Two sisters, Emma and Maria came to Griggs County from Sweden. Their parents were Johannes Erikson and Nina Kajsa Erikson. Emma was born March 21, 1863 and Maria, January 18, 1865.
Emma married Halvor Sorenson, a stone mason and carpenter, then later custodian of the Hannaford School. He was a charter member of the Lutheran Church of Hannaford that was organized in 1898. Three children were born to them:
Sadie, John and the first born who died in infancy. John and Sadie attended school in Hannaford. As a young man, John worked in the Hannaford Mercantile Store for several years. Sadie enrolled in a business school, then later married Dias Moller and moved to the state of Washington. Upon the father's death in 1924, John was the sole support of his mother. Some time later, they too moved to the state of Washington where he was a building contractor. Mrs. Sorenson passed away in 1948.
Maria married Alfred Gustafson, a shoemaker, who had his shop in Hannaford. She and her sister, Emma, were both charter members of the Ladies Aid or " Kvinde Forensing". Alfred was a charter member of the Lutheran Church. To them was born one son, Edgar.
Edgar tells of an event in their lives when he was a young boy. "I recall an incident that shows what a fine character my mother was. A mother of two small boys had died. They lived with their father in a cook car that was part of every threshing outfit in those days. One bitter cold winter night the feet of the boys were frozen and they were in miserable condition when found. Mother took one of the boys into our home and cared for him for several months until he recovered. This was probably in 1900." Mrs. Gustafson passed away in Fargo April 3, 1951. Alfred was 85 in 1953 and living in Fargo.
Edgar, their son, was born February 10, 1892. He became a printer's devil on the Hannaford Enterprise when 14 years old. In spite of his young age, he put out the newspaper as a solo job when the editor was away for 2 or 3 weeks. After graduating from Hannaford High School, he received his bachelor and Master's degrees from the University of North Dakota. After teaching economics at the University of Wisconsin he started work as a clerk with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, parent concern of the Bell System, in New York. From there he went to the Ohio Bell in Cleveland as commercial engineer and worked his way up through various positions until appointed vice-president in charge of personnel. A considerable part of his activity was devoted to labor relations. He was elected a member of the Ohio Bell board of directors and its executive committee in August 1948. In December 1951 he relinquished his personnel duties to assist the company's president in executive and administrative problems. He retired in 1953 and is still living in Ohio.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 page 158