Marie (Hareland) Hilyard was born May 26, 1908, on a farm two miles east of Hannaford, the eldest of seven children born to Ludvig and Martina Hareland. I grew up on a farm, attended school in Hannaford built by my father, Ludvig Hareland in 1907.
After graduating from high school in 1927, I attended VCSTC for one year, then moved to Plentywood, Montana, in 1928, to join my family where they had taken residence.
In August 1929, I married Charles Hilyard of Plentywood and we moved to a small farm southeast of Plentywood. We farmed in the "Dirty Thirties" with dust storms every day. Plagued by hoppers as well, we would herd turkeys out in a nearby meadow, or coyotes would be sure to get them. Turkeys were kept inside a high fence during the night and early in the morning a coyote would be walking around outside the enclosure looking at turkeys.
Eggs sold for 3 a dozen, oats 10 a bushel, wheat 25 a bushel. We milked cows and churned sweet cream butter for 25 a pound. We raised hogs and sold them dressed 100 plus pounds for $5.00 each.
In 1935, we sold 19 head of cattle to the government for a total sum of $150, which was less than we had paid for one cow a few years previously. $19 was the price paid for best cow and calves were $2.00 each.
Charles, being a mechanic, worked at a garage in Plentywood for $35 a month. We moved to Seattle to work at Boeing for a year during WW II. Returning to Plentywood, Charles worked as a mechanic for P. G. Neville. With a family of six children, we moved back to the farm as a better place to raise children where they learned by doing.
We started raising sheep when a neighbor brought four small orphan lambs which were raised on cows milk. Increasing our herd, we had sheep for 38 years. One of our sons and a grandson now have 1,500 head.
Living on low land we went through five bad floods in three years. One flash flood in 1953, came across the flat with great force. As the family was running to the old 1937 Ford V8 car, the shoes of our daughter, Charlene, were washed off her feet and found later in some rubbish that piled up. We had to leave the farm with some of our sheep standing around a light pole with only their heads and part of their backs visible as water rushed by. The old Ford seemed to float like a boat through the rushing water until we came to higher ground.
Charles and I are parents of three sons and three daughters, 15 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Charles passed away in April 1988, after a lengthy illness of seven years.
As a young girl growing up on a farm, I was exposed to much harmony-singing when Magnus and Malena Haugen lived in the second house on our farm. His brothers, Carl, Melvin and Herman, were frequent visitors and would sing in harmony. My recreation through the years has been singing in church and community choirs. I used to sing in Union and Hannaford choirs, traveling from three to five miles by horse and buggy to attend practice.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 157