Christian Lia and his wife Torina, accompanied by Christian's mother, emigrated from near Bergen, Norway, to Minnesota in 1867 to Fillmore County where Mr. Lia bought a farm and began to subdue the forest which covered his farm and convert it into tillable land. Shortly after their arrival in the United States, Christian Lia changed the spelling of his surname, Lia, to Lee.
On this farm 2 miles west of Fountain, Gilbert Lee and his sisters, Hannah, Lina and Christine were born. Gilbert was born October 14, 1871. Christian Lee increased his tillable acres year by year, but during the latter half of the seventies, his crops were destroyed by rust for a number of years in succession. These losses induced him to seek his fortune in Dakota Territory.
Christian Lee deserted his farm in Minnesota, loaded their personal effects into an immigrant car, and followed his family to Dakota Territory. Soon after his arrival at Valley City, he began looking for a suitable location on which to homestead. There were no settlers 15 miles beyond Valley City, and on May 3, 1881 he squatted on a claim five miles south of Cooperstown where the station of Shepard is located.
The day after he arrived at his claim, he broke prairie to get sod for his sod house. The house was 18 x 18 feet, one room, and one story high with shingle roof. It had one window and one door, hung on hinges and fastened with a lock. The wall was of sod three feet thick at the bottom tapering to less than half that thickness at the top. The inside of the wall was perpendicular but sloped inward on the outside. The eaves extended beyond the outside of the wall so that water running off the roof would not soak and rot the sod. The blocks of sod were laid lengthwise and crosswise in alternate tiers so as to bind the sod. When the hut was completed, the wall was cut smooth on the inside and whitewashed. This coating of lime prevented the wall from crumbling and gave it an appearance of being plastered.
The furnishings consisted of a grandfather's clock, a 4-hole iron cookstove with oven, 2 beds - one small enough and low enough so it could be shoved underneath the other bed, and a table which was fastened to the wall with hinges and 2 legs on the other side. After meals the table was raised up against the wall where it was secured with a button. In this way, and by shoving one bed underneath the other there was more room in the house. Benches served as chairs. All the furniture was made of lumber bought in Valley City, where the lumber and shingles for the roof were bought also. Water was secured from a nearby slough, which had been filled by melting snows and run off-water from spring rains. However, this water became stagnant and Grandpa Lee dug a well striking a vein at 14 feet below the surface, which furnished an ample supply of water for years. Mr. Lee had located the vein with the aid of a willow wand.
Gilbert C. Lee lived with his parents and worked on his father's farm until he was 20 years old. In the meantime he attended, along with his sisters, Hannah and Christine, school in four different districts, Ball Hill, Greenfield, Gallatin and Langford schools. The first school in Ball Hill Township was a 2-month term held in the home of Andrew Benson in 1883. The teacher was Nat. Siften. His salary was $60 paid from Cooperstown. The pupils were Gilbert, Hannah and Christine Lee, John, Bertha, and Sofie Benson, Elling Froiland, Dora and Belle Johnson and Axel Bull. The scholars furnished their own books, which were the Appleton Series. The first schoolhouse built in Ball Hill Township was built in 1883. Fretjof Greenland, a theological student, taught the children religion in the Norwegian language.
In 1891 Gilbert Lee went to Minnesota where he worked for a few years on a farm cast of Moorhead. He returned to the home farm near Cooperstown and later bought a farm, which was the E ½ of the W ½ of Section 1 in Ball Hill Township. The purchase was on a crop-payment contract. Mr. Lee was to deliver one-half of the crop each year. The purchase price was $10 per acre at 10% with no cash payment. It was on this land that Grandpa Lee and Gilbert planted hundreds of trees and here too, the second home was constructed which later came to be called the "summer kitchen.
In January 1902 Gilbert married Clara Josephine Hemness from near Martell, Wisconsin. He brought his bride to North Dakota, and shortly afterward he erected a large, lovely house and a barn for the horses and a few cattle. With the exception of the oldest son, Sidney, it was here that the Lee children were born - Adelaide, Florence, Robert, Lillian and Douglas. Florence died at age 12 in 1918 on Christmas Eve when the flu epidemic ravaged the country.
While farming Mr. Lee had a half interest in a threshing rig, the earnings of which augmented the farm income. During WW I Mrs. Lee, under the supervision and assistance of Dr. Almklov in Cooperstown embarked in the business of raising pedigreed, German Police dogs, which commanded a high price.
Mr. Lee was active and interested in community affairs and busied himself in many political issues. He was a road boss, assessor, and supervisor at various times in Ball Hill Township, and he also served on the school board. He was appointed deputy sheriff of Griggs County under Claus Jackson and held this job for eight years. In 1910 he was elected sheriff. During his four years as sheriff, he leased his farm to his brother-in-law, Louis Hemness from Wisconsin. Christian Lee continued to make his home at the farm, but years later when Gilbert sold the homestead to his neighbor, Jorgen Soma, Christian went to live at the Lutheran Old Folks Home at Northwood. He passed away at 94 years of age.
Gilbert maintained an active and keen interest in political issues and the cause of education. He submitted numerous articles expounding the good and bad of projects and issues to various newspapers. He was 1001o behind A. C. Townley in organizing the Nonpartisan League, which had its beginning in Bowman County. The new organization, operating on a paid membership basis, spread like wildfire. The most spectacular political uprising that had yet occurred in America was on its way with a vast program of laws enacted to protect the farmers' interests. Gilbert worked tirelessly, often traveling on snowshoes in the dead of winter to induce farmers to join the movement. Much of the program was lifted out of North Dakota and set down in Washington, D. C. to be known as Roosevelt's New Deal. Gilbert remained a staunch Democrat all his life and loved nothing better than being able to attend political rallies and listen to gifted orators expound their pet causes.
After several years of leasing land in Griggs County, Gilbert Lee sold the farm near Shepard and he purchased a farm near Dazey. After selling this farm in -1938, Mr. and Mrs. Lee moved to Fargo where Gilbert died in February 1945 and Clara in July 1962.
While living near Shepard, the Lee children, Sidney, Adelaide, Florence and Lillian attended the Shepard School. They together with Robert were graduated from Cooperstown High School. Sidney began his teaching career in the Gallatin school in 1922 and eventually became the Dean of the Bismarck Junior College. He died in August 1961 a week before the opening of the New College. The auditorium on the campus is named the Sidney J. Lee Auditorium in his memory. He had one son. Adelaide Lee began her teaching career in 1923 in the Bolkan School east of Cooperstown. Her salary was $85 a month, but because of a more-than-ample supply of teachers, she considered herself fortunate to have a job. She married Fred O. Mitchell of Hannaford and they have two children, Nola and Gile. In 1941 they moved to Montana. In 1971 Adelaide retired from 31 years of teaching and now lives in Lima. Mr. Mitchell passed away in 1972. Robert Lee, now retired, held a government position in Portland, Oregon. He did not marry. Lillian Lee was also a teacher and is now associated with her husband, Donald Herzog, in the insurance business in Portland, Oregon
They have one daughter, Ann Lee. Douglas Lee lives in West Fargo where he was employed by Corwin-Churchill Company He has two sons, Donald and Charles.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 202