Along the banks of the Red River, a woman gives birth to her third child. As her husband helps to deliver the baby, her two older children huddle at the side of the tent, trying to stay warm. The muddy waters flow by, and just days later, the group heads out again. They battle the cold, the wind and the river, only stopping when they reach the plot of land that they can call their own.
     “The crossing of the river that night is one that I shall never forget,” said Randolph Probstfield, an early settler to the area. “The sufferings, the anxiety, the terrors and the disappointment to me were all events most deeply impressed upon my mind.” As one of those first settlers of this area, Probstfield was a hardy soul who experienced many trials and setbacks in his journey from Prussia to his final destination in Clay County in 1852. He shared the river crossing story in a speech at the Red River Valley Old Settlers Association meeting in 1898. He told of the troubles in his journey, as well as chronicling his experiences in the Red River Valley. Probstfield also kept life-long journals throughout his life. They are kept in the Minnesota State University Moorhead’s archives.
     Crossing the river was the only way to make it to the Dakota land that held the hopes for which people searched. Whether it was freedom from persecution or simply a hunger to own piece of earth or the desire to till the soil, people from many backgrounds made a hard journey in search of what they saw as the promised land.
     As an early settler and a German, Probstfield was in good company. According to Clay County historian Mark Piehl, “Germans were tied for second with the Swedish in the number of settlers in the Red River Valley.” Many of the early settlers in the area were of German or German-Russian descent. They came to the area to settle the free land that was available to them. A homestead and the chance to make a living drew them to the fertile soil. Here they made lives for themselves, planting crops, building sod houses, and removing the stones that littered the prairies.
     Even today, German traditions occur at major events, such as weddings and funerals. Clara Erlenbusch, a German settler in the area, shares this story in Shirley Fischer Arends book, “The Central Dakota Germans: Their History, Language and Culture.” Erlenbusch recalls that: “They sold dances at weddings as long as I can remember…it’s old. If they had the chance they also stole the bride. Then, they would collect money, and when they had as much money as the ones wanted that stole the bride, the bridegroom could buy her back.”
     If you’ve ever been invited into a German home, you can still see the traditions at work today. As Arends shares in her book, the Midwestern politeness that is so well-known today has always been custom of the German-Americans who settled this area. Fischer says: “The hospitality of the Dakota Germans is renowned. They feel that a stranger must be welcomed and food and water provided him.” Tradition states that the visitor might be the son of God returning again to the earth. Perhaps, this is why, when you visit the home of a German grandmother, she offers you warm kuchen and encourages you to sit down at her kitchen table for some coffee and company. This long-held tradition of making a guest welcome is just one of the ways that the German heritage in the area has persisted.

Even Probstfield, as one of the early settlers, was known for providing for his neighbors and taking care of his own. Minnesota State University Moorhead archivist, Terry Shoptaugh, shares that “everyone who wanted to grow something was told to go talk to Probstfield.” As a man who worked the land and tried new crops, Probstfield’s pantry was always full. He tried his hand at everything from watermelon to bananas to tobacco. Shoptaugh says that sometimes, “Probstfield was the only one with food.”

     When many people struggled to feed their families, Probstfield provided food for his family and shared with others who were in need. One of the most interesting chronicles of Probstfield’s experience is the one that was written by his granddaughter, Edris Probstfield Hack, titled “Candles in the Wind,” a fictionalized account of her grandfather and his family, who settled in this area back in the 1850s.
     Paging through “Candles in the Wind,” there are illustrations that show what the early settler may have seen. The scenes in the book show a life of hardship and struggle, but also a story of spirit and adventure. There are wide-open prairies, people traveling on horseback, and families working the soil of the land they cherished. The book, which opens with a foreword from the author, is full of the history of what a German settler would have faced. From battling prairie fires to learning to live and work beside Native Americans, the book recounts some of the adventures that Randolph Probstfield probably shared with this granddaughter as she sat on his lap in front of the fire on a cold Minnesota evening. Hack published a book of poetry in 1926 called “Between Sleep Poems,” almost 50 years before “Candles in the Wind” was released.
     The original Probstfield homestead is just 10 miles north of Moorhead. The family has left many artifacts to the Clay Country Museum, where visitors can view their old furnishings and see photos of the family. Almost 100 years after Randolph Probstfield’s death, his family and its heritage still mark this area as home. Within the city limits, you can find the Prairie Home Cemetery, where a large plot with neat, rectangular headstones holds the remains of members of the Probstfield family. Perhaps as they laid Randolph to rest in 1911, Hack read a piece of poetry at the graveside of her beloved grandfather. Her piece, “Retrospect,” which speaks of the dusty images of life and death, seems a fitting choice for a man who led his family the Red River Valley from the far-away land of Germany.