Family Fest

September 27, 2009

Today was “family fest” day at Scott’s house on Songbird Lane, which Jordan refers to as “Insane Lane.” It all came together very well. Lois and her two sons, Brad Cain[48] on the left and Scott Cain[58] on the right, were having a great time. The party started about one P.M. and lasted until about five. The food array included pork tenderloin, a fresh vegetable salad from Brad’s and Scott’s garden, Lois’ three-bean hot dish, and lois’ famous goulash.

Scott called at mid-morning from 90 miles away. He went to Charleston IL to watch EIU play UW-Milwaukee -- the first encounter for both teams. Co-Captain Chase Cain played the whole game with a broken right hand. She intended to come back with her Dad, but she had practice and homework which prevented her from doing so. Her cast goes from the mid-forearm down to her knuckles. She has a thumb and two fingers free. In spite of all that she made 12 tackles in the game. EIU won the game 28 - 27, by making a three-point field goal at the end of the game. UW dominated, but EIU took it away in the final seconds of the game. Scott described it as “an ugly win. but the 18th consecutive win for EIU.”

Brad brought a bunch of tomatoes, brussel sprouts, green peppers, squash and onions from his garden.They really looked good. Bradley, his son, decided not to come and we don’t blame him because we have seen him maybe four times in the last 13 years.

Jordon and Trey showed up and we had a nice visit. Jordon works for a group of doctors at Rockford Clinic, She is particularly well suited to deal with patients on the phone and recently she was named “employee of the month” at Rockford Clinic.

Laura and Steve called while the family fest was going on. We passed the phone around and they got to talk to everyone. This has been the best family get together in years, Lois concluded. Whatever issues people have were left at home and that made everything that much more pleasant.

Lo 'n Pat

September 25, 2009

We spent most of the day with Pat Scadden at her home, for lunch and for dinner. Lois and Pat go back 60 years. Lois was 20 when she met Pat at Cable Printing Co. in Mt. Morris and Pat was then 18. Over the years these two have spent a lot of time together. Lois’ family used to spend the holidays together with Pat and Bill Scadden, who passed away over four years ago.

It was fun to get together again. The two ladies seem to have picked up where they left off. Pat lives in the same beautiful house which they built 23 years ago. She showed us the two beautiful bathrooms she just had remodelled. HDTV is Pat’s favorite TV channel and house redecorating is her favorite hobby. She told us of the plans she has to redo the floors in the main part of the house and to replace the furniture which she now has.

Another important part of Pat’s life is Swedish American Hospital. She just completed working there most of the summer. She retired from there after more than 30 years of service. She gets called back to fill in for vacations or to fill a vacancy while a new hire is being interviewed. Pat told us how much she enjoys working there.

We went to lunch at Garrett’s on Bell School Road, which is part of the Golf Shack. The food is excellent there and we all had something different. For dinner we went to a fish dinner at the Hoffman House, a place we have not visited in years. We had enough left over for fish sandwiches so we asked for a take-out box.

Three Generations

September 26, 2009

Lois has two Bradleys. The one on the right is her son, Brad, age 48. The one on the left is her grandson, Bradley, age 15, and a Jr. Tackle member of the Oregon Hawks. The Oregon Hawks played the Morrison Colts at Morrison IL this morning and got blown away 26 - 8. Bradley and his friend thought the refs did a bad job but we could plainly see the Morrison team was much bigger than the Oregon boys who played well.

Thanks to Scott’s generosity, we used his car to drive the 82 miles to Morrison. We left at eight A.M. and got there by 9:30 A.M. The game started at ten. Jr. Tackle has nine-minute quarters and uses the two-point conversion, because the kickers haven’t had the experience to be accurate about the point after between the goal posts. Brad explained the game to us as we watched. This was the first time in 40 years that Lois observed a school game since Scott played at Rock Valley College. [Brad was a fine baseball player, but never played school football.]

Morrison got four touchdowns (24) one two-point conversion. The first two touchdowns were in the early minutes of the first quarter. They came into this game at 4 - 2 for the season and now are 5 - 2. Oregon answered in the second quarter with a touchdown and a two-point conversion. They came into the game at 5 - 1 and now are also 5 - 2.

