Albert Oli NELSON

NELSON, HOOKLAND, MATHIESON, BATALDEN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/10/2010 at 10:30:59

Albert Oli Nelson was born December 23, 1888 in Clarion, Iowa to Abel and Anna Nelson. He was their second child, but his older sister, Nellie, died at age seven, so he grew up “big brother” to sisters Ellen, Clara, Nellie (namesake), Mabel, Alma, Gertrude, Ruth and Stella; brothers, Peter, Arthur and Bennie.

His father, Abel, at the age of fifteen became part of a fishing crew in the Arctic Circle. He immigrated from Norway to Iowa in 1881. In 1886 he married Anna Mathieson in Wright County, Iowa. She was from Chicago and was four years old at the time of the Chicago fire. Here mother died as a result of exposure to fumes from the fire.

In 1894 Abel received word that his Mother was very ill so he returned to Norway. Transportation and Communication being what they were at the time, he arrived to find she had already passed away. When he returned to Iowa, he learned that his oldest child, Nellie, had died from tetanus.

In 1900 the family moved from Iowa to Agate, North Dakota. Albert remembered that they had an auction sale. Except for some livestock, they sold everything, including his ice skates.

Abel found a place five miles west of Bisbee where he built a house and barn so they could move there. As Abel was a carpenter he got work building barns with cupolas so that left Albert doing the plowing and getting the soil ready for planting. He was thirteen years old at the time he took over this responsibility. He and his brothers eventually did all the farming.

The nearby town of Agate had a post office, blacksmith shop and three elevators. When Albert was close to his twenty-first birthday he was able to work in the elevators, a line of work that would sustain his own family in the depression years in Hinsdale. He also learned blacksmithing and welding. His earnings were fifty dollars per month.

Ida Theodora Alice Hookland was born March 7, 1889 in Bisbee, North Dakota to Sivert and Torbor Hookland who in 1866, with their two year old son, Sigbjon, immigrated from Norway, by sailboat, to the United States to make their home in the “new and promising land”. They spent some time in the town of Mabel and then in Becker County, Minnesota. When the railroad was built into Montana Sivert moved to North Dakota to help with this project. He freighted between Bismarck and the Black Hills during the time of the troubles with Chief Sitting Bull. He also carried payroll for the Northern Pacific Railroad and was present at the driving of the golden spike.

Ida was one of the younger children of Sivert and Torbor, the others being sons: Sigbjon (Siebert), Theodor, Louis, Thom and Sam, daughters: Martha, Bendis, Ingebor, Bertha, Sarah, Hannah and Emma. Three of these died of influenza; Theodor and Bendis in 1891, Ingebor in 1892. Sadly, when Ida was six years old her mother died of tuberculosis. Her father later married Anna Batalden who was born in Norway. Three sons were born of this marriage; Christin, John and Theodore.

In 1910 people were talking about Homesteading in Montana. Albert was interested, and he had also been urged to move to Canada by some of his friends who had gone there. Bill Arndt agreed to accompany him to Montana, so they started out for Culbertson. While they were waiting for the stage they met two Welshmen from Wisconsin, Tom Pritchard and Howell Owens. So the German, Norwegian and Welshmen were on their way together. Nothing was available in the Culbertson or Scobey area so they traveled on west where all four men found adjoining pieces of land that they were able to file on. Albert got his wish for land that had a creek running through it---Little Snake Creek.

When they first saw the acreage, it had beautiful grass and NO ROCKS, which was very pleasing. When they returned to prove up on the land, they learned there had been many sheep trailed through there to Canadian markets. The had eaten all the grass and exposed---you guessed it---rocks. Every homestead had a large rock pile, many of which were used to rip-rap the dams built by the WPA during the thirties.

When Albert returned to North Dakota, he and Ida Hookland made plans for a wedding. They were married on December 21, 1910 in the United Lutheran Church of Bisbee.

