Christ Paetou, with the reputation of being the largest man in Dakota Territory, came to Barnes County in October of 1877. He staked a claim and then walked to Fargo to file on it. Here he bought a span of mules and drove them back to his claim, three miles east and one mile south of Worthington, now (Valley City). He returned to River Falls where his family was staying and the entire family, his wife and three children, Mary, Chris and Louisa, came to Worthington, where they stayed with the Otto Beckers that winter. Christ built a log house and shed with logs hauled from the Sheyenne River. The family moved in on Easter Sunday 1878. A large frame house was started and completed that year.

February 21, 1880 another daughter, Edna, was born. In 1885 the house burned but another was built while they lived in the old log house.

The Trinity Lutheran Church was organized in the Christ Paetou home and he was one of the first stewards. Later services were held in Valley City in the school house until the church was built. Mr. Paetou, who weighed 425 pounds in 1878, weighed 408 pounds at the time of his death. A photo of Christ Paetou and a pair of his shoes are on display in the County Museum.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 189