Gjermund Wooland was born near Stavanger, Norway, in 1831 and immigrated to America in 1870. Elizabeth Eilertsen was born near Stavanger, Norway, in 1850 and immigrated to America in 1872. They both located in Chicago, Illinois, and were married there in 1875. Together with their daughter, Anne Serene, born in 1876, and their son, John, born in April of 1878, they arrived in Valley City, Dakota Territory, late in the summer of 1878. They lived in town for a time in a home located on the lot where the Cass County Electric building now stands. In 1880 they homesteaded in Section 18 in Cuba Township with requirements for ownership being completed in February of 1885. For several years they also continued to maintain their home in Valley City with part of the family often living in town for the purpose of attending school. Six more children were born to this family - Edward in 1879, Bessie in 1881, Gunwald Theodore in 1884, Ella in 1885, Theresa in 1889, and Emma in 1891. Mr. Wooland died in 1907 and Mrs. Wooland in 1926.
Anne married R. B. Monson in 1897 and lived near Litchville until her death in 1942.
John continued to live on the home farm until his death in 1937.
Edward died in 1904 after having attended Valley City Normal School in preparation for teaching.
Bessie married Gust Collins in 1919 and lived on a farm south of Valley City until her death in 1932.
Gunwald Theodore lived on the home farm until 1949 when, because of poor health, he moved in to Valley City. He lived for many years at the Char-Mac Hotel one block from the place of his birth. He died in 1971.
Ella attended the Valley City Normal School and taught for only one year before her death in 1906.
Theresa attended the Valley City Normal School and taught in Barnes County rural schools for a number of years. In 1916 she married John Gartland and lived on a farm south of Valley City until her death in 1965.
Emma also attended the Valley City Normal School. She graduated in 1918 and taught in several North Dakota schools. She married Oscar Anderson in 1926 and lived on a farm in Cuba Township until 1952 when they moved in to Valley City. Emma, who at this writing is 84 years of age, has been a widow since 1953. She continues to make her home in Valley City.
Most of the land that made up the Wooland farm now has become part of adjoining farms. We stopped at the farm site a short while back and stood in a field of wheat in swath on the very spot where the house once stood. The grove of trees still stands to the north and the misshapen tower of the old windmill still reaches skyward in the pasture to the east, but only in memory could we see the tall grass waving in the wind in the meadow that was north of the house and only in memory could we hear the wind whistling through the screens of the kitchen porch . . . only in memory . . . and then the memories, too, like shadows, slipped and faded into the past.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 274