In the spring they prepared to move to Montana by rail. An emigrant car was loaded with two milk cows, two heifer calves, one bull calf, a pair of geese, two cartons of chickens, a young bred sow and a wagonload of oats Abel had given them. When they arrived in Hinsdale the railroad said they were overloaded and would have to pay $30.00 extra freight before anything could be unloaded. Tom Pritchard owed for some flax seed they had brought for him, so Albert collected that and was able to pay the freight bill and unload. Ida and Mrs. Bill (Olga) Arndt came out on the train a week or so later. During the first three years, Albert made trips to North Dakota to help his Dad with his farming.

By 1913, they were able to prove up on their homestead and gain title to the land. Howell Owen’s wife did not care for the loneliness of homesteading so he sold his land to his father who lived in Canada. Albert rented from him and was later able to purchase this farm, so it doubled the size of his holdings.

“The year 1913 was a big one for people moving into our neighborhood. All the land around us was taken up, and it seemed that everybody had settled down on their claims. Those closest to us were the Arndts, Johnson, Hickoks, Keefers, Hudspeths, Hooklands, Spencers, the three Atkinsons, Pritchards, Pennies, Albert Johnsons, Gradys, Henry Licks and C. Nelsons. There was a community just to the south of us that was called the Jordan Coulee Community. Most of these people came from around Kindred, North Dakota. They were Nels and T.T. Hatton, Ted Thompson, Qualleys, Knutson, the Senior Mogans, Rudy Hamry, A. Stiles, John Dartman and John and Joe Lenartz. Down towards Valleytown were the Ebersoles, Valentines, Mike Fitzpatrick, Campbells, Marcotts, and Thompsons and Schuler to the west of us, three McDonalds to the northwest and Ole and Ragna Carlson.”

Taken from the “Memoirs Of Albert O. Nelson.

The life of the homesteaders was unbelievably difficult, but Albert and Ida always bore the burdens with faith and thankfulness. There was always good food on the table, and with chickens, milk cows, gardens and good bread they survived.

Ida was always such a patient person. One winter there were several bachelor neighbors who spent part of the winter with them in the little homestead shack. All went well, until one of them scolded her children. Her Norwegian temperament only had to show once, and it didn’t happen again.

In 1916 there was a community tragedy. A party and dance was held at the new Snake Creek School to raise money for a bell. At that time there was no back door required for a schoolhouse, although there were two doors leading to the front entry way. There was a kerosene stove in this entry way, which exploded and blocked the entrance. George Hickok and Albert were near the front entrance and able to get outside. The only way to get people out from the inferno was through the windows. Two people died in the fire, the wife of Tom Pritchard and Svalheim’s infant son, many were badly burned, some being scarred for life.

The Good Lord must have had his arms around the Nelsons that night because Ida decided not to go to the party but instead stayed home with her three little girls to get them to bed early.

When the schoolhouse was rebuilt, it had a back door and the building was also used as a community center. The Methodist Missionary Preachers, including Brother Van Orsdel, held services there. A Lutheran Missionary, Rev. O.J. Akre also held services and organized a Lutheran congregation, Zion Evangelical Church, of which Albert and Ida were charter members, and when it became the First Lutheran Church of Hinsdale, they were charter members of that also.

Many neighbors were stricken with influenza during the 1918 epidemic, and Albert was quite often called upon to transport bodies. He would take them to Hinsdale by wagon or buggy, then on the train (Skidoo) to the morgue in Glasgow.

He also did blacksmith work. He sharpened many plow shares for himself and for his neighbors.

During the drought years, they moved to Hinsdale where Albert worked at the Equity
Co-op Elevator, the Texaco gas station and Farmers’ Union Oil Company. When working at the gas station he at times paid for people’s gas in exchange for items. Once he came home with a violin and once with a German Shepherd dog. You would have to be very desperate to give away your dog for gas enough to get to a place of employment.

