(Note: There are a number of misspelled words here but the interview was copied exactly as received.)
Bernard Peter Voerding was born Spring Prairie, in Walworth County,
Wisconsin December 7, 1855, son of Henry and Mary Ann Voerding. When Bernard was one and a half years old
his parents migrated to Minnesota and settled at Luxemburg, Stearns County. Here Henry Voerding
purchased the homestead rights of another settler who didn't intend to stay there. Henry erected a log cabin of tamarack
logs and started breaking his new land. With one team of oxen and crude implements Henry Voerding established a farm
and by hard work progressed rapidly. In several years he was able to purchase several teams of oxen which he hired out to
N. P. Clark, of St. Cloud, to freight supplies.
Bernard Peter Voerding attended school at Luxemberg and St. Joseph
for several years and then helped his father on the farm. At the age of sixteen he took one of his father's ox teams and
started freighting supplies from St. Paul to St. Cloud. From this point he, and several other teams, hauled
supplies to the northern forts of Ambercrombie and Pembanaw. This was a very perilous journey and the country was wild.
Bernard was always quite nervous during the entire journey and he was thankful when the trip was over. He states,
"The oxen could only travel eight to twenty miles per day and so you can see the round trip required about a month,
depending on what luck we would have. Boats ran up the Red River and sometimes we would meet one that could carry our
supplies to their destination and then we wouldn't have to go the entire journey, but returned directly home."
"My father always warned me of Indians and told me tales of what happened
when I was a small child. He said the Souix tribe was one to watch out for, and the Chippewas were friendly. One time
about 1860 he had to bring my mother, brother and me to St. Cloud because the tribes were at war, near Luxemberg.
After all the pioneers had left their families in St. Cloud they returned to guard their cattle and oxen. My father
always remarked that it was lucky the Indians didn't come because they couldn't withstand them. Not only would they have
lost their stock but their lives also."
On October 30, 1882 Bernard Voerding married
Elizabeth Schulte at Newburg, Wisconsin.
Elizabeth (Schulte) Voerding was born in Newburg, Wisconsin,
June 5, 1859, daughter of Frank and Marie Schulte. She spent her early life there up to the time of her marriage.
After their marriage the Voerdings came back to Minnesota and farmed near
St. Cloud. They farmed here for several years and then Bernard Peter left for Montana and settled a claim there.
This claim was justified and then the Voerdings returned to St. Cloud. Bernard Peter worked here at various jobs
and is now retired in East St. Cloud.
To Bernard Peter and Elizabeth (Schulte) Voerding were born ten
children, three deceased, the living are, Martha, Henry, Alma, Idella, Isabell, Norbert, and Raymond. There are ten
grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
During the interview Bernard said, "The Indians used to come into our house
and all sit in a circle on the floor, They just smoked and talked and my mother was frightened to death. That wasn't so bad
but one time some Souix Indians raided our neighbors and scalped two of them."
Bernard Peter and
Elizabeth Voerding are both very active for their age and enjoy life in East
St. Cloud.
Publication Granted