Bradley’s name was mentioned several times during the game for making tackles. He was also on the receiving end of kickoffs for the first time this season. He played on the line for both offense and defense and, except for a minute or two, played the whole game.

It was good to visit with these two Bradleys -- a father-son team who live together in Pop and Gram’s old house. For the last year or so these two have worked out a good routine in their daily living which allows them both to spend lots of time together.

Locals dominate on rugby field

Chase Cain (Dean's List) and Grandma Lois; this photo did not appear in the newspaper.

September 23, 2009

Jay Taft of the Rockford Register Star covers college sports for the newspaper and today he wrote this following item in his daily column:

Led by Chase Cain (Jefferson), the Eastern Illinois women’s rugby team extended its winning streak to 19 games by opening 3 - 0 with a trio of blowout victories.

Cain leads the team with 37 tackles and she set a school record with five steals (similar to a fumble recovery) during the team’s 61 - 5 win over Iowa State on Saturday. EIU has also knocked off Ball State 90 - 0 and Grand Valley State 35 - 0 this season.

Emily Harrison (Jefferson), with an assist, four tackles and a steal on the year, also has an important role on the team as the starting lock.

Top Cat Chase Cain, senior rugby player

September 23, 2009

The photo of Lois’ granddaughter, Chase Cain, was taken from the Eastern Illinois University student newspaper, September 10th edition. The following article by Neil Schneider, staff reporter is quoted verbatim as follows:

The Eastern rugby team defeated Ball State 90 - 0 on Sept. 5.

The score indicated the Eastern offense was putting up strong numbers, but it was also an impressive day for senior Chase Cain and the rest of the team’s defense.

Cain finished the game against Ball State with a career-high 19 solo tackles, which ranks her third on the all-time Eastern single-game tackling mark for rugby.

Cain also ranks second, behind teammate Stephanie Militello, for all-time tackling leader for the program.

Head coach Frank Graziano believes Cain’s fitness is a strong reason why she is able to tackle so effectively.

Half of the battle of being a good tackler is the ability to get around the field and get to the ball as soon as possible,” Graziano said. “There are prbably girls on the team that have a better technique of tackling than Chase, but they do not have the fitness or the desire to tackle as she does. Half of (Cain’s) tackling is having the desire to go in and make the tackle.”

Cain’s teammate, junior flanker Tiffany Kennedy, said Cain’s endurance and knowledge of the game helped her develop into a strong contributor for the team.

“Her defense is probably untouchable when it comes to this team,” Kennedy said. “Her tackling and experience of defending certain situations has really helped her develop her game.”

Despite the high praise by teammates and coaches alike, Cain actually didn’t come to Eastern to play rugby. She came to swim. It wasn’t until she realized she could do both at the same time that she finallhy took up an interest in rugby.

“It wasn’t until I spoke with (senior center) Ashley Jenkins that I realized that I could play both sports.” Cain said.
“Since rugby is more of a team sport, I kind of decided to pursue it further as opposed to going forward with swimming.”

Cain, a flanker, credited the Eastern coaching staff for her quick introduction and development in the game of rugby.

“(Graziano) really knows the game of rugby and that has allowed the team to advance and develop much quicker,” Cain said. “Coach teaches methods that aren’t used by many other teams, which puts us ahead of a lot of other teams. Most teams don’t even know, or have ever seen, the passing techniques that we have developed and applied to our game.”

Even though the rugby team opened the season with a win, Cain said she would like to see the momentum continue. The rugby team currently has a winning streak of 17 games.

“We want to go undefeated again and we want to continue with our streak of consecutive wins,” Cain said. “We would also like to put up as many shut outs as possible this season.”

Chase Cain BIO: From Cherry Valley, High School: Rockford Jefferson Major: Psychology and Family Consumer Services 2008: Co-Captain, Co-Outstanding Defense Award, Then-career best 15 tackles vs. Kansas, Three double-digit tackle games.

Jean 'n Rich

(Right) Lucas Simons, younger son of Steve & Carrie (pictured with Lucas) is a sophomore at UW Seattle; he towers over his mom quite a bit.


