Emilie Daubner: A Life on Waters End

Emilie Daubner survived two fires at her home place on Waters End Road, the first in 1930 when she was a girl. The house, which was rebuilt on the same foundation in 1950, again caught fire when she was in her 90s, and once more she safely escaped.

Now, Emilie’s daughter Sharon Doersching plans to rebuild a third time on the scorched foundation.

“Is this a good idea?” the family jokes.

Emilie was five years old in 1918 when her parents Reinhart and Theolena Anderson Larson purchased the 120-acre Floral Park Farm situated between Old Stage Road and County ZZ on Waters End Road east of Sister Bay. Reinhart, who was born in Larvik, Norway in 1871, came to America on a sailing ship when he was 18 and spent a lifetime on water. Theolena, also from Norway, arrived in this country at the age of three.

Floral Park Farm was located on land granted by the U.S. Government in exchange for Civil War military service. The farm was given its name by the Beyers family who purchased it in 1887. Gertrude Beyers filled her entire front lawn with flowers.

Emilie is one of 12 children raised on the 120 acres, first a dairy operation, then sheep. Because her father was often away from home in the Lighthouse Service, her brothers took turns working on the farm.

In 1930 her brothers Roy and Jack bought part of the farmland and planted acres of cherry trees. Both continued to work in Chicago but returned to Door County for the seasonal work in the orchard.

The sheep business, Emilie recalled, was not always profitable. “Why do you keep sheep?” one man asked her father.

“The manure makes such good fertilizer for the young cherry trees!” he joked.

“The farm was a fun place for children,” she said, remembering the influx of workers who came to pick cherries and also the children of Henry Johnson (Oscar, Astrid, and Ruth) who came from Chicago to spend the summer with her family. The Johnson children lived in Northern Door as adults and became her life-long friends.

The house on Floral Park Farm burned to the ground in 1930. “Mother wakened from a nap by the smoke,” Emilie said, “ran in her stocking feet to get help,” but people were already arriving, as neighbors along with boys from the Wildwood High School –which once stood where the present Liberty Grove Town Hall now stands – saw the smoke and formed a bucket brigade. They were able to save five of the outbuildings. The granary was remodeled and used as a house for the family.

Emilie was 17 at the time of the fire and making plans for her career as a teacher. Unlike many prospective educators of her time who completed their training at a county normal, Emilie attended the state university at Stevens Point.

Emilie Daubner served as an educator in Northern Door for 34 years before she retired in 1978. Here, she is pictured with cheerleaders from the school in Ellison Bay.

“It was scary,” she said, remembering the big step she had taken.

She had made enough money waiting tables at the Liberty Grove Park Lodge in Sister Bay during summers to pay for room, board, and tuition for the first semester, but she had to work as a nanny while taking classes to help pay for the second. After completing one year of course work, Emilie was certified as a rural elementary teacher.

In 1932, at the age of 19, Miss Larson “was one of 40 applicants for the Ellison Bay School,” Emilie recalled, and she got the job teaching grades 1 – 4. But after two years she married Laurence Daubner, bringing her teaching career to a halt.

“They didn’t hire married women then,” she said.

However, the labor shortage of men brought about by World War II changed the public attitude toward women working, including married teachers.

“They begged me to come back!” Emilie said.

And Mrs. Daubner accepted a teaching position at the Pershing School west of Juddville. She was responsible for 50 children in grades 1 – 8. Not surprisingly, she was the fourth teacher who had been hired to fill in that year.

“They all turned out well,” Emilie said of her students there. “The big children helped the smaller.”

The next four years she taught grades 1 – 4 in Fish Creek. After a return to Ellison Bay for grades 3 – 4, she finished her career at Sister Bay teaching grade 4 and serving as building principal. When she retired at age 65 in 1978, she had served as an educator in Northern Door for a total of 34 years.

During her career Door County schools were going through a period of gradual consolidation, increasing centralization of buildings and specialization of teachers, changes reflected in Mrs. Daubner’s work assignments.

“I enjoyed teaching,” she said. “I liked the association with the children and the community. I liked books and reading.”

“And it was challenging to teach and keep abreast of education,” she added. Those teaching with a one-year certificate were required to further their education, commuting to take summer and evening classes as they worked toward a bachelor’s degree. Mrs. Daubner earned hers in 1960, but continued to take graduate classes, completing her master’s degree in 1979 as a personal accomplishment, one year after her retirement.

At 97, Emilie (Larson) Daubner resides at Scandia Village in Sister Bay after a fulfilling life on her family’s farm, Floral Park Farm, situated between Old Stage Road and County ZZ on Waters End Road. Photo by Gary Jones.

From a practical perspective, teaching was an ideal career choice for her. “The working conditions were good,” she said, “and for a woman, it was a good salary.”

And a good life. In 1948 Laurence and Emilie Daubner purchased the Larson family homestead from her mother and in 1950 built their home on the foundation of the original house.

The late Laurence Daubner worked as a commercial fisherman, a sailor on Great Lakes ore carriers, as maintenance supervisor for Gibraltar Schools, and as caretaker at Marshall’s Point. He also served as Liberty Grove Town Chairman and on the county board.

The Daubners raised two children, Sharon and David. Sharon, who has taught English and speech both in high school and college, finished her career at Gibraltar Schools and lives in Sister Bay. She is the mother of three adult children, Greg, Erik, and Annie, who have given her seven grandchildren. David, who worked for many years at Al Johnson’s Restaurant, attended a culinary school and is now chef at the Sister Bay Café that he and his wife Sue own. They live on a section of the original farm. Sue has three children – Erik, Maia, and Lisa – and three grandchildren.

As Laurence and Emilie Daubner were both raised in Northern Door and had 11 siblings each, approximately 400 families who reside in the area are related to them. A few of them live on tracts of land once part of Floral Park Farm.

At age 97 Emilie Daubner is still very much a part of the fabric of her community. She has continued to remain active throughout her life, and like her own mother, at age 93 smelled smoke and walked out of her house to safety. Now she enjoys a comfortable life at Scandia Village with a lifetime of stories to tell.

And although the Floral Park Farm sign has long ago disappeared, the land remains in the family, the legacy of Reinhart and Theolena Larson. Sharon owns the homestead and plans to rebuild, as it will pass to her daughter.

While Sharon is uncertain as to what form the new house will take, we may assume that it will have a fire extinguisher!