George Higgins came to Griggs County from Zimmerman, Minnesota in 1903 at the age of 16 years. He was one of four children. The rest of the family remained in Minnesota Traveling with a group of horse traders, he stopped off in Hannaford and went to work for Boyd Knapp, father of George and Clay Knapp, on his farm west of Hannaford. He worked for the Knapps about five years and then went farming for himself, across the road south of what is known as the Alfred Retzlaff farm.
Anna May Jones came to Griggs County in 1899 from Sparta, Wisconsin with her parents Mr. and Mrs. S. R. (STEPHEN AND FLORA) Jones and two older brothers, Henry and Thomas. She was 8 years old and had long curls, but the Dakota wind tangled them so her hair was soon put in braids. The family also brought Mrs. Jones mother, Mary Wheeler, a widow. She was born in New York State and had moved to Walworth County, Wisconsin as a baby with her parents and two older sisters, in a covered wagon. She had lived in Wisconsin until coming to North Dakota with the family. The Joneses settled on a farm about five miles west of Hannaford in Bartley Township Section 9.
S. R. Jones had a brother, TOM JONES, that came to Cooperstown in 1897 and farmed east of town on what was known as the Newell farm. In 1905 he purchased the Model Meat Market, which was on the street the theatre is on. He lived on or near the Glen Dyson farm. He died in 1909 and his wife Margaret moved back to Lake Crystal, Minnesota where her family lived.
The Jones family only lived west of Hannaford a few years and then moved 91/2 miles west of Cooperstown in Clearfield Township Section 21 on the slough, which is still known as the Jones Slough (or Lake).
Mrs. S. R. (Flora) Jones died in 1908. Soon after that Henry moved to Gull Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada where he took a claim. He remained there and married Minnie Becker. They raised seven children. Later S. R. Jones moved to Canada and made his home with Henry and his family. TOM JONES married Blanche Flick in 1914 and lived on the farm by the Jones Slough for several years. They had four children.
George Higgins and Anna Jones were married March 6, 1912 in Cooperstown at the Methodist Parsonage. George was then still on the farm across the road from the Alfred Retzlaff farm. At that time the William Jungles family were their neighbors. Later Mr. and Mrs. Matt Bendickson moved there. Mrs. Bendickson had just recently come from Norway and spoke very little English, so needless to say a lot of the ladies visiting was done with hand motions.
In the spring of 1917 George went to Malta, Montana and took a claim. Anna stayed with her brother Tom and his wife Blanche while he was gone. He didn't like Montana, so he returned in the fall and they moved 71/2 miles north of Jessie, on the Lewis Berg farm in Pilot Mound Township.
Their daughter Flora was born there. She started school in the Boyer school, her first teacher was Henry Beck and the other first graders were Mildred Cunningham and Nels Nelson. The next two years her teacher was Mildred (Alfson) Nelson.
In February 1926 George and Anna Higgins moved to a farm 6 miles west of Cooperstown that they rented from Hammer and Condy. After the depression in the late thirties, they bought the farm and lived there until they retired and moved to Cooperstown in 1966.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 259