In commemoration of Ida and Clara Steffen, sisters who died during the diphtheria epidemic of 1881: They were the young daughters (ages 2 and 4) of immigrants Hans Asmus Steffen and Lena Rohweder Steffen. The sisters, who died within one week of each other, were buried in the Black Hawk Township Cemetery, located south of Reinbeck. They share a headstone with listings on opposite sides.

The family's immigration story: Hans Asmus Steffen was born in the village of Passade, located in what is now the Plön District of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, while Lena Rohweder was born in the Schoenfeld Parish of Schleswig-Holstein. As a young man, Hans immigrated to America in 1864 with his brother Jochen Steffen. Lena arrived in 1862 as a very small child traveling with her parental family, Marx and Anna Kock Rohweder and older siblings.

Three Steffen brothers (Hans, Henry, & Jochen) married three Rohweder sisters (Lena, Margaretha, and Catherina). The couples met and married in Scott County, Iowa (Davenport), a hub for Schleswig-Holstein immigrants. Then, looking for greater opportunities, all moved farther west to the Reinbeck area.

Hans and Lena Rohweder Steffen had 10 children: (1) Laura Steffen Struve; (2) Edward M. Steffen; (3) Clara Steffen; (4) Ida Steffen; (5) Albert Fredrick Steffen; (6) John Steffen; (7) Amanda Steffen Evans; (8) Heinrich Amos Steffen; (9) Emil/Amiel Steffen; (10) Anna Emilie Steffen Lewis. All the children lived long lives, except for Clara and Ida who died during the diphtheria epidemic. (Lena's obituary stated that she was the mother of 12 children, with 10 surviving; however, only ten have been identified as of March 2016.)

Their first cousin Amelia Steffen, who was living with the Hans Steffen family because her own mother had died, also succumbed during the diphtheria epidemic.

The Steffens farmed near Reinbeck, until ~1884, when they bought a farm near Remsen, Iowa, and achieved the immigrant dream of owing their own land.