NELS JORGENIUS KNUTSON Story
Nels Jorgenius Knutson
was born at Newark, Illinois on January 27, 1874
and with his parents (Nels
B. and Maglie) and four brothers moved
to Kingsbury County, Dakota Territory on March 9, 1880.
Nels drove a team and
wagon from Lake Preston, South Dakota to Tracy, Minnesota for his wedding to
Jennie (Jacobina Philomena) Sletten on October 2, 1900. They returned by team
and wagon bringing with them Jennie‘s possessions and wedding gifts, which
included a cow, a gift from her mother. They
were 26 and 22 years of age, when they were married.
(JENNIE (Jacobina
Philomena) SLETTEN) (See
Ole Sletten story)
Nels
and Jennie started their married life in Lake Preston, South Dakota, where their
children Raymond, Marlowe, Alice and Esther were born.
1907
Raymond,5 Marlowe,4
Alice,3 Esther,1
Jennie had been a school teacher prior to their marriage and using this
knowledge had instilled in her children an early desire for education.
Homesteading in South Dakota
During
the period of 1906-1913, they moved to an area called Moenville, South Dakota,
where they homesteaded.
Nels J. in tan hat in back
At school ~1909
Marlowe
Raymond
I
am going to type a story my Aunt Esther wrote about Marlowe as she remembers
living on the homestead near
Moenville dated May 1, 1992.
"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.
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.
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.
Crop failures forced them to abandon the homestead and move to Fertile, Minnesota on March 1913.
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)”.
Wilfred,
Esther, Judith, Arnold, Alice, Clarence.
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
well 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.
This was an area near where Jennie’s Mother, a brother and three
sisters lived called Bagley, Minnesota. This
involved a move of the family of (7) seven children, namely, Raymond, age 11,
Marlowe, age 9, Alice, age 7, Esther, age 6, Wilfred, age 4, Clarence, age 3 and
Judith, age 1.
This
farm had been homesteaded by Karl Holmgren, widow of Olaf Holmgren by filing in
January 1903 and consisted of 160 acres . This land and an additional 40 acres
owned by Ole A. Eien, were
purchased by Nels O. Nelson in June of 1912. This land, 200 acres of mostly
timberland in Section 8, was bought by Nels and Jennie Knutson in 1915.
The family moved to this farm on September 1915, which had a log cabin
and a few outbuildings.
With
the help of his young sons, Nels proceeded to clear the land, establish a dairy
herd, build better housing and construct the necessary outbuildings for the
animals.
The
final house consisted of a two
story wood frame main building, which had a large
living room and small bedroom down stairs, with two bedrooms upstairs for
the boys and girls. Attached
to this building was the original log house to serve as a large kitchen,
with a pantry and an entrance to a
dug out basement, containing a cistern to catch rainwater and for a cold
storage. The rainwater was used for
washing clothes and bathing. Water
for cooking and drinking was obtained from a deep well located halfway between
the house and the barns. This addition was sided and a screen porch attached to
the north side, overlooking the driveway from the township road passing along
the northern limits of the land. About
½ mile from the home, a school was established as District # 53, called Pine
Dale, which all the Knutson children attended to complete eight grades.
By
the late twenties, this farm consisted of approximately 80 acres of fields and
some additional 40 acres of cleared area for hay.
The balance of the farm served as a woodlot and pastures for the farm
animals. The woodlot contained
some remaining Norway and White pine stands, but the balance was second
growth popular and fir trees. Some
gravel deposits were opened near the Pine Dale school.
As the clearing of the land continued from 1915 to about 1925, the herd
of dairy cows increased, along with necessary number of horses needed to farm
the larger acreage. Along with the
cows and horses, pigs, sheep and chickens were also raised.
As
Clearbrook was five miles away, the Knutson family joined a church called Norway
Lake, some three miles away, which was easier to get to.
Nels became very active in township affairs, which mainly involved the
construction of passable roads. This
allowed for the purchase of an automobile which could be used in the summer to
travel to Clearbrook and particularly to Bagley to visit Jennie’s sisters,
Clara (Mrs. Ole Lee) and Helen (Mrs. Lauritz Tangerd) who lived east of Bagley.
