Thomas William MARCH

                   Hi Laurie,
Thanks for your reply.
Yes, I have all the censuses including the Ruechels in 1860 and 1870 in Wisconsin, and CW pension records for two of Ida's brothers. In 1870 the father had remarried and Ida was living with her brother August in Iowa. The story is that she was out working for other people from the time her mother died and she had a stepmother when she was 12, in 1866. That much is probably true, as I have found the second marriage of her father in 1866. His parents were Hans and Maria, but the location given lost something in the translation.
The German experts in Salt Lake City could find nothing, even when I showed them the papers I have and suggestions from a genealogist I contacted in Germany. They all seem to think I should be looking at East Germany, and I'm not even sure it wouldn't be Poland. Meanwhile, family tradition suggests West Berlin , though mentions nothing about Strausberg and try as I might, I can't find anyone who knows who put it on the web that way to start with. I strongly suspect it is wrong. I'll contact the submitter from Family Search and see what he has to say. Since no one is actually researching Ruechel, I have to suspect there will be no documentation.
All the pension records as well as later records say is "Prussia" and this has been so frustrating, as Jacob Pfander's genealogy clear back to the early 1600s was all done in Germany at the time of WW II (to prove they weren't Jewish). All we had to do was find where in Germany his father came from and go visit a Pfander cousin still living there.
I doubt that Ida personally was naturalized as she was only weeks old when they came to this country, and her brothers would have gained citizenship by virtue of serving in the Army. It is possible that her father was naturalized, but so far I have found no proof of that. I need to do more checking though, as I have just discovered that his name was usually spelled Reuchel instead of Ruechel.
Thanks for your help. I do appreciate every bit.
Speaking of the Marches, do you know what happened to Minnie and Jessie Pfander? The story is that after Jessie died Tom wanted to marry the next sister, Rosetta, but she said, "Forget that" or words to that effect.
They were my grandmother's sisters and I have a beautiful tear jerker of an obituary for Minnie. Grandma wasn't able to describe exactly what she died of in 1904, but Jessie was killed in 1911 in a train wreck of sorts. I have the newspaper clippings on it.
Tom March survived the accident but two years later was run over by his own car. Seems he had a habit of cranking the car to get it started, then climbing over the hood to get in. The last time, he didn't climb fast enough. His third wife reached over and got it stopped but didn't switch it off and he was pinned underneath it inhaling the exhaust. According to my dad's cousin there was a lot of hard feeling against the surviving wife for that reason. I last saw Terry (March) in 2001 when I was in Rapid City. She was nearly blind from macular degeneration, but in good health otherwise and still very active with the help of her husband. They are quite social in Rapid City.
Rosanne  (see Ruechel, Ida)


1900 census Hill City Precinct, Pennington, South Dakota, E.D. 40, sheet 18, image 35
409, 408, March, Thomas, head, Dec 1869, 31, Married 8 years, Nebraska, Iowa?, Iowa?, farmer
                                   Minnie, wife, Sep 1874, 25, married 8 years, 2 children, 2 living, Iowa, Ohio, Germany
                                    Guy, son, Nov 1895, 4, S. Dak, Nebraska, Iowa
                                     Raymond, son, Dec 1899, 1, S D, Nebraska, Iowa

Hill City, Pennington Co., SD -- 1909 Business Directory
Kresse                          A. A.        postmaster and confectionery
March                           T. W.        with Hill City Lumber Co (same as below)
March, Sigrist, Hartz & Graham   props Hill City Lumber Co.


email from Hill City, SD researcher:
Looked at the census of 1910 for Cress and March and didn't find either, they must be there somewhere, at least March should be, he didn't die until 4/20/1913, Emma died 3 Nov 1910, of Diabetes, William died of Peritonitis. I found the marriages for Tom, he was married three times, and died in a car accident, one of his wives died in an RR accident, so far I have not found these events indexed, which is a bummer, that means they may not be in the newspaper, I probably would look for them anyway, if you want me to, do tell me what you want me to do. Tom and wife 3 are buried in Hill City where he lived and died, he is the father of a Guy March who was a student, and then taught at the School of Mines and Technology here, they named a residence Hall after him, he is buried in Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis, he died in 1981. I can get his obit and look at his DC if you want, make a list for me of things you need me to do. Have a great weekend

This is the land record, only one for ThomasPatentee: THOMAS C MARCH Survey State: SOUTH DAKOTA Acres: 154.35 Metes/Bounds: No Title Transfer Issue Date: 4/5/1890 Land Office: Montana State Office Cancelled: No U.S. Reservations: No Mineral Reservations: No Authority: April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566) Document Numbers Document Nr.: 2542 Accession/Serial Nr.: SDMTAA 016741 BLM Serial Nr.: SDMTAA 016741 AliquotParts Sec./Block Township Range Fract.Section Meridian State Counties Survey Nr. E½SW 18/ 10-S 8-E No Black Hills SD Fall River 3 18/ 10-S 8-E No Black Hills SD Fall River Remarks: LOT 3 OR NWSW QUARTER 4 18/ 10-S 8-E No Black Hills SD Fall River Remarks: LOT 4 OR SWSW QUARTER That Township is East of Oelrichs SD.
   Do you have the page from Sunshine and Sagebrush? Your March is the one related to my children,  Winnie Maxwell March wrote this story.