Frederick Carl Schroeder was born April 5, 1860 in Germany. He grew up there and became a shoemaker. To avoid service in the German army he came to America as a stowaway on a ship. In 1880 with his brother William he came to Barnes County. Here he worked as a farm laborer and saved his money so that in 1887 he was able to purchase the Southwest ¼ of Section 26, Noltimier Township and later the East ½ of that same section. Still later he acquired more land in Section 21, 22 and 18.

While working as a farm laborer he met Dena Aletta Weiss, whose parents were William and Dena Aletta Schroeder Weiss. She was born February 20, 1860, also in Germany. The family had come to America in 1866 and to Barnes County in 1878 after the death of her father.

Fred and Dena were married March 13, 1888. To this couple were born three girls and two boys: Aletta (Mrs. Leon Stillman); Viola (Mrs. Henry Kranz); Cornelia (Mrs. Ras Jensen); Gerald, married to Esther Hoffman and Fred, married to Mildred Marshall.

Mr. and Mrs. Schroeder were great believers in education and were avid boosters of the Noltimier Consolidated High School. They were charter members of the Salem Methodist Church. Fred, former Treasurer of Barnes County, was superintendent of the Salem Sunday School for many years. Gerald, his brother, was a Barnes County Commissioner for twenty years and on the Barnes County Welfare Board for twenty-seven years. Fred Carl Schroeder passed away May 22, 1935. Ten months later, April 2, 1936, Dena Aletta Schroeder passed away. The Schroeder farmstead is a show place, a living testimony to these two pioneers.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 217