1927
Marlowe,
Clarence. Arnold, Wilfred, Judith, Raymond, Alice
Norman,
Jennie, Nels J., Esther
Haying time on the Farm
During
the summer of 1940 a large gathering of family, relatives and friends met at the
family farm near Clearbrook, Minnesota , to celebrate Nels and Jennie’s 40th
wedding anniversary. The picture
below is of the whole family except for Clarence and Arnold .
L to R- Raymond, Judith,
Wilfred, Jennie, Alice, Nels, Norman, Esther, Marlowe.
All the grandchildren at the time of the 40th anniversary celebration of Nels and Jennie wedding.
L.
to R.- Leola and Jeanne Ekblad, Beverly Woodard, Sheldon and Norton Knutson,
L.
to R.- Nancy and Kermit Woodard, Donna , Dean and Arline Knutson, David Woodard,
Harlan Knutson
As the sons became older, they left the farm to work on other farms or obtained other work not related to farming.
Raymond
with Charlotte
Raymond
, the eldest, left for Detroit, Michigan to work in the Ford Motor Factory, but
had returned to Minnesota, where he became ill after working on a road to
Gonvick where he was involved in a
runway accident and hurt his back. Because
his back did not get better
he had gone to a Doctor in Gonvick who
sent him to the University of Minnesota Hospital where they diagnosed
tuberculosis. This involved
going to a Sanitarium near Walker.
Minnesota about the early part of 1933. They
performed surgery on the back and hospitalized him for consider amount of time.
During his convalescence he learned the trade of being a watch repairman
and upon being cured of tuberculosis about 1936 went to work for Foss Jewelry in
Bagley, Minnesota. About 1941 he had to have tumor removed from his leg at the
Walker Sanitarium. While being
hospitalized for the operation he met Charlotte and started corresponding with
her. They were married on July 10,1944. They
made their home in Bagley in a small house which Charlotte kept until her death
on January 13, 1953. She had become
ill while traveling to a warmer place for her health, along with Raymond.
They had stopped in Spring Valley, Minnesota at her parents home.
Raymond continued to live in Bagley until his death on September 7, 1957.
Marlowe
with Mabel (See
Marlowe’s story)
Marlowe
the
second oldest, worked out at various farms in North Dakota during the summer
months and on the farm during the late fall and winter cutting timber for sale
by Nels. He later married Mabel Haugland and started farming on his own by
renting neighboring farms. In late
1942 he took over the Nels farm from his brother Norman as Norman’s health did
not permit continuing farming. In
addition, Marlowe had six children who could help with farming chores.
Marlowe and Mabel continued
to farm until Marlowe’s suddenly died of a
massive heart attack on December 8,1972. Mabel sold the farm and moved
into to Clearbrook to live until going into a nursing home where she died
September 6, 1987.
Alice
& Axel 1947
Alice
, the third child ,was the first child to go to high school, which she
attended in Bagley, Minnesota by staying with Ole G. Lee’s.
Upon graduation, she obtained work at the State Fisheries at Redby,
Minnesota., before moving to the Twin Cities to work.
There she met and married Axel Ekblad on July 10, 1927, who was a
blacksmith and welder for the Northern
States Power Co. They lived there
rest of their lives in a suburb called Columbia Heights .Alice died
January 24,1980.
Esther
& Lyle Family
Esther
, the fourth child, also graduated from
the Bagley High School and attended Normal School to obtain a teacher
certificate. She met Lyle Woodard,
who she married on July 22, 1928. They
moved to various places in northern Minnesota where Lyle
obtained employment,
During World War 11 they lived in Duluth where Lyle worked in the
shipyards. During the late 40’s
they moved to Montana, where Lyle established a log trucking business and a
motel in Boulder, Montana,. Lyle retired and they traveled extensively before
Lyle died in 1974. Esther continued
to make her home in Boulder and traveled to Apache Junction, Arizona in the
winter. During the later part
of the 1980’s her health failed, at which time she moved to Helena, Montana
and entered a nursing home near her daughter Beverly. She lived there until her
death on May 25, 2001.
