William Hukriede, the owner of the Mansard House hotel in town, was from Germany. He emigrated to America with his wife and two sons, one was Henry, and he purchased a farm on section 23, in Manannah township. He made his home on the farm until the fall of 1887, when, along with his son Henry, he moved to Eden Valley and bought the Mansard House. Henry, besides being the partner of his father in the Mansard House, also had a blacksmith's shop in Eden Valley. He had gone to Litchfield to learn the blacksmith's trade but came back in the spring of 1886.