Charlie Morgan Kiser, son of James and Lucinda Minear Kiser, was born on February 26, 1872 in Wabash, Indiana. His parents belonged to the Pennsylvania Dutch and they had moved to Indiana from Pennsylvania before marriage. Charlie's Dad fought with the North during the Civil War. Charlie was one of 14 children, all raised around Wabash, Ind. He attended school there and went through the eighth grade; a good education at that time. He belonged to what was known as the Dunkard faith as a boy and later went to the Methodist faith.
Mabel Eva Burgess was born October 14, 1879 in Naperville, Illinois. The daughter of William and Elizabeth Thompson Burgess. Her parents came directly from England. She also was one of a family of 14 children. She belonged to the Methodist faith and was educated around Naperville, She got her teacher's certificate or diploma in November of 1898, but her parents moved to Indiana at that time so never used it.
On February 21 , 1900 Charlie and Mabel were married in Indiana and to this union six sons and three daughters were born. Ethel Mae, John Wesley, Leo Murray, Everett Earl, Hazel Iva, Orla Alfred, Ida Adeline, Clinton Dean and Wayne Merrell. They had 38 grandchildren. All were born in Indiana except Dean at McHenry, North Dakota, and Wayne at Valley City, North Dakota.
They spent the first eleven years around Wabash, Ind., and in 1911 moved to Hayward, Wisconsin. Charlie worked in the lumber camps there besides doing a small amount of farming. It was hard to raise a large family on so little income so in 1913 Charlie came to North Dakota, looking for a job. He landed in Valley City and got a job in the harvest field around Dazey, North Dakota, working for Fred Lang. Sam Blank owned this farm at the time and he and James Grady were in business together in Valley City. After harvest Grady rented Charlie a farm at McHenry, North Dakota, so he went back to Wisconsin and moved his family to North Dakota. They lived there two years and in April 1916, Grady moved them to his farm eight miles southwest of Valley City in Barnes County, known as the old Judge Green farm. Green township had been named after him. They moved from McHenry by horse and wagons with the family coming by train. It was quite an ordeal to start on an 800 acre farm without too much experience, but with Mabel's good help and the oldest boys working hard they made it through the tough years and the family all grew up on this farm. The children all got their education in the Green Consolidated School (a four year high school and eight grades). Many happy years were spent on this farm and many hardships were encountered. Both Mabel and Charlie lived the rest of their lives on this Barnes County farm. Charlie passed away August 19, 1944 and Mabel passed away February 12, 1956. They are buried in Woodbine Cemetery at Valley City.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 124