Betsey (Ness) Sheldahl (1837-1931)

NESS, SHELDAHL, SEVERTSON, BURRETS, EGGLAND, KROHN

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 5/17/2021 at 16:53:14

From Nevada Evening Journal January 6, 1931 (page 1)

LAST OF PIONEERS TO SETTLE IN HOWARD CALLED BY DEATH

Mrs. Betsey Sheldahl, 94, Came Out to Story County From Illinois in Early 1855--Died Monday

Special to the Journal.
Roland, Jan. 6--Mrs. Betsey Sheldahl, 94, for over 75 years a continuous resident of Howard Township, Story county, died at her home in Roland Monday afternoon at 3:00 o'clock, from complications incident to old age.

Mrs. Sheldahl was one of five brides married in a huge wedding as Lisbon, Ill., in 1854 in preparation to the migration the following spring, of a colony of young Norwegian farmers to central Iowa, as a nucleus upon which the "North Settlement" was builded.

It was on October 12, 1842, that she was married to Eric R. Sheldahl. The others married at the same time, all of whom came out to what eventually became the Roland community, were Mr. and Mrs. John Michaelson, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Haaland, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sandvick and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lein.

Mrs. Sheldahl is the last of that original colony to pass on.

Funeral services will be held Thursday afternoon. There will be prayer at the home at 1:30, followed by the funeral at Salem church, of which she was a charter member, at 2:00. Interment will be at the Roland cemetery by the side of her husband who died 16 years ago.

Mrs. Sheldahl was born at Skonevek, Norway, Europe, January 16, 1837, her maiden name being Betsey Ness She came to America with her people and it was at Lisbon, October 12, 1854, that she was married to E. R. Sheldahl.

They came to Howard township in 1855 an settled on a farm south of Roland, where they continued to live until 1898 and where their children were born.

Eight of these fourteen children survive the parents, together with 39 grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren.

The surviving children are Mrs. Arabella Severtson of Alsen, N. D., Mrs. Caroline Burritts of Des Moines, Miss Martha Sheldahl of Roland, Mrs. O. I. Eggland of Roland, Mrs. G. H. Krohn of Des Moines, Russell Sheldahl of Roland, Oscar Sheldahl of Elmore, Minn., and Lewis Sheldahl of Perley, Minn.

During all of her long years in Roland she had been one of the stalwarts of the home and of the church. She has been a woman loved and respected by all and her memory will go down through time in this community as one of the beloved pioneer women.