John P Grenz

          John P. Grenz was born March 20, 1910, and died April 14, 1969.  He was the son of Phillip and Johanna (Kast) Grenz.  Rose Humann was born Aug 5, 1909 and died June 7, 1997.  She was the daughter of Henry and Margaretha (Schiermeister) Humann.  John and Rose were married Nov 29, 1933 in Linton at the Lutheran Church parsonage.  They moved to a farm six miles west of Hazelton.  In the summer of 1938 they added another farm with better buildings.   They moved there to make their home .  Over the years they improved the farm with new garages, granaries, machine shed and a new house.  John and Rose sold the farm to their son Rodney June 1967 and moved into Hazelton.  They had 3 children.

         George John Grenz was born Oct 8, 1935 at Linton.  He married Le Ann Payseno on Sep 2, 1967, at Bismarck.  George and LeAnn live in Highland Ranch, Colorado.  They have 3 sons, Michael, Robert, and Patrick and two grandsons, Dylan and Oliver.

          Dolores Eileen Grenz was born July 1, 1938 at Linton.  She married Donald McPherson on June 11, 1960, at Otsego, Michigan.  Delores and Don live at Otsego and they had two children:  Ronald (deceased) and Diane.  They have two grandsons, Blake and Corwin

          Rodney Joel Grenz was born Feb 13, 1942, at Bismarck.  he married Lynda Ryckman Sep 21, 1985, at Bismarck.  Rod and Lynda live at Hazelton on the home place.  Lynda has one son, Alvin, and one daughter, Vicky, and two grandsons, Jake and Tyler.  Rod and Lynda are members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Hazelton.  Rod has been on church council and is an usher.  He is on the Soil Conservation District Board and has been on other boards of the Emmons County Beef Improvement Association, the North Dakota Stockmen Nominating Committee, Streeter Grassland Research Board and the USDA ARS Board of Mandan which is a research center.

          John and Rose's family were members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church.  John served on the church council.  He also was on the Hazelton School Board and the Soil Conservation Service Board.  John started solid conservation practices on the farm by building a dam, cross fencing, seeding cropland back to grass and putting in grass water ways in cropland.  He also planted trees around the farm.  Rose always had a big garden and also helped around the farm.

           When Rod bought the farm he seeded more cropland back to grass, built a cell grazing system, planted more trees around the farm and went to minimum tillage on the cropland.  Lynda also has as big garden and mows lawn and helps with other work around the farm.

Over the years the Grenz Farm has won the following awards:  1993 Emmons county Range Management Award; 1991 North Dakota Rangeman of the Year; 1993 Emmons County Conservation Achievement Award; 1992 Award of Merit; and 1997 Grand Award District Board member.

Hazelton Centennial History Book 1903-2003 page 340        

Snap Shot - Rose Humann

Rose was the oldest girl in her family, which gave her a lot of responsibility.  She was a full-time baby-sitter by the time she was 8 or 9, and practically raised the last three children in her family, due to her mother's poor health.  She recalls how they made their own soap, plus they baked bread and ironed on the same day to conserve fuel since the flat-irons were heated on the stove.  She and her sister Bertha cut paper dolls out of catalogs and magazines to play with, and they created whole families out of these paper dolls.

John and Rose were married at the church parsonage in Linton.  They lived on a farm southwest of Hazelton.  In 1955, John and Rose bought the Hazelton Lumber Yard, but continued to farm until 1967.  They had their son George, who is an architect, design a house which they had built for themselves in Hazelton.  Rodney took over the farm at this time.

John passed away 14 April, 1969.  Rose still lives in Hazelton.  She keeps busy with her garden crocheting and visiting her family.

Circa: 1993