Editing Lawrence Welk (section)

==Early life==
Welk was born in the German-speaking community of [[Strasburg, North Dakota]].<ref name = Bio>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/people/lawrence-welk-9527209|title=Lawrence Welk|website=Biography.com|language=en-us|access-date=July 11, 2017|archive-date=March 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322212925/https://www.biography.com/people/lawrence-welk-9527209|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was sixth of the eight children of Ludwig and Christiana (née Schwahn) Welk, Roman Catholic ethnic [[Germans from Russia|Germans]] who had emigrated in 1892 from [[Odessa]] in the [[Russian Empire]] (later [[Ukraine]]).<ref name="Parade 1970"/><ref name="TV Guide 1967">{{cite magazine|last1=Condon|first1=Maurice|title=In Strasburg, N.D., They Remember Lawrence Welk, When He Was Leader of the Hotsy Totsy Boys|url=http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/history_culture/lawrence_welk/welktvguide.html|magazine=TV Guide|access-date=February 23, 2015|date=April 29, 1967|archive-date=June 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615030249/http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/history_culture/lawrence_welk/welktvguide.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Welk was a first cousin, once removed, of former Montana governor [[Brian Schweitzer]] (Welk's mother and Schweitzer's paternal grandmother were siblings).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/articles/newspapers/news/schweitzer.html|title=Germans from Russia Heritage Collection|publisher=Library.ndsu.edu|access-date=August 18, 2015|archive-date=January 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107185901/http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/articles/newspapers/news/schweitzer.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Welk's paternal great-great-grandparents, Moritz and Magdalena Welk, emigrated in 1808 from Germanophone [[Alsace-Lorraine]] to [[Ukraine]].<ref name="NDSU Wunnerful">{{cite web|title=Wunnerful, Wunnerful! The Autobiography of Lawrence Welk|url=http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/order/lawrence_welk/welk3.html|publisher=North Dakota State University|access-date=February 23, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224102306/http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/order/lawrence_welk/welk3.html|archive-date=February 24, 2015}}</ref>

The family lived on a [[Ludwig and Christina Welk Homestead|homestead]] that became a tourist attraction. They spent the cold North Dakota winter of their first year inside an upturned wagon covered in sod. Welk left school during fourth grade to work full-time on the family farm.<ref name="Parade 1970">{{cite web|last1=Shearer|first1=Lloyd|title=Lawrence Welk: The King of Musical Corn|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4qUtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=w54FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4791%2C3455645|work=Parade|date=November 15, 1970|pages=10–13}}</ref><ref name="Washington Post 1992">{{cite news|last1=Weil|first1=Martin|title=Bandleader Lawrence Welk Dies; TV's 'Champagne Music' Conductor|url=http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/history_culture/lawrence_welk/bandleader.html|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=February 23, 2015|date=May 19, 1992|archive-date=August 4, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804173221/https://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/history_culture/lawrence_welk/bandleader.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Welk decided on a career in music and persuaded his father to buy a mail-order [[accordion]] for $400 (equivalent to ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|400|1920|{{Inflation-year|US}}|r=0}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}).{{Inflation-fn|US}}<ref>{{cite web|title=It was a 'Wunnerful' Life|work=Grand Forks Herald|date=May 19, 1992|url=http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/history_culture/lawrence_welk/wirereports.html|access-date=February 17, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030331040913/http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/history_culture/lawrence_welk/wirereports.html|archive-date=March 31, 2003}}</ref> He promised his father that he would work on the farm until he was 21, in repayment for the accordion. Any money he made elsewhere during that time, doing farmwork or performing, would go to his family.<ref name=allmusic>{{cite web|last1=Huey|first1=Steve|title=Lawrence Welk biography|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lawrence-welk-mn0000116816/biography|website=All Music Guide|access-date=February 23, 2015}}</ref>

Welk became an iconic figure in the [[Germans from Russia|German-Russian]] community of the northern Great Plains—his success story personified the American dream.<ref>Timothy J. Kloberdanz, "Symbols of German-Russian Ethnic Identity on the Northern Plains." ''Great Plains Quarterly'' 8#1 (1988): 3–15 [https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1519&context=greatplainsquarterly  online].</ref>{{Clarify|reason=Was he an iconic figure to the community in his early life? Or is this chronologically incorrect in this article?|date=December 2024}} Welk did not learn to speak English until he was 21; he never felt comfortable speaking in public.<ref>Melissa Vickery-Bareford, "Welk, Lawrence" American National Biography (1999)</ref> To the day he died, his English had a marked German accent.