Marlowe
Marlowe John Knutson . A story
Marlowe
John Knutson was born on May 6, 1903 to Nels J.
and Jennie Knutson at Lake Preston, South Dakota . At
the age of about 3 years old, his parents, along with his older brother and two
sisters, moved to a homestead near Moenville, South Dakota. It appears from
conversations that this involved a sod house, as it was on the prairie, but
later on a wooden house was built.
I
am going to type a story my Aunt Esther wrote dated May 1, 1992 about Marlowe as she remembers
living on the homestead near
Moenville .
"Marlowe’s
birthday is coming soon and I am remembering him as the imaginative brother of
my childhood. As you may know Nels
and Jennie had 4 children born in the Lake Preston area.
I was the fourth and only a few months old when they moved “West
of the river”. Marlowe was 3 ¾ years older than I and Raymond almost five.
Alice was 15 months older than I.
1907
Raymond,5 Marlowe,4
Alice,3 Esther,1
I
remember Raymond as solemn and bossy. Why not ? He had to help from an early age
in all ways including being held
responsible in those few times he was left in charge of us. But Marlowe was fun
and always knew some interesting thing to do.
He had ready help from Alice and I was a tagalong.
I understand Aunt Nellie (Kopperud) taught school at age 16 (so did my
mother). Nellie was Raymond’s first teacher and Marlowe “visited’ school;
to learn the alphabet. When we moved to Stanley County (later Haakon county) he
was old enough for school probably early so Raymond did not have to walk alone 2
miles across the prairie.
~1909
Marlowe
Raymond
Road
was a wagon track winding over hills and “draws” or coulees.
No fences nor nearby houses. I
remember we could see Slengas buildings -house, 1 story barns, granary and
corrals but from a distance. There
was a wire fence about a quarter of a mile before we reached the schoolhouse.
It stood on a hill and Uncle Nuties place was below the hill farther on.
Cattle ran the range and “wild” horses-really range horses some were
branded-including mares and colts. They
were no problem but range bulls frightened
us. Usually we only saw gophers, prairie dog villages with them
standing up chattering at us. Sometimes
a coyote skulking around but as afraid of us as I was of them. Aunt Nellie’s
permissiveness with Marlowe caused him to have a number of spankings as the
teacher “Brownie” Milene wouldn’t tolerate his talking. I don’t think
she enjoyed his imagination either. I remember her but she was not my first
teacher. We had a new, young teacher named Louella Graham, I believe.
We read about Rose running and her dog Rover.
I believe Myrtle Knutson (Lakness) was an eager audience and
instigator of their activities. Marlowe and she were about the same age.
Alice too was an eager helper.
I
know he was a great reader and adopted ideas from fairy tales to Robin Hood.
My memories are of playing outside- Marlowe, Alice and I and probably
Wilfred. No trees - just dry grass,
no flowers except when it had rained. Some
small sage. Occasional cacti-usually pincushion type. We learned to avoid them as we went barefoot except winter.
The house was on a level hilltop so we were in sight of my mother.
Father worked out a lot. Everyone rode horses but we usually rode in a
wagon-kids in the back on a quilt over hay.
All our water was hauled
from Duck’s Pond in a barrel on a stone sled with one horse usually.
There at home was a dug well with a pail pulled up by a pulley - very
alkali but used for the animals and washing clothes.
Maybe
you heard about our dog. Marlowe
told us Rover was a hero because once we were playing quite a ways from the
house. Marlowe stepped on a pincushion cactus and it stuck on the
bottom of his foot. They couldn’t
get it off so we started for the house
with him crawling on his hands and knees and no doubt bawling. He wanted Alice and Myrtle to find a stick to poke it off.
No stalk to be found, anyway Rover grabbed it in his mouth and pulled it
off. Then he managed to hop home with their help hopping on one foot.
Then there the rattlesnake incident when Alice and Marlowe carried a bushel basket between themselves and we all picked cow
chips for fuel. Wilfred and I and possibly Clarence picked the dry cow chips.
Mother used them for the cook stove.
They gave a quick hot fire, you’d better be sure they were dry though.
Suddenly there was a rattle of a snake already coiled.
