Ferdinand & Maria Rahn
Ferdinand Rahn, son of Johann and Karolina (Lehman) Rahn was born in South Russia in 1877. In 1894, he came with his parents, two brothers, Johann and Ernest, and a sister, Martha, to the United States from the Bessarabia area of South Russia. They came by boat, landing at Ellis Island, N.Y.; then by train to New Salem and by wagon to Mercer County. The family settled in the Expansion area, building a house and barn of sod and rock.
Ferdinand, Ernest and Johann homesteaded in Oliver County, with Ferdinand homesteading on the land now known as (in 1988) as the Emil Reich farm. In 1901, Ferdinand and his father exchanged farms, with Ferdinand moving north of Hazen and his father moving to Oliver County.
Magdalena Maria, daughter of Johann and Susan (Lang) Ziemann, was born in 1884 in South Russia. In 1886, she came with her parents, two brothers, Emanuel and Christ, and a sister, Rosina, to the United States. They came from the same area and reached Mercer County by the same route as the Rahns. The Ziemanns settled in the Mannhaven area.
Ferdinand Rahn & Maria Ziemann were married in 1902. They had eleven children. Of the nine living children, five of the girls worked for room and board in Bismarck and graduated from high school. Four entered nurses training and graduated; one graduated from beauty school; and one graduated as a certified teacher. Two of the boys farmed north of Hazen; the other boy graduated from Hazen High School, spent four years in the Army in the South Pacific, and worked 35 years in the Hazen Post Office.
~Source: Hazen Jubilee book, 1913-1988, page 295
Ferdinand Rahn, b. 25 Feb 1877; d. 15 Sep 1952
Magdalena Maria Ziemann Rahn, b. 1883; d. 29 Mar 1951
~Both buried in the Hazen Peace Lutheran Church Cemetery, Hazen, N.D.
The children of Ferdinand & Maria Rahn:
Herman John Rahn, b. 02 Feb 1904; d. 04 Feb 1988
Pauline Karoline Rahn, b. 21 Mar 1906; d. 28 Jan 1912
Albert Rahn, b. 1907; d. 27 Mar 1974
Amanda Martha Rahn, b. 27 Feb 1909; d. 11 Oct 1981
Anna M. Rahn, b. 11 Sep 1910; d. 04 May 1999
Baby Boy Rahn, stillborn 28 Jan 1912
Adina Rahn, b. 1913
Emil Rahn, b. 1915
Alma Rahn, b. 1917
Pauline Lydia Rahn, b. 1919
Ida Rahn, b. 1923
Elmer Friedrich Rahn, b. 03 Feb 1930; d. 09 June 1930 (4 mo, 4 das old)