They arrived first in Aberdeen, South Dakota and then came to McHenry County where they homesteaded in Gorman Township. There they built a sod house and lived for five years. In 1907 they sold everything and went back to Russia but stayed only three weeks because of all the trouble that was happening there. When they returned to the United States all of Dennis' brothers and sisters came with them on the same ship. Dennis and Magdeline bought another farm in Gorman Township.