I was there too but not too near. They dropped the basket, yelled
“Snake” and we all ran for the house. Mother
had been sitting on the doorsill as it was very hot,
She didn’t want a rattlesnake so close to the house so she grabbed a
pitchfork and rake and killed him.
I think she pinned him with the fork and pounded his head with the rake handle.
Those women learned to do many things.
Then she retrieved the basket.
Then
we moved to Minnesota when I was 6 and suppose Marlowe was nearly 9 or 10.
Raymond went with Dad on the stock train with livestock to help water and
feed them as it took more than a week enroute . So we
kids at Lake Preston saw big houses with upstairs bedrooms and many rooms
with big windows and lots of furniture. Marlowe and Alice were a help on the
train with six children. We stayed
a couple of weeks partly at Art Kopperuds-Aunt Nellie.
She had Alice (Lossing) and Herbert. What fun it must have been with that
houseful to cook for. Mother was
sick in bed for several days. Judy
was about 15 months old and also had a cold.
Brother Arthur was born about 4 months later at Fertile.
He only lived 6 weeks. Grandpa Nels B. Knutson was there too.
I was frightened of stairs but Alice and I had to sleep in his bedroom so
I had to go upstairs but took awhile before I could walk upstairs and longer
before I could walk down. Didn’t
bother Alice and Marlowe much. Aunt
Nellie let us stand by the table and make little biscuits when she baked bread
but so did my mother. They
had a chandelier in the dining room with glass pendants but the lamp burned
kerosene and a heater with isinglass windows where the fire showed through. Aunt
Nellie got a kick out if Marlowe saying “Come on kids lets go into the other
shack (room)”.
Life
at Fertile was much different from homestead days.
Lots of green grass and a big grove of trees with hazel bush and other
underbrush. Bog branched willow
tree to climb. Big barn with a
haymow and wire fences all around. Garden with fresh vegetables.
We had a garden in South Dakota but poor success. It was watered with was
water in S.D. Marlowe and Raymond
were good help. Dad had brought
quite a few horses along from S.D. and some other stock. We were there about 2
½ years before moving to Clearbrook to the farm you remember.
By
the time Judith , Arnold and Norman remembers Marlowe and Raymond were no longer
playing. Raymond started to work out about the age 17
but Marlowe had to stay at home on the farm until Wilfred was big enough
to take his place. Some years he
was allowed to go North Dakota to work in the harvest fields and potato picking
so he met your mother. I hope this
will help you understand Marlowe better. Aunt
Esther sent the handwritten story to Norton Knutson who made copies for Harlan ,
Sheldon, Arline and Donna.
The
family moved to the farm near Clearbrook on September 1915, where Raymond and
Marlowe had to help Nels with considerable woodcutting and the clearing of rocks
and stumps. In addition their father would have taught them
how to be carpenters and other trades required to operate a dairy farm.
As the younger brothers became older, Marlowe started working out in the
summer months. In particular, the harvesting crews of North Dakota, near Hoople
and Park River. Returning to the farm during the winter season, he continued to
help clear the land and cut timber,
It was during one of theses winters, he cut off a thumb at the first
joint. He said he tried to find the piece, but no luck. During one
of the threshing season in North Dakota, he met Mabel and her sister Ilah, who
was a threshing crew cook, in a cook wagon, that
traveled with the crew. It was also during this time that Marlowe worked
longer seasons in North Dakota on a farm owned by Henry Jackson, near Hoople.
They met while both worked on this farm, where Mabel was the “hired girl”
making $5.00 a week.
On
December 21,1926, Marlowe and Mabel Elida Haugland were married in Grafton,
North Dakota, at age of 23 and 22 respectively. They returned to Clearbrook,
Minnesota and rented a farm, across the road from Nels place. This farm was
called the Hedberg’s place, after the owner.
This consisted of 160 acres, with a large house and barn.
They received a cow from Nels as a wedding gift.
Marlowe
and Mabel lived on the Hedberg place from 1927 to September 1932, at which time
they were forced to move , as the
owner desired to return farming.
Therefore,
Marlowe found another farm to rent about
two miles away , called the DeBoer place.
