The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-01-26
WASECA WOMAN IS NEARING THE
CENTURY MARK; GIVES HER STORY

This Friday Grandma" Prail will
celebrate her hundredth birthday, and
this county will have within it's bord-
ers one centenarian, says The Waseca
Journal Radical. The venerable lady
will celebrate this important day in
her life in her usual quite manner at
the home of her daughter, Mrs.
Charles Monthey in GAINESVILLE, sur
rounded by her children and many de-
scendants.
Grandma" Prail, or giving her
proper name with it's German spell
ing, Mrs. Wilhelmina Proechel, is
known to great majority of the
residents of this county. Because Of
her advanced age. she has been a
source of unusual interest, and as she
approached the centenary of her
birth, many were the anxious wishes
that she would live to reach this
record mark. In this she has been
fortunate, and on the day after to-
morrow she will have lived one hun
dred years on this mundane sphere
that we call earth.
This lady, representative of an
other generation, who lives serenely
within our midst, was born in Her
mansdorf, Germany, on January 49,,
1917. 1t is a peculiar fact that her
life thus far, has been spent evenly
between her native country and the
country of her adoption, she having
lived about fifty years in each. Her
maiden name was Wilhelmina Fruch
In Hermansdorf she grew to woman
hood and there she was married in
1886 to John Proeckel.
+ There were, eleven children born
to them, six of whom died in the old
country.
Two of their children; Sam (now of
Mankato) and Tena (now Mrs. Charles
Monthey> of Janesville) having come
to this country, the former sent for
his parents and the rest of the chill
dren to come to America. They came
in 1866--a year before the present
Waseca city was founded. Mrs
Proechel was than forty -nine years
of age. Their daughter, Mrs. Charles
Monthey had been married at Ripon,
Wis, and had just come to Iosco, and
settled on a farm. Her parents were
made welcome on the same farm, and
twenty acres assigned to them for
cultivation. There Mr.. Proechel built
a log-cabin few feet away from the
house of his daughter. On this farm
he spent the remainder of his life.
dying there in the fall of 1891. Since
his death, Mrs. Proechel has resided
at the home of her daughter, Mrs
Monthey, remaining at the latter's
home in Ioscp until they moved to
GAINESVILLE in 1900, and accompanying
them to the latter place
Mrs. Proechel has five living chill
dren as follows: Mrs, Charles Mon
they, aged seventy six, of GAINESVILLE,
with whom she makes her honey
Sam Proechel, aged seventy three Of
Mankato, Ernest and William Proc
chel, aged seventy-one and sixty five.
respectively of GAINESVILLE. and Fred
Proechel, aged sixty, of Waseca.
She has thirty-two grandchildren,
of ages ranging from fifty to twenty
four years, fifty-six great grandchil-
dren. of ages, ranging from twenty
FIVE years to one year, and four great
great grandchildren, of ages ranging
from eight years to six months. Her
progeny nearly all reside in this gen.
eral locality. !,
This marvellous woman. is in fairly
good health. Since she has secured
her second sight" she does not need
glasses to read or sew, and her ment
al faculties are unimpaired. Her men,
ory is good, although she remembers
things that happened fifty years ago
ins Germany better than modern
events At the outbreak of the Euro
pean war she took great deal of
interest in the conflict, but during
the past year has lost interest in the
result.
As one Of the reasons for attaining
her great age, she gives the fact that
she has been an industrious toiler all
her life. Being of philosophical ma
ture she has not worried, but has