My father, Lewis Iverson, was born in Spring Grove, Minnesota in 1872 and came to Sharon, North Dakota and then to Hatton, North Dakota from Brooten, Minnesota to work and also as a tree salesman during the 1890's. He then homesteaded in Bryan Township of Griggs County. He used to tell my brother Lloyd how he came to homestead on that particular place. Martin Wold, who had a homestead just west of our farm came to Sharon one day and informed my father that there was a good piece of land that could be had. Dad liked the looks of that land and decided to file a homestead claim after first looking over several other areas.
Dad built a small house to begin with and lived alone for several years. In 1907 he married my mother (Nettie Rinde) from Sharon, North Dakota. She was born at Albert Lea, Minnesota in 1878. My mother used to tell how very lonesome she was those first five years, because they did not seem to be able to have any children.
My uncle, Nels Iverson, homesteaded on the farm where my brother Norris Iverson now lives. Lisa Iverson (who was Nels's wife) and my mother were very close friends and pals besides being sisters-in-law. Mother and Lisa would be together a lot, attending Ladies Aid and other functions of the day. Lisa passed away when their last girl was born. This of course was a terrible tragedy for that family and my mother missed her very much. My folks were then to keep one of her children, Myrtle Iverson, for a while and it was during this time that mother came into a "family way" as she put it.
At home in the early days horses and buggy were used for transportation plus the covered sleigh in the winter. The horses were used for fieldwork and we needed between 20 and 30 of them at times. This type of farming required a great deal of hired help in addition to the household chores until we children became old enough to be of some help.
While we were growing up the language used was Norwegian. When we started school it was difficult for us, as we had to learn English besides learning how to read and write. It soon became apparent to our parents that we use the English language at home, which we all did, and Norwegian became secondary except that Hazel Iverson, my sister, was confirmed in Norwegian. In the summers we were required by our parents to attend parochial school for one month. This we did until we were all confirmed. We also learned to read and write in Norwegian those first years at this school but eventually was not used at all and we gradually forgot almost all of the Norwegian we had learned. The little I remember helped immensely though when we visited the Scandinavian Countries on two occasions.
The nineteen thirties were of course the very hard years for most others and us. We had some enjoyment along with the hard times but it seemed like the work was never done. We had good guidance though, but at times we thought our father a little too stern but know now that he had to be to save what we had. One thing we knew was that our parents loved us and were concerned, but when you are very young, it is hard to understand their feelings. He used to say even then that he had not lost faith in North Dakota. He had lived there in good times too.
I graduated from high school in 1932 just when things were beginning to get very hard. I wanted to go on to school but mother was not well and Hazel had started Nurse's training in Fargo. My father and I had a serious talk and after discussing this idea of college back and forth, I could borrow the money, however he said he would let me have a pure-bred heifer that he had bought along with all of her off-spring as long as I would stay home and help. Now I knew that he was really worrying about Mother and my brothers. He figured if we would stay together we could make it. I was to stay home for the next three years. Finally he felt that I could leave and try my wings, which I did.
I think of ELMER one of those years when it was so dry, he had to re-dig a big waterhole in the creek bottom for the livestock. He used a scoop and a team of horses to make this hole. After making several passes he was waist deep in mud. He did get water after almost drowning! Those dry years, Dad would have us plant potatoes in a slough bottom in order to get enough moisture to get them to grow. There is a bright spot here and that is we always had plenty of good food. Our parents were very resourceful and ambitious. They were able to keep their farm and acquire more land as years went by. There must be a moral here somewhere. Our parents are deceased, Dad passed away in 1944 and Mother in 1973.
Hazel Iverson McBride lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has two children. Penny (Mrs. Richard Rood) who has one son, Michael, and lives in Minneapolis. Thomas and his wife Joan and two sons also live in Minneapolis.
Anne Iverson Nielsen lives in West Fargo, North Dakota with her husband Kenneth. They have one daughter, Nola, who lives near Kindred with her husband Edward Hahn and three children.
Elmer Iverson lives in Scottsdale, Arizona and at Red Willow Lake in the summer with his wife Dorothy. He has three children. ROD, who lives and farms on the Elmer Iverson home farm with his wife Marilyn and son Ryan. Paul, who lives in Arizona with his wife Elaine and son Troy. Laurie, who is married to Tom Beattie, and lives with him in Germany.
LLOYD IVERSON lives on the home farm with his wife Adeline and son Blair who attends college.
NORRIS IVERSON lives on the Nels Iverson homestead with his wife Virginia. They have three sons. Gregory, who is a doctor and lives in Iowa with his wife Dianne. Jarl, who teaches music in Elmore, Minnesota and Louis, who is at home and also attends college.
Anne Iverson Nielsen
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 page 246