Born December 8, 1852, Hans Hanson migrated to Chicago in 1878. Hearing of the opportunities awaiting in Barnes County, he moved to Valley City in 1878.
The Walker Mill was being built on the Sheyenne River and Hans found work building the mill dam. He later was employed by James Sorenson building the dam for the Sorenson Mill, later known as the Walker Mill. Lumber for the Sorenson mill was floated down the Sheyenne River and Hans was engaged in this work. It took seven days to float the lumber from Valley City to the location of the dam, some 14 miles as the crow flies.
He then homesteaded the South one half of Section 2, Oak Hill Township and on March 24, 1883 he married Annette Bjerke, daughter of Christian and Christine Bjerke who, with her family and her uncles, Hans, Ole, and Carl had homesteaded in the Daily area. Annette had come to the Valley with a party from Rushford, Minnesota and had walked the nearly 300 miles herding 32 cattle for the party at $3.00 per head.
Wages were very low in those days. Girls worked as hired help on the farm for 504D per week. Prices were also low; calico was 50 per yard, shoes were $1.00 per pair and kittens sold for $1.00 each for mousers in the farm homes. Annette, however, was employed as a cook in the Parker House in Valley City for $1.00 per day.
Upon her marriage to Hans Hanson, Annette became a farmer's wife and a leader in church and social life of the Sheyenne community. She was the first to host the Ladies Aid of the Sheyenne Valley Lutheran Church and was elected its President. She was always available as a nurse to those ill and served as a sort of mid-wife in the cases of childbirth.
To the union of Hans and Annette were born three sons and two daughters: Lauritis Bertenius (Louie), born January 1, 1885; Clara Christine, born December 3, 1886; Carl Henry, born April 3, 1890; Hannah, born March 28, 1892 and Myron Melvin, born May 17, 1897.
Louie married but had no children. He was for a time a deputy sheriff under Hans Stenshoel and James Kelly. Clara married James Thoreson in 1910 and later became a well-known poultry judge. Carl was a veteran of World War I and is now a resident in the Soldiers Home in Lisbon. Myron married Sallie Bjerke. Hannah, always with a desire to become a nurse, graduated from the St. Lukes School of Nursing on October 8, 1913. She married Envik Rodlend in 1915. They have one son, Erling, now living in Ceour de Alene, Idaho.
Envik Rodlend became ill and after a long fight passed away January 18, 1955. Hannah then sold the farm and returned to the nursing profession, working at Fargo, Webster, South Dakota, Portland, Oregon and locally for many years. She is now retired and lives at 252 -3rd St. Southeast in Valley City.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 92