Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Farmer
• Stories and Notes: See Notes

Notes:

Stories and Notes:
Benjamin Paul Prather, for many years a prominent farmer in Brown County, South Dakota, was born in Urbana, Illinois, May 29, 1880. He was the son of Homer Silsby and Jessie Emma (Marriott) Prather who were born in Ohio and Illinois, respectivel y.

"Paul" Prather married Cordie May Reese in Urbana, Illinois, in 1902, to which a son Avery Montell Prather was born in 1903. After their divorce in 1906, Paul removed to the plains of South Dakota where he met his second wife-to-be, Mae.

In his beginning years in South Dakota Paul worked on a local farm, the "Lincoln Ranch". Near there he met Mae Rose Harrington of Brown County, SD. They married in 1907, and lived and farmed on rented land near Plana, SD, Cambria Township. In 19 15 they bought 160 acres in Bath Township, raised their four children (Homer, Jessie, Raymond, Frank), and lived until Paul's death in 1947.

Over the years Paul and his family raised live stock, including hogs, a few cattle, milk cows, horses, and chickens. One of Paul's specialities was the development of "Improved Brown County Yellow Dent Seed Corn". To develop this champion seed c orn he took a good ear of corn, cut off and discarded the tip and butt (small kernels), shelled the ear, "graded" the kernels, and planted the bigger plump kernels. The result was ears with bigger plump kernels. Paul sold this improved seed cor n by the ear to farmers who came from miles around.

During the dry weather periods of the 30's, their sandy South Dakota plains soil blew easily, requiring extraordinary measures to ensure a crop: these included the spreading of manure and straw using horse power to keep the soil in place. Horse s were used extensively in farming in those days. In 1938 a new house was built on the farm. Daughter Jessie applied her talents in the drawing of the house plans. Paul liked trees and so planted many around the homestead.

At a later date, Paul and Mae purchased a second quarter section of farm land. Years later it was subdivided into two 80 acre parcels and deeded to sons Frank and Raymond. Frank farmed as a close neighbor to his parents until 1946 when he sold h is land and moved to California. Raymond farmed about 6 miles from Paul and Mae's farm until his death in 1962.

After Paul's death from a heart attack at age 67, Mae moved to Aberdeen, SD, and son Homer worked and lived on the farm briefly.

Benjamin married Cordie May Reese on 6 Sep 1902 in Urbana, Champaign County, Illinois, United States. Cordie was born on 30 Jul 1884 in St. Joseph, Champaign County, Illinois, United States; died on 26 Jul 1962 in Masonville, Delaware, Iowa, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Mae Rose Harrington. Mae was born on 4 May 1888 in Groton, Brown, South Dakota, United States; died on 11 Sep 1950. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Eclipse Lumber Company
• Stories and Notes: 3 Dec 1931; Manchester Press

Avery married Matilda Mea Graham on 11 Sep 1926. Matilda (daughter of John Wilbur Graham and Louise Adeline Brown) was born on 21 Jan 1908 in Manchester, Delaware County, Iowa, United States; died on 20 Jun 1994 in Seattle, King, Washington, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Stories and Notes: See Notes

Notes:

Stories and Notes:
Jessie worked on the family farm for many years. She attended beauty school in Fargo, North Dakota, in the mid 30's and owned her own shop in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

In 1937 she married Wayne M. Phillips. They lived in Aberdeen for 14 years, moving to the Prather family farm in 1951.

Jessie has been very active in church and community service for many years, including the First Methodist Church of Aberdeen.

Their children are Patricia Mae Phillips and Lyle Wayne Phillips.

"Pat" (or Patty) married Martin Lauren Tveit in Aberdeen in 1959 and lived on a farm near Frederick until their divorce in 1975. Their children are Jeffrey Earl Tveit (a school teacher in Chamberlain, SD), and Bonita Lynn Tveit who is married t o Michael Lane (currently in the Airforce stationed in Omaha, Nebraska).

Pat's second marriage was to C. William Dennert in 1977. They live on a farm Southeast of Frederick, SD. Pat owns and manages a sewing and alterations shop in Aberdeen, SD.

Wayne Phillips and son Lyle farmed the land as Lyle grew to adulthood. Lyle married Marge Mettler in 1964 and divorced in 1992. Their children are Lynne and Lorrie (twins) and Stacey.

Lyle worked for International Business Machines (IBM) for 23 years with assignments in Sioux Falls, SD; Terre Haute, IN; New Jersey; Roanoke, Texas. He is currently working for Dean-Witer Investments.

...as of 1993

Family/Spouse: Wayne M. Phillips. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Farmed near Plana, SD
• Occupation: Helping out on the Prather family farm for a few years
• Occupation: Worked as a young man in Minnesota

Notes:

Died:
Died suddenly of a heart attack

Raymond married Ruth Elaine Bennett on 28 Mar 1938 in Cresco, Howard, Iowa, United States. Ruth was born in 1918 in Mora, Kanabec, Minnesota, United States; died on 22 May 1980. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Farmer

Notes:

Occupation:
He farmed until 1947 and moved to Napa, California working at various jobs.

Family/Spouse: Anna Mary Dockter. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Stories and Notes: See Notes

Notes:

Stories and Notes:
Born in Manchester, Iowa, he got his education through the eighth grade there. His father, Avery, died when he was 5. Harold earned money as a teenager mowing the lawn at the Oakland cemetery in Manchester where his father, is buried.

Employment as a teenager included working for the Union Pacific Railroad in Green River, Wyoming in the "oil house" when he was 16. He quit there because of the poor working conditions and failure of the RR to provide housing, as promised.

