Peter Gartland and his wife, Olea, together with their family of four children emigrated from Norway, landed at Port Huron, Michigan, and arrived in Valley City, Dakota Territory, in July of 1882. All had been born near Trondheim, Norway - Peter in 1832 and Olea in 1845. The oldest daughter, Alice, was born in 1866. Twin daughters, Bertha and Isabelle ' were born in 1877, and a son, John, in 1881. They lived for a time in Valley City in a home located on what is now the 300 block of Seventh Avenue, Northeast In 1888 they moved out to a homestead in Section 28 of Marsh Township. Mr. Gartland
John Wooland died in 1902, and Mrs. Gartland in 1932.
Alice married George Patterson. Isabelle married Ole Jensen in 1915, Ole died in 1949 and Isabelle died in 1957. Two children were born to this family -Alice in 1916 and Olaf in 1919. Alice married Bert Jenson of Reynolds, North Dakota, in 1955. Olaf married Evelyn Rager in 1952.
Bertha homesteaded in her own right an additional eighty acres in Section 28 of Marsh Township on the west side of the Sheyenne River. She continued to live on the home farm "working out" from time to time in the earlier years to serve others in need of help. She died in 1955.
After his father's death in 1902, John continued to farm the original homestead as well as additional acres which he had acquired. He married Theresa Wooland in December of 1916. Four children were born to this family: Goodwin in 1917, Evelyn in 1920, Thelma in 1923 and Viola in 1928. John served for many years on the board of King School Dist. #3 and as treasurer of the Marsh Township Board. He died in 1961. Theresa was a faithful worker in the First Lutheran Church of Valley City and a loving and kind neighbor to all. She died in 1965.
Goodwin continues to farm on the original farm site. He married Evelyn Gassmann in 1954. For more than thirty years he has served as assessor for Marsh Township.
Evelyn attended Valley City Teachers College and taught for twenty-five years in various North Dakota schools, eight of which were in LaMoure and eleven in Dickinson. Thelma also attended college in Valley City and was employed in Minneapolis for twenty years, first at Minneapolis Honeywell and later at the Lutheran Bible Institute. Both are now living in the old home on the Gartland farm. Thelma is serving as secretary at the First Lutheran Church in Valley City.
Viola graduated from Valley City State Teachers College in 1950 and taught in Crosby and Courtenay before marrying Richard Hovis, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Crosby in 1952. They lived in Crosby until 1957, in Cavalier until 1965, and now reside in Schuyler, Nebraska, where Richard continues to serve as pastor of the Presbyterian Church there. They have three sons - David born in 1955; Philip born in 1957 and John born in 1959.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 78