| Notater |
- {geni:occupation} Farmer in Dakota
{geni:about_me} Erick Heyerdahl was born January 1, 1859 in Pierce County, Wisconsin. His parents were Christopher and Margaret Heyerdahl and were both born in Norway. When Erick was old enough to work he helped his father on the farm and worked in the woods in the winter.
In the spring of 1882 Erick Heyerdahl came by train to Dakota to seek a homestead. There was prairie all around except here and there a shanty. April 16, 1882 Erick filed on Section 30-144-60 and broke thirty acres of land. Inthe fall of 1882 he built a claim shanty 14 feet by 16 feet and rented out his farm until 1888.
Erick Heyerdahl worked for Charlie Mosley in Helena Township for five years and in the fall of each year went back to Wisconsin to work in the woods. The first few years Mr. Heyerdahl hauled wood for Mr. Mosley from the SheyenneRiver twenty miles from his farm. He left in the morning at three o'clock with horses and sleigh and got back in the evening around nine o'clock.
Erick Heyerdahl was married in Valley City in 1887 to Madle Warberg. They came to Griggs County and started farming. Mr. Heyerdahl bought his first machinery in 1888, which consisted of a binder, plow, wagon, and drag. He got nothing out of his crop this year as all the crops around were frozen.
Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Heyerdahl and all were born in Griggs County. They were:
1. Melvin
2. Gilbert
3. Carl
4. Elmer
5. Myrtle
Elmer passed away when 3 years old. The other boys farmed in the area. Carl farmed the home place until he left the farm to be mail carrier out of Hannaford. Charles and Earl farm the home place now, making the third generation there.
Mr. and Mrs. Heyerdahl farmed for many years there going through the usual hardships of the early days. Their home burned in 1889 and a new home was built in 1900, same year as the first Eidfjord Church was built and that year they had no crop as it dried up. They bought a home in Valley City so as to be close to school. For many years the schools were open only a few months during the summer. I can remember them making trips to Valley City with a horse and buggy. Also them telling of trips they made to Maddock, North Dakota where they had relatives. Mrs. Heyerdahl came from Norway with her mother, brothers and sisters. She was 17 years when they came here and went directlyto Fergus Falls, Minnesota She came to North Dakota to visit a sister, Mrs. Christ Sabby, who had come here earlier. She got a job at the Charles Mosley home where Mr. Heyerdahl was employed at the time. They lived in Griggs County most of their lives and celebrated their 60th anniversary in 1947.
Their son Melvin married Gertrude Nelson and farmed in Barnes County. Gilbert married Agnes Halvorson. They farmed for a few years and then moved to Minneapolis where he was a carpenter. Their daughters Alpha and Elizabeth both live in Minneapolis. Agnes lives in River Falls, Wisconsin. Myrtle married Omer Michaelson.
CARL, born on the farm, January 18, 1897 lived at home and went to University of North Dakota for two years. He spent one year in the Navy being stationed at Great Lakes Naval Training Center. On April 1, 1919 Carl and Anna Sad, whose parents homesteaded in Dover Township, were married at Moorhead, Minnesota and farmed the home place. There were seven children born of this marriage:
1. Eleanor (Mrs. George Jordan), Fargo
2. Earl, Hannaford
3. Charles, Hannaford
4. Margaret (Mrs. Lee Agnew), Bismarck
5. Eric who passed away in 1945
6. Dorothy (Mrs. Al Lommen), Valley City
7. Barbara Mahlke of Wimbledon.
Carl ran a grocery store in Walum from about 1926 to 1939 and then was a rural mail carrier at Hannaford until he retired. Carl passed away May 26, 1968 and his wife, Anna, August 24, 1971.
CHARLES, Carl's son, was born February 22, 1925 on his Grandfather's Homestead in Bartley Township. On December 31, 1948 he married Martha Lunde at Williston, North Dakota There were four children born of this marriage:
1. Linda (Mrs. Douglas Dahl, Jr.), Melrose, Minnesota
2. Pamela, Fargo
3. Eric in the United States Air Force, Beale AFB, California
4. Gary at home and a student at North Dakota State University at Fargo.
EARL and Charles farm together on the land their grandfather homesteaded. Martha and Charles reside on the farm in Bartley Township and Earl resides in Hannaford. Earl and Charles remember spending their summer vacations in the1930's on the farm with no electricity, cars or tractors. Their grandfather, Erick, who had not mastered motorized transportation, had the most beautiful team of ponies, Bud and Freckles, which were the most reliable transportation a person could hope for.
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