Mabel Ronnie arrived in Hannaford on Easter Monday 1910. She had been born and raised at Mindoro, Wisconsin, the daughter of Ole and Johanna (Hanson) Ronnie, who migrated from the Lillehammer, Norway area. In company with her sister Betsy (Kjelgaard) and cousin Bertha Hanson, she stepped from the train into a blizzard. Quite a contrast to the mild spring season in Wisconsin and not the most desirable for her new Easter finery. Within a week of arriving she became employed at the Nordeng and Alm Hotel.
She often mentioned becoming homesick during her first few days in the little prairie town. However, on her first day at the hotel she heard everyone speaking Norwegian, and she knew that she would soon feel right at home.
In the summer of 1911, she married Swen Boe, a clerk at the Hannaford Mercantile Store. His parents, Nickolai and Josephine (Halvorson) Boe, had come from Stavanger, Norway, to homestead near Cooperstown. About two years later Swen and Mabel went to farming. In 1916, Swen returned to the Mercantile and they moved into the Groven house, the historic first residence built in Hannaford. Here Mabel raised their seven children who, one by one, grew up and eventually left Hannaford. After many years of renting, the house was purchased and Mabel continued to live in it until at about 80 years of age, she could no longer keep house. She left Hannaford to live in Jamestown near her youngest daughter, Eldora Christianson, who together with her husband Russell and their children, took excellent care of her until she passed away in 1976.
Seven children were born to Mabel and Swen Boe. They were Norman, Junice, Selmer, Myrtle, Orvil, Eldred and Eldora.
Norman Boe was born in March 1912. He was graduated from Hannaford High School in 1930, and went on to Jamestown College. He became employed with Oscar Will Seed Co., in Bismarck. In 1938, he was married to Martha Gunville of Bismarck. A daughter, Yvette (now Mrs. John P. Oldendorf of West St. Paul, Minnesota), was born in 1939. In 1941, Norman went into federal service as a U. S. Government Meat Inspector at St. Paul, Minnesota. This civil service employment became his life career from which he retired in 1972. A son, Craig, was born in 1947, and now lives and practices law In St. Paul.
In addition to his profession, Norman pursued a lifelong hobby of writing poetry which began with a prize poem written while he was in Hannaford grade school. His poems have been in literary publications and have earned him several national poetry awards. He served as state president of the League of Minnesota Poets for 16 years. In 1983, this league chose him to be state Poet Laureate for Minnesota (a five-year honor) and now he has lifetime recognition as Poet Laureate Emeritus. Together with his wife, Martha, he resides in West St. Paul, Minnesota.
Junice Boe was born in October 1913, on a farm known as the Stewart farm near Hannaford. She was graduated from Hannaford High School and continued to live with her mother for longer than any others of the family. She worked a while at Cooperstown and later in Bismarck. She moved to Seattle, Washington, where she was married to Robert Garross from Bismarck. Two children were born to them: Robert, Jr., and Sandra. Junice became employed with Boeing Aircraft in Seattle. After her husband Robert passed away while the children were quite young, Junice continued her employment with Boeing. She later married Earl Bolton. He has since passed away and Junice now lives in retirement near her two children in the Seattle area.
Selmer Boe (known as Sam) was born November 1914, on the Olaf Johnson (later Malmin) farm north of town. He attended school in Hannaford and is remembered as a star athlete. He was a member of the high school basketball, baseball and track teams while he was still in seventh and eighth grades. In 1930, he was clocked as having run the half mile in state record time, better than the state high school record, but his time was not officially recognized. He won many track meet events in the 100 and 220 yard dashes and the half mile.
Sam served in the Army in World War II and was among troops embattled and surrounded at Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge.
He was employed with the Great Northern Railway in Minot where he and his wife, Jean, raised four children: Twins Ray and Kay, Sammy and Gary. Later he worked in construction in Seattle, Washington, and then with the public school system in Fort Worth, Tex. He and his wife, Jean, passed away in Fort Worth. Jean in 1975, and Selmer in 1977. Their four children remain in that area.
Myrtle Boe was born February 1916, on the Jonas Ose farm near Dazey. She attended school in Hannaford and left home to work in Bismarck and later in Fargo as a drugstore clerk. From Fargo she moved to Minneapolis to work in a defense industry. She moved to Seattle, Washington, after the war and worked as a telephone operator. In Seattle she was married to H. Sterling Gladwin. They moved to Saratoga, California, where her husband followed his profession as an aeronautic research engineer. He also engaged in a hobby of designing and building custom made automobiles. Several wealthy sportsmen contracted to have the exclusive cars built for them.
Both Myrtle and her husband passed away at their home in California, he in 1976, and she in 1979. There were no children.
Orvil Boe was the first of his family to be born in the first house in Hannaford into which the family had moved in 1916. He was born in April 1917. After grade and high school he went into the Civilian Conservation Corps. From there he went into the meat and grocery business in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. He went into military service before the war in 1940, and served at Fort Benjamin Harrison as military hospital Mess Sergeant. While stationed there he was married to Muriel Ann Leff from Detroit Lakes. He served in Europe during the war and again after the war with the occupational forces and in Korea.
After 25 years of military duty he retired with the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 4, and then worked in civil service for the Department of Army for another 16 years.
In an act of kindness toward his mother, Orvil purchased the house which the family had rented for several decades. Thus the first Boe child born in the first house in town became its proprietor and permitted his mother to live there as long as she was physically able.
