| Parents: Marriage: |
Franciszek "Frank" N. Kampa Marya "Mary" Moshier (Mosh, Mosz, Mohs?) August "Gust" Balder April 23, 1900 St. Lawrence Parish Church Duelm, Benton, Minnesota |
|
| Children: | Ervin Michael | Sept. 15, 1902 | † Sept. 1986 |
| Margaret Mary | 1907 | † Feb. 26, 1932 | |
| Mary | June 11, 1911 | † June 11, 1911 | |
| Infant | May 18, 1913 | † May 18, 1913 | |
| Joseph Louis | Oct. 20, 1918 | † Feb. 25, 1929 |
| Notes: | At the time of the June 2, 1880 federal census, Mary was living with her parents and siblings in Palmer Township, Sherburne, Minnesota. |
On Sept. 23, 1910 when her husband Gust was 50 years old, they were living in Palmer with their children Ervin (age 7) and Margaret (age 3), along with Gust's three children from his first wife: Millie (24 years), Fred (22 years), and Emil (21 years). Gust worked as the Section Foreman for the Clear Lake Station of the Northern Pacific Railway Company until he resigned with satisfactory service on Oct. 17, 1910. His employment application described him as 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighing 160 lbs. with blue eyes and dark hair. At the time of the 1930 federal census, Mary was 49 years old and living with her husband August (age 69) and their son "Irving" in Tanner, King county, Washington. They owned their own home which was appraised at $3,000 [$30,000 in 2001 dollars] [Source: NA Film #T626-2505, p. 2A, E.D. 376, Image 0934]. On February 26, 1932 water was running heavily on the roads in north central Washington, but they were all open except Blewett Pass. Rain fell steadily in Wenatchee all morning. Severe flood conditions were forecast in Snohomish county, north of Seattle. The Sultan river, tributary of the Skykomish, rose six feet in eight hours the previous day and was steadily approaching flood stage. The Snohomish and Stillaguamish rivers were also rising. Rains were continuing and the higher temperatures melted much snow on the lower levels of the Cascade foothills. The Washington State Highway Patrol reported that the flood damage was the most serious in years. Despite the heavy rain of the previous two days, Seattle still lacked two inches of normal rainfall from January 1 to that date, due to a number of clear, dry days. Unbeknownst to local residents at the time, logging debris began to clog a culvert installed by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway during the construction of a bridge beneath a 175-foot berm over Boetzke Creek designed to carry runoff from the mountainside through to Boxley Creek. The growing obstruction created an artificial dam that would burst under enormous water pressure from the torrential rain and snowmelt. It was under these conditions that a torrent of icy water and logging debris-laden mud swept away part of the little community of Edgewick, crushing to death Mary, along with her daughter Margaret, Margaret's two young daughters, and three neighbors in a snowslide that engulfed their homes at Edgewick, King, Washington. Her remains weren't recovered for a week. Mary was 51 years old. It was determined by the King County coronor's inquest that these deaths were a result of extraordinary events. The King County Sheriff's investigation uncovered negligence in construction of a culvert by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway (The Milwaukee Road), and as a result the Edgewicke residents filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court against the railway for damages. A universal settlement totalling $35,000 was reached on Nov. 3rd and from that husband Gust Balder received $3,750 for Mary's tragic death. |
| Ancestry: | The Balder Line [through marriage] |
| The Johann "Hans" Kempa Line | |
Stimmler/Stimler-Kampa Family Album
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