This
move involved using a hayrack with a team of horses to move the household
effects, with cows tied at the end. This
farm consisted of 120 acres, with a tarpaper covered house and a frame barn with
only a rough lumber covering. The
well did not work, so drinking water had to be obtained from neighbors named
Kucera.
This
trip to Kucera’s became a happy event, with Marlowe and Mr. Kucera discussing
many subjects and the children playing games.
1933
At
the time of moving to the DeBoer place, 4 children had been born, Norton
age 4, Harlan age 3, Sheldon age 1, and Arline only a baby of a few weeks old.
The house was very small. Involving two rooms and a lean to kitchen.
As the kitchen was very cold in the winter, the whole family lived in the
two rooms. In order to keep warm,
the house was banked with straw and manure.
Enough cows and horses were in the barn, so that their body heat kept
them reasonably warm.
As
the roads were jammed with snow, only horses and sleighs could make the three
mile trip to town once a week to sell cream and obtain the necessary groceries not
grown or furnished by the farm. The
mailman made his rounds with a
horse and cutter.
Back:
Norman, Wilfred, Marlowe, Nels J.
Front:
Norton, Harlan, Sheldon, Arline.
All
of this time the United States was in the depths of the Great Depression.
Therefore as the children got older, chores were assigned, first taking care of
a younger child, later gathering the wood for heating and cooking.
Progressively, this involved milking cows with Marlowe, splitting wood
and in the summer getting the cows
home for milking, weeding gardens, hauling water for washing clothes, etc.
When a wooden tub with a hand operated agitator was obtained, the
children had operate it, under the supervision of Mabel.
During the summer months the children all went barefoot,
even though they had to help Mabel in the picking of wild berries
throughout the surrounding forest, until school started.
Weather
permitting, in the winter, occasional trips were made to Grandparents (Nels and
Jennie). This was a great
experience as some of Marlowe’s brothers were usually home and of course their
house seemed big and contained a battery operated radio. During the
summer, including part of spring and fall
we all went to church in Clearbrook, first in a 2 door coupe and later in
a car called a “Whippet”.
The
school was only ¾
of a mile away through the woods and was the same one our
uncles and aunts had attended, namely, Dist. 53, Pine Dale. This one room school covered grades one through eight.
Most of the teachers only served one or two terms before moving on, but
our schooling was closely monitored by a County School Superintendent, named
Mrs. Mae Barness and State Boards
had to be passed before obtaining an eight grade diploma.
1939
Because
of the Depression, Marlowe had to work in the Dakota harvest. Mabel along with
the children, which were now six, namely Dean and Donna had joined the family,
had to continue the chores involved with the cows and calves, as well as the
horses, pigs and chickens, during his absence.
1941
This place
had a large house with an unfinished upstairs, but seemed like a mansion
compared to what the DeBoer place had been.
Even a good well and barn. In
addition, this place had a raspberry patch which had been planted by the owners
along with a large garden.
1941
Marlowe
stayed at this place until the fall of 1942, when he took over the farm from his
brother Norman. In the meantime Marlowe continued to work out in order to
continue farming and if the opportunity had not arisen for taking over the farm,
he would have tried to obtain work in the Defense
Plants in the Twin Cities.
Layout
of the Nels J. farm buildings -fall 1942
When
the move to the farm took place in the fall of 1942, the children were older,
namely Norton 14, Harlan 13, Sheldon 11, Arline 10, Dean 6, and Donna 5. With
the help of the older children, the additional cows, horses, calves, pigs, etc.
a large enough farming enterprise was obtained to enable Marlowe to support the
family without doing outside work.
Norton
had started High School in 1941 and continued on with it.
This meant he was not available to help during the school season, except
after school. In the meantime Harlan did not go High School, but stayed on the
farm to help Marlowe. As time
progressed Marlowe and Mabel were able to operate the farm alone
as electricity was installed and used to operate machinery needed to run
a dairy operation. This in addition to obtaining
a tractor and the means to bale hay instead of the making large haystacks in
outlying areas of the farm . Horses were no longer a part of the operation as the tractor
was used to haul hay, wood and all
the field work required for the planting and
harvesting of grain.
