Knute Holland

Knute Holland and wife Serina (Ashland) were among the early pioneer settlers in Griggs County, North Dakota.  Knute Holland, at the age of 26 years arrived in 1881.  His wife Serina arrived the following year in 1882 at the age of 16 years.  They both came from Stavanger, Norway.

Knute Holland was born on April 13, 1855.  In the spring of 1881, he came to America, pausing first at Granite Falls, Minnesota, from where, in the same year, he came to North Dakota.  From Valley City he came Northward, settling on a farm in the Southeast quarter of Griggs County.  In 1891 he purchased a half Section of land just south of Shephard.

He was married to Miss Serina Ashland on November 10, 1887 and to this union a happy family of ten children, six daughters and four sons, were born.  In 1904 Mr. Holland, with his family, went to Oregon, this removal being caused by Mr. Holland's ill health following pneumonia.  But the Oregon climate was not agreeable to him as that of North Dakota, and his return to Griggs County marked the start of a lasting residence here.  Since that return the Holland family has resided in the immediate vicinity of Cooperstown except for their removal to the farm home west of Binford.

The children are: 

  1. Mrs. Abbin Larson (Bertha) of Hannaford

  2. Mrs. A. A. Shoberg (Marie), of Cooperstown

  3.  Carl

  4. Alfred and 

  5. Mrs. O. W. Olson (Clara), of Binford 

  6. Melvin

  7. Herman

  8. Alice

  9. Esther and 

  10. Florence of Cooperstown

Andrew Brosten and Knute Holland were cousins and together bought a quarter Section of land in 1885, it being the NE quarter of Section 23, which they owned jointly for a short time.

In 1883, Knute Holland and Sven Olgaad together bought a threshing machine and for many years they were the only threshers in that settlement.

Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 272