Fred was orphaned as a small boy. He was raised by Henry and Sophia Tellmann, his aunt and uncle, with whom he came to North Dakota at the age of 16.

Henry came to North Dakota as a young boy in 1887 from Addieville, IL, with his parents and settled with them eight miles northwest of New Salem in the Youngtown community. In 1902 he moved to a farm six miles northwest of town and farmed there, initially with his father, until retiring in 1931, when he moved to New Salem.

He was married to Emma Holle from late 1901 until her death early in 1936. Then he was married to Mollie Tellman from 1937 until his own death in 1954.

An unsigned source says this about those early days:

“The country was all open prairie, no cultivated land, no fences, no roads. They had no horses so they farmed with oxen to plow, seed and harvest. They first built some sod buildings which were used for a grainery and other purposes. During that time the Indians became discouraged and wanted to come and drive the white men out of the county. This was the Indian scare. The news came to them one afternoon by a man riding from one farm home to another, telling them to move out. They waited till evening but didn’t know what to do. After some discussion, they hitched the horse to a wagon and all drove to New Salem. When they got there, however, the town was dark; the people had boarded the train and gone to Mandan. So they returned home again, and nothing happened of the scare. Since at first there were no fences, they had to herd their cattle by day and bring them to a corral by the barn at night.