Mr. and Mrs. Sever Odegaard

Mr. and Mrs. Sever Odegaard and their children, Albert, Erik, Aagot and Bertha, started out from Rice County, Minnesota in 1882 with two oxen pulling the covered wagon.  They were in a company with several other families.  It was a long, slow journey.  taking them most of the summer to get to the Sheyenne River.  They homesteaded on the NE quarter of Section 18 in Lenora Township.  They built a log house before winter set in.

Aagot Odegaard married Peter Christenson.  They settled on a quarter by the river near McVille.

Albert Odegaard homesteaded the NW quarter in Section 18 of Lenora Township.

Erik died when he was still a young man.

Bertha Odegaard married Ole Olsgard in 1900 and moved to Spring Grove, Minnesota.  They farmed on his home place until 1905.  They then moved to Binford and bought the SE quarter of Section 17 in Addie Township.  He built his own house and barn.  They lived there until 1912 when they bought the SW quarter of Section 16 in Addie Township.  They hired carpenters and built a house and farm buildings.  They moved in that fall.  This farm is still owned by members of the Olsgard family.

While working in a straw-stack in December 1919, Ole Olsgard died of suffocation when covered by a snowslide.  Mrs. Olsgard died in 1943.

Mr. and Mrs. Olsgard had eight children: 

  1. Mrs. Herbert (Lillian) Johnson, Fargo, North Dakota
  2. Mrs. Peter (Tinka) Lee, Reynolds, North Dakota
  3. Oren Olsgard (deceased)
  4. Selven Olsgard (deceased)
  5. Mrs. James (Bertha) Foss, Alexandria, Minnesota
  6. Ole Olsgard, Fargo, North Dakota
  7. Albert Olsgard, Binford, North Dakota
  8. Viola Olsgard, Grand Forks, North Dakota

Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 page 184