The following is taken from the "Rasch-Maas-Kruckenberg Trilogy compiled by Ruth Vaagen Rasch, edited and added to by Dennis W. Maas, grandson of John Maas.(Aug. 2001)

Johann "John" Maas was home on furlough from the Russian Army in the fall of 1893.  His sister Paulina Maas Rasch and her family were about to leave for America so John decided to come along (his age 22). They sailed from Bremen, Germany on the German ship Havel and arrived at Ellis Island 15 Nov 1893. The group got to Parkston, SD, 20 Nov 1893. This is where his older brother Wilhelm and his family lived.  John worked for a year in that area until he could afford to buy a team of horses and a wagon.

One morning when he came into the barn, he saw a swartzie katz (black cat, skunk) so he picked up a fork and went after it.  Guess what happened to him!  Later he said "I didn't know Amerika had such stinking cats".  Driving alone, with his new team and wagon, in 1894 on the way to Western ND he stopped in Steele, ND ( east of Bismarck, ND) to give his horses a drink and rest, when a a whirlwind blew some newspapers towards his horses and they took off running.   He could have lost everything but some townspeople caught the team.  He could not speak much English but he did his best to thank these people in German. (They certainly must have understood, many Germans there too)

He made a claim on land for a homestead about four miles north of Krem, ND (12 miles n of Hazen, ND).  John declared his intent to become a citizen of the USA 19 Jan 1895 and became a citizen 27 Jan 1900.  He married Katherina Kruckenberg 12 Dec 1897 at G. Link's house, ceremony performed by Rev. Frederick Wolfeil.  Katherina died 7 Dec 1909, leaving John a widower with five young children to raise by himself.  Two months later, on 6 Feb 1910 John married the widow of his cousin Martin Kruckenberg, Maria Reich Kruckenberg.  Maria brought with her two young daughters, Anna and Martha Kruckenberg.  John and Maria together now had a family of seven children to raise. Herb Reich (b 19 April 1915) also lived with them after 1918 when Herb's mother died.  Maria also died at a young age of 64, 18 June 1931, of high blood pressure.

John's children all lived in close proximity to the homestead, with Bill taking over farming the home place.  Fred and wife Hulda Kuch Maas farmed land just half mile west of the home place.  The seven children of Fred and Hulda remember grandpa John coming over the hill to visit.  He would walk with his hands clasped behind his back, and sometimes he carried a stick with which to dig furrows for the spring thaw to run off the dirt country road.  He worked with his sons but let them do their own thing.  His sons also did a lot of things together particularly the thrashing, and it was a large crew with his five children and twenty five grand children.

John spent his last two years at the Joachim Home in Beulah, ND.  He died 10 July 1956 after having been struck by a car while crossing the street to pick up mail.  He is buried alongside his spouses in St. Peter's Lutheran cemetery north of highway #1806 (Lewis & Clark Trail), which is about 14 miles north of Hazen, ND. 

 Note:  President Jefferson and Lewis and Clark made it possible for John and other German-Russians to settle this land.  No compensation or thanks will ever be adequate to the original Americans who lived on and worshiped this land.

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The following is the text of an article from The Common which is a supplement to the Beulah Beacon and Hazen Star (in ND),January 7, 1999:

AN IMMIGRANT'S DREAM COME TRUE"  by Kathy Tandberg as told by Raymond Maas

With many family farms being purchased by larger farms, keeping the family homestead intact is more difficult than ever in today's farming community.  Fortunately, there are a few original homesteads still in family hands.

The Raymond Maas family farm 10 miles north of Hazen will celebrate its 100th year since grandfather Johann Maas filed claim to his homestead in 1899.  100 years.  It sounds so long ago.  Yet it was just yesterday to Raymond, who still has vivid childhood memories of Grandfather Johann and the stories he told.  A story which starts the same for many settlers.  A story which starts with a dream.

In efforts to encourage settlement of its vast lands, the United States Congress approved the Homestead Act on May 20, 1862 `To secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain.'

Settlers could lay claim to a homestead of 160 acres and after living on the land for five years, it became theirs. Owning their own land was a dream many would never have known in the old country, where only the wealthy or the government owned land.

For generations immigrants poured out of Europe bound for America, the new world offering free land.
Many immigrants headed west, continuing until they found unclaimed land.  North Dakota was one of the last territories with homestead land available.

