The recurrent flooding of the Root River on their farm near Lanesboro in Fillmore County, Minnesota led Henry and Lena Myer to join the general exodus to North Dakota. Henry came to Willow Township in the fall of 1915 to scout for a place to live. He returned to Lanesboro and in the spring of 1916, at 32, he moved his family, including Lena, 25, and three children,
Thelma, 4,
Hazel, 2, and
Howard, an infant,
by train to settle on the Anton Christianson farm.
They joined the West Prairie Lutheran Church where both were active.
Two daughters were born while they were on the Christianson place,
Burnice in 1917 and
Inez in 1918, during the great flu epidemic.
It was during the flu that Henry began having trouble with his back, which Binford's Doctor Truscott diagnosed as muscular rheumatism and which eventually crippled him.
In 1922 they moved to the Jens Thinglestad farm along North Dakota Highway 1. There
Agnes was born in 1925 and
Ruth in 1930.
Henry served as Road Boss several years as neighbors banded together to repair roads.
Despite doctor bills and the need for extra hired help because of Henry's health problems, crop failures and the depression of the dirty 30's, the family never went to bed hungry. All seven children graduated from Binford High School and all but Hazel and Howard received some training at Valley City Teachers College.
Henry passed away in 1946 and Lena in 1965.
Thelma, Mrs. J. R. Iverson, and
Ruth, Mrs. Herman Urness, live at Petersburg,
Howard at Binford,
Burnice, Mrs. Ted Becherl, at McHenry and
Agnes, Mrs. Clarence Laber, at Devils Lake, all in North Dakota.
Hazel, Mrs. Art DeVore, is in Portland, Oregon and
Inez, Mrs. Melvin Haugland, lives near Shell Lake, Wisconsin.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 499