Constance Elizabeth Straw

  General Notes:

IGI files

(Excerpts from a Bio of Constance Elizabeth Straw Oseth - courtesy of E. Benitez Aug 2007)
Founded in the middle of a vast and treeless prairie in 1869, Wells, Minnesota was an established town when Constance Elizabeth Straw was born there in August of 1888. She was the baby of her family, born to 41 year old Dr. Daniel Straw and his 40 year old wife Florence Jane Watson. There were already three older children in the family before Constance came along. The span between her and the eldest child, her sister "Floss, " was twelve years. Dr. Straw and his wife both originally hailed from Maine. They married in Somerville, MA and came out west when the village was just starting up. All their children were born in Minnesota.
From the elaborate tartan dresses and frilly bonnets that little Constance wears in the first pictures we have of her, it seems that the family was relatively well off financially.....
Her father, Dr. Straw, was an admired and much respected man in the community. He died in a carriage accident when Constance was not quite three years old. Clippings from newspapers at the time, tell of a huge outpouring of sympathy in the town and neighboring area, attesting to the affection and high esteem, in which his fellow citizens had held him.
After her husband died, Florence moved the family to nearby Faribault, MN, perhaps to be close to her only brother Fred Watson who lived there. He had come out west from Maine, about the same time Florence had. In 1900 he was president of a bank in Faribault.
By the time of the census of 1900 Constance was 11 years old, living with her siblings and her 52-year-old mother. Constance's mother appears in the census without a stated occupation, but as the head of her own household. Also living at home were: 24 year old Florence (Floss) who worked as a music teacher, 22 year old Frederick, who was a bank clerk (his uncle Fred Straw's bank perhaps?) and Henry (Hal), who at age 19 was attending school.
The photographs of Constance from her pre-teens through her young adulthood show her with schoolmates, family and friends. Standing about 5'5", she had wavy, medium brown hair and eyes and a clear, fair complexion. One picture with her in it, taken about this time, could be the last photograph we have of her mother. Florence appears to be in her late fifties and is standing next to Constance, who is in her late teens. Though Florence was somewhat short and stout, in contrast, her daughter Constance was tall and slender, with the tiny waist so fashionable in those days. This photo must have been taken shortly before Florence died of asthma in 1907. At the time of her mother's death, Constance had just turned nineteen.
She went to live in Bismarck, ND, with her sister, (known in the family as Auntie Floss) and her brother- in- law, Ben Jones. They had three children at the time: Gwen, Donald and Fred Jones, with whom it appears Constance was very close and with whom she was often photographed. Almost two years later, the Census of 1910 gives us an idea of what Constance was doing at that time. She was 21 and still living with her sister's family in Bismarck. She worked as a stenographer at the Commission of Labor in the state capitol. Later she worked at the Dept. of Agriculture. By the time she was married, she had already worked three years for the government.
Her future husband, Ingomar Marcus Oseth, also worked for the government- as a reporter for the Supreme Court. He was studying to become a lawyer. On August 12, 1912 they were married at St. Georges Episcopal Church in Bismarck. Her sister Floss was Matron of Honor and her niece Gwen Jones was the flower girl. The bride was given away by her brother Frederick Straw. On their honeymoon they went to the Twin Cities but along the way stopped in Wells, MN and by Big Woods, MN to visit his family at the farm where Mark grew up.
Mark took the bar exam at Fargo and was admitted to practice law that same year. In December of 1912, six months after they were married, he was appointed Assistant States Attorney of Burleigh County, ND. The couple moved to Minot and got right to work at starting a family. They had three babies in the next three years. Their first son, John Marcus, was born in January 1914. Their second child, Jane Elizabeth, was born in May 1915. At Jane's baptism, Constance's brother Fred Straw came from Wells and her sister Floss traveled from Bismarck for the event. The third Oseth musketeer, baby Oswald Frederick (known to the family as Stub) was born in May of 1916.
Constance no doubt had her hands full with three babies to raise all at once. Having had them one after the other had not given her time to slim down between them. Her once lithe figure never recovered its former slender shape. But she had plenty of energy to be a great mother. Her daughter Jane recalls that her mother was very warm and loving with the children. She often sang "piddy liddle songs" to them, read to them and played with them. She had a wonderful, wry sense of humor. She passed on to Jane and Stub her love of animals.
Mark had entered the National Guard in 1907 and with war looming in 1917 he attended Officer's Training School. He was commissioned into the Army as a Captain. It was the start of a long and distinguished military career that would take him and his family to fascinating places around the world.
During the Great War Mark was assigned to Camp Dodge, Iowa. At the end of the war he went to Camp Polk, Louisiana to train men. While he was away at Camps Dodge and Polk, Constance and the children stayed with Mark's family at the Prairie View farm in Big Woods, MN. In early 1920, at age 31, Constance and her 5,4 and 3-year-old children appeared on two census forms in two different places. In January she appeared with her husband Mark in Minot, ND, though Jane recalls that neither she nor the children were actually there at the time. Then only 3 weeks later, she was listed with the children, at the farm with Mark's parents Ole and Olava, his brothers Andrew and Oscar and his uncle, Olaf Oseth.
Mark was ordered to Camp Lewis, Washington. There, their fourth child, Olive Constance (known as Sister) was born in June 1921. Typical for the Army life, the Oseth family moved frequently, but Constance adapted easily. Jane Kelly recalls that she was gregarious and outgoing- and made friends easily. She always joined clubs and participated in activities wherever they were stationed. She was a talented cook and loved entertaining.
In 1922 the family moved to the Phillipines when Mark was ordered there for a two-year tour. They came back to San Francisco aboard an army transport vessel, in April 1924. Constance would have been thirty-five at the time.
