Amanda Swingen was born in Lake Mills, Iowa on April 17, 1894, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Swingen. After graduation from the Lake Mills High School in 1913, Amanda went to North Dakota to join her oldest brother Henry, who had previously come to Hannaford. After attending the Valley City Normal School, Amanda was hired as teacher at the Curtis School in Karnak, North Dakota. From there she went to the Revere School, Revere, North Dakota. Here she met Ludvig Larson, who she married on February 14, 1918 at Minot, North Dakota. They lived above the general store, which Ludvig operated in Revere.
Ludvig entered the service during the late summer, and by October 1918 he contracted influenza at Camp Grant, Illinois and died, leaving Amanda a widow who was expecting a child. She gave birth to a daughter, Helen Lucille on January 22, 1919, and shortly thereafter she and the child moved to Hannaford, residing in the upstairs of Andrew Fortney's house.
In 1924 Amanda purchased the Aarestad home, where she and Lucille lived until Lucille graduated from the Hannaford High School in 1936. They then moved to Moorhead, Minnesota so that Lucille could go to Concordia College. After Lucille graduated in 1940 she taught home economics at Annandale, Minnesota and Anoka, Minnesota. Amanda stayed on in Moorhead until 1945 when she moved back to Hannaford and again set up residence in her house there.
In 1942 Amanda had begun to notice difficulty with walking, and by 1943 it was diagnosed as peripheral neuritis at Rochester Clinic. During her last years she endured many trips to the hospital and got around only with the aid of a walker. Her sister Julia Holte lived with her and cared for her. On December 17, 1954 Amanda died at the age of 60 years. Her daughter Lucille married Warren Gale Forslund on October 4, 1953 and their home is in Arden Hills, Minnesota. Warren works with the Health-Science Planning Unit at the University of Minnesota and Lucille teaches home economics to retarded children at the Child Development Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 146