Tony Syvertson

Lena Larson was born in 1885, the daughter of a pioneer family in this area. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Elias Larson homesteaded in Harwood, North Dakota but left there and settled in Green Township where they lived the remainder of their lives.

Lena received little schooling as her help was needed at home. She had experience in driving oxen and horses in helping her dad with the field work. She was a big help with the chores around the barn. She often tells about the time spent in herding cattle. At that time coyotes were plentiful and quite often frightened her and the cattle. They would sometimes kill the calves. She doesn't speak of herding sheep but says they were in a pasture and there, too, wild animals were always a threat.

A newcomer from Norway came to live with them and this was the beginning of a romance. On November 26, 1908 Lena married Tony Syvertson in a wedding at Zion Lutheran Church. A few days after the wedding they and a group of friends went for a sleigh ride. A bad blizzard came up and they were lost. They decided to let the horses find the way home and they did bring them safely back.

Mr. and Mrs. Syvertson began their married life on a farm in Skandia Township, north of Hastings. They lived there until the fall of 1925 when they moved to a farm farther north. The Syvertsons have eight children. They are

  1. Elizabeth - Mrs. Andrew Bouck,

  2. Sylvia - Mrs. Conrad Fogderud,

  3. Lillian - Mrs. Nels Jorgenson,

  4. Ruth - Mrs. Ingvard Haugen,

  5. Ervin,

  6. Viola - Mrs. Glenn Medd,

  7. Irene - Mrs. Carl Haugen, and

  8. Inez - Mrs. Elsworth Hopewell.

They have twenty-three grandchildren and at the present time there are twenty-nine great grandchildren.

Ervin farmed with his dad until Tony passed away November 1, 1953. Since that time he and his mother have lived together on the farm.

One of Lena's favorite tales at the age of ninety is something that happened when she was sixteen years old. She was herding cows one day when a stranger stopped and asked her if she wouldn't rather come and do housework at his home in Sanborn than herd cattle. She had told him no but when she got home her folks had decided that she should go. She really enjoyed working there as they had four daughters but still wonders how they dared let her go alone with a stranger. Lena Larson Syvertson passed away August 29, 1975 at the age of ninety.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 243