The World Dictionary describes a pioneer as a person who settled in a part of the country that has not been occupied before except by primitive tribes, and as a person who goes first or does something first, and so prepares the way for others.
In the late 1800s, before Dakota Territory became a state, the eastern end of Foster County began to settle. The "pioneers" were coming to stake their claims, plant tree claims and "prove up" their land in the area that is now Glenfield Township and the city of Glenfield. They came from Norway, Sweden, Iowa, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, and settled on the treeless, windswept barren prairie. With the "pioneers" came the first post office.
List of old settlers and time of arrival:
William Bradford, April 1, 1885
John Bradford, April 1, 1885
Herman Johnson, 1886
Anton Johnson, July 15, 1886
Gustof Johnson, July 15, 1886
Carl Erickson, June 1, 1886
John Anderson, July 5, 1886
Thomas Hoggarth, 1887
Edward G. Johnson, E. Torgerson, March 28, 1889
Hiram Bond, T. Bradford, April 1, 1885
Martin McWethy, April 6, 1878
Charles Thompson, June 9, 1888
Charles Hendrickson
John Johnson
T. E. Thompson
B. Ryum.
Source: Glenfield History 1886 €“ 1987 Page 2