Some Pioneers and Pilgrims on the Prairies of Dakota: Or, From the Ox Team to the AeroplaneReese, John B.
History
Some Pioneers and Pilgrims on the Prairies of Dakota: Or, From the Ox Team to the Aeroplane
Reese, John B.
Frontier and pioneer life -- South Dakota
It has seemed best to include as a supplement to this narrative a
number of sketches of individuals. Some of these individuals are
already mentioned in the general narrative, and in such instances
these separate narratives continue the record where we left off. Then
there are some not mentioned in the general record but who belong by
every right of circumstance to this Norse immigrant group and whose
separate chronicles are of special interest and importance in view of
our general purpose. This purpose, as already stated, is to hand down
to the sons and daughters of the Norse pioneer immigrants a picture of
the men and women who faced primitive nature in this part of the new
continent and tamed it, causing the wilderness to bloom into the
present prosperous, beautiful land.
A DAUGHTER SETTLEMENT
(Narrated in part by H.B. Reese)
It was a winter day of 1902 that Father said to me, "I have had a
letter from Halvor Hevle today. He wants to sell his land," he added.
"Yes, I suppose he will have no use for that now, seeing he has moved
away", I replied, and dismissed the matter from my mind. After a
pause, Father said, "I thought you might buy it." I smiled at what
seemed an absurd suggestion, for I had about a quarter of a dollar of
money about me just then and no immediate outlook for ready money. I
also knew that Father had none to lend me. So I replied: "He will have
to sell his farm without money and without pay if I am to buy it."
Father thought for some time and finally added: "Hevle asks $1,000.00
for his land (¼ Sec.) and half of it cash. You can get a loan of
$500.00 on it and he will be willing to take a second mortgage on the
land for the balance."
Thus having nothing to risk in the deal, and moreover the idea of
owning a farm of my very own kindling my ambition and appealing to my
imagination, I readily agreed and the deal was made.
There was a fairly good dug-out on the place built up of stone and
with a sod roof and board floor. The stable was of the usual kind,
straw, with a little framework of rails and posts to support the roof
and walls. But the layout seemed good to me because it was my own and
the first home founded by myself.
I bought a team and broke some ground that summer, living at the old
homestead one mile south. The next spring, however, I married a wife
who consented to share the humble dwelling with me, and it became my
home. Her maiden name was Hanna Bjorlo.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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