1955
Wilfred
& Marjorie family
Wilfred, worked at home on the farm as well other various farms,
while attending Crookston Agriculture School.
Upon graduation he returned to the farm, as Nels’ health was not good.
Nels regained his health and Wilfred went to Minneapolis, Minnesota,
where he obtained employment with Northrup King.
He continued his employment there until entering the service in World War
11 in 1942. He served in the
U.S. Army from 1942-1945 in the 18th Cavalry Sq. 14th Cav.
Group. Served overseas as a tank mechanic, was involved in the Battle of the
Bulge and finished his service in Germany. (see Wilfred Knutson US Army Story)
Upon returning from the service, he married Marjorie Poore on December
27,1945. They made their home in
Minneapolis and Wilfred returned to Northrup King, where he worked until his
retirement in June 1973. They had purchased a newer home in the suburb of
Columbia Heights in 1951 where they raised two adopted girls and joined the
community affairs in the schools and their church.
They lived their retirement years there and enjoyed traveling throughout
the USA, including a trip to Canada to visit Norton and Elaine ,who were living
in Port Cartier, Quebec located on the North Shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence
River. They were accompanied by
Mabel Knutson
and Esther Woodard. Norton
was able to take them on a tour of
the main office of Quebec Cartier Mining Company where he had his office and to
the Port where the Iron Ore was unloaded from ore trains into loading
facilities. They also saw one of
the boats being loaded with iron ore for shipment to steel plants located on the
Great Lakes. Wilfred continued to
be active in various areas until the early 1980’s when his health started
failing with onset of Parkinson disease
from which he died April 8,1988. Marjorie
continued to live in their home until her death on September 13, 2000.
Clarence, Edith, Joyce, Donald, Dennis & John
Clarence, Worked at home on the farm as well as at various farms
until moving to Seattle, Washington, where he obtained employment with the Great
Northern Railroad as a pipe fitter and continued until his retirement in 1976.
He met and married Edith Hanna on June 10, 1940, in Seattle.
They made their home in Woodinville, Washington
and raised their family of five children with one child dying at an early
age of thirteen from cancer. Clarence
died during his second heart operation on October 10,1988.
Edith continues to live there with all of her children near by.
Judith, graduated from Bagley High School, in 1929 and returned
home to help her mother with the household chores and baby sit her brothers
children. In 1938 and 1939 she took
a course at Tyler Hospital , Tyler, Minnesota, to be a practical nurse.
She worked in the hospital in Fosston, Minnesota until October 1941 and
in Thief River, Minnesota from
April 1942 until the end of 1943. In 1944 she joined the W.A.C. as a Medical
Technician and worked at Maxwell Field, Alabama until she went to Germany in
1945. However, in August or
September, they diagnosed cancer in her father. Slow paper work, then being
fogged in Germany, she went by train to Paris, where they waited for a
clearing flight. It took one
afternoon to get to Santa Marie Island where they stayed before taking a 14 hour
flight to Bermuda. They continued
on to New York the next day, where she caught a train to Minneapolis, but was
too late for her father’s funeral on December 28, 1945.
She
had inquired about work on a mission field before the war , but her
qualifications were not what was
needed at that time. However, in
1946, the matron in Madagascar was about to retire and Judith had a dream of
three small boys praying for someone to take care of them. She was called in
May, 1947 and was commissioned on August 18, 1947.
Clara Chaffin, a nurse, and Judith studied French in Paris for
8 months, as it was the official language of Madagascar ,
colony of France until 1961. Fort Dauphin is the southeastern-most port
in Madagascar, where missionary families came for conferences and vacationed so
they get to see all the missionaries working in the field.
We had many single women stationed at schools or parish work who came to
the dormitory to stay for conference and fellowship time.
Judith was there for twenty years. There were only eight children
her first year. Sister Alene
Smith came to help in 1959 and Joyce in 1960, as the student group had risen to
30-plus and to then to 42. Before
she left they had more help and 62
students. Judith returned home only
two times in the twenty years service as they had to serve 7 years before
getting home leave. In 1967 Judith
returned home to live, enroute she stopped in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and
visited with Norton, Elaine and family were vacationing north of Montreal at a
resort. They were able to see
Expo 67, which was going during that whole summer.
