Mavourneen Todd Anderson Papers, 1890-1930

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Abstract

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Collection Historical Note

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Administrative Information

Box and Folder Listing

Box 1

Folder 1: Historical Sketches

Item 1: Emanuel Afferdal - homesteaded near Ray, ND. His farm was a popular gathering place for the bachelor farmers in the area. By 1914, most of the bachelor farmers had given up their claims in the area. Afferdal married Thora Odegaard on St. Patrick's Day in 1917. This sketch also references the early churches in Williams County.

Item 2: Jasper Joel Bailey - Williston baker and grocery store owner. He homesteaded four miles north of Williston in 1904, but continued to work in town

Item 3: Sever Braaten - came from Norway in 1905. Homesteaded near Wildrose on a relinquished claim. Proved up his claim in 1907. Returned to Norway in 1912, married and returned in 1914. He and his wife had five children.

Item 4: Mr. Bratvold - homesteaded south of Ray, North Dakota. When his wife died, he put his shack on wheels so that he could farm and take care of his four young children.

Item 5: Sadie Sharp Burns - born in Flora, Illinois in 1877. Her family came to North Dakota by immigrant train in 1902 and settled in Cando. In 1903, Sadie opened a boarding house for teamsters in Glenburn. She married John Burns in January 1906. They homesteaded at Charbonneau.

Item 6: Mary Edna Ross Coulter - born in Grand Forks in 1879. Her father worked for Captain Griggs at the lumber mill. The family moved to Minot in 1886.

Item 7: Mr. Eggen - Lutheran minister who worked as a missionary near Epping, North Dakota. Came to area in 1908, died in 1944.

Item 8: Sam & Sarah Ferrell - came to Williston in November 1903 and homesteaded east of Indian Hill Road.

Item 9: Will & Ruth Larkin Haines - Will Haines came to Tyrone Township from Horton, Iowa in 1908. In December 1909, Ruth Larkin came to Williston to marry Will Haines. They homesteaded fifteen miles from Williston.

Item 10: Mr. Halfpenny - Methodist minister near Ray, North Dakota. Well respected and generous.

Item 11: Caroline Ferrell Kelter - came to Williston with her uncle, Dick Ferrell, and his family in 1902. Homesteaded in McKenzie County and married Pete Kelter.

Item 12: Harold Kjorstad - He emigrated from Gulbrandsdalen, Norway in 1898. He worked for Ole Bryn until 1902 when he filed on river bottom land in 1902. He married Alena Lunde in 1909.

Item 13: Bert Lee - a local teamster who hauled homesteaders to their claims. He lived in a cabin north of Williston. He was the local moonshiner.

Item 14: Gus Magnuson - came to the United States from Sweden in 1907. Homesteaded near Crosby and over the years he bought and sold many sections of land. He had to sell most of his land during the Depression, but was able to buy most of it back. Continued farming until 1957 when he moved to Williston.

Item 15: J. B.(Ben) Martin - homesteaded near Springbrook, North Dakota in 1903. He directed the first band in Williams County in 1904. Ben Martin married Elnora Swimley in April 1906 and they lived on the homestead. In 1930, Ben Martin was elected to the state legislature on the Non-Partisan League ticket.

Item 16: Maud Ott McCrary - her family homesteaded three miles south of Trenton, North Dakota in 1905. Her father was a Methodist minister who had churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois before coming to North Dakota. Maud married Bill McCrary on June 25, 1910 and lived in Trenton on 4th Avenue East.

Item 17: James William McCutcheon - born March 21, 1871 in New Brunswick. His parents had emigrated from Scotland in the 1850s. He worked as a lumberjack in Maine and New Hampshire at age sixteen. He moved to Minnesota in 1894, Grand Forks in 1896, and Williston in 1897. He homesteaded in McKenzie County in 1905. He ran a ferry from 1906 to 1910. In 1908, he married a widow and they had three children.

Item 18: Emma Shemorry - born in Freeburg, Pennsylvania in 1876. She married W.H. Shemorry in 1894. He was a school teacher in Pennsylvania. They moved to Williston in 1907 and in 1908 they homesteaded seven miles south of Epping, North Dakota. They had three children.

Item 19: John Skinde - homesteaded the river bottom fifteen miles southeast of Williston in 1904. He homesteaded with his two sons, Olaf and Elias, and his two daughters, Rena and Anna. He had emigrated from Gulbrandsdalen, Norway in 1903.

Item 20: Alfred Solberg - born in Wisconsin in 1883, his family moved to Evansville, Minnesota in 1884. Alfred and his brother, Otto, homesteaded in Williams County in 1904. Alfred married in 1919 and they had two children. His wife was an independent type who had worked as a dressmaker, traveling saleslady, waitress, and finally homesteader before marrying Alfred.

Item 21: Joe Taylor - his family moved to Williston in 1903 and homesteaded at Trenton. Joe homesteaded in 1906 on land between Trenton and Buford. He married Molina Burgess in 1912.

Item 22: Mrs. Al Wagaman - married in March 1902 and moved to North Dakota from La Porte, Indiana. Homesteaded near Williston. The personal history is very brief, but a great deal of information concerning the cost of goods is included in the history.

Item 23: Incomplete history on early homesteader. It makes reference to Andrew Moen hauling wheat for other homesteaders. Further, it refers to a lumber dealer, Polutski, in Williams County.

Item 24: A Proxy Statement concerning the merger of the Northern Pacific Railway with the Great Northern Railway and The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. The statement is from Russell E. Skeen and he is requesting that the stockholders oppose the proposed exchange of stock in the merger.