History:
Dennings and Dreilings in Kansas
Information for this section is taken from a document created by Arthur Denning, son of John J. and Margaret (Dreiling) Denning. Art lived his adult life in Salina, Kansas and wrote numerous articles for the local publications. Many of them discussed his family and their life experiences.

Memories of the Denning and Dreiling Families
by Arthur Denning

(Note: The original document was created by Art in the 1970s or 1980s. It may be slightly edited or shortened from its original form. Subheads were added to help readers follow the history. And, of course, the document reflects Art's unique perspective at the time of the writing.)

From the Volga River countryside, to the open plains of Kansas, we as proud Americans, are all descendants to immigrants that came to this country to find a place of freedom of speech and religion. They were concerned about making this country a more prosperous country by establishing a foothold in the open plains of Kansas. It needed people with great strength and faith. Our Volga German people fit in that pattern and made this area a prosperous place and fulfilled their dream.

Joseph and Anna (Perschneski) Denning
My grandfather, Joseph Denning, was born in Russia. He came to this country as a single man at the age of 21 years. He married my grandmother, Anna Perschneski, who came directly from Poland. She was accompanied by a group of Polish people who homesteaded around Gorham, Kansas. She had one son by the name of Joe. In this marriage, they had seven children: Catherine, Jake, Anna, Prudence, Leo, Regina and my father, John. Grandma Denning died at a young age, having her eighth child. It was a great loss for my father. He was just nine years old and he once told me that when you lose your mother at that age you lose the best part of your life.

Joseph and Louise (Graff) Denning
During those years, the women were scarce. Grandpa needed someone to help him raise his family. He put an advertisement in a local church paper. He got a response from a woman from St. Marys, Kansas. She came to Victoria and married Grandpa. Her name was Louise Graff. During that marriage, they had eight children. Louise Graff had a son by the name of Tony when she married Grandpa. Their children were [named]: Cecelia, Emmeron, Titus, Bonaface, Recina, Alfonse, Lora and Gabe.

Sacred Heart Church of Emmeram
During this time, Grandpa was the mouthpiece for a group of men to build a new church, which later became Sacred Heart Church of Emmeram. They wanted to break away from the mother Church at Victoria. Grandpa homesteaded seven miles north of Victoria. It was a long way to drive to church and grocery stores. When the church was built, it was just one mile from the homestead. The church opened on Christmas Day in 1901. My Aunt Catherine and John Herman were the first couple to get married in the new church.

The little village was laid in lots for homes. We had a small home there for some time. Grandpa opened up a grocery store and post office. He had his wife as postmistress. This venture did not last too long. He closed the store and post office and moved them to the homestead where the post office building is yet today.
As time went by, the children from the first wife all moved out. Things did not go so well with the new stepmother. Leo, Regina and John, my father, lived together on a farm while they were all single.

Maternal Roots - The Dreilings
My Grandpa, Michael Dreiling, and Barbara Prevo came to this country from Russia as man and wife. They had two children who were born in Russia. They were Mike and Baalsar. Baalsar had a twin sister who died a few days before they left Russia. They were in their early 20s when they arrived in America. Later they homesteaded four miles northeast of Victoria. During their later [part of their] marriage, they had Anne Marie, Joe, John, Mary and Margaret, who was my mother.
My mother lost her father at the age of 16. It was a great loss for her. Her mother was sick a lot and she had to rely on her father so much. She always said her father had her spoiled. He was a good father to her.

John & Margaret Denning
My father's education was rather minimum [minimal]. He said his last year in school in the eighth grade; he went to school mostly to play ball. He said they needed him awfully bad on the team. With my mother, it was just the opposite. She was an "A" student all through grade school. She and a friend, Ida Wasinger, were the only girls from Victoria who went to high school at Hays. They did not have a high school at Victoria. She finished two years of high school, which was considered quite an accomplishment. She stayed with her brother, Bill, while going to school. Bill was short for Baalsar. As a young man, he went to college to study for the priesthood. Instead, he became one of the greatest politicians in Hays. He was one of the men who gave the Democratic Party a start in Hays. He was county clerk, county treasurer, and chairman of the Democratic Party. Later, he was editor of the Hays weekly newspaper and postmaster. He got into some financial problems at the post office. Money was missing and he got the blame for it. He was to busy politicking and he neglected his job at the post office. He lost his job at the post office, lost his prestige with the people and ended up as a broken man. People he helped the most let him down.