Upon their return to the States, they lived at Argonne Heights in Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas. When Mark went to the Infantry School at Ft. Benning for a year, the family moved just off post, to a little house on Grayson St. They had always had a pet cat, but when Mark was away for a while during their stay in Texas, the children found and brought home stray animals. Constance's tender heart could not turn them away. By the time Mark returned from his training, they had two fuzzy white puppies living in the house and fourteen cats living in their yard. Jane recalls that soon after his return all except the original cat mysteriously disappeared.
In those days, an Army officer's modest salary was stretched very thin when raising a growing family. Money was scarce and Jane recalls Constance's embarrassment as further credit was denied when she was attempting to purchase something at the department store in San Antonio. In his letters to her, Mark encouraged her to be more frugal, to "make do with less", as he was doing. He mentioned that he had foregone purchases of any kind and had even gone hungry, skipping some meals to economize.
During her "single days" she had had an active social life, attended fancy parties and dressed in the latest fashions. But those days were behind her at this point. Yet her yearnings were not for herself. She was very giving and generous. Jane remembers that her mother would take the children window shopping and wistfully point out clothes to them, saying, "Oh Janie, that dress would be perfect for you... and that one for Sister!" The clothes were always for the children and never for her. Needless to say, they kept walking.
From there the family moved to Ft. Snelling, MN for three years. In 1930 they moved again, this time to Ft. Leavenworth, KS. Then in 1932, as the Japanese were threatening China, Mark was ordered to the coastal city of Tiensin, just east of the country's capitol, Peking. Their eldest son John stayed behind to enter the Naval Academy at Annapolis.
For Constance and the children, their time in China was an eye opening and enriching experience. All officers were assigned household help and they had a house full of servants, Constance took advantage of their world travels to decorate their home with beautiful artifacts from each destination. In China the craftsmanship of the things they brought back (rugs, brass work, cloisonné, etc.) were exotic and distinctive. Constance was to give a speech to a ladies club in Bismarck many years later, describing her family's interesting experiences while living in China.
Jane and Stub were in their late teens near the end of their father's tour in China. They came back to the USA before their parents did. Jane was to enroll at the University of Minnesota, while Stub had enlisted in China, to go to prep school-with his eye on West Point. So he was already a private in the Army when they went back to the States. Together they took an Army transport ship to San Francisco and Jane recalls how bad she felt that she was "up in first class while her poor brother had to stay below, with the other troops."
Mark and Constance returned to the USA with only their youngest child, Sister, in tow. They lived in Ft. Benning, GA for a couple of years, where Mark was President of the Infantry Board. At the end of her first year at college, Jane had come home for the summer. While there, she met, fell in love with and in December of 1937, married Lt. Jack Kelly.
In 1939 Mark, Constance and Sister moved to Washington DC where Mark was Asst. to the Chief of Infantry. John and Stub had also married by then. Col. and Mrs. Oseth enjoyed the occasional visits from their kids and grandkids. By the time the the Second World War started, they were grandparents several times over. Derived from nicknames given them by their domestic help in China, the Kelly grandchildren called Constance "Missy" and called Mark "Majie." Missy was especially fond of Jane's third child John, already nicknamed
Tick. He was blond and fair skinned and she dubbed him- her "pink and white." Bet he hated that worse than being called Tick!
During the war they moved back to Ft. Benning. When their son-in-law Jack Kelly was sent overseas, they welcomed Jane, her three children and Jack's mother into their home. At one point Mark was sent to the Pacific front to observe equipment in use there. Though supposedly there only as an observer, he encountered combat and was awarded the Silver Star for bravery. Constance had all three of her men in service to their country during the war. And at one point she had more than her share of worrying when she did not know where any of them were: John was at sea, Stub was missing in action at the Battle of the Bulge and presumed dead; and Col. Oseth was in action somewhere in the Pacific. She later said SHE ought to "get the Silver Star!"
In June 1946 Constance (age 59) and Mark (age 61) moved back to Bismarck when he retired from the Army. They bought a home at 601 5th St. and he was soon poring through the law books again. He rejoined the law firm he had been with when they were in Bismarck many years before. Soon Mark became the first time juvenile commissioner in Bismark. And Constance kept up her normal pace of activities. She was a devout Episcopalian, attended church regularly and sang in the choir. She applied for membership in the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) in August 1953 and organized tours and events for that group when she became a member.
She joined several ladies clubs, including the locally famous Monday Club. According to an article in the Bismarck Affinity (2000,) "there was a bit of social snobbery involved" in belonging to the club. "It was so named because Monday was usually wash day, and those who were able to attend usually could do so because they could afford someone ELSE to do their washing! The ladies met twice each month, wore hats and white gloves, and strictly followed Roberts Rules of Order. Tea was formally served and poured from silver pots. The Club was originally formed as a study group, to bring a bit of culture and polish to the boondocks around the turn of the century. They were very serious. When roll was called, they would ask each member to name a character from German opera or a wildflower. Well, if you were the 20th member to be called, you were in trouble." Dues were spent on good deeds. "Members' names read like the history of Bismarck. Many of the ladies were the cream of Bismarck society." One member reminisced: "The club was heavily Republican and Episcopalian when I joined in the 1950's." She continued, "Mrs. I.M Oseth is the lady who invited me to join the club. I called her Missy. She feared really no man nor beast. What you got from her was the unvarnished truth... and I loved her for that."

