Thor A. Hagen (1841-1922) was an early arrival in Sverdrup Township. Born at Hedalen, Valdres, south central Norway, he married Ingeborg Haugen (18481932) there in 1868. His lumber business suffered heavy losses following the sudden rise of Russia as a lumber-exporting nation.
So it was that in 1880 Thor and Ingeborg and their five small daughters sailed for America, the land of promise. In a short memoir written fifty years later, Ingeborg recalled tying the girls together with a rope to keep them from getting separated on the streets of "Filadelfja," as she spelled it.
They spent the winter in Iowa with Thor Hagen's sister, Mrs. Gunhild Thompson, and Mrs. Hagen and the girls remained in Iowa while he set out that spring for Dakota Territory. By the time Sverdrup Township was surveyed that summer, Thor Hagen had picked out land and had started a dugout for a temporary home. In late summer Ingeborg and the children traveled by train from Iowa to Dakota, and stopped for a while at Portland with relatives. Thor Hagen walked to Portland and brought the two older girls, Mary, 11, and Belle, 9, back with him. The girls later recalled the long walk; just as they became so tired it seemed impossible to go on, their father would "find" a piece of candy under a bush for them, and they forgot how tired they were. The girls stayed for a while with families near the homestead and helped tend the babies and the cows to earn their way.
In September, Thor borrowed a wagon and team of oxen and brought Ingeborg, Annie, Jennie and Thea to their new home near the "Sjaen" river.
The next arrival was Arne, born October 8 in the log cabin of Mr. and Mrs. John Torfin, neighbors who were already somewhat established.
The first son and first Yankee of the family, Arne lived longer in Griggs County than any of his sisters and brothers. With the exception of a few years in McKenzie and McLean counties, he farmed near Cooperstown almost until his death on his eightieth birthday. His daughter, Eugenia (Duna) Frigaard and her family are, in 1975, the only Hagen descendants still living in Griggs County.
Five more children were born to Thor and Ingeborg in America, including twin girls who died in early childhood. The family grew and eventually prospered and in 1896 they moved from the homestead to a farm in Washburn Township two miles east of Cooperstown. The two-story house just north of the highway became a stopping place for travelers in snowstorms, for newcomers from Valdres, and for relatives and friends who came to stay a while. It was also the site of frequent large-scale hospitality. Weddings, birthdays and holidays were all celebrated in style seldom seen now.
Thor Hagen died in 1922, and thus did not live to see the good times end in the disaster of 1929 and the thirties, but by the time Ingeborg died in 1932 it was all gone:
the farm and the house she loved were no longer hers.
The family:
Mary (Marie) 1868-1926) married Thor Hetager (1869-1935), son Torolf (1894-1904). Second marriage to E. C. Butler (1844-1932), came to Griggs County in 1882. Butler was in business with B. A. Upton in Mardell 1882-1883, raised blooded Shorthorn cattle and was named to the Saddle and Sirloin Hall of Fame, North Dakota State University. Butler's children were William, (1873-1955), son of the first marriage, married Idella Wilson. Children:
Edward and Mrs. H. C. (Frances) Swanson. Clarence, (1908-1970), son of the second marriage, and his wife, Avis, had two daughters, Janice and Janell.
Belle (Ingeborg, 1871-1956) married, 1895, Mons. H. Hagen who died in Norway in 1936. Children:
Hector, 1896, Hester 1898-, Ingmar. Hector died in childhood. Hester married Carroll Friswold (1897-1971) of Cooperstown
son Carroll, Jr. Ingmar married Blanche Allison, 2 sons. Belle married second Dana Winslow in Minneapolis, later moved to California.
Annie (1875-1952) married William Moodie (18731960). Daughter Florence married Art Sell, one son William.
Jennie (Johanna, 1878-1927) married Grant E. (Eddie) Snyder. Son Thorman, (1908-ca. 1936) and his wife, Nora, had four children.
Thea (1879-1955) married first Benj. A. Upton (1879-1904). Daughter Thelma (1902-1975). Thea married second Harmon C. Smith (1888-). Sons Dallas, Jerome.
Arne (1881-1961) married, 1913, Ida Grunfossen (1890-1957), a teacher from Lowry, Minnesota, farmed in Washburn Township. Children:
Mrs. Ralph (Priscilla) Clausen, Tacoma, Washington, children Susan, Maryalis, Charles
Mrs. C. L. (Norma) Friswold, Tujunga, California, Shelly and James
Mrs. G. J. (Eugenia "Duna") Frigaard, Cooperstown, children Lisa, Karl, Mark
Arlene, Whittier, California, married first George Kolstad, son David, married second Vernon Fisher.
Christopher (1886-1953) married Esther M. Olson (1896-1918) of Cooperstown, son John T. (1916-).
Torval (1888-1972) married Anna Gronvold (1890-) daughter of pioneer missionary pastor O. C. Gronvold and Mrs. Gronvold, a Hagen relative. No children.
Ida (1891-1968) singer, writer, artist, lecturer, married, 1915, John Wilfred Pitman, second married Clarence Marshall. No children.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 481