O. P. Feiring, my father, was born at Lillehammer, Norway, in 1846. At the age of 20, he came to the United States. His first job was what was called the "River Drive,€ the dangerous and hazardous work of keeping logs floating down the Mississippi River.
He wanted to learn the English language so he could reply to all the razzing he endured from the Frenchmen and others on the drive.
My mother, Beatta Melby, was born in Hurdalen, Norway. Her parents came across the ocean in a sailing boat when she was 3 weeks old, and settled at Coon Prairie, Wisconsin.
When he was 28, father married my mother. He had learned the making of shoes in Norway. They planned to open a shoe shop in Ettrick, Wisconsin, but instead, father bought a farm at Pigeon Falls, Wisconsin. Five children were born there. The first two died in infancy. Clara, Julia and I, Ida, were born there.
In 1883 our family moved to a place about a mile south of Sutton, Dakota Territory. The claim was in Mabel Township and the post office was called Helena. The two sons were born on the homestead - Oscar in 1886 and Melvin in 1888.
The first school on the homestead I attended was in a private home - the Charley Fredenberg home. Clara Posey was the teacher. Later, a one-room schoolhouse was built about a mile from our home. This was also used for church services. Reverend P. A. Thoreson was our pioneer minister. We moved to Cooperstown after two winters in order to attend school.
At the Ayrea School, northeast of Cooperstown, our teachers were May Retzlaff, Mable Drinkwater and Mrs. John Cain. The pupils I recall were:
the two Ayrea girls, Mattie and Jessie
the three Feirings, Oscar, Melvin and myself
the Simensons
the Hagens, Torval, Ida and Christ
the four Glaspell girls
the Strommes, Gina and Edward
and the Shepards.
A number of the Feiring family were elected to county offices in Griggs County. Clara Feiring, a University of North Dakota graduate, was elected county superintendent of school and held that office for six years. She married Benjamin Tufte who was states attorney at that time. Their son, Oswald, was superintendent of Cooperstown High School for a number of years. Sister Julia married Oscar Hoff who was elected treasurer of the county.
I was deputy county superintendent of schools for one year and during one vacation before starting school at the university. I graduated from University of North Dakota in 1907 and married Oliver Hoff in 1909. He died at Rochester, Minnesota, in 1930. Our two sons were born - Bjarne in 1910 and Hollis in 1915. My husband was manager of the Sutton Mercantile store for a number of years.
The older brother, Oscar Feiring, moved to western North Dakota in the New England area and farmed there for 30 years. His daughter, Beatrice Saldin, lives in Spokane, Washington, where she is a home economics teacher. The younger brother, Melvin Feiring, took up a homestead in Alberta, Canada. He lived there until he was called home on account of his father's prolonged illness. Father died in 1916 at the age of 71.
The war years came on and members of the Feiring family served their country. Oswald Tufte worked in a war plant in Seattle, Washington. Oscar's son, William, served in the Medical Corps from 1942 to late in 1945. The younger son, Melvin, was killed in action in the fall of 1942 at Guadalcanal. Hollis Hoff served in the Air Corps from April 1942 to February 1946. He is now an information officer for Colorado State University in radio and TV work.
"So sweet, so sad, The days that are no more, " says the poet.
Ida (Feiring) Hoff
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 480