Documenting the Life of Gregory and Charles Mix Counties
Adeline Gnirk, SD Hall of Fame Inductee (1987), had a love for writing and a drive to tell the collective story of the place she called home. Her parents homesteaded in Burke, SD, and to this day, the fifth generation of her family lives on the land Adeline’s parents homesteaded. Adeline set her writing aside to raise her four sons. Once her youngest son left for college, she picked her pen up in earnest and got to work documenting the lives of the hard-working people of Gregory and Charles Mix counties.
Her two sons, Paul Gnirk – who was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2022 – and David Gnirk, sat down with Steve Flanery, a member of the organization’s board of directors, to discuss their mother’s work.
“She really became known in our area as the book lady,” shared David as he recounts the detailed work his mother put into documenting the history of those who settled and lived in the two counties in southeastern South Dakota.
Adeline not only documented a history in writing, but she also amassed a large collection of photographs. She grew the history of Gregory and Charles Mix counties to seven volumes but exceeded this number in documenting other counties, as well. Paul added that his mother documented beyond the borders of the state, too. She collected family history that went back to the immigrant families in places like Sweden before they settled in South Dakota.
“She would be sitting there at the kitchen table with all of these manuscripts, and I would sit down with her and start talking about different families. There were these dark secrets, and she didn’t always want to include these stories, but I told her ‘you know, you really need to; this is history’,” shared David, who has carried on his mother’s knowledge of the area. Today, David’s wife has taken on the beloved nickname of “the book lady.”
“She wanted these stories to live on past the lives of the people who created this place,” stated David as he reflected on not just the legacy Adeline left behind for herself, but how she preserved so many legacies beyond. Adeline’s history books can be found in universities nationwide, as well as in national archives.
To learn more about Adeline Gnirk, you may visit her legacy page here.