Jean & Rich Simons

September 20, 2009

In the morning we drove from West Salem WI to Fond du Lac WI to meet with Jean and Rich Simons. We got off I-94 at Mauston and took a state highway (#23) east to Fond du Lac to meet at a sports bar, called The Back Door. There we had lunch together while the Green Bay Packers tried to win over the Cincinnati Bengals, to no avail.

In a week, Jean will have hip surgery at Sheboygan Memorial Hospital. She was walking with a cane and it was obvious that she was in pain. She is ready for this, but a little anxious because this is the first surgery she has had since a tonselectomy as a child. Jean said that her doctor told her he doesn’t see how she can walk at all on that hip joint.

We had a good visit at the restaurant, catching up on family news. It has been three years since we last visited. The plan was to go to the cottage on Lake Winnebago where Steve and Carrie of Maple Valley WA were vacationing with their sons -- Wes and Lucas, a sophomore at UW in Seattle. Steve has been at Boeing for 25 years. Carrie still works as a nurse in a Seattle-area hospital. Also visiting later was Amy and BJ from West Bend WI and their two sons -- Zack(age 14) and Josh(age 11). Zack is now taller than his mom, Amy. Amy, a math teacher, is looking real good; she runs four miles a day.

Steve and Carrie and their sons were at a family party in Hartford WI for the afternoon. One of Carrie’s brothers and his wife had adopted two Ethiopian boys (ages 3 & 5) and the party was to welcome them into the family. To mark the occasion, Ethiopian food was prepared and served with a flat bread. Ethiopeans use no utensils and mop up the various sauces and meat dishes with the bread. Steve described the meal very well and we could therefore enjoy it vicariously.

There was room to park the RV at the lake property so everything was very convenient. It rained all night, bringing down the acorns and hickory nuts with the rain drops. That made things interesting at times during the night.

Visiting Jerry Schmidt

September 15 - 18, 2009

We arrived at the farm near St. Peter MN about 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday and got right into the visiting for a few hours. Jerry was ready for us because, for the next three out of four days we played bridge for hours on end. The fourth in this endeavor was Ann Rohlfing, who is Kathleen Schmidt’s mom. Both Jerry and Ann play bridge often so we had a wonderful time at cards.

On Tuesday afternoon we played 72 hands of bridge. Lois had the most points but the point spread was very close. Here is the tally: Lois 4,110, George 4090, Jerry 4070 and Ann 3,150.

On Wednesday afternoon we played another 72 hands of bridge and the men took over: George 6,330, Jerry 5,470, Ann 4,860 and Lois 2,700.

On Friday, the ladies took over: Ann 7,390, Lois 5,680, Jerry 5,030 and George 1,910. Ann had a spectacular afternoon of cards. For the three days Ann totalled 15,400, Jerry 14,570, Lois 12,490 and George 12,330.

Each of these bridge parties was followed up with cocktails and dinner. Greg and Kathy came out Tuesday and Friday night and had dinner with us. They were loads of fun. Paul and Kim came to visit and we enjoyed that a lot.

The Penning’s were out Thursday evening for dinner. Daughter Amanda and Hayden (age 6) and Marina (age 4) added a lot of excitement to the evening. We had a special treat on Friday when Adam Schmidt and his girlfriend, Amy, came to visit and learn a little about bridge. Since Adam is Ann’s grandson, it was all a big, happy family.

Lo 'n Lee

September 22, 2009

Lois and Lee Bartow have been best friends since first grade in Oregon IL 74 years ago. Then, Lois’ name was Wissing and Lee’s family name was Peterman. Lee’s dad was an attorney in Oregon and her apartment in Mukwanago WI proudly displayed her dad’s law office shingle -- Law Office of Martin Peterman.

Lois and Lee are the same age, except Lee is older by ten days. It has been nine years since we last saw Lee and her husband, John, in Mukwanago where they had built a beautiful retirement home. Suddenly, in the year 2000, after our visit with a game of golf, John passed away from a heart attack and we cut short our RV trip to return to Mukwanago to be with the family. It is unbelievable that this took place nine years ago.

Lee is now living in assisted living facility a few minutes away from her daughter and son-in-law, Jan and Donald Bernhagen. We visited with Lee for about three hours this afternoon in her apartment which is beautifully furnished. Sitting there listening to these two ladies visit was very special. It was like they picked up where they had left off the last time they had visited. Friendships that last this long are very special.

