Martin Haugen's grandparents, Hans J. Haugen and Sina, homesteaded southeast of Hannaford, North Dakota. They came from Bergan, Norway in 1882, as newlyweds. Being Hans had a wife to support, he went to an employment office in Bergan, Norway, where people were hired to go to America to work. Both Hans and Sina signed up to go to Ada, Minnesota, to work on the Dalrymple Bonanza Farm; Hans as a farm laborer and Sina as a cook. Their ticket from Norway to Minnesota was $65, which they borrowed, and reimbursed from their earnings.
Hans' brother, John and his wife, Kari, came to America a year earlier, 1881. They came to Hendrum, Minnesota. Before going to Ada, Minnesota, Hans and Sina stopped at Hendrum to visit John his brother, and Kari, who was Sina's sister. After hearing about the opportunity of working on the Dalrymple Bonanza Farm, John and his wife, Kari, decided to go there, too. So all four headed for Ada, Minnesota.
That same fall, a land agent came to this farm and asked John and Hans if they would like to homestead on some land. This of course they wanted to do and each signed for a quarter (160 acres) of land in Griggs County. Both had worked long enough and saved enough money to make this venture. One bought an oxen and the other a milk cow. They also knew that they had to prove up their land the first year, build a shack, which was a sod house for each of them. The two men left their wives to cook for the crew on the Bonanza Farm, while they left for Cooperstown, North Dakota, on foot, each carrying a lunch pack prepared by their wives and one leading the oxen and the other the cow. They didn't have to worry about feed or water for the animals as there was a lot of grass and the sloughs were full of water. The cow and oxen got tired and would hardly move. They had to pull and push them to make them move. They even tried to ride them. One evening they came over a hill and noticed some smoke coming from a chimney on a homestead shack. They hurried their animals along so they could get there before dark. Upon reaching the place, Hans rapped on the door and said "Er du Norsk?" (Are you Norwegian?) The man answered "Ja, Ja, Kom ind." (Yes, yes, come in.)
The man opened the door and he held an axe on his shoulder because he feared that his visitors may be Indians. Hans asked if they could stay overnight which they did. This man was as happy to see them as they were to see him. He was Steen Nelson, who lives just east of the Sheyenne River and at that time was also a homesteader.
That farm has a big beautiful house and barn along Highway 200. One of the Lunde boys live there now.
The next day the two men started off again for Cooperstown. Steen Nelson followed them to the river to show them just where they could cross, which was around the area where the town of Mardell was started. It was almost dark when they reached Cooperstown. They found a livery barn, looked in and there was an empty stall, so they tied up their animals who were exhausted and glad to lay down. Hans and John were tired too, so they laid down along side their oxen and cow and had a good nights rest.
In the morning, they were up at daybreak, wondering where they were. They milked their cow and had a good drink of milk. Then they went walking around and met a man who could speak Norwegian. They showed him their papers and asked him what their next step would be. He told them to go to the Court House which was just a small building similar to a small granary. There they received the information that they had to go about 12 miles straight south to get to their land. Walking back to the livery barn, they met a man whom they knew from Norway. He was Einar Stromme. He looked at their paper and the description of their land and told them that their land was close to his. He had been on his farm for two years. He told Hans and John to tie their animals behind his wagon and he would show them their land.
So the three men headed south. There were several homestead shacks along the road which was just a wagon trail. They came past the homestead of Knute and Gusta Stromme and just a mile further south was their land. They found the surveyors stakes and knew they were on the right land. Hans walked up on the hill and observed all the 160 acres of land and wondered just what he would do with all this land. It was a beautiful area; ducks were swimming in nearby ponds, and rabbits were running around. He told his brother, John, that they had nothing to worry about, looking at all the good game for meat.
He decided to build his house on this hill and it is still standing there today. The sod house was built on the same side hill to the west. Hans had a feeling of thankfulness for all this and he sat down and cried. All the money he had was a $5.00 bill. His brother, John's land was just west of his. There was a hill on his land too, so he built his house on a hill, too. Both brothers were so thankful to Einar Stromme for all the help he had given them.
