My parents were married in 1912 in the grove at the Lars Johnson farm in Sverdrup Township in Griggs County. My mother, Louise, was born at this farm on March 31, 1888 in a log cabin.
My mother's parents came from Sweden and pioneered in Griggs County. There were six children in that family, Brita Elizabeth, Nickalous, Margareta, Christina, Mathilda, and Louise. They are all deceased except my mother Louise, who is living in Hannaford.
My dad, Albert was born in Muskegon, Michigan on December 10, 1884 to Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Johnson. His father, Oscar, worked in the lumber business and for the railroad while there. They moved to Hope. North Dakota in 1895 and settled in Greenfield Township, Griggs County in 1916. There were five children in that family, Laura, Albert, Francis, Hilda, and Esther. They are all deceased except my father, Albert, who lives in Hannaford.
After my parents were married they lived in Steele County one year and then moved to Griggs County in Broadview Township in 1913. They farmed five miles East of Hannaford until 1969 when they moved to Hannaford. Five children were born to them, Loal, Marjorie, Doris, Howard, and Bert.
When my parents first lived on the farm they had 3 quarters of land, one cow, and some machinery they had when farming at Hope, North Dakota.
Our social functions were Church and school programs and P. T. A. In the wintertime we would go to them in a bobsled pulled by horses. We would dress warm and cover ourselves with blankets and robes. We would heat sad irons and put at our feet to keep them warm. We would travel this way to visit relatives and have a real enjoyable time.
My dad liked spirited horses as he had broken broncos in his early life, so we had several runaways with machinery and hay wagons. The first car we had was a touring car. When it rained we buckled on the side curtains. We had to crank the car to start it and sometimes were disappointed when planning a visit somewhere and could not get the car started.
We attended church and Sunday school at the Saron Evangelical Free Church, and went to parochial school for a few weeks in the summer time in the schoolhouses where we could study the Swede or Norwegian language besides our Bible lessons.
Marjorie's husband, James Donahue, was born at Winona, Minnesota on April 12, 1912 and she was born at her parents farm 5 miles east of Hannaford on April 18, 1915.
They have three children - all girls. Mrs. Jean Severson - Willow Springs, Illinois, Kay Donahue - Hannaford, and Mrs. Colleen Witte, Anchorage, Alaska.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 139