My mother had to quit school and come home and help take care of her mother. When she came home she spent a lot of time at her brother, Mike's, home. It also happened that Uncle Mike's farm was between Grandpa's farm and the farm where Dad, Leo and Regina were living. In order for Dad to go and see his father he would walk through the front yard of Uncle Mike. It was a short cut to get to his father. That is how the romance started. Uncle Mike thought the world of Dad. He could not stand Leo. As the romance continued, Mom would meet Dad coming through the yard. She used to tell me Dad always had chewing gum for her. In those days gum was a come-on. She said the first piece in the package was missing. She laughingly would tell me that his buddy, Yoss, which is Joe in German, got the first piece.

As time went on, they later got married on January 14 [or February] in 1913. They moved in with Leo and Regina. Not long after they were married Regina got married. They had to live with Leo, which was more then they could stand. They built a home for themselves a short distance from the original home. This was where Cyril, Arthur, Stella, Max and Raphael were born. Some people might think their names were unusual for that time. Mom told me she was so tired of everybody naming their children after their father or uncle of aunt. Dad decided on Cyril. Mom named me after King Arthur of the Roundtable, Stella was named after Stella Dallas, a fictional book character, and Max was named after Maximilian, who went to Mexico and tried to overthrow the government. Raphael, I do not know who he was named after. Alberta and Armella were named after some cousins in Mike's family. Zita was named after Zita Palen, who Mom knew in school. Ida was named after Ida Wasinger, the girl from Victoria who went to school with Mom. Dennis was named after a Catholic priest, who was president of the old St. Joseph's College. Cy was instrumental in naming Adlore after a student he met in school. Carroll, I think the girls named him, and Ralph was not named after anyone in particular.

Their own farm home
After having a family of five in that little home, our parents bought a farm a short distance from where we lived. It was a 160-acre farm. It was a beautiful place when we moved there. The former owner had everything in perfect shape. My mother always said those were the happiest days of her life when we moved to that farm. As time went on, my brother Raphael died of summer complaint. Dad and Cyril were in Victoria when he died. Mom called Dad on the phone. Mom put him in bed and put pennies over his eyes. Stella, Max and I were in the house with a little dead brother, while Mom was milking the cows and crying her heart out over the loss of her son. Dad and Cyril came home. They had a little coffin on the back of the buggy. The next day neighbors and friends dug a grave and we buried him. We had four young girls as pallbearers, all dressed in white. Life was very simple those days out on the open prairie. That same year Alberta was born. It also was the first year for Cyril and I to start school. We were so close that Mom was scared to send one but not the other. So she sent us both. I was only five years old. We had to learn English and German the first year. The next year they stopped the German. It was hard to learn English when all we knew was German. The first day of school Mom stayed there. After a few days, we went along okay.

Cy was always very protective of me. He was told to look after me because he was the oldest. We had to defend each other. People can be very cruel. Cyril was born clubfooted, which made him limp, and walk sideways. They would call him "shepbanish," which means crooked foot in German. I would help him fight his battle. Cyril never was lost for words. I had a habit of overlooking things. Cyril did not go for that kind of logic.

The Dreiling Homestead
We stayed on that farm for two years. Uncle John got a job managing the farmers' elevator at Victoria. He had "three 80s" or 240 acres. He rented them to the folks so they could increase their farm acreage. It was the former homestead of Mom. It was good land, and we had a few good wheat crops. We stayed there for four years. Zita, Ralph and Armella were born there.

We enjoyed those four years. We used to have a lot of neighbors visiting. I remember everybody was making their own moonshine, including Dad. One day we were told they were going to raid everybody. We buried our extra whisky in the grain bin and covered it with wheat. During that time, Uncle John did not see eye-to-eye [with ?] on things. Uncle John was great on giving advice. He knew all the answers.

Back to the farm
After four years on the old [Dreiling] homestead, we moved back to the original 160-acre farm close to Emmeram. Grandpa Denning died that year. That same year Ida was born. The following year Dennis was born, the year the stock market crashed and the beginning of the Depression. During those years, we saw nothing but dust, grasshoppers and jackrabbits. There was no rain and one crop failure after another. The oil companies that gave us a few dollars on our lease on the land kept us from losing our land. During that time, I finished grade school. Cyril went to high school for two years. After that, he taught school in a country grade school.

Civilian Conservation Corps
I went two years at St. Joseph Military College. I could not finish because of finances. The folks needed financial help. They decided to have me go to the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was $25 a month. I got to keep $5. The rest was sent home. That was one decision it was hard for my folks to make. Who should go to the CCC, Cyril or me? I went to Hays with Dad and went to the courthouse where the CCC office was. Dan Dreiling, my cousin, was working in there. When he saw me, he called me to the side, while Dad was in the other room, to tell me how hard it was for my folks to make the decision who had to go to the CCC. He thought I would be better qualified. That is how I got into the CCC.

