Dress sewn by Mildred Appelonia (Fertig) Hartig, grandmother to donor. Beth Mary (Parkyn) Clemons wore these dresses in the 1960s when she was a small child living in Waterville, LeSueur County, Minnesota. Donor’s grandmother was 73 years old and lived with her daughter and son-in-law Florence and Vern Ellingson in Mill Valley, Marin, California.
Mildred was born 8 July 1886 in Arcadia, Trempealeau, Wisconsin to Joh Martin Fertig, a purebred German from Watterbach, Bavaria, Germany and Mary Gasal, a purebred Swiss from Sauk, Sauk, Wisconsin, both pioneer families that settled in the region. Mildred taught school in Miles City, Custer, Montana where she met and married John Frederick Hartig.