Road Wetter

September 12 - 13, 2009

This was my job for two days -- making sure the road dust during Sodbuster Days at Fort Ransom State Park is kept to a minimum. Approximately a mile of road in the park, leading to the Sunne Farm where Sodbuster Days are held, is gravel and hundreds of vehicles, large and small, can create a lot of dust.

This gravity-feed system consists of a 1,000 gallon water tank -- weighing four tons when filled with water -- a flat-bed trailer, an on-off valve, and a “T” of PVC pipe with holes drilled across the bottom. This was the brainstorm of Terry Anderson, head of maintenance for the park. The slower I drove, the wetter the roadway became. For all the passes I made, it took a tank full to go up to the Sunne Farm and back.

After each trip, my job was to refill the tank with water from the Sheyenne River. The location for this was behind the Visitor’s Center where the maintenance staff set up a hose in the river and connected it to a Honda engine driving a water pump. From the pump approximately 30 feet of collapsible hose was attached to a gizmo which was inserted into the tank during filling. This worked great as it only took about 15 minutes to refill the tank.

For the two days I had this assignment, I must have made a dozen trips with this rig. It was a fun job.

Wheelwright Demonstration

September 12, 2009

One of the most interesting demonstrations of the day was put on by experienced wheelwrights who placed a steel “tire” on a wooden wagon wheel with a radius of about three feet. The “tire” was heated by the fire in the foreground to about 2,000° Farenheit. The temp is not critical, so the tire is tapped until the resonance goes out of it. Two men picked the steel out of the fire, with long-handled tools, then placed it on the ground, then three men picked it up with tongs and placed it on the wheel. The tolerance was one-fourth of an inch and the “tire” went on the wheel very smoothly. With a few taps the “tire” was in place.

Now the wheelwrights had to work fast. The wooden part of the wheel started to smoke and burn. The three mean each took a can of water and doused the wheel around the edge. Then, just as quickly, they picked up the wheel and rotated it in a water trough. It sounded like a sizzling steak. Job well done.

A few technical details were offered during the demo: Order your spokes from the Amish in Hartford PA. Be sure to send them a sample because there are many configurations of the mortise-and-tenon joint for spokes. Don’t let the wheel ride on the tenon end of the spokes as that will cause the wheel to fail; the weight-bearing should go to the shoulder of the tenons which connect to wooden rim, called the felloe.

Mel Rusvold announced the demo. He has lived his whole life here in the valley and was the head of maintenance for the park before Terry Anderson. Mel Forsberg was his assistant. The men told me they only do this for Sodbuster Days and they have declined offers to demo this old art at other events around North Dakota. It’s just kind of a hobby which they enjoy doing.

Noreen said, "I think Mel Rusvold was born 100 years too late."

Preston Church

September 11, 2009

For devout Lutheran settlers of the late 1880’s, cultivating spiritual life through church communities was a priority almost as important as building their own homes and farms. Even before church buildings were constructed, congregations were organized and services were held in homes and schoolhouses, even outside in summer. Instrumental in establishing these churches were Lutheran missionaries, many of whom were recent Norwegian immigrants themselves, looking for a congregation to serve.

The Preston Church (1898) was built in downtown Preston N.D. one of over 1,000 ghost towns in the state. Today this church is the only building left of the town, which is about five miles north of Ft. Ransom. It is important to remember that five miles was about the limit of travel in those days of horse and wagon and towns were located about five to 15 miles distance from each other. Today there is no need for that many towns. Just think, for people from Preston to go to church in Ft. Ransom, it would have taken all day with two and a half hours of travel by horse and wagon each way.

On Christmas Day in 1881, Rev. Johannes D. Bothne, a young missionary, met with a group of local residents in a small log cabin about two miles south of here. Rev. Bothne preached a service followed by an invitation to form a congregation. The locals accepted even though they had been together for 17 years without a minister. They continued to meet in homes and schoolhouses for another 17 years until a church was built in 1898.

The original church was much larger with a tall steeple. It burned to the ground in 1953. The church pictured here was completed in 1956 and continues to be active after 110 years.

