Category: Family

Thoughts on family past, present and future.

Grandma Comes To North Dakota

My GrandMaAnnie and Uncle Olaf got off the train In Grand Forks, North Dakota and they waited on the platform quite a while. But Annie didn’t mind a bit! She felt like she was home. She took a deep breath and looked around her. She saw many people walking back and forth and she wanted to run up and hug them. Soon a car drove up to where other cars were parked. Uncle Olaf said “Let’s go. Here she is.” and they ran together to the car.

Annie had never had a ride in a car but she had seen many of them in Chicago. A lady was driving it. She couldn’t believe she would be riding in a car with a lady driving it! Uncle Olaf introduced her to his sister, Hilda Carlson. He was going to help her with farm work. Hilda’s husband had died recently. Would I stay there too?  Annie thought. But she didn’t have to worry when Mrs. Carlson said, ” You will like it here, Annie.”

She did too. Mrs. Carlson had a daughter, Katrina, just her age and they were together all the time. The two of them went to socials and dances where people were always talking Norwegian and learning English. Annie was beginning to learn English too. It was at one of these dances that she met Arne Lofthus. After a while, they were married and went to live at his farm. His parents had died several years ago.

Annie became pregnant a short time after the marriage. Arne was out one night when a blizzard happened. Annie was scared. She waited for a long time. The next afternoon, a man came to her door and told her Arne was found. He had crawled under a bridge to escape the blizzard and had died. Annie didn’t know what to do, but the Carlsons took her in.

After her baby girl, Berdina was born, a man came to Carlson’s home to tell them about Jesus. He said he was preaching at homes all around this part of North Dakota. His name was Halvor Walland. The name sounded familiar to Annie. She had heard the story many times about when she was a baby, a man named Harvor Walland, who was visiting the Norderland home. Looked at the baby and said, “When she grows up, I will marry her.”

He liked Annie and came several times to see her, and one day he asked her to marry him. She then told him the story that happened in Norway and now was coming true in America! They felt it was a miracle from God. Halvor was never trained to preach but was a grain elevator owner in Macana. They made their home there and raised six children, one, Cora, was my mother.

Halvor was ill, everyone knew it, but no one was prepared when the doctor said he had tuberculosis. He would have to leave right away to a Sanitarium in the southwest. The family didn’t know when he would return home. He died there some months later. Annie’s eyes were getting worse and the doctor said she would become blind very suddenly. So they had to do something.

They talked to the other children and the decision was made. They would sell the house and the grain elevator and the three of them would move to Grand Forks. It would be much easier for Oscar and Clara to find work and Babe would stay home with Annie for a while. It worked out just the way they hoped.

One day when Dad, Mom, and I were visiting at Grandma’s, she was throwing a rubber ball at me. I was supposed to bring the ball back. I don’t know whether I did or not, but that was the minute she lost her sight. Being blind didn’t make any difference to Grandma though. She still washed the dishes, knew what time to turn on the radio to her favorite soap opera, Ma Perkins and the Grand Forks chiefs baseball games. She always moved her feet back and forth and did they ever move when something good was happening!

She knit too. In fact she knit a muffler for every young man entering the armed forces. I shouldn’t say every young man but she did make one for every man she heard about. People all over the city sent her yarn. She was honored as the Mother Of The Year for her knitting. The army band of North Dakota put on a concert for her in her own back yard!

Yes, I do remember Grandma but especially for her prayers, not only for me but everybody she knew or heard about. I felt her prayers all the time especially when I was going through bad times. I believe she is still praying from her heavenly home. I remember Grandma, now you can remember her too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I Remember Grandma

My GrandMaI am going back farther than my 93 years for this story.  This time I”ll introduce you to my Grandma Walland. She died 59 years ago. I recall that because I had a baby son and couldn’t go to her funeral 500 miles away. I loved her so much, but it didn’t matter that I couldn’t go because I had so many stories about her stored in my head.

Annie Juliana Norderlund was born on August 31, 1861, in Turpin, Norway. When she was just a little baby a man named Halvor Walland came to visit the Norderlund family. When he saw Grandma, he said, “When she grows up, I’ll surely marry her!”, and he did 20 years later in a far country called America!

She grew up a shepherd girl and went up a mountain to take care of the family’s sheep herd. The only one with her was her little brother. She often talked about the many things that happened while they were taking care of the sheep. One day she came down the mountain, leaving her smaller brother alone with the sheep. It was a big day! She was to be confirmed at the Lutheran church in Turpin. She was so worried about her little brother that she went back up the mountain before the celebration of her confirmation was underway.

The Norderlund family was very poor. Annie’s father died when she was very young, leaving her mother to raise their six children alone. Two brothers had already left the home to find work. When Annie was just 15-years-old, her mother died. Annie tried to keep the four of them fed by doing household work for their neighbors who paid her in food.

One day her older brother came home. He was recently married and had his bride with him. They said they would take the two younger children home with them, but Annie would have to live in the house alone. She was far too old to fit into their new family.

Annie didn’t know what to do. She tried to get a job in town, but it was too small to have any offerings for her. She thought she had to stay in the Norderlund home.  One day, a package came from America from her uncle Olaf who had been there for several years. In the package there were many dimes. He wrote that there should be enough for her to come to America where it would be easy to find work. Annie was 16 years old at the time and decided to make the trip to Chicago.

She bought her ticket on the boat heading for America and went through Ellis Island. She then boarded a boat going through the St, Laurence River to Chicago, where her uncle lived. This took nearly all of her dimes, but she had enough to eat some soup at a cafe in Chicago. Annie finally found her uncle who had a housekeeping job waiting for her. The work was hard, but harder still was the difficulty in learning the English language. She was glad when her uncle was leaving for North Dakota and would like to take Annie with him. There were other relatives who had settled there. So, the two of them got on the train heading for North Dakota. Annie lived there for the rest of her life.

Next, I will tell you about her life in North Dakota. Don’t miss it! There is still much to tell about the life of Annie Juliana Norderlund.