Arne Meldahl

Arne Meldahl, born May 6, 1855 in Norway, came to the United States about 1880, coming to Minnesota first. Here he met and married Aletta Johnson on March 6, 1882, and the couple came to Valley City immediately. They homesteaded east of town but ran a boarding house in town at the same time.

About 1890 Arne and Aletta moved to Green Township where his mother, Martha, joined them. Arne and Aletta had eleven children, ten daughters and one son as follows:

  1. Edna (1883), married Lars Kjelland;

  2. Anna (1885) married Rev. John Reitan;

  3. Minnie married Peter Bong;

  4. Amelia married Fred Anderson;

  5. Thora married Krist Knudson;

  6. Anita married Ralph Vaughn;

  7. Alma,

  8. Esther and

  9. Hilda all passed away while very young.

  10. Alvin, the son, moved to Valley City in 1947. He married Pauline Cameron and they have four children: Dick, Joy, Dawn and Cheryl. All are married.

  11. Ruth Meldahl, the youngest of Arne's children, married Richard Fehrmann.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 155