Jacob Watne came from Norway to Cooperstown, Griggs County, in 1887. He was a blacksmith by trade having learned that in Norway. He worked at his trade in Mayville for a while, then got the job as blacksmith on the Cooper Ranch at Cooperstown. He worked there for several years and was manager or "boss" at the ranch for one year.

Anna Haugen of rural Hannaford also worked for R. C. Cooper. She and Mr. Watne were married in 1897 and bought a farm in Griggs County, about five miles south of Cooperstown.

They farmed there until 1904 when they sold the farm and moved to Oregon where they bought a small farm near Marquam.

Mr. Watne, having worked on the Cooper Ranch, was not happy with the small, more primitive farming in Oregon. Plowing with two horses and a walking plow did not appeal to him. He was not impressed with all the beautiful flowers and fruit trees as his sister and brother-in-law, Laura and Swen Lima, were. So in the summer of 1905 they moved back to North Dakota.

In the spring of 1906 they bought a farm in northern Barnes County. They worked this farm and lived there until 1955 when they moved to Valley City. Mr. Watne died in 1959, and Mrs. Watne made her home with the Ted Curtis family until her death in 1960.

The Watnes were among the first farm folks to have electricity when Reuben Stee was instrumental in organizing a private electric line which included their neighbors Tom Stee, Frank Glesner, Christ Hanson and Herman Bryn.

The children attended a small one room school, the Stee School, just ¼ mile west of their home. They were among the first to be consolidated with Dazey and rode in a horse drawn bus. The first driver was Pete Sjobeck of Dazey. After that the oldest boys in the school took their turns driving the bus. Lawrence Hanson, Ingvald Watne, Harold and Art Glesner each had his turn.

Later the Ladbury School was also consolidated with Dazey and the bus had a much longer route and the drivers were from the Ladbury district. They still used horses and the children had to be ready to board the bus long before daylight and did not get home until after dark.

The Watnes were life-time members of Union Lutheran Church east of Hannaford. There were churches in Dazey and Walum which they could have joined but Mrs. Watne wanted to belong to the church which her parents had helped to establish, so they drove 9 miles with horses on Sunday mornings. They had to leave home at 9 am to get to church by 11 am with the same horses that had pulled the plow all week. Mr. Watne did not always like to hitch up his horses on Sunday morning, but they went to church. What a relief it was when they got their first car.

There were five children, three of whom graduated from Dazey High School.

Josephine, graduated in the class of 1918, and married Hans Kalland in 1925. They rented various farms in Barnes and Griggs County until they retired to Hannaford in 1956 because of Mr. Kalland's ill health. They had three children: Bernice (Mrs. Vernon Martin of Valley City); Irvin, Hudson, Wisconsin; Joanne, Fargo.

Ingvald Watne worked as an auto mechanic after finishing high school in 1919. He was employed in Luverne for a time and then went to Richmond, California where he still has his own garage. He married Doris Jacobson of Luverne in 1927. They have two children: Frances (Mrs. Francis Aebi), Salinas, California; Emory, Dublin, California.

Alma died at the age of 7 years.

Almer graduated from Dazey High School in 1928 and married Eleanor Ecker in 1933. Almer died in 1944 at the age of 34. Two children were born to the marriage: Duane, married Narda Mae Langford in 1955. They have one son Douglas. Jeanette married James Devlin in 1955 and Dale Lord in 1961. There are 5 children.

Clarence Watne married Madalynn Bartkowski in 1939. He was a mechanic and moved to California where he still lives.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 260