A celebration 150 years in the making
Jahn/Gehlsen family members honor their heritage
Melanie (Stoffers) Curran has a conversation about the Jahn/Gehlsen farm with Dennis Backhaus. Melanie is the granddaughter of Peter Dietrich and Pauline Gehlsen and the daughter of Henry and Blondine Stoffers. She grew up in Arcadia and now lives in Geneseo, Illinois. Backhaus is a lifelong neighbor of the Gehlsens, living just a couple miles from the Gehlsen farmstead. They are looking at a photo of Leonard and Raph Gehlsen, the last two direct descendants of Johann Friederich and Catherina Jahn to farm the 155 acres of the original Jahn pioneer farm. Photo by Gordon Wolf
A little more than 150 years ago, Johann Friedrich Jahn, his wife, Catharina, and their six children came from Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany to the United States. They purchased 160 acres of prairie land in Hayes Township, Crawford County.
Last weekend, hundreds and hundreds of their descendants came to the Five Mile House south of Westside to wander through and examine a pictorial history of their family, to learn more about the family tree and the various branches of the family.
Adding to the history display were documents and maps.
The purpose, of course, was the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Jahn/Gehlsen family and to honor the pioneer ancestors.
The quarter section of land was purchased by Johann and Catharina in May 1873 for $10 an acre.
The anniversary display at the Five Mile House and visits to the pioneer farmstead, located one-half mile to the east on O Avenue, were available on the afternoons of Saturday and Sunday.
The pioneer farmstead is still in the family’s hands, through the Gehlsen/Hanson branch.
Original buildings on the farmstead are the barn, built before 1930, the hog barn and the day kitchen.
The house, now the home of Richard and Christy Hanson, is the third house built on the farmstead. The first was the original farmhouse. A second house was added around 1915 as the home for Hermann (a son of Johann and Catherina) and Laura Jahn after the marriage of their daughter, Pauline, to Dick Gehlsen. The current house was built in 1961 or 1962.
A program printed for the anniversary says that 27 members of the extended Jahn family have lived on the pioneer farm over the past 150 years. The list begins with Johann and Catharina and ends with Jordan and Jacob Hanson, children of Richard and Christy.
Jim Stoffers, who is retired and lives in Palm Springs, California, was the person who came up with the idea of the anniversary celebration and was the lead organizer.
It started in 2015 when Stoffers began dabbling in genealogy after he had visited family in Iowa.
“Everyone had left my mother’s apartment (Blondina [Gehlsen] Stoffers). I was bored, and I thought, ‘Let me get my laptop and I’m just going to Google my grandfather, Peter Gehlsen’s, name,’ and all this stuff came up,” Stoffers recalled.
“So, I started investigating and got on ancestry.com, and I met cousins I never knew I had.”
Through the cousins, Stoffers began to gather family information to satisfy his own interests.
“Then, once I realized that the 150th birthday of our family farm was coming up in 2023, I wanted to do something because I’m the oldest grandson of my grandmother, and I have a lot of memories that my younger first cousins do not have,” he said. “I thought once I’m gone, they (the stories and memories) are going to be lost.”
His grandmother was Colleen (Jahn) Gehlsen, and she lived her entire life - 84 ½ years - on the pioneer farm.
Stoffers, a nephew of Reynold Gehlsen, founder of Reynold’s Clothing in Denison, grew up in Arcadia and graduated from Ar-We-Va High School.
Jim Stoffers stands by the portrait of Johann and Catharina Jahn, his great-great-grandparents, who started the pioneer farmstead, which celebrated its 150th anniversary Saturday and Sunday at the Five Mile House. Stoffers was the driving force behind the anniversary celebration. He believes Johann and Catherina would have been gratified that they were remembered on the anniversary and that their hard work to establish their farm for their children and future generations was honored. Photo by Gordon Wolf
Cooper Gehlsen, grandson of Reynold Gehlsen, examines pictures from his family’s history. Photo by Gordon Wolf
On Saturday, Stoffers said he was overwhelmed by the number of people who had come to the Five Mile House and the ancestral farmstead.
“It’s everything that I kind of wanted but didn’t expect anything,” he said. “Family members have said they’ve been blown away, and that’s great.”
Stoffers started to put the anniversary celebration together a couple of years ago.
“And once we set a date, then I really had to get going,” he said.
Stoffers shipped items for the celebration to his brother, Rich Stoffers, in Coon Rapids.
“Then I would come out here and we put this together,” he said.
The display of family history wound its way through one-half of the expansive main floor of the Five Mile House. Two large banners, one of Johann Friedrich Jahn (1829-1904) and the other of Catharina (Groth) Jahn (1831-1907), greeted descendants as they entered the Five Mile House main floor.
Stoffers said that he used posterburner.com for all the banners because the company started in Iowa.
Photographs came from relatives.
“I went through my immediate family to get photographs, and then once I started establishing friendships, even online, I was able to get other photos from cousins I have never met,” Stoffers said.
A program printed for the anniversary credits the Jahn, Anthony, Martins, Buck and Gehlsen families for the photographs, documents and maps. All were enlarged for the display.
The enlargements were made by Stoffers’s partner, Clark Zellmer, who got a 13x19 printer.
“The printer makes beautiful photos,” Stoffers said, “and once that happened, I threw everything to him (Zellmer).”
Looking around the display in the Five Mile House, Stoffers commented, “A lot of cousins came here today who I have never met before, so it’s been just a great afternoon.”
He said that first and foremost, the display that he helped to create is for family.
“To remember where we came from,” Stoffers added, “and to honor our pioneer farmers who came over here and built their lives on the dirt.”
Taryn and Mike Eilertrson came from Bricelyn, Minnesota, to attend the Jahn/Gehlsen family anniversary at the Five Mile House south of Westside on Saturday. They brought their children Lindyn, Cullen, Laramie and Laikyn (not all pictured). Taryn is the granddaughter of Sandra (Gehlsen) Hanson, the youngest of the 10 Gehlsen children. Photo by Gordon Wolf
The barn on the Johann and Catherina Jahn pioneer farm announces the Jahn/ Gehlsen 150th anniversary. The acreage is owned today by Richard and Christy Hanson, who bought it from the estate of Ralph Gehlsen, one of the sons of Dick and Pauline (Jahn) Gehlsen. Richard is the son of Sandra (Gehlsen) Hanson and great-great-grandson of Johann and Catherina. The barn is original to the farm and predates the 1930s. Photo by Gordon Wolf
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