Ernest, the youngest of eight children of Josephine Dondanville and Joseph Ulrich, was born in Serena Township, LaSalle County, Illinois December 8, 1891. While he was known throughout his life as Ernest Louis, his baptismal name was recorded as Louis Ernest. He was two years of age when the family moved to Iowa. He was raised on the family farm in Deer Creek Township, Humboldt County.

In 1915 his parents gave up their farm and moved to Fort Dodge. About that time Ernest married Helen Hanson. Helen's grandmother, a native of Norway, had come with her children, to Iowa from Illinois to claim a 320-acre land grant that had been extended to her as the widow of a Civil War veteran. Helen was born in Iowa, September 13, 1892.

Ernest and Helen established their first home in Fort Dodge. Their two daughters were born there: Helen Eva on November 17, 1918 and Dolores Jane on March 8, 1922. Sometime in the late 1920s the family moved to Rockwell City, where Ernest worked as a teamster for Fullerton Lumber Company of Minneapolis. Their third child, Gordon Ernest, was born in Rockwell City, May 26, 1933.

In 1939, Fullerton named Ernest as manager of their retail lumber business in Fort Dodge and the family returned to that city. He later managed Mid Continent Lumber, a wholesale entity of Fullerton Lumber. Ernest retired briefly in 1956 at the age of 65. Unable to contend with the inactivity, he returned to work, and continued until he was 75. Ernest died in November 1977, and Helen in September 1983.

178.1 Helen Eva Ulrich, 1917 -
born Fort Dodge, Iowa, November 17, 1918. Known as Eva. While serving with the United States Army Medical Corps in North African Campaign in 1943 she married Henry Guttermuth, from Weehawken, New Jersey. Four children: Brian Gregg, '43; Jill Janice, '47; Susan Lynn, '51; and Gail Ann, '57. Henry died in 1972. Eva lives in Florida in 2004.

178.2 Dolores Jane Ulrich, 1922 -
born Fort Dodge, March 8, 1922, married Donald Pearson Graffius in Webster City, Iowa, September 6, 1939. Daughter Judith Ann Graffius, born '40, and son Ronald Lee Graffius, '42. To Florida, early 1950s, divorced 1954. Dolores married John S. Paffilas, in Miami Beach, October 16, 1957 Daughter, Catherine Ann Paffilas, born '59 and son, Steven John Paffilas, '60. John Paffilas died in 1979. Dolores lives Fort Lauderdale in 2004.

178.3 Gordon Ernest Ulrich, 1933 -
born Rockwell City, Iowa, May 26, 1933, married Thersilla Borunda in 1957. Two sons; Mark Ernest, '61, and Michael Anthony, '62. Divorced in 1972. Married Linda Joan McLaughlin, June 19, 1976. Daughter Shannon Catherine, born 1982.

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