Aslak Gunderson was born in Telemark District, Norway. His wife, Thoren, was born at Kraagers in 1836. They immigrated to Baldwin, Wisconsin, with four children, where they lived for about seven years. In 1880, they moved to Dakota where they took out a tree claim in southern Griggs County. They built the first frame house in this area. The original house still stands one-half mile south of Walum.
Gunderson's daughter, Minnie, was the first white child born in Greenfield Township. As Gunderson's home was situated on the main road, it became a stopping place or "Halfway House" for travelers and grain haulers from Cooper Ranch and other farms to the closest shipping point at Sanborn.
Gunderson's had 13 children. Nine lived to grow up in North Dakota. They are Betsy, Belle, Gunder, Peter, Tillie, George, Edith, Alice and Minnie.
Aslak owned and farmed the land where Walum stands. He and his wife were charter members of the Bald Hill Lutheran Church, later called St. Olaf, and he donated four acres of land for the church and cemetery. Their children were all confirmed in the Lutheran faith. Aslak Gunderson died in 1900, just as Walum was begun. He had sold his land to his son, Peter. Mrs. Gunderson died in 1913.
Betsy married George Kins and moved to Montana where they raised a large family. Histories of Peter and Gunder will be listed separately.
Tillie Gunderson married Nelson. They had a daughter, Alma, deceased; and Alan of Oregon. Nelson died and his widow remarried John (Jack) Stewart. They had two sons, Lester in Washington; and Lorne, in Oregon. Two daughters, Mrs. Belle Stewart Swan and Florence, deceased. Both lived in Canada where the Stewarts moved to farm and raise their family. Florence died in Italy where her husband studied for opera. Lorne is the only survivor as of 1988.
Georgine Gunderson married Walter (Larimore) of Hope, where they farmed. They moved to Portal where they died. They had several children.
Edith Gunderson married Sam Nickey who was a baseball player hired by the Cooperstown Baseball Team one season. They moved to Montana and had three sons and a daughter.
Alice Gunderson married John Broten. They had two sons, Kenneth and Glen, all deceased.
Minnie Gunderson married A. P. Jones, a colorful figure.
A.P. Jones taught in the Gunderson School (or Happy Hollow) for a two-month summer term in 1897, in July and August for a salary of $40 per month. His pupils and friends call him "Apple Pie Jones." In 1900, he attended a summer session at a teachers college in Valley City.
In 1901, he was assistant to Rearcik, editor of the Sentinel, a Cooperstown newspaper. He soon became the editor until 1903.
Jones was an avid checker player and played checkers by mail. He was secretary to the North Dakota Checkers Club for several years. He and Minnie Gunderson married in 1903, when he became a postal clerk on the Northern Pacific train on the run between Jamestown and Shelby, Montana, They had four sons, two of whom grew to adulthood - Richard and Irvin. Richard of St. Paul, Minnesota, served in a civil service position in Haiti for several years.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 125