Little is known on the background of Thosten D. Stone but he was born Thor Stein on September 26, 1852. He married Gjertrud Norekval (born April 22, 1864), one of eight children of Erik and Torbjor Norkeval who lived near Voss, Norway.
The Stones' first child, Erick, was born near Voss in 1889, the year before the family immigrated to the United States. They came to North Dakota and settled about a mile east of Hannaford (Section 4, Township 144, Range 59). Records show that the homestead application was granted May 31, 1899.
Six children were born to the union of Thosten and Gjertrud Stone. They are:
The life on the prairie was primitive and the first dwelling was a sod house. A small frame house was constructed shortly thereafter to take care of the growing family.
Although the Northern Pacific line from Valley City to Cooperstown was completed in the 1880's, riding as a passenger was a luxury few of the homesteaders could afford. An annual family shopping trip was made by horse and buggy and required a full day each way.
Tragedy struck the family in 1905 when the youngest son, Ivar, died after an accident in which he was kicked by a horse.
A new and larger home was completed in 1907. Very shortly thereafter Thosten died after a short illness leaving his wife with five children ranging in age from 9 to 18. The family managed to continue to operate the farm, which eventually grew to nearly two Sections. By the early 1920's the brothers had acquired several threshing rigs and did custom threshing for the farmers in the Hannaford and Walum area. (This actually continued until the early 1940's by which time the combine had almost completely replaced the thresher.)
In 1919, the eldest son, ERICK, married Amelia Boom (born 1887) who had immigrated from Dalsland, Sweden in 1904. She spent several years in the Wheaton, Minnesota area coming to Hannaford in 1907 to visit the Elinder Antonson family who had also immigrated from Dalsland. She remained in the Hannaford area and worked for a number of years for the W. D. Sinclair family. One son, (Noel, born 1920) was born to this union.
The youngest daughter, Anna, was married about 1930 to Bert Nelson of Cooperstown but she passed away in 1933. The couple had no children.
In 1938 Theodore was married to Marian Nelson of Cooperstown. Four children were born:
David continued to operate the family farm until 1941 when he was killed in an automobile accident. His mother, Gjertrud, suffered a stroke in 1943 and passed away February 15, 1943 at the age of 78.
After renting for several years, THEODORE returned to operate the family farm until his retirement in 1964. His death on December 28, 1972 marked the passing of the last of the immediate family of Thosten and Gjertrud Stone.
Theodore's wife, Marian, continues to reside on the family farm.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 307