Mr. and Mrs. Leon Boisjolie came to North Dakota from Bell Prairie, Minnesota. There were thirteen children from this union. Adolph R. Boisjolie was the next to the oldest in the family and he and his wife, Olive Denis of Wild Rice, North Dakota came to the Sutton area about 1918 where they farmed 31/2 miles North. It was truly "The little house on the prairie."
Five children were born to Adolph (or A. R. as he was known) and Olive. Raymond was their first born on September 8, 1916. Wayne came along on January 20, 1918. Francis (Bud) put in his appearance on January 26, 1919. Then on May 18, 1922 the pattern changed and their first girl, Genevieve, was born. Florence came along on February 24, 1922 to complete this part of the family.
Tragedy struck when Mother (Olive) passed away in Oct 1928, after a long illness. Hospital bills and five small children were Dad's (A. R. ) full responsibility. Many relatives offered to take one child or the other but Dad stubbornly said, "The kids are going to stay together.€ Dad must have had a standing ad in the paper for a hired girl because we had many but none stayed very long. Five small children was too much for any hired help. During the times when there was no help Dad did the cooking. I remember him mixing bread and making buns, only his buns often got to be the size of loaves, but to us they were the best in the country. French pancakes were one of his specialties.
I Dad's violin was his friend and companion. Every night he played for hours and as I think back at the type of music he played, I'm sure all the trials of the day and his loneliness were told as he played. He only had to hear a waltz once on the radio and he would play it until he had it mastered. To us it was the sweetest music this side of heaven.
The three boys helped Dad a lot with the farm work but I remember one incident that had nothing to do with work. Early one morning the three boys decided to see who could stand it the longest in the snow in their bare feet. Boys will be boys!
I think of all the jobs on the farm, Dad enjoyed butchering the best. There were always hams and bacons in the smoke house and the most delicious homemade sausage that you ever tasted.
We did a lot of visiting in the evenings the days that we were growing up. Especially with the Ed Hunsberger family. We would put either hay or straw in the hayrack and as the horses pulled us along we watched the stars. My sister and I did a lot of singing and brother Bud (Francis) played the harmonica.
Finally Alma Bibelheimer applied for the job of housekeeper and after a few years she and Dad were married. They had one child, Dale.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 322