Vintner's Cellar

September 9, 2009

We were in Fargo today for an enjoyable lunch and some shopping. Someone told us to look for a place called “Vintner’s” on Broadway and we found it, just a few blocks south of where we had lunch before at “Toscano’s” -- also on Broadway. Here they make and sell over 40 kinds of wine.

In the entrance way, there was this photo of Broadway 70 years ago (top photo) before our nation was involved in WWII. Vintner’s is the establishment which is the fourth from the left. The RR gates then belonged to the Northern Pacific. Today we had to wait for a BNSF freight train to pass at this same intersection, carrying building products from the West.

For lunch we chose an excellent basil tomato soup with a half sandwich. For a beverage we chose their Winter Spice, which is Vintner’s equivalent of a Pinot Grigio, one of Lois’ favorites. It was a delicious lunch.

Of the over 40 types of wine, Vintner’s offers 13 fruit wines. We are not big on fruit wines. There are five North Dakota wines -- Chokecherry, Foch, St. Croix, Rhubarb and Strawberry Rhubarb. We were looking for a “Juneberry” but maybe that’s something they could work on. Three of these are also fruit wines. There are six whites, imitating the usual flavors. The reds are the biggest group with 15 different types.

Lunch continues to be our favorite way of going out for a meal. We can take our time and not worry about work schedules.

Theodore Slattum's Place

September 9, 2009

This log cabin, located a half mile north of the park entrfance on the Valley Road, was built in 1879 by Theodore Slattum, a Norwegian immigrant who became one of the most prosperous pioneers in Ransom County, eventually owning and farming 1,000 acres mortgage free.

Slattum was born in Christiana, Norway, in 1836 -- oldest son of five children. He learned the art of making barrel staves as a teenager, then spent 11 years in the Norwegian army. He immigrated to America, settling first in Fillmore County, Minnesota. Then he moved to the Sheyenne River Valley, to this spot, traveling by ox wagon with $40 to his name.

In 1945 this Slattum cabin was moved to Ft. Ransom but was moved back to this original spot. Theodore Slattum and his wife raised nine children in this cabin. The Slattum family was known for their musical talent and son Hans led the Preston brass band.

We stopped and examined this property on our way back from Fargo today. One thing we can say about it is: This is a quiet and beautiful place with the river in the background.

Bench Braces

September 7, 2009

We suggested a park improvement to Director John and he responded within a few days. We noticed that all the benches in the park were sloping toward the front as a result of a failure in the cantilever joints. John went to Lisbon on Saturday and bought all of the materials. By Monday the project was completed. The following is my report to John by e-mail which included both photos:

The eight hiker benches throughout Ft. Ransom State Park have been reinforced and made rigid with the installation of two 4”x4” braces attached to each bench. The above photo shows two green braces. Two torque-head fasteners were put into the upright member at the bottom of the brace and two longer fasteners were placed into the old wood at the top of the brace. Treated lumber was used, but the cut ends were soaked in treating material before installation. The braces were approximately 20” in length and the bottom cut was made at the site to match the angle of the old uprights, as shown in the larger photo above.

However, some benches were so close to the ground that a shorter version of the brace was fashioned to the bench, as shown in the top photo above. This bench is located in the playground area immediately north of the visitor’s center.

Both versions should last a long time. Every bench in the park was rickity, in that the seat sloped down and to the front when attempting to sit on the bench. This can give an unsettling and unsafe feeling to the park user. Now the benches are rigid and do not give way to the weight of someone sitting on them.

The repair of the benches took approximately ten hours, including the time to travel to each bench via the Toro Workman.

Georgia Visits

September 3 - 6, 2009

Georgia and her friend, Larry Gruber (no relation to Franz Gruber as we talked about that), arrived Thursday evening about 4:30 p.m. They had arrived in Fargo late morning, rented a car and made a few sales calls at North Dakota State University at Fargo and Valley City State at Valley City. Georgia was a bit up tight because some important university customers were putting last-minute holiday weekend pressure on her. Within 24 hours, however, that was all worked out and Georgia could get on with the business of enjoying her weekend.