Judith returned to Minneapolis where her sister Alice was living and from
there worked at Nursing Homes in Colorado before retiring.
She lived with Alice and assisted her
in nursing Alice’s husband Axel, before he died October 9, 1976 in the Masonic
Home in Minneapolis. After he died Judith continued to live with Alice until she
died January 24, 1980.
She later moved into an apartment in Fridley, where she lived until
September 2002, when she moved to an assisted living facility called Crestview
located in Columbia Heights.
1989
Virginia, Kathleen, Marie & Arnold
Arnold was the first son to obtain a high school diploma at the
Clearbrook High School in 1931.
He worked on the farm, but with the depression, went to work in the CCC
camps. Later on in the late 30’s or early 40’s hr moved to Detroit,
Michigan, where he obtained employment as a tool and die maker. He entered
service in the U.S. Army in World War 11 and served overseas in France and
Germany. Upon return from service
in late 1945 he returned to Clearbrook to help his mother care for his dying
father, who died December 26, 1945. He had married Virginia Accardo
on June 20, 1942 just before going into the service and returned to
Detroit to be with his wife and continue his employment. During the early
1950’s he along with his wife and two girls,
moved to Los Angeles , California. They
lived there until Arnold death on
May 8, 1971. Virginia continues to live in their home near
her daughters.
1954
Paul, Norman, Carol, Eva Jane, Nettie holding Stanley, Darrel
Norman
was the last child, the only one of a pair of twins to live at birth.
He graduated from Clearbrook High School in 1935
and then remained on the farm. On
August 10, 1940 he married Nettie Delores Langworthy, at which time he took over
the farm from his father, whose health was not good.
In November 1940 the farm house burned to the ground with nothing
salvaged. Because of this
catastrophe, Nels and Jennie had to leave the farm and live with
relatives until the rebuilding could be completed. By the summer of 1941, a new
house had been built and Norman and Nettie, along with their new daughter, were
able to move into the new house. As
an old house had been refurbished and expanded immediately after the fire, for
Norman and Nettie, Nels and Jennie were able to return to live on the farm.
Norman continued to farm until late in 1942, when
he signed over the farm to Marlowe as his health did not allow him to
continue. Marlowe purchased Norman’s
livestock and machinery so Norman
was able to move after he obtained
employment in Kenosha, Wisconsin in January 1943 .
He started work at American Brass but was able to find work at American
Motors Corp. He became a heat
treat foreman and worked for 28 years before retiring in August 1977.
Two of their children moved with them from Clearbrook, Minnesota , while
four were born after they purchased
their home on August 9, 1944.
Norman died October 22, 1994 and Nettie continues to live in their house
in Kenosha.
The
last time the Knutson children met was in July 1979 in a park near Alice’s
home in Columbia Heights. Living at that time were Clarence, Norman,
Wilfred, Esther, Alice, and Judith.
1942 1951
Nels and Jennie continued to live in the old house refurbished after the
fire until Nels health forced them to move to a rented house in Clearbrook in
late 1943 so they could be near medical help.
They lived there until Nels died on December 26,1945 from uremia
poisoning caused by cancer. He was buried in Silver Creek cemetery near
Clearbrook, Minnesota. Jennie stayed with Alice for the rest of the winter in
Minneapolis. In late spring of 1945
she moved back to the farm and lived in the old house.
She took her meals with Marlowe and family but continued to have her
other children visit with her during the year.
During the coldest part of the winter she would visit with her family in
Minneapolis and continue her stay until late spring.
Jennie health started to fail about
1954 and she was able to move to the nursing home just started by the Clearbrook
community, where she continued to live until she died May 24, 1957. She was
buried along side Nels in the Silver Creek cemetery
This
story was based mainly on family records , but portions were taken from
stories written by Ole R. Sletten, Ruby Remme and personal
notes furnished by Judith Knutson, Esther Woodard and Nettie Knutson.
Compiled
by Norton Knutson on December 3, 2002.
Edited June 29, 2004.
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