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Note: Allan was baptized at St. Paul's (Lutheran) Church Gemeinde on Division Street in Lockport, IL, on March 20, 1921. Sponsors were: Gustav Dreblow and Helene Erickson. There is a unique Schanbacher and Erickson trait that should be noted, one that many people worry about as their age increases, how rapidly their hair turns grey. The first time Shirley met Allan's parents when they began to date, both Charlie and Hulda were already grey-headed people at the ages of 49 and 47 years. Allan followed suit. In his late 20's his hair also began to turn grey. By his late mid 30's he had a full head of grey hair. Concurrent with that change, crew cut hair styles became popular in the 1950's, and Allan never left that hair style for the rest of his life. Was it because it turned grey so early that he chose to always have short hair thereafter? As a young man, all his photographs record a long hair style on the top with close cropped hair on the sides. G. Erickson does not know, nor does he have the answer. When Allan decided to marry Shirley, his mother ''pitched a fit because she had to go down to the courthouse and sign for him" because he had not yet reached the age of majority, 21. Initially, he continued to farm as a share renter after marriage for a farm with a dairy (not theirs) in Wayne, IL, until 1943. Shirley and Allan then moved to a second rental dairy farm on Liberty Road, near Aurora, IL, just off highway 59 for the next 3 years, where Caraneta and Gene were born. They next moved to a share rental hog farm on 141st Street (RR 1), Plainfield and farmed there for 2 years. The family then built a new house using Allan's uncle Walter as the carpenter on Highway 30, 1.25 miles west of Shirley's parents farm, and 1 mile west of Wheatland "Scotch" Presbyterian Church and School. The house was started in the spring of 1948 and completed by the fall of the same year. The family lived with Nonnie and Grandpa Gilmour during the construction. Charlie was born while the family lived in that house. After moving to the new house, Allan was a feed and farm supply salesman for Will DuPage Farm Bureau for several years. At the same time, he purchased a straight truck and hauled cattle to the Joliet stockyard for area farmers. Around 1950, Allan purchased his first bulldozer to do tree removal for expansion of area farms. They lived there until 1957, when the house was sold and an "80" acre (slightly less) farm was purchased from John B. Anderson Jr., Jane Harper, Thomas B. Anderson and James Anderson that was 2.1 miles south of Wheatland "Scotch" Presbyterian Church, on what is now 135th Street (RR 1), Plainfield, where Allan returned to farming when he was not on the job. That farm was located approximately 1 mile north of the farm Allan and Shirley share rented from 1947-1948. The 'Anderson' farm was originally purchased by the grandfather of John B. Anderson Sr. and Thomas Burnett almost 100 years earlier. John Sr. was one of the original Scottish settlers of the area, who helped found the Wheatland Presbyterian Church, and locate the rural post office at Tamarack. Shirley's grandfather, Thomas Henry Muir operated that combination post office and stage coach stop before moving to Plainfield after the death of his wife, Hellen (Ellen) Campbell. The post office was first placed at Tamarack before changing to Plainfield because that area of Wheatland township had a gravel road earlier than most of the rural communities in the area. Only half of the original farm was sold to Allan and Shirley. The other half of the farm was owned by Robert McMicken, whose mother, Mrs. Frank McMicken, was one of the daughters of the late Thomas Burnet. The late Miss Jessie Burnet, who resided in Joliet with the late Marion Anderson, was another daughter. Mrs. John B. Anderson, mother of John B. Anderson Sr., was the third daughter. Due to customer satisfaction and demand, Allan's tree clearing bulldozing with a single machine expanded from that initial machine to a business that required 10 employees, and many more machines that included 3 bulldozers, a grader, 2 pull scrapers, 2 sheepsfoot compactors, a rubber-tired roller, a dragline and 2 self-propelled scrapers by 1960. The size and hassle of the business became too great for Allan and Shirley, and they sold the business to Trygg Paving of Joliet in that year. On his many job sites and on the new farm, Allan continued an active interest in collecting Indian artifacts. Allan's interest was no doubt sparked by his father's and grandfather's interest in collecting native American artifacts as they worked the soil as they farmed. After Allan's father and mother died, he inherited an elegant collection of nearly perfect artifacts mounted on a leather display by his grandfather Johann Schanbacher, as well as Johann Schanbacher's collection of reference books on native American culture. Allan and his crew were hired to work for Trygg Paving company, and Allan was provided a company truck with Motorola radio to communicate with headquarters. Being employed was not Allan's cup of tea. Within 2 years, he was back in business for himself, and remained with his own business, Erickson Construction, until his death in 1987. He actually went to a job site the day before he drove himself to Edwards Hospital in Naperville, where he died shortly thereafter due to Lou Gehrig's Disease. Earlier, after Allan's father died his mother began selling the Charles Erickson family farm. The initial sale was to the community school system for construction of what is now Bolingbrook, IL elementary school on a 40 acre parcel. The proceeds from that sale were divided among the 3 sons, Allan, Lloyd and Richard. Allan used the money to start an Aberdeen Angus cattle ranch, the Flying E in Peace Valley, MO, near West Plains. Two sections of land were purchased and cleared for pasture with Allan's D-8 bulldozers and Allan's custom made roller fashioned from a 20 foot section of natural gas transmission line pipe filled with concrete. It was extremely effective in crushing medium to small rocks left from clearing, and probably made more lime available to the land. The land was refenced, and a herd of up to 300 head of cows was established. Initially, a local herdsman was hired and a prefabricated home was erected for the use of his family. That individual was not satisfied with the arrangement and left for another job. At that time, Allan's son Charles agreed to move to MO from IL to learn how to manage the herd and farm. Charles remains there to date, 1997. Charles has implemented several innovative approaches to cattle production there, particularly in forage production. He worked with the county agent to establish native grass hay production areas that have proven to produce very high yields of top quality forage as winter hay for the herd, including big blue stem and eastern gamma grass. Several years after Allan's death, Shirley moved to Yorkville in 1994, selling the farm buildings and 10 acres with them. In the meantime, the family has grown and headed their different ways. Allan was laid to rest in the cemetery of the Wheatland "Scotch" Presbyterian Church, Plainfield, IL. Written by: Gene Erickson, Allan's son
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