Betuel Herigstad, the son of Baar and Karen Herigstad, was born on a farm on Jaederen, near Sandness, Norway in 1852.
He married, in 1878, Inger Thu, whose parents Omon and Margaret Thu, lived on a farm in the vicinity. Omon, besides being a farmer, was also a layman preacher.
Betuel never lost his desire to live in America. Therefore when his merchandise enterprise into which he had entered at Byrne, Norway proved less than profitable, he took that as an excuse to dispose of it in order that he might make arrangements to migrate to America.
Whatever knowledge of the English language he had acquired during his three years stay in America came him in good stead when he helped organize a group of relatives and friends who, because of the adverse economic situation in Norway and for other reasons, wanted to go to America.
On April 10, 1881 the group left Stavanger, Norway. After a few days in England they left Liverpool on April 18 and after an eventful voyage across the Atlantic arrived in New York, via St. John Newfoundland on May 20. From New York they journeyed by train to Chicago, to St. Paul and on to Granite Falls where some friends had already established residence. With Christ Aarestad, who had farmed a few years in Minnesota, as their leader, the men set out for North Dakota by train as far as Fargo. Having been informed that there was suitable land about 30 or 40 miles north of Valley City along the Sheyenne River, they headed in that direction with their oxen teams. On June 12, 1881 they landed in what is now Sverdrop Township. In the group besides Christ Aarestad, were Ola Westley, Omon Westley, Knut Haaland, Betuel Herigstad, Karl Herigstad, Waldemar Klubben, Sven Loge and Sven Lunde. On the way the group was joined by Martin Ueland who had lived in Minneapolis. The women and children had been left in Granite Falls for the time being.
As did most of the early settlers, Betuel built a sod house as a temporary abode to be used until a log house could be erected. The logs were hewed from trees by the Sheyenne River some four or five miles distant and hauled by a team of oxen.
Because of the tall growth of grass all over the prairie there was a constant danger of a "prairie fire" when the grass was dry. Once started the fire could spread at a rapid pace, especially if urged on by a strong wind, and would consume everything in its path. To prevent the raging fire from reaching the farm buildings the grass around them would be burned off, ahead of time, by a "back fire" with the hope that the big fire would not jump the burned off space.
During those first years in America the Herigstad family had experiences and suffered hardship common to the other early settlers. The winters were very cold. The fuel was mostly wood hauled from the Sheyenne River. Their provisions had to be brought from Valley City by oxen team and sometimes even by foot. That situation was somewhat alleviated by the extension of the Sanborn branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad as far north as Cooperstown.
Descendants of Betuel and Inger Herigstad.
KAREN, born 1880. Died 1960. Married O. B. Westley 1905. Their children:
ARLA, born 1906. Married Russell Wright 1931. Their children:
Doris, James and Dorothy. IRENE, born 1907. Married Theron Young 1927. Their children:
Charles, Majorie, Susan and John. CYRUS, born 1909. Married Madeleine Bertoglio circa 1942. Their child:
Randon. ROY, born 1910. Married Virginia Upchurch 1934. Their children:
David and Ruth. Married Lucille Anderson circa 1951 (second marriage). GEORGE, born 1914. Died 1915. JOHN ORION, born 1916. Died 1941. ELLA MARIE, born 1918. Married Allen Tichnar 1947. Their children:
Peter, Mark, Sam and Kaaren. RUBY, born 1919. Married Charles Sites 1949. Their children:
John, Charles, Robert Alan and Karen Frances. HOWARD, born 1921. Married Dorothy Dugan 1944. IRA, born 1923. Married Nancy Aspenwald 1941. Their children:
Barbara, Karen, Katherine, Susan, Kenneth, Lee Ann and Caroline (dec.). ROBERT, born 1925. Married Olive Clippinger 1949. Their children:
Sandra, Sherri and Paul. ESTHER MAVIS, born 1926. Married Warren Brogie 1946. Their children:
Warren Jr., William and Barbara.
BARD, born 1881. Died 1969.
MARGARET, born 1883. Died 1915.
OMON (OB) born 1885, died 1951. Married Fern Prescott 1913. Their children:
JEAN, married Kenneth Pringle. Their children:
Pricilla, married Donn Wells. Their children:
Kevin and Marisa. Roger, married Sylvia Dunnell. Their children:
Jonathan, Chad and Todd. ROGER, married Harriet Shigley. Their children:
Susan, married Jack Wylie. Their children:
Steven, David and Lisa. James, married Kittie Isaakson. Their child:
Kathrine. ELAINE, married Mark Purdy. Their children:
Diane, married Robert Vanlaningham. Their child:
Jefrey. Michael. LUCILLE, married Leo Broyles. Their children:
Becky, married Robert Weiss. Their children:
Christie and Amy Lee. Dan, married Rita McFarlan. Their child:
Jeromy.
INGA, born 1887. Married Christ Wuflestad 1927.
CONRAD, born 1889. Married Ruth Josephson 1921. Their children:
DOROTHY, born 1922. Married Larry Whitaker 1944. Their children:
Kent, Jeanne, Brian and Bruce. ARDIS, born 1926. Married Arland Steenerson 1950. Their children:
Claire, married Marcus Gettie. One child. Wendy, married Allen Hoots. One child. JoAnn, born 1928. Married Earl McCintock. Their children:
Katherine and Barbara. Married Helmut Albrecht 1967 (second marriage). PHYLIS, born 1930. Married Robert Hess 1958. Their children:
Robert, Paul, Eileen and Nancy. Conrad married Alice Ashland Sund 1958 (second marriage).
EMIL, born 1891. Died 1974.
HENRY, born 1894. Married Evelyn Josephson 1920. Their children:
MARIAN, born 1922. Married Martin Jensen 1947. Their children:
John, married Lois Huffman 1973. David, Mark and Joel. BERT, born 1927. Married Barbara Yuill 1949. Their children:
Camille, married Daniel Binder. Bert Russell and Chris Eric. LENORE, born 1931. Married Frank Lusson 1963. Their children:
Joseph Franklin and Jean Frances.
THEODORE, born 1896. Died 1912.
LYDIA, born 1899.
SYLVIA, born 1904. Died 1971.
Two girls born around the turn of the century died in infancy.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 428