Carsten Andreas Carstensen was born November 25, 1906 in Haselund-Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the son of Johannas Carstensen and Marguerite Lorenzen. His father was a shoe cobbler by trade. He had an older sister, Christina and a younger brother also name Carsten. Both of them stayed in Germany. Christina married Thomas Allbrecht and they had a daughter, Herta. The younger Carsten married Marie Hoffman and they had a daughter, Greta.
The older Carsten came to America against his parents wishes, arriving on November 1, 1926. He came to Nebraska where his mother's older sister, Christina (Lorenzen) Petersen and her husband Nicolaus lived on a farm north of Tilden. He worked for his uncle and later was in the employ of another farmer near Battle Creek. Elsie Ehlers was born near Wayne on June 2, 1911, the daughter of Henry Ehlers and Caroline Dahm. Carsten and Elsie were married in Yankton, South Dakota on August 14, 1930. They rented a farm near Enola. Daughters, Eleanor, Margaret and Dorothy were born on the farm. Carsten became a US citizen on September 21, 1936. In 1937, the family moved to a ranch north of Burwell, Nebraska. Twin sons, Richard and Robert were born that summer. In 1940, they moved to Rock County, in 1941, to Loup County. Carten became ill and died on April 6, 1944. In June 1944, Elsie and family located to Tilden. The children all graduated from Tilden High School. Elsie married Joe Bossard of Tilden in 1957 and he died February 14, 1978.
Source Unknown: Originally submitted for this website in June 2007