After three years in the CCC, I came home and worked on a construction job at Russell. That was the beginning of our family making its home in Russell. Mom and I drove to the construction job. They hired me, and later Max and Cyril joined me. Cyril did not care for the work so he went to work for Don Hiems in the grocery store. Max and I stayed on. In the summer of 1936, it was 118 to 120 degrees in the shade and we worked for 40 cents an hour. When the job was completed, I went to Garden City to work in sugar beets. I met real nice people. A nice couple paid me $1 a day and meals. The couple's wife had a sister who came to visit. Her and I would date during the week, going to the picture show all on $1 a day. We enjoyed our company together. I left a short time later and came home.

While I was at Garden City, the Works Progress Administration had the opening of the -largest swimming pool in the United States. It covered a whole block, and the water came in from the river. At the time, the river in Garden City was full. The water came from the mountains in Colorado. I spent some time at home and applied for a job at the Lamer Hotel. I got the job of washing dishes and [was] later promoted to bus boy and room service boy.

Driscoll's half-section
During this time, Stella stayed with me going to college. The following year Alberta and Zita stayed with me while they went to school, and the following [year], Ralph and Stella stayed with me to share expenses so they could finish high school and college for Stella. Cyril and I were the only ones who did not finish high school. While working at the hotel, the folks had all the rest of the family going to grade school. During that time, Cyril continued to work at the grocery store in Russell. He had Alberta and Zita stay with him while they went to Russell High School. While there, he saw an ad in the paper that Jerry Driscoll was looking for a renter for his half-section of land. It was a short distance from Russell. He had an appointment with Driscoll. Later, Mom and Dad joined him and took a lease on the farm. It took a lot of hard work and planning to make the move. It was the most beneficial move they made during their lifetimes. It changed their whole outlook on life and gave the family something to look forward to.

During that time, Max finished high school at Hays. The younger members of the family all finished high school in Russell. Max and I were not too much involved in the moving. Max was living in Colorado Springs and later got married there to Frances Kreutzer. I was married and living in Hays. After a short time of marriage, Max and I were drafted into the Army. We both served a number of years in the Army. Max spent his time in Egypt in the Far East. I spent most of my time in Europe in Germany, France and Belgium.

When Max and I returned from the service, the younger members of the family had finished high school. That was Mom and Dad's greatest achievement - to be able to give their children an education. I am just glad I was able to help them as much as I could.

Careers and marriages
During that time, Cyril got married to Margaret Dauber. He stayed with the folks operating the farm. The rest of the family was not interested in farming. Max stayed on the farm for a few years and eventually gave it up. During the Korean War, Ralph had to serve his time. He came through it without any mishap.

As the years went on, the girls all got married except Stella and Ida. Stella taught school for a number of years. She had a college degree from Fort Hays. Ida finished high school in Russell. Later she made her career working for the gas and light company [in Kansas City]. Ralph was working for the Kaw Pipeline Co. Armella went to Hays on a job. She met Tony Ruder and later married him. [Alberta married Gilbert Kuhn in 1946, and raised their children in Hays, Kansas. Zita married John Compton October 4, 1958 and made their home in the Kansas City area.]

Ralph met Cecile Berger and got married. Dennis went to college at Emporia State and met Alice Needles, and they got married. He finished his college in the Art and Drama Department. He got his doctor's degree in that department at the University of Kansas. Adlore got his degree at Emporia and married a college student, Cheryl Purkey. Carroll got his degree from Emporia and he also married a college student, Karen Bader. I just wish our folks could be here and see all the high school and college graduates that came about in our family through their great effort to get us all an education.

Dad's Denning siblings
I wish to make a summary here of all the personals [persons?] mentioned and their characters. Joe Perchenski [or Perschneski?], the stepson, was the oldest. He made his home in Topeka. His occupation was a barber. His wife's maiden name was Robbin. There was Catherine, Dad's sister. She was the second mother in the family when their mother died. She married John Herman and made their home in Denver.
Anna, Dad's oldest sister, married Mike Goetz, and they operated a grocery store in Gorham.

Jacob married Magdelin Windholz. He was a man of all trades. He was a real short man with a mustache and he walked real fast. He reminded me of a wind-up toy. He spent much of his life in Chicago.

Prudence married Barbara Windholz. He struggled hard trying to make a living farming. He was one of the most kind-hearted persons I ever met.