Mark ran for and was elected by voters to serve as Police Magistrate (municipal court judge), an office he held until 1962. That year, the couple celebrated their Golden 50th Anniversary at the Apple Creek Country Club, along with their four children and dozens of their friends.
Constance had some health issues to contend with. She had developed a goiter (it was eventually removed) and had gained more weight over the years. She had also slowly developed osteo-arthritis in her back, hips and legs and it became harder and harder for her to walk. She was in a wheelchair much of the time before age 70.
Mark finally retired from the bench for good at the age of 80, in 1965. A couple of years later, Constance suffered a major stroke at age 79. Mark took his ailing wife to Walter Reed Hospital. She had several smaller strokes after that and was placed in a nursing home in Falls Church, VA. Mark sold their home in Bismarck and moved to the Washington area. Fortunately, three of their children- John, Jane and Stub- all lived within an hour's drive of the nursing home. Mark was thus able to stay one month with each of his children, rotating from home to home. He would spend all day with Constance, then return at night to the home of one of his children.
Constance Elizabeth Straw Oseth died at age 83, in May of 1972. She was buried at Arlington National cemetery, where her husband Mark joined her when he died five years later. They are remembered as being wonderful parents and grandparents to their many descendents.


OSETH, CONSTANCE WIFE OF OSETH, INGOMAR M. DATE OF BIRTH: 08/28/1887 DATE OF DEATH: 05/30/1972 BURIED AT: SECTION 8 SITE 7251 ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY [her husband was a COL U.S.A ]

1900 Clark, Faribault, Minnesota
Daniel (deceased)
Florence W. Straw 1848
Florence A. 1876
Frederick W. 1878
Henry M. 1881
Constance E. 1889

Constance married Col. Ingomar Marcus Oseth, son of Ole Oseth and Olava, on 12 Aug 1912 in Bismark, Burleigh County, North Dakota. (Col. Ingomar Marcus Oseth was born on 27 Jun 1886 in Big Woods, Marshall County, Minnesota, died on 29 Aug 1977 in Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia.)