Ole's Blog

Everything I know about my great-uncle Smith Larson will fit in two very short posts.

He was born 14 April 1876, the second (surviving) child of Ole Larson and Anne Samuelsdatter. His elder sister Louise (Aunt Lucy) was very fond of him.He was an amateur photographer, taking up the hobby in the early days of the Brownie camera (190-something). He claimed a North Dakota homestead in 1909, along with the three other brothers pictured above. The “famous” photo below, of the first homestead shack, *may* have been taken by Smith.It is not clear how much time, if any, Smith spent on the homestead after “proving up.” According to cousin Larry Larson, Isaac’s home, where he raised his five sons including my father, was located on Smith’s original claim. Smith never married, had no children, and died on 22 January, 1922, age 45. Cousin Aline published this portrait of Smith in her book, “Larsons and Slettens 1985.” Please pardon the poor reproduction.As a caption, there is only his name, birth and death dates, and “Merchant Marines.” But look closely at the insignia on his uniform cap, and stay tuned for the next episode. It will contain the few tantalizing facts I learned on my Wisconsin trip a month ago, and hopefully lead to future discoveries.

I just received an email from cousin Clarice that corrects some misconceptions I had about her father, Great-uncle Olaf Larson. At the log cabin described in an earlier post, he was not *only* working for others (which he did do from time to time), but farming the land he rented along with the cabin, where he owned the equipment, farm animals, etc. Clarice continues,

When we lived in Norwegian Valley, he was renting the farm there.  It was bought at the end of the Depression by someone else shortly after Clarence and Polly lost the Larson homestead.  We then rented a farm on Irish Ridge next to the farm my Uncle Otto Sletten was renting and about the same distance from the farm my grandfather, Gunder Sletten, owned with his youngest son Gilbert.

Clarice’s mother died when she was only three, so like Isaac’s family, Olaf’s was raised by a single father, with some help from relatives. Later on,

When I was in sixth grade we moved to a farm between Ontario and LaFarge in a little community called Rockton where I finished grade school and went to high school in LaFarge.  My father then had a farm auction and sold his animals and machinery and went to Washington State to work.

Clarice also corrected another error in my narrative on the Brush Creek Cemetery. Smith Larson was *not* the only child of Ole Larson buried there. I knew that – duh – as I had photographed Uncle Olaf’s gravestone, and that of Alma Larson Raiten. And there may be others that I overlooked.

Olaf & Helga's stone

Alma & John's stone

Many thanks, Clarice, for the corrections and clarification. We have also begun a lively discussion about Smith Larson’s military service. More on that in a later post.

One of the earliest and most famous Norwegian settlements in the Midwest was Coon Prairie, Wisconsin. It is adjacent to the current town of Westby, where I visited cousin Norma Haakenstad on our trip there last month. We think that Ole Larson and his family first arrived at Coon Prairie, although records from as early as 1865 are not perfectly clear.

Norma’s neighbor, a Ms. Lund, offered to open the church for us, which I (perhaps unwisely) declined. It is documented that Ole Larson’s sister, Marit Larsdatter Johnson, is buried there, along with her daughter, who died on the same day in 1880 at the age of five days. I even knew the plot number of their graves, but the cemetery is enormous, and there were no outside guides to the plots.

Coon Prairie church

Quite by accident, at the very front of the cemetery, we encountered the graves of Mr .and Mrs. Torger Gunderson Moen, the paternal grandparents of Anna Moen.

Torger Moen stones

In “The Book” on Coon Prairie, Torger is highlighted as an important early member of the community. We also stumbled upon the graves of Anna Moen’s maternal grandparents, and one of their sons.

Volden stone

That wraps up my report on last month’s Wisconsin journey. I hope to revisit Coon Prairie cemetery on the next trip to Dubuque, find the graves I missed this time, and have a more relaxed visit with cousin Aline up in Rockland. I am quite satisfied for the moment with the results of this one-day excursion.

I promised to identify for you the other Moen gravestones I photographed at Brush Creek. They belong to four brothers of Anna Moen Larson: Tom, Alfred, Henry, and Edwin.

other Moen's

As you may recall, grandmother Anna is buried with Grandpa Isaac near Skaar, ND. I have yet to trace the whereabouts of Anna’s other six(!) siblings. Besides Anna’s parents here at Brush Creek, I luckily stumbled upon both sets of her grandparents at Coon Prairie (next post).

Between Brush Creek church and Ole’s farm  stands a one-room hand-hewn log cabin (location #3 on map), reputedly built around 1850.

Olaf's cabin

It is intact from the floor level up, but the lowest logs are rotten, and the stone foundation and cellar are quite deteriorated. Here is all that is left of the cellar entrance.

cellar door

This is the structure where my great-uncle Olaf Larson (1896-1972)  raised his family in the 1920′s and 30′s. More remarkably, it is where cousins Aline and Clarice were born, in 1925 and 1928 respectively. Keep in mind that that was before the Depression began. Like my mother’s family, it seems that the Larson’s were already acquainted with hard times.

Olaf was the second-youngest of Ole Larson’s children. He rented farm land along with the cabin, and owned farm animals and equipment. Thanks to Clarice for clarifying that.

Today, the cabin has a working woodstove inside, and is currently used for a workshop and storage.

Cabin interior

The cousins said that the loft area is smaller now than in their childhood, but the interior is otherwise much as they remember it. With the exception of the toy truck visible in the above photo, most of the items in storage or on display are also quite old. There is some antique furniture being refinished, old steel traps, and these snowshoes and hay-rake(?)

cabin "decor"

The current property owners showed us an old snapshot of the cabin, which appears to be from the pre-tractor, pre-automobile era.

old snapshot

Several noteworthy details: [4] laundry on the line, [3] team and driver at far right, [2] elaborate cellar entrance, [1] man and woman(?) in foreground. Could they be relatives of ours? No telling. This photo might actually predate Olaf’s residence there.

Before departing, we got this shot of our entire party at the cabin door.

Sam, Clarice, Thiel, Aline, George

Some trick of perspective here. I’m not a giant

Next: Coon Prairie.