My grandparents were Nels & Ida Haugen. Nels immigrated from Norway in the early 1900′s. Ida’s parents immigrated from Sweden a bit earlier to Minnesota. I don’t know anything about how they met or where. They first lived in a town in North Dakota called Des Lacs. Then at some point they moved to the Berthold area where my Father grew up in a small white prairie house.
They had 8 children: Harald (Dute), Josephine, Norah, Anne, Victor, Helen, Donald & Lyle. These were hardy folks who lived without electricity in the cold North Dakota winters in a tiny house that may have been about 400 – 500 square feet (at best).
When I was a child growing up in New Hampshire, we took a trip to “the Family Homestead” in North Dakota. The house still stands, falling down, at my Cousin Ed’s place which is the original homestead. I was amazed at how tiny it was and I was lucky enough to bring home their original telephone with crank handle. It is a huge and heavy beast that was their only form of communication.
Mostly what I remember is that wonderful red barn and the cattle grazing in the grass. Nels owned a livery stable and was a heavy drinker. He buried the bottles in the barn and apparently was nicer to his cattle than he was to his children. I think Ida did her best to raise the children and educate them. They went to school in a little one room prairie school house where my father later became a teacher.
This is a picture I have had for 30 years that was taken by a farmhand named Will. The current farm is named “Will’s Lake Ranch” and is operated by Ed Haugen today.
Bet,
Nels was actually born in Minnesota. His father Ole N. Arnehaugen immigrated from Norway. I’ve put together a family tree on ancestory.com. Please check it out.
Marlea
By: Marlea Haugen on March 14, 2010
at 8:11 pm
My Dad (Lyle) once told me a story about his father, Nels. Nels had told him about a man he met on a country road in Minnesota when he was a child. He said this man asked him many questions about the nearby town of Northfield. A few days later, the James-Younger band attempted to rob the bank at Northfield. Grandfather Nels believed he had met Jesse James.
I decided to look at the facts and see if they matched. The attempted robbery occurred on September 7, 1876 and Nels would have been about 4 years old. He would have lived south of Northfield so geographically it fits. But I find it unlikely that a 4 year old would have been walking a country road. Perhaps he was with an older sibling.
Do any of you remember this story?
Marlea
By: Marlea Haugen on April 11, 2010
at 6:13 pm
Hi Marlea – Yes, I remember my father telling me the same story. So both Lyle & Don had the same memory – maybe they were walking together with some older siblings. Anyway it’s totally awesome!
By: Bet Law on April 12, 2010
at 1:25 pm