Ommund M. Westley, born in Time, Norway April 18, 1863, homesteaded east of Hannaford in 1890, almost 10 years after he had immigrated with his family at the age of 18. His family followed other immigrants who had found good land in Griggs County. Times were hard in Norway, land was scarce, and transportation companies as well as state and territorial governments flooded Europe with pamphlets promising jobs and land to those who would come to the United States. He married Mallene Bull Jensen and they had eight children, all of whom lived to advanced years. From the farm they moved to Cooperstown where Ommund was Register of Deeds for a number of years. When they moved to Hannaford in 1909 or 1910, he went to work at Farmers State Bank. At various times he was a member of the Board of Education, the Village Board of Trustees and the County Welfare Board. In later years he worked for himself, hanging paper, painting and shingling roofs (which made his family extremely nervous, as did his driving). He sometimes skated on the frozen creek, surprising youngsters much more agile than he. He was a great gardener, but when winter came and he couldn't be outside, he would hook rugs of his own design, some of which are still in existence.
Mallene, born in Stavanger, Norway, February 1, 1868, had come to the area with her family a few years after the Westleys. She had her hands full with eight children and was not strong in her later years, though she kept busy with knitting and crocheting. There was always good hot coffee on the back of the kitchen stove.
Of the eight children, two are still living, both in nursing homes in Denver: Jeannette (Mrs. Palmer Flesjer) and Myrtle (Mrs. Al Zapp). Of Olive (Mrs. B. M. Lunde), Martin, Julius, Oscar, William and Harry, all except Martin lived beyond age 80. Jeannette and Olive spent most of their lives in Hannaford where Palmer Flesjer and B. M. Lunde owned and operated the Hannaford Mercantile Co., or "the Merc" for many years. Jeannette was born June 6, 1895. Palmer Flesjer was born in Shelly, Minnesota, February 20, 1886, and first came to Hannaford to work for Claus Jackson in his store. He and Jeannette were married in 1917. They moved to Shelly for a few years and their two daughters were born there: Marian December 3, 1919, and Lucille December 14, 1921. They moved back to Hannaford about 1925.
Jeannette taught piano for many years (she used to play for the silent movies shown by her brother, Oscar). She was an excellent seamstress, was superintendent of the Presbyterian Sunday School for many years, and after a severe hail storm in the '30s, she went to work at the "Merc" helping to clean up the water and wind damage. She continued to work in the dry goods and women's clothing section of the store until Palmer's death in 1950, when she sold her interest in the store and the big house and moved to Denver where Marian lived.
Palmer had a booming bass voice and loved to sing. At one time he was part of a quartet composed of Dr. O. H. Hoffman, Martin Westley and another (was it Oscar Skorheim?). "Kentucky Babe" was one of their specialties. He was responsible for the grocery section and the men’s wear section of the store and he was seldom idle, even when talking to someone he would be lining up cans on a shelf or straightening a pile of overalls on a counter. The "Merc" was a good store and those were good, penny candy days.
Marian married James C. Lipscomb in Denver, where they still live. Their daughter, Jean Westley Lipscomb, now Mrs. Ed Wall, lives in Novato, California, and is a pediatrics nurse-practitioner. Lucille married Robert C. Thompson, a Virginian she met in Alaska during the war, and they have lived in Richmond and Manassas Virginia since then. Their daughter, Leslie Jean, now Mrs. Gary Stiefler, lives in Denver. She too, is a nurse. She and Gary have a daughter, Lauren Thompson Stiefler, who is the great-great-granddaughter of Ommund Westley.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 243