The urge to move on in quest of better surroundings for themselves and their children has always been a characteristic of the Scandinavian race. In the Viking Age they traveled Eastward to Russia, Southward to England and France and Westward to Greenland, Iceland and "Vineland.
Again during the Middle of the 19th Century, great numbers migrated from the Motherland to the North Central Section of the United States. Among these were Andreas and Karen Maria Johnson, who sailed from their home in Porsgrund, near Oslo, Norway, in 1850 westward towards the setting sun. After long weeks on a sailing vessel and an arduous journey overland, they finally settled near Muskego, Wisconsin, where Andreas Johnson supplemented their farm income by helping his neighbors build their houses and barns. Here in 1854 was born Ingeborg Maria, one of eight children, four boys and four girls. Here Ingeborg spent her early youth, being baptized in the small log church which was the first Norwegian Lutheran Church in America.
The urge to travel was still strong in the mind of Andreas Johnson so he moved westward again, this time settling near Northfield, Minnesota where the family lived happily in spite of occasional raids by Indians and outlaws. The Indian up-rising during the Civil War, and the Jesse James' and Younger Brothers' Raid on Northfield were vivid memories.
On the 5th day of June, 1874 another milestone in the life of Ingeborg Johnson was passed as on that date she became the wife of Even Olsen who had come to this country as a boy and who within a short time had taught himself to speak, read and write the English language, doing this at the same time that he was acquiring a home and a piece of land.
In 1883 he with his wife, two daughters, Karen M. and Aneta A. and son, Oliver E. unloaded their immigrant car at Sanborn, North Dakota and from there drove north some 30 miles to the new home.
The homestead was situated near the Indian trail that ran from Sisseton, South Dakota north to Fort Totten. The Red man like his White brother enjoys visiting. During the summer months, it was a common sight to see a procession of Indians with their dogs, ponies and papooses pass by. On many occasions, the Indians were fed. This courtesy was often returned as the Indians brought back prairie chickens, venison and even gophers. "You no like 'm" was the puzzled exclamation voiced by an old chief when dead gophers were not accepted.
Meanwhile the family grew until it included three girls and five boys. The oldest girl Karen M. became Mrs. Nels Markuson, Aneta A. , Mrs. R. E. Leiser, Oliver E. , Alfred C. was one of the first children born in Griggs County, Sydney T. , Edgar I. , Chester W. and Ruth M. , Mrs. R. H. Wilhan, made up the family.
Work increased as not only were the children to be fed and clothed ' but they also had to receive the best possible education that limited finances permitted. The oldest girl was one of the first students at the Valley City Normal School and one of the first teachers in the county. She was the only one whose death preceded her mother's. The rest of the children also received some education other than that afforded by the local schools. Not only were the children taught English but they also had to learn the rudiments of the Mother Tongue, this so that they could be confirmed in the faith of their fathers which always has emphasized the importance of education. this to the extent that in the Motherland, only those mentally incapable were illiterate. Vivid memories in the minds of all the children was Mother teaching them to read their A-B-C's while at the same time she knitted the seemingly endless requirements of stockings and mittens.
A life of work and a life of service:
Work to provide food and clothing, service to the church, to the school and to the neighbors. Pennies were saved - not for things for one's self, but to be used to support the church, the school and to help the unfortunate neighbor. Much of the service was personal. What can be more personal than the day or night long attendance at the bedside of a neighbor's wife, coming back to a house full of work, with the news of a new baby at the Larsons or the Pattersons.
A Pioneer's life is a hard life - only the exceptionally strong are granted the full three score year and ten. Ingeborg Olsen lived a full life, although short in time as she died on January 26, 1912 at the age of 57. She lies where she wanted to - in a small prairie cemetery only a stones' throw from her first small home in Dakota. Even Olsen died in 1920. He had been born in 1843.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 154