One Photo: Threshing

When I began collecting family stories, I also collected family photos.

Before each visit to an older relative, I asked them to make ready all of their “old photos.” My grandfather’s brother, Ed Gentzkow (1914-1992), showed me boxes full of photographs and told me who-was-who.¹Interview Karrie Blees and Edward G. Gentzkow, LaMoure ND, June 1987.

But this large photograph was not in his personal collection anymore. He had donated it to the LaMoure County Museum²As of January 17, 2025, the museum does not maintain a website, but can be found on Facebook. The physical address of the museum is 7496 106th Ave SE, Lamoure, ND 58458. With permission of the Museum, Karrie Blees made photographic copies of the Threshing photo in June 1987 and again on July 8, 2022. in Grand Rapids Township, ND.

Threshing Rig – Combine

Caption

This typed description is under the photograph’s glass:

“Threshing rig at the Edward F. Gentzkow farm – NW 1/4 10 – Pearl Lake Township 4 1/2 miles NW of La Moure.  Rig belonged to Frank Hesse, father-in-law of Mr. Gentzkow. Edward F. Gentzkow on running board, Mrs. Gentzkow in drivers seat holding Hazel Gentzkow (Roscoe). Frank J. Gentzkow, small child on hood of car, Frank Hesse standing by rear of car, Mrs. Hesse in passenger seat of car. Donated by: Ed Gentzkow”

What is Threshing?

Threshing is the process of loosening the edible part of grain from the straw to which it is attached.

This machine made the, once manual, task easier.

Details

Great Uncle Ed donated the photo and, most likely, supplied the description.

Threshing Machine, detail of family

This was a posed photograph, including family members as well as farm workers. Great Uncle Ed, identified these people:

• Franklin Hesse, standing behind the car, Great Uncle Ed’s grandfather
• Caroline (Krull) Hesse, sitting in the passenger seat, Great Uncle Ed’s grandmother
• Edward F. Gentkow, sitting on the running board outside the car, Great Uncle Ed’s father
• Carrie (Hesse) Gentzkow, sitting in the driver’s seat, Great Uncle Ed’s mother
• Franklin J. Gentzkow, small boy on the hood of the car, Great Uncle Ed’s eldest brother
• Hazel Gentzkow (Roscoe), small child on her mother’s lap in the driver’s seat, Great Uncle Ed’s eldest sister

Dating the photograph

Because Hazel is in the photograph, one can estimate the date of the image with reference to her birth. She was born September 14, 1908 and in this photo, she is able to sit up. The next child in the family, Alice, was born in September of 1910 (she is not in the photo).

Family tradition states that Ed and Carrie Gentzkow lived in the city of LaMoure after they were married (November 1906); Ed worked for the Brand and Suemper meat market. In 1910, they moved to the farm.

May 2, 1910, the 1910 census of Twin Lake Township was completed.³Census. 1910. North Dakota, LaMoure County, Twin Lake Township [renamed Pearl Lake Township in the future], SD 1, ED 123, sheet 12B, Ed F. Gentzkow, line 93, family number 9. May 2, 1910.

So, the photograph was likely taken in 1910.

Threshing Rig Purchased

LaMoure County Chronicle, July 26, 1895, page 5, column 2

The trial exhibition of the 12-foot combined header and binder last Friday in Frank Hesse’s rye was very satisfactory. If it works in like manner in all kinds of grain, it most certainly is a desirable machine. Of a trial near Mitchell a paper says: The machine was worked in a piece of very uneven rye, some tall and heavy some short and light with heavy weeds in places. The machine did its work in the very best manner and with ease. Not a stop was necessary from the start except to oil. The cutting was done in a field of 8 acres and it was all cut in a short time without missing one bundle. The machine is a complete success.

The description of a 12-foot combine in the newspaper article seems to fit with the height portrayed in the photograph. Great Uncle Ed described the threshing machinery as belonging to his grandfather, Frank Hesse.

Therefore, the machinery in the photograph is very likely the same combine purchased by Frank Hesse in 1895.

What’s Next?

Do you have any other photos of the family farm?
What else is known about the early years of the Hesse and Gentzkow farms?
Who are the other people in the photograph?
Is there additional information written on the back of the photograph, behind the backing?

SOURCES

• 1
  Interview Karrie Blees and Edward G. Gentzkow, LaMoure ND, June 1987.
• 2
  As of January 17, 2025, the museum does not maintain a website, but can be found on Facebook. The physical address of the museum is 7496 106th Ave SE, Lamoure, ND 58458. With permission of the Museum, Karrie Blees made photographic copies of the Threshing photo in June 1987 and again on July 8, 2022.
• 3
  Census. 1910. North Dakota, LaMoure County, Twin Lake Township [renamed Pearl Lake Township in the future], SD 1, ED 123, sheet 12B, Ed F. Gentzkow, line 93, family number 9. May 2, 1910.