In June of 1862, Michael Boelter and his brother, John, both natives of Reetz, Arnwalde, Germany, moved their families from Marquette County, Wisconsin to Flora Township in Renville County, Minnesota, and were accompanied by their parents, Gottlieb and Justine (Meyer) Boelter. Michael, his wife, Justine (nee Koberstein), and their children moved to a claim in the southwest quarter of section 35. John, his wife, Justina (nee Wendland), and their three children had a claim in the southeast quarter of section 34, adjacent to Michael's claim. The area was known as the Middle Creek settlement. Many in the community were killed by Indians in an attack on August 18, 1862, the first day of the Dakota uprising. Among those killed were Michael's wife (Justine), their children, his parents, and his brother (John). On that morning, Michael and two others were traveling to the Lower Sioux Agency for supplies when they discovered the bodies of a woman and two children, apparently killed by Indians. They visited some area farms and found more dead. Upon returning home, Micaheal found the murdered remains of his family and heard Indians close by, so he ran to his brother's claim to warn his sister-in-law, Justina, and her three children. The five survivors were fleeing together, but were soon separated. Michael, carrying Justina's baby, Julius, and meeting the Lenz family and the Kochendorder children along the way, managed to reach Ft. Ridgely, some 20 miles away. Justina and her two small daughters, frightened and unable to keep up with Michael, hid in a nearby wooded area, and remained hidden there for several weeks. Emelia, the older daughter, died of exposure and starvation in the fifth week. When the weather got much colder in mid October, Justina and her surviving daughter, Ottilie, returned to their home where soldiers of a search party found them, nearly starved to death, in their ninth week of hiding. About a year later, on September 13, 1863, Michael married Justina, his brother's widow. They moved to a farm in the southeast quarter of section 20, Holden township, Goodhue County, near Kenyon, MN, where they had seven more children. They farmed here and in the northeast quarter of section 29 for the next 45 years, moving into town in 1910. Michael died on October 2, 1914 and was survived by Justina who died in 1919.