The Eller Chronicles

    Since my parents died, I have found all this information hidden away in odd places, I never knew any of it existed a couple of years ago but I find it fascinating. I have this little computer and have been entering it into a genealogical program and trying to bring it up to date. I have over two thousand names in my database and it is still growing. ... Of course a lot of the names are not Ellers or descendants. There are two sides to every family and I don't know where to quit.
    I heard of this association from a cousin, Douglas Eller of Grove City, Minn. when he called to RSVP an invitation to our local J.W. Eller Family Reunion. He recently heard about it and joined. I certainly want to join so I am enclosing my membership fee of $15.00 and another $15.00 for the previous year's publications, after studying all that, I should know whether I want to renew in November.
    The enclosed booklet is copied from my aunt, Creta Eller Roby's 1975 work. I am sure most, if not all, of the information in it is already on file with the Eller Family Association. I you would like a copy of the later data that I have, let me know & I will send it to you on floppy disk, no need to re-type everything. The program that I have, FAMILY ORIGINS, will export to a GEDCOM file, they say that most genealogical programs can use that format. ... Do as you wish with the booklet, I will be looking forward to receiving your publication.

The Alfred Eller Family

    Alfred Eller was born March 16, 1882 near Williams, Hamilton County, Iowa, the son of John and Hannah Maria Eller. When just a small boy his father, John Eller, died and Hannah Maria Eller later married Charles Stone, Sr.
    In the Spring of 1897 Alfred Eller got on the train at Rodman, Iowa and came to Cascade, Montana where his mother, Mrs. Charles Stone, was living at the time. He worked on various ranches in the area and in the fall would go out threshing. One fall he worked with Charles Stone and John Coulson. Another year he worked with Al Fickles and Charles Stone. The threshing machine was horse-powered and hand-fed. He worked as a band cutter, the bundles were put on a platform and the strings cut with a knife.
    In 1902 he homesteaded in the lower Chestnut Valley and started farming his homestead in 1903. In 1905 he cut logs from Squaw Hollow and built his cabin which is still standing. His homestead was located on Four Mile Coulee about seven miles southwest of Ulm, Montana.

    On November 7, 1905, he was married to Effie Lily Baker, daughter of Marion C. and Hannah Isabelle Baker of Castner Falls. They lived on his homestead for about a year and a half while building on Mrs. Eller's homestead. They moved to her homestead in the fall of 1907 and lived there until 1918 when their home burned and they were forced to move back to his homestead. He continued farming until 1922 when they moved to Sims, Montana. He still maintains a home at Simms. Mrs. Effie Eller passed away April 1, 1959.
    Mr. and Mrs. Eller were parents of ten children. They are: Russel Henry who lives in Boise, Idaho- Mrs. Wilber N. (Alma Bell) Simons, Absorbe, Montana; Mrs. Merle F. (Bertha Helen) Powell, Big Fork, Montana- Mrs. C. Wayne (Minta Alice) Powell, Great Falls; Alfred Lee, Great Falls; Earl LaVern, and Mrs. Donald L. (Maria Isabell) Rexroad, Boise, Idaho; Kenneth Marion Eller, Vancouver, Washington; two children, an infant son who died at birth and Luella May who died when she was about seven months old, were also born to Mr. and Mrs. Eller. There are 32 grandchildren and 35 great grandchildren.

The Annual J. W. Eller Family Reunion

    The Annual J. W. Eller Family Reunion was held the evening of July 16, 1994 at THE BARN RESTAURANT, Huron, SD... We had 41 in attendance this year:
    Nancy Kothe, of Mitchell was the oldest at 93; Leora and Lester O'Neal, Dallas & Gloria Kothe, Fedora; Jack and Sherry Eller, Avon Park, Florida; Joshua Eller, Sidny & Bob Uptagraffl, Mitchell; Lori & Dave Kluth with children Kimberly, Mike & Brian, Mt. Vernon; Lanny and Sherry Eller, with daughter Becky, Colorado Springs, CO; Alfred and Irene Eller, Fedora; Milo & Gary Roby; Mary Henkel with daughters Jennifer & Becky all of rural Carthage; Paul Roby & daughter Tiffany, Mitchell; Nancy Wienk with Brandon & Jessalyn of DeSmet; Ann Reisch with Terra, Timmy, Trevor & Tamara of Howard; Douglas & Phyllis Eller; Darrell & Janet Eller with Daniel & Heidi who was the youngest, all of Minneapolis, MN area. Since Nancy was 94 in October that gives us an age spread of about 93 years.
    Gloria Kothe & Alfred Eller were in charge of the '94 reunion and Nancy Wienk and Ann Reisch were selected to head up the '95 effort.
    There was talk of changing the reunion date for next year from July to the 4th Saturday in October because pheasant hunting seasons starts the third Saturday and the largest part of the crowd stays for 5 days or less. This is not definite yet, but we might draw a larger out of state attendance if they could combine hunting pheasants with the family reunion. A non-resident SD pheasant hunting license is about $80.00 for 10 days. You must have a license to hunt because Anne's husband is the county sheriff and he might be hunting with you.
    We don't know for sure yet but it is in the works and Nancy and Anne are going to be asking around for input…….Submitted by Alfred D. Eller.