For their military retirement Orvil and Muriel purchased their own home in an exclusive section of Tacoma, Washington, where they enjoy the benefits of full retirement. They have no children, but are affectionately claimed Uncle and Aunt by their many nieces and nephews.
Eldred Boe, born November 1918, is remembered for his many athletic achievements. In 1937, he established an official state high school broad jump record with a leap of 21 ft. 9 1/2 inches, which remained unbroken for almost three decades. That same year he hitch-hiked from Hannaford to Bismarck for the state track meet, won the broad jump, the high jump, and placed second in pole-vault, earning 13 points and alone took second place as a team. Only Fargo with a large team of well-trained tracksters could surpass the "team" from Hannaford (that is, Eldred). With medals in hand, he hitch-hiked the 200 miles back to Hannaford. In the 1945 G. I. Olympics in Nuremberg, Germany, he won the silver medal for the broad jump. He was barely surpassed in that event by a record holding college star from the island of Jamaica.
He collected scores of medals and ribbons which were often displayed at school and community functions. These had been won instate, interstate and international meets. Among his medals was a life-saving medal awarded for rescuing a drowning man from Bald Hill Creek. He was only 13 at the time.
In baseball, he was chosen to the Junior American Legion All-State Team and All-State again as catcher for the State Champion Mandan Indians in men’s independent play. He also earned all-star honors in basketball. In 1941-42, he coached all sports at the North Dakota State Training School at Mandan.
From Mandan he went into military service and became athletic instructor in the U. S. Air Force. After assignments in Florida and Texas he went to Germany to serve until after the end of the war.
He married Teresa Kasperi and went into the grocery business to manage and own stores in Sheldon and Seattle, Washington. He passed away in Tacoma, Washington, in 1981, and his wife shortly thereafter. Their daughters, Dana Strutz and Mary Boe, and sons Danny and Gary, live in the Seattle area.
Eldora Boe, the youngest, was born in Hannaford December 1919. After high school she attended business college in Fargo. In 1943, she married Russell Christianson who was a graduate of North Dakota State University. Russell went into service as an officer in the U. S. Air Force. He was shot down and listed as missing in action over enemy territory, but was rescued from a German POW camp at wars end. During the time he was missing, their daughter Kay was born.
After the war they settled in Edgeley and later in Jamestown where Russell was employed as director with the U. S. Soil Conservation Service and Eldora with Sears & Co. Russell also served in command positions in the National Guard.
They both remain active as retirees, Russell having been state president of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) and Eldora state secretary. Also they are active in many capacities within Prisoner of War organizations. They have five children: Kay Carpenter, Anaheim, California; Steve, Walnut Creek, California; Randy, Madison, Wisconsin; Kim, Bismarck; and Julie Munsey, Jamestown.
Eldora is fondly appreciated by her brothers and sisters for having taken excellent care of their mother. Together with her husband, Russ, and their children, she provided much comfort to Mabel Boe in her final years.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 92
The first dwelling in Hannaford was constructed in 1887, by R. C. Brophy, a nephew of President Grover Cleveland. He became the towns first postmaster. By profession a dentist, he left his practice in Illinois and Minnesota to engage in the wheat business in North Dakota.
The house he built for his family was described at the turn of the century as "a handsome and convenient residence with the finest cellar in the county. It was back plastered all over an inch thick with an air space making it as warm as possible." It had two stories, seven rooms plus one large un-plastered room which served as summer kitchen, laundry and storage. Originally neat board walkways served two sides leading to front and back porches. This walk also extended to two identically shaped sheds, one for storage and the other, the customary outdoor sanitary convenience. Regularly spaced box-elders in double rows and a chest high hedge of caragana surrounded the almost square block that was the building site.
E.H. Groven acquired the property from Mr. Brophy. It is reported that Mrs. Groven, who had earlier donated land for the Lutheran Cemetery, became the first person to be buried there. It is believed that she may also have been the last resident to die within that house in its almost a century of occupancy.
William Angus, manager of the Farmers State Bank, became the next owner and rented it out, usually to two families. In 1916, the Mabel and Swen Boe family moved in as renters. After about 40 years or so, Orvil Boe purchased it from the Angus family. Although generally identified as such for many years, the house finally became legally the Boe house.
The house which had been occupied by several families in its nearly 100 years is no more. At the time of its demolition Norman Boe wrote the following poem which has appeared in the Minnesota Moccasin and other publications.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 94
Who likes to see a house destroyed
When it has lived its usefulness
Away? To stand by powerless
And watch machine and man employed
To smash a house to nothingness?
There must be much more gentle ways
A house can die. My heart complains
At crashing in of window panes
As walls collapse and chimney sways
And all is rubble that remains.
I turn away from wrenched off doors,
Unended stairs and twisted sills
Half-buried where the plaster spills,
And fractured beams and two-by-fours
With which the opened basement fills.
Oh, how I wish it had been spared,
The old, old house demolished here,
The dear old house, yes, it was dear,
Where dreams were shaped and love was shared.
Beg pardon, if I dry a tear.
The photos show the house is gone;
The only view is empty space;
Of house remains no shape nor trace
Where once we warmed to its embrace.
But gone, you say? No, it lives on –
My heart still claims its homing place.
-Norman R. Boe
This poem is dedicated to brother Orvil, and sister Eldora, both who were born in the old house. To Orvil who cared enough to keep it in the family long after it was last occupied. To Eldora who was the last born within its shelter and the last of the generation to leave it.
N.R.B.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 95