They borrowed his walking plow and one horse and with their own oxen broke up the sod for their houses. They borrowed other things from Stromme, too, such as shovels and tools. To begin building their sod house, they first had to make a dugout and level the ground. The sod was cut into three foot lengths, using a short handle shovel for a measuring stick. In the first row, the sod was laid lengthwise and the next row they were laid crosswise, so the walls became three feet thick, making the house warm in winter and cool in summer. They borrowed the wagon and horses from Stromme to take them east to the Sheyenne River, where they cut tamerack poles which were used for the roof and covered with sod. One of the stipulations in our homestead contract was that we had to build a house and it had to have a chimney. We didn't have time to build a chimney so we just nailed a stove pipe on the very top of our sod house. The houses were done and they were getting anxious to get back to Ada to their wives, wondering how they were.
Einar Stromme offered them his team and wagon. He would care for the cow and the oxen until they returned the following spring, 1883. Upon reaching the Bonanza Farm, they worked hard all winter taking care of many horses, hauling hay and grain, but most of all, they were looking forward to spring when they could go back to their homesteads, the places that they could call their own.
Finally spring came, 1883, and they were ready to leave. Hans and Sina, along with John and Kari, and their two sons, Henry and Bennie, and all their belongings were loaded in the wagon box and the team of horses hitched to the wagon ready to leave for their long journey from Ada, Minnesota, to their homesteads in Griggs County, Hannaford, North Dakota. One may wonder how their wives felt or thought when they saw the homes their husbands had built for them. It is hard to imagine just how they got along, no furniture and just a makeshift bed. They bought a small wood stove at Hannaford so they could cook on. There was no table nor chairs. Evidently the chimney that they had built had to be repaired or made over.
John and Hans took turns working at different jobs. One would work one week and the other one the next week to make a few dollars. In this way, one of the men would be at home with the families. One of the jobs was working on the railroad when Mr. Cooper built and laid the track from Sanborn to Cooperstown. Hans often talked about the time when the Cooperstown Courthouse was built. He would walk to Cooperstown in the morning, carry bricks all day, and then walk home again in the evening. This he did day after day.
Hans and Sina's son, John H. Haugen, was born in the sod house on November 25, 1883. He was the first boy baby born in Greenfield Township. He became the father of Martin Haugen. They lived in this sod house for several years. John, their son, remembers how the snakes would be crawling on the rafters in the ceiling of the sod house. He also remembers that his father, Hans, had dug a small cellar in the middle of the room to keep their butter and milk cool. This hole was covered with boards. When it was meal time, the two outside boards were removed so they could sit on the floor, hang their feet in the hole and use the remaining boards as a table. This is hard to imagine to be the beginning of their married life as later in years, they built a big nice home with beautiful furniture.
Hans had one of the first threshing rigs. The steam engine which had wooden wheels and had to be pulled around the field with a team of horses.. The separator did not have a feeder to pitch the bundles into. It was hand fed. There was no straw blower to get rid of the straw, but a straw carrier with a chain of slats that would take the straw from the machine and from there it had to be piled by hand or pitched away using a fork. Hans found it hard to get seed potatoes, wheat and oats. They just planted a small area and saved the seed for another year.
Hans and John were instrumental in getting their two brothers to Hannaford, North Dakota - Johannes Haugen, who was Carl J. L. Haugen's grandfather, also Gerda Haugen's or Mrs. Eldren Haugen; David Kalland, father of Bennie Kalland, two sisters, Brita Kalvik, mother of Ole, Joe, Bert, Knute, Gerde, Mrs. Forseth and Mrs. Odegaard. Mrs. Anders Ole lived in the western part of the state in McLean County with her son, Nels. There are others, relatives on Sina's side; the Steffensons who farmed east of Hannaford; the farm that Adolph Haugen owned and lived on, later selling it to Curtis Haugen, who is living there at the present time. The Kalvik farm was located north of there on the east side of the road, north of the railroad overhead bridge.