Since the older children were of High School age, they elected to rent out the farm land and remain in town. When their son, Tom, was old enough he did the farming. They also purchased a fifty acre farm a mile north of Hinsdale on the Milk River at the mouth of Beaver Creek. This worked well for them as they could raise hay for their livestock. When Tom joined the Army just before World War II broke out it became the practice to move “north” in the summer, coming down to do the haying when needed.

Electricity was not available until the mid-forties, so wood and coal kept everyone warm, and ice was still cut and stored in the icehouse. Putting up ice was an “all the neighbors worked together” event.

Their involvement in Church and community was very wide-spread. Both were active in the Lutheran Church, Eastern Star and were dedicated members of the Republican Party.

As a young lady Ida attended Oak Grove Seminary. Among other studies, she apprenticed with a seamstress and learned to be very particular about any sewing or handiwork she did, even her hand stitching had to be exactly even. She always sewed the clothes for her girls. Watercolor painting was a favorite hobby.

She taught parochial school in Agate, North Dakota in 1909. Some of her other interests and duties were serving as Sunday School Superintendent for many years, being an active member of the Ladies’ Aid (which it was called then) and an active member of the Eastern Star. She always had a garden and canned many jars of food from it. Making dill pickles in a large crock was a specialty. Raising chickens, taking care of eggs, milk and butter, and taking them to the store to trade for groceries was the equivalent of being a working mother today. She had a very pleasant and calming personality. To know her was to love her.

Albert was a talented “play by ear” violinist, or rather, fiddle player who entertained and played at dances. His birthday was always celebrated with a jam session and Tom and Jerries. He loved to take pictures, and as a young boy developed his own photographs. He served the church as a Secretary-Treasurer for many years, held offices in the Masonic Lodge and Eastern Star, served on may Boards including the Hinsdale School Board, Lutheran Church, Rural Electric Association, First National Bank, Federal Land Bank, Equity Co-op, Farmers Union Oil Company. He served as Treasurer for the Hinsdale-Genevieve-Thoeny Telephone Company. He worked as a teller in the Hinsdale Bank and figured income tax for many people.

Six children were born to them. Adeline Irene, Edith Amelia, Esther Vivian, Albert Thomas, Alma Lorraine Mae and Alice Darlene.

They remained close to their family and friends and kept in touch with those near and far away. Their home was always a stopping place for anyone passing through from North Dakota, and they were always treated to wonderful home cooked meals and a comfortable bed.

In 1976 for the bi-centennial celebration the Hinsdale Woman’s Club compiled a book called “They Thought The Land Was Free”. In preparing something to add to this book, Albert said he could find no place to quit, so he ended up writing a book named “Memoirs of Albert O. Nelson”.
Quoting from this book (with permission), “I realize writing the story gave me a chance to think back over the many years gone by. Even though we went through a lot of hard times with poor crops and all, we still had so many things to be thankful for, especially in the years when the children were growing up. They had a loving mother to take care of them. She did a good job of it, and none of them ever gave us any trouble.

I still think the farm is the best place in the world to raise a family. There is always some job they can do or help you do, and they have all the pets they want, a pony to ride, and lots of things like that. As for myself I always loved the farm and enjoyed the work, especially in the spring of the year when our hopes were at their peak. We always planned for a good crop, which didn’t always turn out that way, but when crops would start to dry up we would just start planning for next year, so I guess we’re living in a “Next Year Country”, as far as grain farming goes. That is where a little bunch of cows goes good with the grain farming, as they don’t miss having a calf very often.”

Albert and Ida spent their final years at the farm a mile north of Hinsdale, and were fortunate to be able to stay in their own home to the end, and were never given the burden of losing a child or grandchild. Children were always very dear to them, and they were very dear to children. Albert entertained children by drawing what came to be known as Grandpa’s Dove”, which became a family logo that has been passed down through several generations.

Ida passed away on September 11, 1972 and Albert on October 14, 1977. They were able to celebrate their Sixty-first wedding anniversary on December 21, 1971.

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