Carl and Floy (Bates) Aderman in Illinois

Carl Martin Adermann was born on May 31, 1884 in Altamont, Effingham County, Illinois. He was the oldest child of Ferdinand and Mary (Heiden) Adermann. His father had immigrated from Biedenkopf, Germany and eventually moved to Illinois. Carl spoke only German as a small child and began to learn English when he first attended school. Even as a grown man, when he wrote home to his parents, he wrote in German. By the way, it is Carl in our lineage who began the tradition of spelling “Aderman” with only one “n.” A family story from the Illinois Adermans is that the Jewish Adermans used one “n” and the Gentile Adermans used two. Carl, a Lutheran, must not have known that tradition.

Carl met Floy Bates and they married. By the time he was 26, they lived in West Lincoln, IL according to the 1910 U.S. Census. According to his son, Oscar, they worked as farmers for a landowner. They rented the land and the family lived in a two-story house. They had 12 cows and two teams of horses for power. Corn was their major crop. The children walked over a mile to get to school. Carl grew disgruntled with the system they had because he had to work for two families. He supported his own family, but also supported the landowner’s family. In the rich farm land of Illinois, there was little chance of them ever owning a farm. Farms were passed on by inheritance or marriage, and Carl and Floy would not get one either way.

Their neighbors, the Capps family, moved to the upper penninsula of Michigan in 1914 or 1915. They sent word back tot he Adermans that the land was inexpensive and worth farming. In the fall of 1915, after the harvest was done, Carl went up to Wisconsin and Michigan via the Chicago and Northwestern passenger train (by way of Chicago) to look at land. He looked at Wausaukee first, but the land could not grow trees or shrubs. He concluded it also probably would not grow crops either, so went to the Daggett, Michigan area.