Axel Formo was born December 16, 1897 near Granite Falls, Minnesota. As he grew up he enjoyed fishing, trapping and hunting there. In 1916 his parents bought a farm in North Dakota. The land prices were cheaper here than in Minnesota, and they were told that there was no fishing or hunting in North Dakota, so they gave away their pet hunting dog. In the fall of 1916 the family, his parents, one brother and three sisters, moved to Rosebud Township, Section 10, in Barnes County.
Axel and his cousin accompanied the box car on the railroad with horses, cattle and other farm equipment. He often told of spending his first night in North Dakota, in a box car as they had to wait over-night till the Casselton branch train could pick up their car. The rest of the family drove by car and found the roads very poor. They found it a great change to the wide open spaces. The boys helped their father on the farm. They were happy to find hunting and trapping plentiful here at that time. They would trap fox, hunt rabbits in winter and go ice fishing on the Jim River. Prairie chicken and pheasant hunting was plentiful. He loved animals and nature and enjoyed the "North Dakota Outdoors" magazine and saved all the copies as he said in time they would be history. He did not like to see hunting by airplanes. Axel was a self-educated man.
He enjoyed history and was a member of the National Historical Society. He often said there should be a history book of Barnes County as we have had two North Dakota Governors from our county. He and his brother started farming by renting some land, later in the summer of 1935 he bought the Northwest of Section 26, Rosebud Township, Barnes County. September 25, 1935 he married Jennie Van Bruggen. She was born in Holland, April 25, 1904. In 1906 she came to Litchville, North Dakota, with her parents, two brothers and three sisters. The family rented farms in this community. They rented a Giebink farm before buying the Charles Olson farm. Axel and Jennie have two sons, Jack and Laurence and seven grandchildren. Jack and Dianna have two children, Mark and Teresa; Laurence and Karen have five children - Barbara, Duane, Lori, Brenda and Cynthia. In 1945 they bought the Southeast of Section 23 in Rosebud Twp.; in 1949 they bought Southwest of Section 23 and in 1952 they bought the Northeast of Section 26, thus they have one section of land with the highway between the half sections. Axel enjoyed farming and retired in 1963, renting the farm to his sons. They still operate the farm besides their own land that they have bought in Rosebud Township. He continued to live on the farm till the time of his death June 8, 1975.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 73