Hans helped two young girls come here from Bergen, Norway, by promising to help them. They were Tillie Hopsdal and Elisa Nielson. Tillie later married Gilbert Johnson. They made their home in Cooperstown. She became a widow, raising her family of two sons and one daughter, Martin, Arthur and Thelma.
Elisa Nielson married John H. Haugen on August 1, 1904. She was the mother of Martin Haugen. Their children were Sophie Haugen Kalland, born in 1905; Hans Haugen, born in 1906; Ella Haugen Brudwick, born in 1910; Martin Haugen, born in 1913; and Adolph Haugen, born in 1918. There were five children in this family.
John and Elisa bought a half section of school land located two miles south of his father, Hans', farm. They built a small granary that was used for a house while the big house was being built. This old granary is still on the farm. He also built a big barn, machine shed and garage. The barn and shed are gone but the big house, built on a rock foundation, is still standing. There were many rocks on the farm, so there was no problem finding building material. Hans helped build the foundation and basement as he was a stone mason by trade from Norway. When a well was dug, Hans would curb the wells, using smaller rock, setting each rock so they would bind against each other. One of these wells is still in use. Hans often talked about this well, how he set or "Stien Set" the well and if one rock was taken out all the others would crumble.
The five children of John and Elisa grew up on the farm with their parents. They often think of the good life and the fun times they shared together.
The fall of 1908, Hans and Sina Haugen, John and Elisa Haugen, along with their children, Hans, age two; and Sophie, age three; and Helmer Haugen, brother of John, took a trip to Norway arriving home in the spring of 1909. They visited the old farmstead in Norway, many relatives, their old church in Stamner, Norway; Elisa's relatives, including her mother, who was a widow. Her husband was drowned at sea when their fishing boat capsized. Her mother lived at Grewik, Norway.
Borghild, Martin and his sister, Sophie, visited the farmstead in 1968. This was the first trip that Borghild and Martin took to Norway. She took some small stones from the foundation of the old home with her and Martin placed them in the foundation he built for their flag pole. They also placed stones in it taken from her father's home on Foyen, so they had a little bit of Norway in their farmyard.
Elisa's mother, Martha Aase, came back to America with her and her family in the spring of 1909. She was 60 years old at that time. She was a kind and gentle woman and did her part in taking care of Elisa and John's children, working in the garden, and baking all the Christmas goodies. The children did not have to worry about woolen mittens or stockings. Her spinning wheel was always going, spinning wool into yarn, after carding the wool into neat rolls or cones. Then the knitting needles would be clicking, making good warm mittens and stockings.
Martha Aase, Elisa's mother, had her little service on Sundays by herself. She rarely went to church with the family but always read her Bible and knew each Sunday what the text was for that day. Services were in Norwegian. When they started to change to English, and they came home from church and told her that the service was in English, her reply was, "So God's Word was not spoken in church today, just English." She was of good strong Norwegian stock. Martin said that he could never remember that she was sick, and he is proud of being of her heritage, and that they are all better people in the family because of having her with them from 1909.
She passed away in 1928, and is buried in Union Church Cemetery. God bless the memories of Bestemor Aase. She was a great person and loved her family. There were times when she was lonesome for her old home in Norway, where she lived with her brother and his family. Some times she would be looking out the east window in the kitchen as the sun was rising in the sky. Then she would say, "Her kjem sole ifra han Mons." (See there the sun is coming from Norway from Brother Mons.) She never did get back to Norway nor did she have any desire to go back.
Elisa often talked about their trip back home from Norway crossing the big Atlantic Ocean on the liner Mauretanea, a Norwegian ship. They were all sea sick with the exception of her mother, Aase, who cared for the two children, Sophie and Hans, as she was unable to do it. But in spite of their illness, they all came back to the farm.
The farm is still there but they are all gone.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 137