My grandfather, Hans Detlaf, was born in Iowa in 1867 eleven years after his parents arrived from Germany on the sailing ship "Hommania". He was the youngest child in a German-speaking farm family living near Clinton, Iowa. My Web page contains a photo of their small home, which still lacked such modern conveniences as running water when I visited it.

Hans married Anna Marie Stahl in 1893. (Also in 1893, Hans' brothers John and Herman, together with their sister Annie's husband, Adolph Kuhl, became owners of the Roslyn Brewing Company.) Within two years the oldest brother, Alfred, (in accordance with German tradition) had taken over the family holdings in Iowa. At the invitation of his siblings, Hans moved with Anna and their infant daughter, Mayme to Roslyn,

Hans joined his siblings' brewery in Roslyn and participated in the "Schlotfeldt Brothers" butcher shops in Roslyn, Ellensburg, Cle Elum, and North Yakima. When the shops were sold in the early 1900's, Hans received nothing.

In 1897 all three members of Hans' family contracted typhoid during an epidemic and Anna died. She was pregnant at the time. Hans' daughter, Mayme, went to live with the Kuhls. Five months after Anna's death Hans' father died in Iowa.

Hans married Ellen Vincent Marie Donovan in 1900 and Mayme, who was six, returned home. They had children as follows:

 - 1902 Herman
 - 1904 Catherine
 - 1905 Fred
 - 1907 Leo
 - 1909 Hans Detlaf (Dud)
 - 1912 Marguarite
 - 1914 Gertrude
 - 1916 Ernie

All were born in Buckley except Herman in Roslyn and Catherine in Ravensdale. Their home in Buckley was the house at 712 Perkins Street. At some point (after Ernie was born?) they moved to a forty acre farm midway between Buckley and Enumclaw.

In 1912 Hans' mother, Anna Christina, died in Iowa.

In 1920 my grandmother (Hans' wife) died at age 40. She had one cancerous ovary removed the previous year and was pregnant again when whe died from an "intestinal obstruction". Even her youngest child, Ernie, was old enough to have some understanding of his loss. Hans was unable to meet the needs of his family after this terrible event. Mother told me that Hans was never able to cope after Ellen's death. The consequences for the family were severe and long-lasting.

Rose (Monahan) Schlotfeldt (who grew up in Enumclaw, near Buckley) remembered her father saying that he was going to help Hans do some farm work because "He is too old to work so hard." She later realized that her father was older than Hans.

Hans had thirteen dairy cows. He went to Toppenish to his brother Herman (for the purpose of buying sheep?) while Dud, Fred and Leo tried to run the farm. Fred worked at White Mill near Buckley for $3.50/hour (Seems like an awful lot! Maybe that was per day?). Dud sent money from his job in Seattle to help with farm payments.

When they knew there was a possibility they would lose the farm, they whitewashed the house and sold it in 1925. They moved to the Toppenish/Grainger area, on the reservation.

Gertrude went to O'Dea. Rose spoke of visiting Hans and Gertrude (at the Cherry Hill farm?) and finding that there was no food in the house.

Dud lived in a foster home. Fred later provided financial support so that he could attend college.

Hans also had open sores on his legs which did not heal, possibly a sign of diabetes. He died in Yakima in 1934 at the age of 66.