Martin Stenslie

Martin L. Stenslie was born March 30, 1870 to Mr. and Mrs. Lars Stenslie near Decorah, Iowa.  He was the oldest of twelve children.  At the early age of 1 1/2 years, he and his parents moved into North Dakota, settling at what is now Fargo where they lived for nine years.  They settled there before the railroad was built, which he remembered.  One of his brothers passed away while living there.  He was buried at Fargo.  From there they moved to and homesteaded on a farm about three and one-half miles west of McVille where he grew to manhood, which was rather young those days, he said. 

He started doing a man's job when he was twelve years old.  He told about how they used to walk to Lakota, the nearest town, for a few groceries consisting of staples needed, such as sugar, salt, coffee, and flour.  McVille and Pekin had not been started yet.  Later, when they could purchase horses, they drove, so they could take more supplies. 

As a young man he worked as a lumberjack in the woods of northern Minnesota.  Coming back to North Dakota, he ran a threshing machine several harvests as far west as Church's Ferry and Cando so he was quite well acquainted in that area. 

In 1905, he married Johanne Klinge, a maiden from Tronhjem, Norway.  They lived the first few years in eastern Eddy County.  While here, a son, Loyd Stenslie (deceased in 1974), and a daughter, Bella Stenslie (Mrs. Anton Idland of McHenry), were born to them.  From there they moved to a farm in Griggs County where Clarence Quam now lives.  Here another son, Mencher Stenslie, now of Kensal and another daughter, Margrethe Stenslie (Mrs. Anton Haugland of Hamar), were born. 

A brother, Elem Stenslie, had homesteaded a few miles southwest from them and as he was in ill health Dad took over his place.  This farm is located in the very western edge of Rosendahl Township (where Floyd Bjornson is now living).  Here he and his family lived for many years.  His wife passed away April 21, 1938.  He did not farm much longer.  Son Mencher Stenslie took over the farm and Dad retired. 

He passed away in the fall of 1955 - the oldest one of ten brothers and one sister, outliving them all.  He has eleven grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren.

During his lifetime he had many hard, exciting, and scary experiences - like the time in the fall of 1922 when four robbers with one hostage came to the farm.  They had robbed a bank at Devils Lake and were making their getaway through the hills and in out of the way country where we lived. 

Their car had stalled near the Ole Danielson farm in Nelson County near the Griggs County line.  These five men, then, walked across the hills going southwest to get in the area where there were no telephones to report their whereabouts.  (A neighbor, Mrs. John Nelson, saw them and thought they were Bolsheviks!)  They didn't like the snow either, the first snow of the season, as they could be tracked too easily. 

They came to our place and asked for something to eat - they were tired and hungry.  Mother was making dinner.  She also was making baking powder biscuits (one of my dad's favorites).  One of the men made the remark that, "It smells like what Mother used to make."  They said they were hunters but they had only one shotgun.  Dad was very suspicious that they weren't what they said they were.  He told them, "If you're hunters, how come you've only got one shotgun?"  He asked them several questions, which they couldn't answer to his satisfaction.  He told Mom that these men were bank robbers, which made her very nervous.  He wanted her to get out of the house, as he knew what might happen - they could use her as a hostage for their protection.  He also sent Loyd on errands outside to get him out of the house. 

This happened many times, so the guard at the door said to Loyd (calling him "Skinny"), ''What are you running in and out for?"  The guard at the door was watching for any lawmen or whoever might be tracking them.  Before they had a chance to eat, the sheriff from Lakota and several other men with him came, which changed the scene in a hurry.  They had plenty of guns hidden in their clothing (revolvers).  They also took Dad's shotgun, which was standing in a corner of the kitchen at the time.  Dad had to walk in front of them as they went out of the house.  By this time, there were a lot of men hiding here and there, behind buildings, with shotguns.  The robbers said, "If any man shoots at us we'll drop this man" (meaning Dad).  Mother heard this and ran behind the house to a couple of men there to hold their fire. 

She went back in the house and watched the whole scene through a window in the entry.  Dad was hit by a stray bullet or bullets so he dropped to the ground like he was shot.  The robbers, thinking he had been killed, left him saying, "We've dropped one man."  He laid with his face in the snow and hardly dared move.  He knew he was in the wheel track if they should take a notion to drive out, so he inched his way out of the driveway.  His dad, Lars Stenslie, was staying with Dad at the time.  He was forced to go into a car but he sneaked out and ran to the barn the first chance he had.  A stray bullcet hit him in the middle of his forehead.  Loyd was watching all these goings on from an upstairs window in the barn.  Seeing Dad laying as if dead wasn't the easiest moment for him. 

Bella ran to the neighbor while bullets whizzed around her.  To this day she doesn't know if she jumped the fence gate or crawled under, she was so afraid!  Finally the robbers took one of the neighbors' new cars and left.  They were caught farther down the line.  Dad had several bullets (B. B. 's) that had to be removed.  Mencher and myself were at school while all this was happening.  We did hear some shooting but didn't realize what it was.  Dad stopped at the schoolhouse on his way to Binford to see Dr. Truscott.  It was a scary event that was not easily forgotten and a topic that was discussed for weeks afterwards.

In the summer of 1950, in June, Fargo celebrated its Diamond Jubilee.  Martin Stenslie, being an early settler, had special honors.  He received free admittance to the festivities.  A scroll and a Schafer pen and pencil set with his name engraved as a momento of the occasion were given him.  He was 80 years old at the time.  His picture was in the Forum several times.  He also met some of the dignitaries at the Jubilee.  He was the first to register.

Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 418