Emanuel Achenbach, 91, resident to the Parkman community since 1882, and a former Sheridan county commissioner, died Saturday afternoon at his home at 132 North Jefferson street.

Mr. Achenbach was born at Pinegrove, Pa. August 15, 1853 and moved to Iowa at the age of 20, where he lived for six years. From there he moved to Cheyenne and worked on a ranch for two years before moving to this community and settling on a ranch near Parkman.

He maintained an active interest in ranching until he retired and moved to Sheridan two years ago. The ranch has recently been sold to Colvin Brown of Dayton. Between 1911 and 1913, he served as county commissioner.

He is survived by Mrs. Achenbach, the former Elizabeth Graff, whom he married July 11, 1888, at Ohlman, near Parkman; six sons, Burton A. of Sheridan, Calvin R. of Sheridan, Wallace D. of Pendleton, Ind., Urban F. of Sheridan, Herbert V. of Acme and Joseph G. of Parkman; three daughters, Mrs. Florence B. Davidson, Mrs. William Sack and Mrs. Nora E. Maxted, all of Sheridan; 26 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements have been planned for Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Champion's drawing room with Rev. J. S. Nelson officiating.

Sheridan Press

He was a great fiddler and rancher.

Parents of Bert, Florence, Calvin, Lola, Wallace, Urban, Vance, Joe and Nora.

This was found in the "biography" drawer in the Wyoming Room of the Sheridan Fulmer Library, Sheridan Wyoming.
Written by Myrtle I. Sawyer - Sheridan

THE SETTLING OF OUR LAND

The very same year, one hundred years ago in 1882 when the town of Sheridan was being established, my Uncle Emanuel Achenbach filed a homestead claim on one hundred and sixty acres of land some twenty-five miles North West of Sheridan near the Montana border. Later to be known as the "Five Mile Flat".

Emanuel, a small man in stature, but wiry and tough had the tenacity it would take to help settle this wild and sparsely settled land. The name Emanuel proved to formal for Uncle's friends and acquaintances so he soon became known as just plain "Man".

Uncle Man was born in Pine Grove Pennsylvania in 1853. When a lad of twenty he moved with his family to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After a year or two there, he heard the calling of the West and 1881 found him in the booming town of Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory.

At once Uncle Man fell in love with this part of the country and soon started casting about for a good homestead sight, finally settling on a dry flat plat of ground, surrounded by rolling hills. Friends doubted the wisdom of his choosing this dry land rather than a river or creek bottom, but Uncle, a practical man, having a good foresight noted the rich soil and the advantage of flat land for farming and irrigation. So in 1882 his homestead sight was selected and filed upon.

Being of thrifty Holland Dutch Stock, Uncle Man had saved enough money to start at once improving his homesight, and the following six years found his land fenced, a well dug, a modest house with corrals and sheds built, a start on his irrigation project and adequate livestock to run his ranch sufficiently. All during these years Uncle was writing letters to friends and relatives in Pennsylvania and Iowa proclaiming the advantages of coming West and taking up land. With his great gift of persuasion and enthusiasm he was able to influence six families to come to Wyoming Territory and take up land in or near the Five Mile Flat. Among those who came was Uncle's brother Jake, who having contacted black lung in the Pennsylvania coal mines, thought the pure mountain air would improve his health, and so it was in 1887 the family arrived by train at Custer Station Montana where they were met by Uncle Man with his team and wagon to transport them some one hundred miles across the Crow Indian Reservation, being somewhat a scary trip for eastern people, to his homestead near Sheridan. Among those traveling with the Jake Achenbach family was the sixteen year old daughter of a neighbor in Iowa, Elizabeth Graff, who when having asked permission from her father to accommpany the Achenbach Family West, replied. "By all means go West, marry a rich man and send home money". Elizabeth didn't find a rich man, but she did find a thrifty bachelor of thirty-five who was known to have been waiting for just the right girl to come along.

Elizabeth (Aunt Lizzie) and Uncle Man obtained the first marriage license issued in Sheridan County by Frank McCoy, County Clerk in 1888. The couple was married on the home place July Fourth by Beam Amsden, Justice of the Peace from Dayton.

Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Man lived on their land some fifty-four years, there raising their nine children. As time passed and the land produced, Uncle found it possible to build a larger and more prestigious home, and because of its spacious rooms, there were held the dancing parties for the surrounding neighborhood. Uncle was an outgoing jolly man who played the fiddle and always joined the merrymaking.

This pioneer couple moved to Sheridan in their later years and both lived just short of their ninetieth birthday.

Uncle Man was a modest man, he did not go down in history as being famous, he had never been called upon to fight the Indians, or ride with the Cavalry nor even became a western cowboy, but believed in the land and urged others to settle here. These people had the courage and determination it was to take to settle a new raw land, to face the hardships and sacrifices, to work from sunup to sundown, tilling the soil, fighting harsh winters, blistering summers, drought, wind, dust, crop failures and insect hordes. Always with the hope that next year would be better. Sometimes it was and sometimes it was not, but the Good Lord always finds ways to reward those who follow their dreams.

Information by Karylynn Petrie