Iver Udgaard was born October IG, 1863 in Lesja, Norway. He came to Cooperstown in 1882 after living a short time in Minnesota with cousins and at Mardell.
He carried mail with horse and cart from Tower City to Lee post-office. He was employed as a bookkeeper and machinery salesman by Knud Thompson and later as a collector for J. T. Odegaard, a moneylender.
He became a naturalized citizen in 1888 and at one time held a county office, was a farmer and cashier of The First National Bank in Cooperstown.
He married Gina Helling June 11, 1902. Their first home that summer was the farm in Romness Township. Later the buildings were moved from NW quarter of Section 2 and rebuilt on NE quarter of Section 3, the present location.
While living in Cooperstown, two children were born:
Mildred in August 1903 and Edwin October 14, 1904.
In 1905, he visited his people in Norway.
In 1910, the family moved to the Lenora farm.
Iver was interested in progress and not afraid of change. He believed in "the land" and its good cultivation.
He died in 1935 and did not see rural electrification become a reality, or the development of rust proof wheat or farm-to-market roads.
One can imagine how pleased he would have been to see good roads as we have them today. A favorite early car was a fifty horse-power Veile. It was without top or windshield and was started by cranking the engine by hand. I remember outings when we were stuck in a series of muddy holes along a road and so the passengers descended from the car and pushed. After one such time, he said of our mother, "What a power she is! "
That car was sold on the spot one fall when it turned over and broke the steering post on his leg. He and Otto Kiehl were driving to Grand Forks for repairs for the Aultman Taylor tractor. Otto was our engineer and he later fixed the Viele up and was a happy owner for many years. Father had a gash on his leg, saw the doctor and came home with crutches and the repairs. He was around in no time.
He was a patient, kind man. In his last week of illness while he was resting and dozing after Dr. Grinnell had seen him, he asked "What did the doctor say?" and then observed "I think He has great things in store for me. -
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 409