Larry, almost 40 years of age, was on his first camping trip. He brought along his sleeping bag that he had as a cub scout about 30 years earlier. Georgia was about to coach Larry that camping was really fun. At first I didn’t understand how that could be possible, but subsequent events throughout the weekend proved me wrong. Larry said he had a wonderful time and that he would like to go camping again.

“My expectations about North Dakota (which weren’t much) were totally blown away,” Larry said.

After visiting downtown Fargo, including the prairie art museum, and seeing the scenery of the Sheyenne River Valley, Larry owned up to what the area has to offer. He is from Cleveland and now lives in a Chicago high rise. He slept all three nights in Georgia Kelty tent without complaint.

Georgia and Larry had to go back to Fargo e ton Friday to meet with the Athletic Director of NDSU. While there, they went shopping at a local grocery -- Sunmart -- and brought back enough food for a super feast. Friday evening we had tacos and taco salad, followed by a movie, and Saturday we had spinach salad, chicken kabobs and corn on the cob, followed by a camp fire. We managed to get in a lot of visiting as well. The weather was fabulous.

On Saturday, Georgia and Larry rented a double-seater kayak to enjoy the Sheyenne River. The park staff gave them transport to a launching place upstream and they paddled three and a half hours back to the visitor center. In the afternoon they hiked some of the 16 miles of trails which have been been built in the park.

In order to be on time for the plane out of Fargo, Georgia and Larry left the park about 10:30 a.m. Lois went to work earlier and I got busy on the bench project after they left. We all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed the visiting and conversations all weekend long. Thanks for coming out to visit us, you guys.

9.7.09 George and Lois,

I can't thank you enough for being such a gracious host/hostess during my weekend in Ft. Ransom. Camping was such a fun adventure and I thoroughly enjoyed discovering North Dakota! To think that I can now build a campfire -- wow!!

Have a safe and pleasant journey back to Florida. Thanks again, Larry

Standing Rock Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church

The death of Marie Slattum in 1881 pointed up a real need in the newly formed community of Ft. Ransom[pop. 105]. There was no Church, no minister, no cemetery. The ceremony for Marie was held in the Slattum home and she was buried in the yard at the family home. The mourners decided it was time to build a church.

They built this only church in Ft. Ransom and built everything inside with volunteer labor. The church grew so much that by 1908 they added more room. The photo here shows what the church looks like today.

The original altar with a backdrop done by a local artist (circa 1980) is still there. The backdrop depicts Christ with an angel. The stained-glass windows were installed during the 1908 expansion of the church. The organ, purchased from a Boston organ builder, was installed in 1910.

Seattle Steve

August 26 - Sep 1, 2009

We met Steve at Hector International in Fargo when he got off the plane at 5:15 p.m. Steve had flown from Seattle to Portland to Chicago to Fargo and it took him most of the day. We made a group decision and headed back to Ft. Ransom State Park which is a distance of about 80 miles.

Lois and I had already had a full day in Fargo -- a first time for both of us. We drove around a bit and saw some interesting sites. For example, we went by the campus of Minnesota State University at Moorhead (MN) which in 1928 was the Minnesota State Teachers College at Moorhead. That’s where Grandma Dorothy got her two-year teaching certificate. She taught school for two years and married George Fischer in June of 1930. I had never seen this place before and it was good to make that connection.

The highlight of the day was lunch at Toscano’s on Broadway. We both had the same thing -- a spinach salad and a walleye filet with lots of vegetables in a wine sauce. This was the first time we dined in style since the Red Lobster in Bismark several weeks ago. It was delightful.

We shopped for groceries at SunMart in West Fargo. SunMart and Hornbacher’s are the two regional chains here that seem to be the leaders in supermarkets.

Steve’s visit was most pleasant and was marked by a lot of visiting and reminiscing about the old days as well as a hike a day. Steve walked every hiking path in Ft. Ransom State Park while he was here. There was a trail-building crew from Bismark finishing up an 8-mile path and Steve hiked that one also. The paths are wide and cut into the hills by machine. In the winter they will be for cross-country skiing and snowmobiles. I worry about the same path being used by people on foot and those on mechanized equipment -- a recipe for disaster. Hopefully the park management will figure that one out and set policy accordingly.

