Frank J. Pfeifer was born at Michaelsdorf, Bohemia, Austria on July 10, 1850. In 1871, he came to the United States with his parents in order to improve their opportunities. They embarked on the ship Baltimore and landed at Baltimore after a trip of eighteen days on the ocean. From Baltimore they came by rail to Waterville, Minnesota where Mr. Pfeifer lived for ten years.
He came to Casselton, North Dakota for an adventure, with the intentions of returning in a short time, but he stayed one year. While he was in Casselton, he was persuaded by Joe Bartos, an acquaintance, to go with him to Cooperstown. From Casselton they shipped to Buffalo, and from there they drove to Valley City with oxen. They loaded up with lumber and kitchen utensils and continued on their journey.
Mr. Pfeifer filed a pre-emption. To file one preemption you had to put two hundred and fifty dollars of improvements and pay one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre and in six months the deed would be signed to you. The same year he filed on a homestead in the same Section, which he proved up in five years. In 1884, he took a tree claim near McHenry, which he later traded for a team of horses.
He then built a sod shack on his homestead, and a little while later he built a house of lumber (12x16), which is still a part of the house on that farm. He had to get his supplies and haul his grain to Cooperstown, a distance of thirteen miles. He sold some wheat for 800 a bushel, but prices went down as low as 380 for number one hard wheat. Oats sold for as low as seven cents a bushel, although if they wanted to buy any, they had to pay about 250 a bushel. Barley sold for twenty to thirty-five cents a bushel. They had to pay as high as $2.25 a bushel for seed flax and sell it for 680 a bushel.
He was married March 8, 1886 to Marie Kuntz at Janesville, Minnesota. They reared a family of five girls and five boys.
He lived on the homestead for 24 years, and then sold out. After this he made three trips through Oregon, Washington, Canada, Montana, Wyoming, and Nebraska with the intention of buying land. He then came back to Cooperstown and bought one Section and one quarter of land, with one corner of the Section joining the city limits on the east side of Cooperstown.
He lived there until in the fall of 1925 when he moved to Cooperstown where he is now living.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 459