I will try and write down what I remember about my brother in law Iver Larson..He was married to my oldest sister Dorothy Cress on Dec 28 1935.
Iver’s family came to the United states from Norway in the early 1900’s and settle near Sherwood and Mohall North Dakota. I think he was under 5 years old at that time. There must have been a settlement of people from Norway in that area as I knew some people from Ponca City that lived there. I supposed Norway was crowded and the families though life in the United States would be better.
North Dakota was an iffy farming country and they did raise wheat in that area. Iver told me that his father strapped him to some farm machine with a team of horses when he was 5 or 6 years old and he had to guide the horses and do the farm work. The other story he told was that they went to school and had only lard to put on their sandwiches. Life was tough in the Dakotas and I remember one of his sisters telling that they ran out of wood or coal one winter and had to burn their furniture to keep warm.
Besides Iver there was a big family, His brothers were Melvin, Conrad, Lyle and Ednar…His sisters were Minnie Cora Margaret and one other sister and I can not remember her name. Iver was the oldest in the family.
Another branch of the family settled near Hollandale and that was the Chris and Annie Jensen family. They kept in close contact and when work ran out in North Dakota some of the brothers came to Hollandale and found work as hired hands on the farms around Hollandale and Geneva and Clarks Grove.
I do not know how Iver and Dorothy met as I was only 8 years old when they were married. I think the first place they lived was on the Doc Erytle farm about 5 miles from my folks near Geneva. In the winter of 1936 my sister Daisy has pneumonia and my little brother Richard and I went to Iver and Dorothy’s so that my Mother could take care of Daisy. I remember that house as being very cold and I stayed out of school for about 6 weeks.
Then Iver’s sister Minnie her husband and two boys came from Dakota with just the clothes on their back and an old car. I then went home and Minnie and family stayed the rest of the summer and I don’t know if they went back to Dakota or found a job or what. The boys were about my age and scared the whey out of me with their stories of ghosts and bad stuff.
Iver begin to acquire some farm machinery and the next place they lived was on Highway 30 just east of the Junction with 65 about 5 miles east of Ellendale. They rented that farm and they had cattle and pigs and chickens and some farm land. I went to stay with them my freshman year of High school as my Mother though I wasn’t ready to go to Owatonna High school as it was a larger school. Warren was about 4 years old at that time.
Iver’s brothers Conrad and Lyle and Ednar and sister Margret came from Dakota to visit while I was there. They probably went on down to see Aunt Annie and Uncle Chris..this would have been in 1940.
The next farm they lived on was over west of Beaver Lake and it had a small lake on it. I went down and helped Dorothy during harvest that year as she was expecting Mary. We had to cook for a crew of men and Mary showed up about 2 weeks after harvest was over. My Mother went down to help and I was at home and was milking and doing the cooking for the family and I also canned tomatoes. I was just 15 and I knew how to do lots of stuff.
The next place I remember was the old Johnson place close to Hope Minn and they were farming there when Dale and I were married in 1948. They them moved back to the farm west of Beaver Lake and that was where Iver died. That was in 1952 I believe. Warren was 17 and Mary was about 11 and Roger was 5. Dorothy then sold the farm equipment and went to work for Mrs Wilker as a housekeeper. Warren joined the navy and later went to college.
Dorothy left the Wilker place and went to work for Henry Nelson as a housekeeper and later married Hank in 1959.
Iver never had good health and I think he had either diabetes and he had heart trouble. Most of his family died with diabetes except his youngest brother Ednar who lived a long life.
Iver and Dorothy had 3 children..Warren, Mary and Roger. Warren had three children Brad ,Eric and Sarah..Mary had three children Daryn, Kevin and Leslie and Roger had two children Mark and Matthew.
Iver was almost 6 feet tall and had coal black hair, some of the others were blond headed. He was a hard worker and liked to go to farm auctions and was always bringing home things Dorothy could use. It was hard hard times when they started farming and they both were hard worker with not much time for foolishness..that’s about what I remember..
Great aunt Dodie…
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