We had a cocktail hour every day and the dinner plans seemed to please everyone. Before bed, we usually watched English comedy, “Keeping Up Appearances,” or a movie -- “Analyze This” and “Analyze That”, a Robert DeNiro-Billy Crystal spoof on New York crime families. They were all hilarious.

The week went by very quickly. We enjoyed every minute. It was a wonderful time and we are very happy Steve took the time to come and visit.

“That really was a good visit,” Steve wrote by e-mail. “It's great to see you both doing so well and enjoying yourselves.”

“Thanks for everything you did to make the trip work out so well, Steve continued. “Have a safe trip back and keep in touch.”

The Sunne Farm

August 23, 2009

I’m sitting in the dining room of a farm house that was built in 1899 -- 110 years ago. This house was completely rehabed about ten years ago after the State Park Department acquired the farm from the owner, a successor owner after the Sunne family sold the place.

The project included raising this house off it’s foundations, removing the old foundation, putting in a new modern basement, resetting the house on the new foundation, and tearing out the inside wall coverings, installing new insulation and wiring and refinishing the walls and floors.

This dining room is very nice. It is about 8’ x 12’ in size and the walls are covered with beaded boards laid horizontally. The ceiling is also covered with beaded boards. The floor is a bare toung-and-groove fir flooring with a polyurethane finish. The trim on the doors and windows is much like the original.

The entire floor consists of this dining room, a parlor, a master bedroom and a kitchen. All are finished the same way except that the floows are done in a maple toungue-and-groove flooring. There are three small bedrooms upstairs which have no closets, but there is ample room to place clothes hanging poles or clothes hooks in the little niche areas.

What is a mystery to us is how ten children slept in three small bedrooms. We have talked about it and tried to puzzle it out, but there are no answers.

We are here because we do our laundry in the basement where there is a modern washer and dryer -- something else the Sunne family never had here. This farm is a joint project of the State Park and The Sodbuster Association who work together to put on “Sodbuster Days” twice a year to demostrate how horses and oxen were used to power farm machinery way back then. More about that will be detailed in another posting.

This house has a real charm. It was the place where Andrew and Johanna Sunne raised their ten children after coming to America from Norway in 1884 and 1885. Andrew came over in 1884 to prepare for his family and Johanna followed with two children in 1885. To get his family here, Andrew borrowed $54.50 from his friend, John Brink, and that purchased steeerage from Oslo, Norway, to Lisbon ND -- 17 miles away, which was a very long day’s trip in those days by horse and wagon. Today that trip would easily cost $3,000 for a woman with two children.

They lived in a log cabin on the farm for the first 14 years until they could afford to build a house. The children kept arriving until there were eight children in the family by 1899. They moved into this house just before Christmas, 1899, and what a wonderful holiday that must have been. Two more children - Alfred and Emma - were born into this house after the family moved in.

The ten Sunne children, three sons and eight daughters, from the oldest to the youngest, were as follows:
1. Ole Sunne, born 1881 in Norway and married in 1916 in North Dakota.
2. Borghild Sunne, born in 1882 in Norway.
3. Anna Sunne, born November 17, 1886, at the Sunne log cabin (Anna #1 was born in 1883 and died June 17, 1885)
4. Jenny Sunne, born October 27, 1888, at the Sunne log cabin.
5. Mary Sunne, born April 16, 1890, at the Sunne log cabin.
6. Louise Sunne, born January 15, 1892 and died a week later, January 22, 1892
7. Carl Sunne, born May 26, 1893, at the Sunne log cabin.
8. Alma Sunne, born September 29, 1895, at the Sunne log cabin.
9. Helen Sunne, born July 22, 1897, last child born in the log cabin, later married a Libak and moved to Chicago.
10. Alfred Sunne, born January 23, 1900, in the house shown in the photo.
11. Emma Sunne, born _____________________

The Sunne family farmed a total of 909 acres in the Sheyenne River valley (owned and rented acreage) and Andrew experimented with various hybrids of wheat. For 15 years he tried to grow peaches in North Dakota, and finally gave that up. Andrew was also a poet. He was born in Norway in 1858 and died at this farm here on October 22, 1912, at 54 years of age. His wife, Johanna, followed him on June 17, 1921, at 62 years of age.