By Arlene TeSelle Haack
May 2024
I grew up in Princeton, Nebraska, on the farm that my mother, Agnes (Agnes Rose Pietenpol TeSelle), inherited from her parents, Dick and Rose (Derk Willem and Rose Schollian Pietenpol).
This story begins in the city of Aalten, Netherlands. As I was researching the Pietenpol side of the family, I discovered that they lived very close to the te Selle side of the family in the Netherlands. In 1868, my great-great-grandparents, Dirk Pietenpol (1812 -1868) and Elizabeth Vriesen Pietenpol (1825 -1904) with their youngest son, Frederick (1848-1916) left the Netherlands for America. Unfortunately, Dirk died at sea. Elizabeth and Frederick first settled in Wisconsin. However, about a year later in 1870, Elizabeth and Frederick moved to Nebraska, where Frederick applied for and received a land grant northwest of the town of Princeton, in Buda Township, Lancaster County. (See Plat Map of Buda Township.)
In 1871, Frederick’s mother Elizabeth married William Mohle, who had a homestead just south of the town of Princeton. Elizabeth moved to her new husband William’s homestead, about 2 miles southeast from her son Frederick’s homestead. After his mother moved to William’s farm, Frederick continued to live on his own farm. During that time, Frederick became acquainted with Grada Marie Wentink, who in 1874, at age 19, had moved to Princeton, Nebraska from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, along with her family. Subsequently, Frederick and Mary were married on May 20, 1875, by a Justice of the Peace in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Frederick and Grada Mary Pietenpol had their first child, Dick (Derk Willem) Pietenpol, in February 1876. Dick lived with his parents for 3½ years on Frederick’s farmstead until one day, upon visiting his grandmother Elizabeth and step-grandfather William Mohle, Dick begged to stay on their farm and live with them. My Grandma Rose (Dick’s wife Rose Ann Schollian) shares this story with us as my brother Eugene records her life recollections during a family holiday get together. Rose explains that Dick was allowed to stay on Elizabeth and William’s farm as long as they didn’t change his last name, because “they didn’t want the Pietenpol name to die.” Evidence of this arrangement was found on the US 1900 Federal Census showing Dick Pietenpol (24) as a Grandson to William (65) and Elizabeth (75) Mohle, residing on the farmstead at Buda, Lancaster County, NE, which is located about ½ mile south of Princeton. (See Plat Map of Buda Township.)
Dick lived on the farm with his grandparents until they died (Elizabeth in 1904 and William in 1908), after which Dick took over the farm. During the time that Dick lived on the farm, he met Rose Schollian, who lived nearby in Princeton. Dick and Rose were married in 1913 and continued to live on his grandparents’ farm, which soon became known as the Pietenpol Family Homestead. They had one daughter, Agnes Rose Pietenpol, born in 1919. On February 9, 1940, Agnes married Lawrence Edward TeSelle in nearby Firth. According to Grandma Rose, Agnes and Lawrence lived in Cheney, Nebraska, after their wedding.
In 1943, Dick’s doctor told Dick Pietenpol that it was time to “take off his overalls and be a city guy.” Dick had to quit farming because he had heart trouble. When Dick and Rose moved into the nearby town of Princeton, Lawrence and Agnes, moved from Cheney to the farm where Dick and Rose had lived. That is how my parents, Lawrence and Agnes TeSelle, ended up living on the Pietenpol Family Homestead south of Princeton.
My grandparents, Dick and Rose Pietenpol, lived the remainder of their lives in Princeton. Dick passed away in April 1957. Grandma Rose died 20 years later, in 1977.