Johann Maas was born 27 Nov 1871 near Odessa, in South Russia. (Arzis, Bessarabia)  He was home on furlough from the Russian Army in 1893 when his sister Pauline and her family were leaving for America.  Seeing his chance, Johann left with them.

The family traveled to South Dakota where his brother's family settled. (Johann's & Pauline's older brother Wilhelm Maas had homestead near Parkston, SD about ten years earlier)  John worked as a hired hand and with a threshing crew, until 1894 when he had earned enough to buy a team and wagon.  With no homestead land left in South Dakota, he headed for Mercer County, where he had heard there was still land available.

After his arrival in Mercer County in 1894, Johann laid claim to 160 acres four miles north of Krem.  It was a good location,with a creek near by.  He built a sod house and settled in.  Eventually a large two story home was built.

Johann married Katherina Kruckenberg 12 Dec 1897.  He proudly became a U.S. citizen in 1900.  Katherina died in childbirth in 1909. (Died of cancer  7 Dec. 1909 when her youngest son Bill was two and one-half years old and her eldest son Friedrich `Fred was  eleven)  John married a widow, Maria Reich Kruckenberg in 1910.  The couple raised seven children:  Friedrich, Ottile, Bernard, Reinhold, William, and two children by Maria's first husband, Anna*(Mrs. Gottfried Heine) and Martha *(Mrs. Emanual F. Miller). (Herb Reich, nephew of Maria, also lived with them for some time after Herb's mother died in 1918.*)

Mercer County was now home to Johann.  After his arrival to the country he met friends from Russia, Rasches*, Adolfs*,Rahns, Kuchs*, Millers,* Kruckenbergs*, and Richters, who had also settled in the area. (There were many others also, all German Russians from Bessarabia) The families rejoiced in the familiar faces from the old country.

As the years passed, Johann's farm grew to approximately 1300  acres.  He gave each of his sons one-half section of land and his daughters received one quarter.  Johann supported his family off the land raising wheat, range cattle and milk cows.  He hauled cream to a creamery in Krem.  Ray says the creamery came to the farm to chip ice from the nearby creek and hauled it back to town.

William stayed on the farm, marrying Ida Neuberger in 1934.  Raymond (b 1 Dec 1938) says he spent more time with Grandpa Johann than anyone as a child, as Bill and Ida lived* with Johann for many years after Johann was widowed.  (Maria Reich Kruckenberg Maas died 18 June1931 of high blood pressure*?)

In 1954(age 83) Johann moved to the Joachim Memorial Home in Beulah.  In 1956 he was downtown picking up his mail when a car hit him.  He suffered a broken hip and died two weeks later of complications.(*July 10, 1956)

William officially took over the farm in 1956 after Johann passed on.  Raymond took over in 1984 when William passed on. (*The land on which Fred & Hulda raised their seven children was sold to Fred's brother William in about 1961-2.  Ray and Frieda lived in the house of Fred and Hulda Kuch Maas from 1961 until William's death in 1984.) (Fred and Hulda's seven living children all obtained higher educations and left the farm and live in the states of ND, MT, WA, OR, and CA.)*  (Fred and Hulda's place is now covered in weeds and hulks of old cars, in 2001, as left by Ray and his boys.)*

Raymond married Frieda Schwarz in 1961.  The couple raised their family on the(*Fred Maas) farm:  Randall, Nancy, Desmond and Jennifer.  These children ran and played in the same places their father played as a child.  They hid in the same barn and in the same tall grass, as they played their childhood games.  They fished the same creek their grandfather fished.  They looked out at the same wide open spaces, across the same prairies, and up at the same stars, as did the children who first lived in the sod house across the yard.  (Where have all the Indians gone? Replaced by hulks of old cars!*)

Today Raymond still raises the same crops and cattle as his father and grandfather before him, although he says wheat is about the same price today as it was when Grandpa was selling it.

In 1904, after five years of living and working the land, the homestead officially became Johann's.  He received an official handwritten Homestead Certificate No. 5559, Application 8007, with the red seal of the United States Land Office, signed in ink by Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America. The historic document has been passed down from Johann to his son William when he took over the farm, and then to Raymond when it was his turn to take over the farm.  The document remains with the land from which dreams of freedom were made.  The dreams of an immigrant.  A dream come true.  The document represents county, state and national history.  Most importantly, to the Maas family, it remains a treasured piece of family history."


*
Sincerely,  Dennis William Maas, son of Fred, Grandson of Johann. *(I, Dennis have done some additional, Aug 2001, editing of the original article in the Beulah and Hazen news papers)