Jonas Watne was born September 19, 1827, in Sandnes, Norway. He was married March 18, 1857, in Sandnes, Norway, in the Höiland Church to Jorgine Larson Sandeid. She was born September 26, 1834, in Sandeid, Norway. To this union twelve children were born.
Jonas was a fisherman, and with his fishing fleet he visited many parts of the world. He had a fish house in Karmoi where they smoked, salted, and dried the fish depending on the kind and season. He also went on whaling trips.
During the Civil War, he and a brother were in the United States. It was then he decided to some day immigrate to America.
The steamer they came on was an uncomfortable old cattle boat that had been converted to haul passengers. They docked in Hull, England, and had to wait for one week for the ship that would take them to America. Their voyage lasted for six weeks before docking at Newport News, Rhode Island. From there they traveled by train to Dakota Territory, and they arrived in Cooperstown in 1887. They spent their first year in a log cabin near the Sheyenne River where the tabernacle is now located. The neighbors, many from the Sandnes and Stavanger area in Norway, made the family feel right at home.
Jonas homesteaded a quarter Section of land in Ball Hill Township, south of Cooperstown. Several of the sons also proved up on a quarter Section of land. Buildings were erected and trees were planted. It was nothing elaborate, but comfortable and homelike.
Jonas became ill, and he passed away in 1900. Son Cornelius took over the farming, and he and Grandma lived there until Cornelius was married in 1907.
The family of Jonas Watne who came together to America are as follows:
Bertha, an older daughter, and her husband, Tonnes Vatne, came a few years earlier and settled in what is still referred to as "Vatne Dalen," the Vatne Valley, south and east of Cooperstown. Jacob and Laura arrived the year before the folks, and Wilhelm and his wife, Ane Lima, had come here before that. He became ill and died soon after the folks arrived. His widow later married Andreas Vatne.
Laura married Swen Lima, Jacob married Anna Haugen, and Maria married Nicholai Boe. Gina married C. P. Anderson, Johan married Maria Haaland, George married Cora Skanse
Lars married Sophia Helgeson, Carl married Judith Amelia Eastvold, and Cornelius married Lena Stokkeland Amundson on September 26, 1907.
Jorgina Watne passed away April 1, 1919, at the age of 85 years.
Cornelius and family left the homestead and bought the old Smith farm northeast of Cooperstown in 1913. In the fall of 1915, he moved his family to the old Herbert Church farm near Binford. They later moved southwest of Binford where they lived until 1932, when they bought the Paul Vangen farm on Lake Sibley, south of Binford where Stanley lives.
The Cornelius Watne family of eight children are:
Cornelius farmed until his illness became so acute the boys took over. He passed away May 28, 1932. Lena continued to live on the farm with son Stanley until she passed away on July 4, 1968.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 210