Leo stayed single, although he thought he was God's gift to women. He was considered one of the best violin players in the country. He was the gossip section, or news reporter, in the neighborhood. While the men folk were working in the field, he drove around one farm to another visiting with the women folk. He was a great visitor. Not an ounce of ambition. One day he had Carroll on his lap when he was little. He turned and looked at Leo and told him that his mom said that Leo was so lazy that he stinks. It hurt Leo's feelings. He did not visit for a while. He invented a sure cure to keep mice from getting into his crackers. He put a hook in the ceiling of his house. He put a wire around his cracker box and hooked it on the hook in the ceiling. It always fascinated me. No way the mice could get to his crackers.
Regina married Paul Schmidt. Regina [or Catherine?] was a very nice looking woman. Her husband died and left her with seven children.

John, my father, married Margaret Dreiling. Dad was rather reserved. He never had much to say. He was a great believer in having discipline in the family. My father and his sister, Regina, were considered the best dancers in the neighborhood.

Dad's step siblings
All these children [above] were from Grandpa Denning and his first wife. These children now mentioned are from his second wife.

Ceceilia [or Cecelia?] married John Dreiling and operated a beauty shop. Later she became the only millionaire in the family.

Emmeram married Pauline Bieker. He retired from the Union Pacific Railroad.
Racina married William Bieker, who also retired from the Union Pacific.

Titus never got married. He still owns the old homestead in the Denning name. He lives at Hays in a rest home.

Bonaface (Foxy) married Ester Ho??. He was the clown in the family. He was jumping out of parachutes in Chicago in the 1930s when most people were scared to fly a plane. He hit it lucky in oil at Hill City.

Alfonse married Clara Hoff and was a machinist for an oil company.
Laura married Harry Sander and they made their home at Quinter on a farm.

Gabe, the youngest of the 17 children that Grandpa raised, married Beatrice Phfanstiel. He was a good mechanic and electrician. He was the first man in Emmeram to have a radio in his car.

Tony married a woman who was Grandpa's stepson from St. Marys. He was a telephone operator at Victoria for a number of years.

Fond memories of Grandpa
Here are some of the fond memories of Grandpa: He used to play the violin. He had a long beard. His daughter, Laura, could play the old pump organ. He would put the violin under his chin, and his beard would lay across the violin while he played.

Everybody in the neighborhood knew when Grandpa came a1ong on the county road. He had a one-seat buggy and a pure white horse. His name was old Dike. His speed was between a walk and a slow trot. That it means it was slow. The horse was never in a hurry. Old Dike died at a ripe old age.

Now that I've finished this part of the family history, I want to say with due respect that Cyril and Stella carried the greatest responsibility for raising the family. We all played a major part in keeping our family together.

A German tradition is that the oldest boy would have the responsibility to look after the family. The oldest girl, Stella, is responsible for helping to raise the family. I was the missing link between Cyril and Stella. My opinions never were valued too much. No hard feelings. (Ha. Ha.)

Arthur and Winifred
Now that the last episode of the family is completed, I want to say that I am Arthur. I married Winifred Hafner and we were both from Hays. I finished two years of high school. I went to work at the Lamer Hotel. During that time I was as free as a bald eagle winging his way across the open plains. One night I stopped in at a very exclusive nightclub known as Elmer's Drug Store in Victoria, Kansas. They were the only people in town with a nickelodeon to dance to. While there I met a good friend, Bennie. He introduced me to his date, who I thought was rather cute, and said I was welcome to dance with her, which I did. While dancing, she got rather inquisitive in regard to my activities in life. She wanted to know my profession. I told her I was teaching school. She went along with it and never said anymore about it.

I enjoyed her conversation that night and left. Several weeks later I stopped in at another exclusive nightclub at Munjor, Kansas. It was a cold night and I was on my own. I stepped closer to the potbelly stove to get warm. Here next to me was that little blond. I nudged her with my elbow. Nudging someone in our day was a way of starting a friendly conversation. Nowadays, that would mean, "Let's jump in the sack."

While we were visiting, we decided to have a dance or two. I enjoyed the dancing and conversation and went home as free as a joybird. Several weeks later a friend of mine that I worked with asked me to go out on a blind date. I had an idea who she was. When he drove up with his date, and I saw my blind date, I was very happy to see who she was. From that blind date and the romances that followed, the results are 47 years of marriage, four children, and ten grandchildren.

My school teaching was very limited. Cyril was teaching grade school, and he came down sick.

I had to fill in for him teaching school for a week. It so happened that was the week I met Winnie for the first time at that famous nightclub. I finished my working career as a gourmet cook at our Salina Elks (22 years), Moose Lodge (10 years) and fountain manager at Walgreen's Drug Store (5 years). Three years were at the former Lamer Hotel in Hays, Kansas.

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