Stephen Melvin Child [1858-1939]

The Standard - Lakefield, MN

-------------------------------

  Stephen Melvin Child was born in Wilton Township, Waseca County, Minnesota, on 7 March 1858.  He was married to Amelia Ludtke, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Ludtke, on 31 December 1882 in Waseca, Minnesota, by the Rev. H. C. Jennings.  Stephen died on 30 January 1929 at his home on Menage Avenue in Lakefield, Jackson County, Minnesota.  Funeral services were held at his home and at the Methodist Episcopal Church on February 2nd andwere conducted by the Rev. C. N. Hamrin of Woodlake.  Burial was in the Lakefield Cemetery.  Amelia A. Ludtke was born 16 August 1863 in Germany.  She died on 18 December 1951 at the age of 88 years, 4 months and 2 days at her home in Lakefield.  Funeral services were conducted on 21 December 1851 at the Rost Funeral Home and at the First Methodist Church by the Rev. Clifford Wittstruck.  Interment was beside the grave of her husband in the Lakefield Cemetery.

  Stephen lived his first ten years in Wilton Township.  Then a railroad was built through Waseca County and the new town of Waseca was developed.  The little town of Wilton was soon all moved to the newer town with its railroad advantages.  The Child family moved with the town to Waseca.  Stephen received his education in the schools of Waseca and assisted his father in his printing office.  When he reached the age of 20, he felt the urge of the open spaces and outdoors in preference to being confined to indoor labor.  This led him in 1878 to follow Horace Greeley's advice, "Go west young man."  He went as far as Jackson County, Minnesota, and settled on a farm in Secion Six, Des Moines Township, 4 1/2 miles east of Lakefield.  It was just at the close of the dark days following the grasshopper scourge of several preceding years.  They county had a population of 4,500.  From the Des Moines River west, there was a wide stretch of virgin prairie, with only a settler's shanty or log cabin now and then.

  In 1879 the extension of the Milwaukee railroad from Jackson west was begun and Stephen Child assisted in building the grade for the new railroad for a distance past his farm.  The village of Lakefield sprang up with the coming of the railroad and Stephen witnessed its growth from nothing to a substantial community of handsome, commodious brick stores and find residences and a population one-third as large as the whole county possessed on his early arrival.

  On 31 December 1882, Stephen was united in marriage to Amelia Ludtke, who had also come to Jackson County with her parents, seeking in the new land a hope of future reward for labor well done.  While living in Des Moines Township they affiliated with the Methodist Church.  To this marriage was born two sons, William Walter and Arthur Erwin.  The family lived on the farm until their deaths.  Two girls were given homes and reared by Stephen and Amelia Child, namely:  Mattie May who became Mrs. Lewis L. Heaton of Minneapolis and Hazel Dohm who became Mrs. Glenn G. Warren of Des Moines, Iowa.

  Stephen Child was town supervisor of Des Moines Township for many years until he refused to act longer because he felt he could not give the office the time it should have.  The only fraternal order to which he belonged was the Ancient Order United Workmen and he was a charter member of the Lincoln Lodge No. 164 organized in Lakefield on 9 March 1893.

  Stephen was a home loving man.  He preferred his home to mixing with men in lodges and was never seen 'just loafing' around.   He was of strict integrity and justice.  His influence was always given heartily and sincerely for the things that bettered living conditions and made for spiritual growth.  He was never argumentative, though his opinion once formed were unshakable as solid rock.