August L. Shrank was born in Germany Nov 3, 1852 and was married to Augusta Acktenberg, born Dec 27, 1854 in Germany. They were married in April 1876 and left Dramberg, Germany in 1877 with one child, Mary (later Mrs Bennie Johnson). The boat trip took six weeks. Their first stop was St Charles, Minn. They lived there three years and during that time a son, William C., was born to them on Aug 3, 1878.
They moved to Acton Township in 1881 and settled on a farm 7.5 miles east and two miles south of Grafton. August had several brothers, sisters and his father living there. His father's name was Wilhelm. He was born in 1820 and died in 1910.
The brothers' names were:
Ferdinand
William
Amelia ( a sister) (Mrs Nick Dipple) and Mrs August Schultz, one other sister lived in Wisconsin. All of these sisters and brothers lived within a radius of a few miles. The Shrank and Dipple land joins and is still in the family. None has been sold to anyone outside of the family, but some has been handed down to the next generation. The farm that William C. bought was purchased from W.C. Lestikow 75 years ago. August's land has been in the family for 94 years.
Eight children were born to the August Schrank family:
Mary (Mrs Bennie Johnson)
William C.
Frank A. August
John
Rose (Mrs Henry Peters)
Lizzie (Mrs William Thomas)
Minnie (Mrs Carl Hoenke).
All of the brothers and sisters lived on farms within a radius of 10 miles of each other all their lives. In 1923 Mr and Mrs August Schrank retired and moved to Grafton and lived on 5th Street. August died in Jan 1937 at age 84 and Augusta died in June 1941 at age 86.

This biography from Walsh Heritage Centennial book, ND Vol 1, 1881 - 1981 - page 38