Welk was born in Strasburg, North Dakota. Most people there spoke German, but also knew English. His parents were Ludwig and Christiana (Schwahn) Welk, who were ethnic Germans from Russia. They emigrated to America in 1892 from Selz, Kutschurgan District, in the German-speaking area north of Odessa (now Odessa, Ukraine, but then in southwestern Russia). In North Dakota, the family lived on a homestead.
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