When Ole Maasjo (January 9, 1858-December 22, 1922) was 7 years old he came with his family from Norway and settled in the Erhard, Minnesota area. At the age of thirteen he got his first job. He was a bull skinner (rode the dump wagon pulled by oxen) for the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad that reached Moorhead in 1871. He worked hard and saved his money because his-dream was to own a farm of his own.
During the summer of 1879 Ole and an older brother, Simon, ventured to North Dakota and selected land to homestead in Norma Township. They filed but did not get time to get a house built. They spent the winter in Minnesota. They returned in the spring to plow and found their land had been claimed by someone else. Together they purchased the West Y2 of Section 17-138-57 in Norma Township from the N. P. Railroad.
On March 11, 1881 Ole married Mary Dunham (August 9, 1858-1932). Mary had come from Norway with her parents when she was nine. Her parents settled in Filmore County, Minnesota. She had met Ole when she was working at Glyndon, Minnesota.
Ole brought his bride to North Dakota. They lived with neighbors, the Fjeldhaugs, while Ole and Simon built their first home, a sod house. They lived in this sod house until they built the log house several years later. Their first born child died in infancy.
Things were pretty good for Ole and Mary now - a healthy baby girl and the prospects of a good crop. Then a hailstorm came and completely destroyed the crop. Ole got his youngest brother, John, to come up from Erhard to stay with Mary and baby Ida while he and Simon went to Casselton to help with a bountiful harvest on the Dalrymple Farms.
That same year, 1883, the Immanuel Church congregation was organized. Ole Maasjo was one of the first trustees. The church services were held in the homes until the Christopherson School was built. Services were held in the schoolhouse until the Immanuel Church was built in 1896. Daughter Ida (December 26, 1882 – xxx May 1954) was married to Halvor P. Langemo in the first wedding performed in Immanuel Church.
When Simon married Julia Nelson he sold his share of the land to Ole.
The people of Norma Township and south to Fort Ranson area had to go to Valley City for supplies. The wagon trail used led between the house and barn on the Maasjo farm. The trip was too long for many of these travelers to make it home in one day. The Maasjo farm became a regular stopping place. Many people spent the night there. They were never charged for a meal or a night's lodging. Sons, Rudolph and Simon, remember one man who always insisted on paying their mother 101Z for coffee but he never paid anything for lunch.
In 1905 they built a nine-room house with complete verandas. They now had eleven children.
Music was important to the Maasjo Family. No get-together was ever complete without a song test.
Open house for a 25th anniversary was rare in those days, but that Sunday in March of 1906 Immanuel Church was filled. Besides the congregation were many of the people who had stopped or stayed over at the Maasjos. Not one word was said about the anniversary, and to Ole and Mary's surprise all the buggies followed them home. People of the area loved Ole and Mary. These self-invited guests provided the goodies this time.
In the fall of 1920 Ole and Mary retired from farming and bought a home on Riverside in Valley City. Ole died in December 1922. Mary continued to live there until her death in 1932.
The two surviving children of Ole and Mary Maasjo, Rudolph and Simon, both live in Valley City.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 148