Mr. and Mrs. Albin Forsberg and their daughters, Ida, Anna and Clara came to Griggs County from their home in Sweden in 1882, at the invitation of two Forsberg brothers already here. John Forsberg and his bachelor brother, Gustaf, had hoped to comply with the Homestead Law which required each applicant to make a home on his own land and live there at least part of the year. They built a double log house across the quarter line between their two quarter- Sections of free land. John and his wife and family occupied quarters in one end of the building while Gustaf lived alone in the other.
As it happened, they had missed the line by a few feet, after all, and the house turned out to be all on the bachelor brother's side of the line. This made no difference at the time, because they didn't know of their mistake until the final survey was completed. Though almost all of the free land in Griggs County had been taken by the time Albin Forsberg and his family arrived, a few quarters were still available by a process called preemption, which involved a small cash payment. Albin fortunately came prepared to buy his land.
These later immigrants reported that a storm at sea and a broken propeller had delayed their journey. One of these bad storms was described in an interview with their granddaughter Linnea Olson many years later. Her account reads as follows:
"A sudden storm broke out. Before the sailors could get the covers on the stairways, the waves dashed overboard and water ran down the stairs into the rooms of the passengers below."
When the ship finally reached New York, the Forsbergs took passage on a boat that was going up the Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York, continuing through the Great Lakes, Erie, Huron, and Superior, to disembark at Two Harbors, Minnesota. Going on to Brainerd, they were then able to take the Northern Pacific Railroad all the way to Valley City where their two brothers met them.
Paper written by Linnea Olson in 1926, after an interview with her grandfather.
They all managed to live in the log duplex until a quarter of land could be located for Albin. He was fortunate enough to obtain a quarter -Section in Greenfield Township by paying a modest sum. The Surrey Cut-off on the Great Northern Railroad was being built at that time and Albin was fortunate enough to obtain work on that project after hastily preparing a 12X12 sod house against a hillside on his land for the family to live in until something better could be provided for them.
Valley City, the closest town, was thirty miles away, and since the Forsbergs still had no rig of their own to drive, and were now miles away from their generous brothers, Albin made many trips on foot to bring his family the most necessary supplies. He himself ate with the railroad crew. As long as their work continued, simple cooking equipment was moved with their other supplies from place to place.
By 1885 Albin Forsberg had raised a team of oxen for himself. After that the family often drove out on the prairie to pick up buffalo bones, which were sold to a buyer named Knute Thompson for ten to fourteen dollars a ton. Like their neighbors, the Forsbergs considered those bones a free gift that came with their land, proving that not so many years ago the American Bison had found good grazing on the land that was now theirs.
The land on which the Union Lutheran Church stands was donated by Albin Forsberg. His children attended the nearby Westley School.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 page 294