genealogy of the Kraemers of Tiefenbach and Irlach, Bavaria and Plain, Sauk County, Wisconsin.
by Kenneth L. Kraemer, November 2017
Besides the families mentioned in the title, the book includes their children: John Leo Kraemer and wives Isabella Hutter and Martha "Matti" Haas; Edward Kraemer and wife Gisela Frank; Albert Kraemer and wife Mathilda Nachreiner; Anton Kraemer; Francis "Frank" Kraemer and wife Mary Bayer; Alphonse Kraemer and wife Mary Frank; Benedict Kraemer and wife Elsie Peters; Anna Kraemer and husband Clem Frank; Elizabeth Kraemer and 3 husbands Albert Liegel, Lynn Schult, Dr. Marcus Bossard; Esther Kraemer and husband Theodore "Ted" Frank; Leo Kraemer and wife Lucy Bauer.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $30
Leo: Leo Adam Kraemer (2018)
Leo Kraemer was born in 1905 on a farm in Wilson Creek, Spring Green Township, Sauk County, Wisconsin. He lived to be 97 and died from old age at The Meadows in Spring Green. He came from a family of 14, three of whom died as children. He never knew his mother as she died when he was two years old. His aunt raised him for the next three years and he returned home at age five to a rude awakening with his new step-mother. He was the youngest of the children that lived, separated from his next oldest brother, Ben, by three older sisters and eight years. He married the first and only girl that he kissed, Lucy, and celebrated 70 plus married years with her. He worked 45 years for Edward Kraemer and sons as laborer, truck driver, power shovel operator and foreman on road construction projects all over Wisconsin. He was a quiet man, with great dignity and although a loner, he was well-liked and respected.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $20
Lucy: Lucy Rose Bauer Kraemer Paperback – July 18, 2015
Lucy Bauer Kraemer was born in 1904 on a small farm in Franklin Township, a few miles south of Plain, Wisconsin. She lived to be 96 years old, dying of old age with dementia in 2000 at Greenway Manor in Spring Green. She came from one of the poorest families in the area, made poor by the early death of a father whose ambitions had created large debt that a widow with nine young children could not sustain. Despite the hardship and struggle, she had a rich life, also enriching all those who came in contact with her by her smile, laughter and tears.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $5
The Other Cramers (The Kraemers Series) (Volume 7) Paperback – August 1, 2018
This book is an important piece of the history of Plain, Wisconsin. It focuses on the Cramer family pioneers whose name first defined the place as “Cramer’s Corner” because two Cramer families owned all the land on both sides of what became Main Street, and north of the present Wachter Avenue or State Highway 23. The Cramers came in the early 1850s and hence were among the earliest pioneers in the area. The first generation were all farmers, but the second generation of one family were carpenters who built the beautiful farm shown on the front cover. They went on to build many houses and barns throughout Sauk County. In the early 1890s, they built a brickyard, sawmill, grist mill and timber/lumber business in Plain. Many houses and buildings are adorned with brick from the Cramer Brickyard and built from lumber cut at the Cramer Sawmill. In the early 1900s, three Cramer brothers built “The Big Store” as it was called – the large department store shown on the front cover. It provided all manner of goods from food staples to household goods to farm equipment and supplies. With the death of the family patriarch, Solomon Cramer, the Cramer brothers started divesting of their land and business holdings and were all gone from Plain by 1922. Their story and the reasons for the Cramer Exodus are explored in the book, which is full of photos and documentation. It includes Oscar John Cramer’s 1980 “The Cramer Family Tree,” which is a narrative on all the Cramer families to that date.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $25
Johann Sebastian Bauer - July 2, 2019
This book covers 200 years of Bauer family history from the mid1700s to the mid-1900s in Germany and America. The Bauers were essentially serfs who rented land from owners and eked out a living by subsistence farming and weaving. Johann Sebastian Bauer married into property, but became a drinker, gambler and murderer who was beheaded with an ax in the town square of Waldmünchen in the Oberphalz region of Bavaria in 1814. He had murdered his father-in law, strangled his wife and contributed to the death of his concubine by securing poison to abort her male fetus. Bauer’s children struggled to survive the stain on their family’s name, but the only surviving daughter succumbed at age 30. The son, Adam Bauer took over the family home, had seven children of which five girls survived. Bavarian marriage laws required a couple to have property in order to marry and the eldest son usually inherited the family property. Consequently, many couples had illegitimate children and many women were left to provide for themselves and their children. In an effort to escape their history and find a better life, three of the Bauer girls immigrated to the driftless area of Southwestern Wisconsin where they found husbands and new lives around the Village of Plain in Sauk County. There were struggles, poverty and tragedy here too as children died at birth or very young, and husbands died early from the hard frontier life and accidents. With hard work, persistence and patience these American Bauers achieved a better life for themselves and their children. They became farmers, tradesmen, businessmen and professionals, escaped Sebastian’s sordid past, gained respect in the local community and achieved the life they had hoped for.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $30
The Kraemer Company: 1996-2020
by Kenneth L Kraemer
The Kraemer Company is a classic story of business success in small town America. Located in Plain, Wisconsin (pop. 749), the company grew throughout the western half of Wisconsin creating around 200 permanent jobs at home and near its larger quarries. It was spun off from Edward Kraemer and Sons in 1996 because investment returns were deemed insufficient given the high capital costs but ended up with a value that was an order of magnitude greater than its purchase price. During its lifetime, the company successfully transitioned from aggregate production mainly for road building to production for commercial services, including building construction, asphalt paving, concrete paving, shoreline protection, agriculture lime, and landscape rock. This success was due to continuing innovation such as electrification of crushing equipment, treating production as a manufacturing process, converting quarries to self-service operations, maintaining permits on over 175 quarries, and motivating successive families of workers to career employment. The Kraemer Company had the same assets, revenues, and employees over 25 years, but the value of those assets increased greatly. The foregoing innovations and the quarries themselves were key to that increase in value as it became increasingly difficult and costly to bring new quarries into being, thereby increasing the value of existing quarries. The social value of the company was the jobs it created and the infrastructure that it helped to build throughout the State of Wisconsin.
Purchase price at the OFTHS museum: $25 (hard cover) or $15 (paperback)
For more information on the Kraemer family and these books click on the button at the right. |
Header photo: Martin Yanke home in Irish Valley after the 1918 cyclone. Martin lost his life in this storm.
If you wish to learn more about this storm you may purchase our book titled, “May 21st 1918 Cyclone ~ A Path of Destruction”
If you wish to learn more about this storm you may purchase our book titled, “May 21st 1918 Cyclone ~ A Path of Destruction”