Next, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska where his mother and step father, Perry Helm, lived. He got a job working for the "Table Supply and Meat Company" as a truck driver. Later, Harold signed up with the Nebraska State Guard. When the Nebraska Guar d became part of the National Guard, he joined the Navy where he completed his tenth grade equivalency.

Harold's tours of duty included; Idaho; Astoria, Oregon; Bremerton, Washington; Seattle, Washington; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Marianna Island, Guam; Great Lakes, Illinois; San Pedro, California; and several Navy ships (see "Naval Records for Harol d Martin Prather"). During his tours of duty, his son, Harold Martin Prather, Jr. was born to his first wife Anna Mae Catherine Rausch.

Subsequent to the end of his relationship to Anna Mae, Harold moved with his son, mother, and step father, Perry Helm, to Seattle, Washington, in 1955. There he met and married Polly Ann Reynolds. Issues from this marriage include a son (Jeffre y Scott Prather) and daughter (Raejean Prather).

Through his late thirties he was active in auto racing and was one of the principal founders and President of STAR (Sea-Tac Auto Racing Association); an association of early model ('49 to '53) stock cars.

He remained an avid sports fan, but especially partial to football.

Harold married Dolores D. Lautenschlager in 1965 where they lived in retirement in Des Moines, Washington.

Family/Spouse: Anna Mae Catherine Rausch. Anna (daughter of John N. Rausch and Catherine Mary Pottebaum) was born on 18 Aug 1927 in Luxemburg, Dubuque County, Iowa, United States; died on 21 Dec 1985 in Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Harold married Polly Anne Reynolds in 1956. Polly (daughter of William L. Reynolds and Dorothy Avalon Bess) was born on 19 Feb 1934 in Seattle, King, Washington, United States; died on 5 May 1987 in Seattle, King, Washington, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Dolores Dalia Lautenschlager. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Martin Lauren Tweit. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: C. William Dennert. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Maggie Mettler. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Jay Rozzi. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As : Marty

Notes:

See attached sources.

(Research):"Marty" was living with his paternal grandmother and step-grandfather in Waterloo, Iowa, when they moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1955. He moved in with his father and step-mother, Polly, in 1957 in Burien, WA, where he started the fifth grade . Marty was an average student through high school with interests in sports (including his father's early model stock car racing) and photography (he was president of the high school photo club).

After high school graduation in 1965 he continued his interests in photography and photo lab processing, working as a clerk at Tall's Camera Supply, as a photo lab technician at Longacres thoroughbred horse race track, and as a "copy camera oper ator" (making negatives and photo prints for offset press and art presentations) at the Boeing Company photo lab.

In 1966, during the Vietnam conflict, he volunteered for the draft and entered the Army in June. During his various leaves from the Army he searched for and found information that lead to a reunion with his younger brother and sister from whom h e had been separated as a child. After spending the majority of his 2 year tour of duty working in the photo lab at the Army Field Printing Plant, Ft. Sill, OK, he returned to Seattle and rehired with Boeing.

Marty started college in 1968 with an interest, initially, in architecture. In 1969 he quit Boeing again to attend college full time. After a few quarters his interests shifted to aerospace engineering, influenced by the Apollo lunar landing mis sions. He worked part time as a dishwasher in a restaurant to supplement his tuition support from the G.I. Bill. While at the University of Washington, Seattle, his main method of transportation was by 10-speed bicycle. He made several long trip s by bicycle from the "U" District to South Seattle to visit his father and friends, and to work.

During his undergraduate college years he was elected chairman of the student chapter of AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics - dedicated to excellence in aerospace engineering) at the U of W, as well as elected as a life mem ber to Tau Beta Pi (a national engineering society).

After college graduation, Marty rehired with the Boeing Company in January, 1974, as a stress analyst engineer, working on the 747 SP commercial jet airplane. His responsibilities included ensuring the integrity of the structural components asso ciated with the aft fuselage tail cone (aft of the cabin), the vertical and horizontal tails, and 747 landing gear. While working at Boeing he continued grad school taking classes part time until he got his Master of Science in Aeronautics and A stronautics degree from the U of W in 1976.

In 1974 he met Rose Lorene Conover, a Seattle native, whom he married in 1976. They moved into an apartment in Northwest Seattle where they lived the first year of their marriage. In 1977 they purchased a duplex in Mountlake Terrace, WA, lived i n one side and rented out the other.

In June, 1979, Marty and Rose moved out of the duplex to a house 3 miles south and at the same time Marty was transfered to the Boeing 757 project at the other end of the city (a 26 mile commute, one way). He assumed the position of lead enginee r for the internal structural loads for the 757-200 tail cone, vertical, and horizontal tails. He remained in this position through the design, manufacturing, flight test, certification, and destruction testing of the 757.

In 1985 he transferred within Boeing to the Structures Engineering Computing Research Group to plan and implement the cost-effective use of engineering tools and methods in Structures Engineering using computers.

He remains in this lead engineer position today with additional responsibilities to coordinate automation planning and implementation, and "continuous quality improvement", reporting to the Chief Engineer of Loads, Dynamics and Computing, Boein g Commercial Airplane Group.

Both Marty and Rose do volunteer work for the Seattle Audubon Society.

Marty's other interests include photography, stained glass, computers (president of a North Seattle computer club; 1986-1988), music (as an amateur composer/guitar player/singer), and mechanical things from remodeling the house to repairing gidg ets.

... as of 1993

Family/Spouse: Rose Lorene Conover. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Jacqueline Jo Otto. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Sharon Hull. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Bruce Eldon Harris. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Paul Howard Rosenquist. Paul (son of Howard P. Rosenquist and Elnorlue) died on 22 Apr 2004. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Michael Lane. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Birth:
Is a twin with Lorrie

Notes:

Birth:
Is a Twin with Lynne

Family/Spouse: Christine Singleton. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]