Pioneer experiences of Mrs. Omund Ashland, Bald Hill Township
Born Axliana Bull, December 27, 1872 in Stavanger (City); Norway. Her father was a tanner and operated a small store in Stavanger. Times were hard in Norway so in 1880 the family decided to go to America.
There were Mr. and Mrs. Jens Bull and five children. They came on the ship Tingvalla of the Danish-American line. The sisters of Mrs. Jens Bull (Mrs. Sven Lunde and Mrs. Ole Stokka) and a brother, Ola Westley, had settled in Griggs County in 1881. The Jens Bull family settled in St. Paul and in 1882 came to Griggs County and took a homestead northeast northeast of the present T. Fuglestad homestead. I think the first school I attended was the Gallatin school. When I was ten years old my mother died.
When I was 14 years old I read for the minister and had to walk ten miles Nesheim’s home in 40 degree below zero weather. Usually I stayed with my aunt, Mrs. Sven Lunde, overnight. I wore four pair of home-knit socks but no shoes or rubbers on those cold trips. The same Sven Lundes had a small lamp and one gallon of kerosene lasted them a whole winter. The settlers made their own candles. I remember we children helped to put the cords in the candles at aunt Lunde’s.
At age 17 I married Omand Aasland (later spelled Ashland) and at 18 years of age I was a mother. We moved to the homestead north of present Peder Larson home but as there was no water to be gotten on this land we sold the homestead and purchased land west of the T. Fuglestad homestead. The first home I remember in Griggs County was a sod house with no floor. Although times were hard, weather was dry and crops were poor, we always had enough of common food to eat. When my folks came from St. Paul we stayed with the Sven Lunde family for a while. When T. T. Fuglestad came in 1883 he stayed for a while with the Andrew Aarestad family. The settlers went down to the Sheyenne River to gather wood. It was green and damp so we dried it in the oven. Many were scared that the Indians were coming on a war path but the only ones I saw were families of Indians traveling on the Fort Totten Road.
When we first came to Griggs County we were so friendly. When a neighbor butchered we could be assured of getting a piece of meat.
As I remember the first minister was Rev. I.L. Lundeby who preached in the homes and later in the schoolhouse. Rev. Lundeby was a traveling minister and did not come very often. Men of the community as Andrew Watne Ola Westley would pray at our services and preach the gospel. The next minister I remember was Rev. Nesheim. The first church built by our congregation was the Westley church. Our church services were much like those in Norway. We used the Laudsdags Plalmbook; men sat on one side of the church and the women on the other; we had a “klokkare” (deacon) as in the old country. The klokkare, a good leader in singing, led the singing, read the first and last prayer and announced the hymns we should sing. I remember that Ola Westley was a “klokkare” (his father had been a klokkare in Norway). Ole Stokka, too, was a klokkare. I believe Ole Stokka and Andrew Watne had been parochial school teachers in Norway. As I remember, Ole Stokka started a parochial school in the early days. School was held in someone’s house. Social times were held by organizing a singing class in our community (sang hymns). The singing class, both old and young, met at different homes. One time when they had a meeting at Elling (Johnson) Froiland a blizzard came up up and everyone had to stay there for three days. There was so little room and so many people that they had to take turns sleeping.
The sod house (inside) was walled with mortar and whitewashed. We had sod barns; also sod cellars. We put our cans of mild down (hanging) in the well.
I remember my brother worked in the Whidden store in Cooperstown but Knute Thompson’s was the first store.
When neighbors needed help as building a house, cutting grain in a hurry we …
When the weather was dry or other hardships came the whole community gathered to pray for rain or other blessings. We had many prayer meetings.
The games I remember were “Ball in Hat”, “Last Couple Out”, and “Baseball”.
The Afhold’s Forening (Temperance Society) was started by Andrew as was the ??? Tobacco Society.
Mrs. Ole Stokka, the midwife in the early days in Griggs, often had to leave her own babies in the dead of night to help bring a child into the world. If she was paid her charge was three dollars but often she received no remuneration. In many cases she was called to the homes of Yankees – she could not understand English and neither could they understand the Norwegian language.
My husband and I had a team of oxen in our first years in Griggs. Often after blizzards the men got into the barn by going down through the roof of the poorly built sod barns.
Our children are Arnold, St. Paul; Dorothy (Mrs. Ludvig Lehr) McHenry; Jens, on home place north of Hannaford; Oscar, Hannaford, Albert and Roy, Cooperstown; Henry and Walter, Oregon.
Names of my sisters are Malina (Mrs. O.N. Westley), Hannaford; a half sister Gurina (Mrs. Carl Johnson) of Powers Lake; Julius, Oregon and Jens (dead); Hans, St. Paul.