1950
During
the next thirty years (1942-1972) Marlowe
continued to operate the farm until he suffered
a massive heart attack and died on December 8, 1972.
As none of the son‘s desired to farm
and the farm was not large enough operation during the 1970‘s to
support a young family, Mabel sold the farm and retired to Clearbrook,
Minnesota, where she continued to live until
she moved to a nursing home in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.
She lived there until her death on September 6, 1987.
.
1966
Favorite
place to relax
The
children all left the farm at various times as follows:
Completed High School in 1945, entered the US Army ,as a draftee, in January
1946 and returned to the farm March 1947. Helped
with farm work until going to work in North Dakota on farms until the spring
planting was completed. Returned to the farm for the haying season and left
again for the harvest in North Dakota. Started going to the Minnesota School of
Business in Minneapolis in September 1947 and only worked on the farm during
summer haying season before going to harvest fields in North Dakota.. Returned
to the Minnesota School of Business in the fall
of 1948 and did not return to the farm after completing the course in
accounting in the first part of June 1949.
Harlan-
Continued to work on the farm and started working outside on various farms in
the North Dakota. With the start of
the Korean War , he enlisted in the AIR Force in 1950.
He served overseas in Munich, Germany, later Bitburg, Germany in the 36th
Medical Group of the 36th Fighter Bomber Squadron until October 1954.
During his service time, he had obtained his high school diploma through
correspondence courses. In 1955-1956 he attended the Duluth Business University,
while staying with his brother, Norton. Upon
graduation, he attained a bookkeeping
position with a large gas station in Minneapolis, which he later left to take a
position with Land O’ Lakes where he continued to work until he retired 1991.
Harlan married Donna Mae Storley on October 2,1971.
They
have two children named Brian and Brenda.
Sheldon-
Attended Clearbrook High School and graduated with Arline in 1950.
He enlisted in the Air Force
in 1951 and served overseas in
Germany as a heavy duty mechanic. Upon
his return in 1955 he took a job sailing on Ore Boats in and out of Duluth.
He later took courses in mechanics, specializing in heavy duty
transmissions . Upon graduation he
obtained a job with Glendenning Motorways for which he worked until the early
1980’s, which went out of business. He obtained work with other heavy duty trucks requiring his
type of experience. He continued with this work until he retired in 1993.
He married Sharon R Ruth (Vannett)
on June 2, 1958 and they have three children, namely :
Sherry
Lynn, David Jon, and Raymond Jerome.
Arline-
Attended Clearbrook High School, graduating with top honors in 1950.
She then attended Fairview Hospital in Minneapolis to obtain her nurses
training and attained certification as a Registered Nurse. She worked at
Fairview and later married Roy G. Bratvold on October 2, 1954.
They moved around during the early days of their marriage, but later
settled in Minneapolis, where Arline worked at Unity Hospital in Fridley until
she retired in 1994. They have four
children, namely: Mark, Dale, Diane and Wayne.
Attended Clearbrook High School graduating
in 1952. After graduation he
enlisted in the Air Force and served overseas in England until 1956.
He returned to the farm and helped Marlowe
and also worked outside the farm. He later moved to
Montana, where he worked on farms and grain elevators before being
employed by Anaconda Smelter in Great
Falls, Montana. He worked there
until it was shut down in 1980. He
married Patricia Enevold on June 10, 1967, and adopted her two children, namely:
Gareth and Jamie. They had one child named Dean, who died within a few days
after being born on July 7, 1969. Dean suffered a massive heart attack on August
17, 1981 and died immediately.
Donna-
Attended Clearbrook High School until her marriage to
Bobby Prestebak on April 2, 1954. Two children were born , Gene and Jon.
She later divorced Bobby Prestebak and on June 10, 1961 married James
Vig. They had three children namely: Steven, Michael and Sally. Gene and Jon
were adopted by James Vig, therefore all have the Vig name. James Vig is a
farmer, along with his brother, of a large farm they own together, located near
Fosston, Minnesota. Jim and Donna
have retired to a home they purchased in Fosston."
Edited June 29, 2004 Norton Knutson November 18, 2002