Hans Dalager: A brief history by Lavilla, his daughter

by Lavilla Dalager Peterson

My father was born in Bergenstift, Indre, Sogn, Norway on November 5, 1842. He was the third son of Mr. and Mrs. Solfest Dalager. His brothers were Anfin, Lasse, and Nils. He had one sister Brita. Anfin, who was the oldest, came to America when Hans did in 1858. Anfin was so sold on becoming an American that he looked at America as his homeland and even gave up his birthright in Norway. When these two boys, 21 & 16 years old stopped in Wisconsin they went to a meeting where they were asking for volunteers for service against the Indians. Anfin volunteered. He became ill shortly after and spent the rest of his life (maybe two years) with a couple who cared for him.

Dad went on to Goodhue County, Minnesota where he worked for an aunt and uncle-in-law. He worked here for several years. He was paid a few pounds of wool for this work. Another cousin of his made him a pair of stockings from the wool. During the winters he worked in the pine forests near St. Cloud and Little Falls. After the Indian scare was over he filed a claim for a homestead in Pope County in 1866. His homestead was issued by President U. S. Grant October 1, 1873. His homestead is where Herman Dalager now lives.

Hans was married to Ingeborg Knutson in 1871. The following children were born to them. Jenny Grove, Christine Houston, Julia Solverud Knutson, Hannah Johnson, and Karl Dalager. Fifteen years later, in 1886, Ingeborg died.

Hans Dalager’s brother Nils, his sister Brita and his mother who was widowed came to Pope County from Norway. Brita lost her husband by accident and she and grandma Guri Dalager, Mrs. Solfest Dalager, later moved to Webster, South Dakota. Here Hans’ mother, Guri, lost her life in a prairie fire. She had gone to the barn to same the animals and was overcome by fumes. This was in 1886. Brita was saved by jumping into a shallow well but she was so badly burned she was in a wheel chair the rest of her life.

Brita had three children: Andrew, Julia and Sophia.

Nils Dalager settled in Pope County. He has passed on. He left many boys who carry his name, son at Benton Harbor, Mich. and in California.

In 1888 Hans married Amelia Bentrud. To them were given 10 children: Tillie, Cora, William, Selmer, Alice, Herman, Lavilla, Lucille, Helen and Alma who died in 1908 at the age of 8 years.

Hans died at his home in Chippewa Falls Township of cancer. He was 68 years old at the time. He was buried at the Barsness Lutheran Church Cemetery.

Hans Dalager and Amelia: Amelia’s early days

After Ingeborg’s passing, Hans married Amelia Bentrud. Click here to read about her early life.

Note: The spelling of Amelia/Amilia is unclear, so you will see it both ways as she appears in various entries.

Hans Dalager and Amelia: First and second families, buttermilk, fire, and a surrey

On April 7, 1888 Amelia Bentrud married Hans Dalager, a widower. The wedding took place on the Bentrud farm. Hans’ first wife, Ingeborg, had died in child birth in 1886. Ameila did not turn 20 until June 20, 1888. Amelia stepped into a home where there were 6 children, 5 girls and 1 boy. The oldest girl was 16 years old and the baby boy was 3 years old. The following children were born to Hans and Amelia: Tillie (Mrs. Anton Ogdahl), William (Willie), Cora (Mrs. Adolph Anderson), Selmer, Alice (Mrs. Torwald Disrud), Herman, Lavilla (Mrs. John Peterson), Lucille (Mrs. Arnold Selness), Helen (Mrs. Charles Thomas), and Alma (who died in April 1908 at the age of six).

The farm Amelia moved to was a large farm at the time consisting of about 2000 acres. There were sometimes as many as 7 hired men and 2 hired girls during the summer What would the bread making task be at this house? The women also did the milking and other chores during the summer months.

As the family of Hans and Amelia grew, the children of Hans and Ingeborg were growing up also. Sophia was married to Theodore Ogdahl in 1890, just two years after Hans married Amelia. Her oldest son, Henry, was born in 1892. Sophia and Theodore were living on the place that Ralph Peterson now owns and where his son Mark lives. Jenny taught country school after completing her training at St. Cloud Normal School. Country school at that time was usually held during the fall and spring. As a teacher, Jenny was on her own and did not live at home. Christine also trained as a teacher and taught in school district 78. During this time she made her home with Sophie.

Hannah, Karl and Julia lived at home with Hans and Amelia during the years following their marriage. Julia was a great story teller. One of her jobs was to watch the children which she was very successful at because of her interest in story telling. She went on to study at St. Cloud Normal School were she became interested in stars. Julia would tell the children stories about the stars. She also taught them English and would tell Bible stories.

Everyone was home at Christmas. This included the hired help which were usually two hired men and a hired girl in the winter. The Christmas tree was always important. The tree was usually a boxelder. Each branch was wound with green tissue paper. Then flowers were made and attached and small candles were tied on. There were gifts under the tree. There were pocket knives for the boys and dolls for the girls. A pie was made over a big dishpan with oats. In each one was a gift for each child of apples, popcorn etc.

Hans Dalager usually wore a beard and was a very loving and affectionate person. He usually brought Amelia gifts on special occasions. He was witty, cheerful and very good with children. He did not like to listen to gossip, always spoke Norwegian, and did not drink alcohol. Hans drank butter milk instead of whiskey. He might smoke once in while for the fun of it with friends. He would punish children if needed, loved family parties, especially at Christmas time, and would serve wine at the beginning of parties. Hans liked to sing when he drove along. The neighbors said they could hear him singing, mostly hymns in Norwegian.

Every day Willie was expected to bring in the wood for the next day. One time when he failed to do this and was expecting a whipping he hid all day by crawling under his bed so no one could find him.

In 1901 the Gilbertson school house burned. There was rejoicing that morning when the announcement was made–no school because the school had burned down. Bridget Olson, the teacher, was saving ashes in a wooden box at the school for Mrs. Gilbertson to use in making lutefisk and this caused the fire. The school board asked to have school at the Dalager place. There was no happiness for the Dalager youngsters now as school was soon in session again. The school was set up in the new addition to the house that was used as a summer kitchen. All the neighborhood children came to school at the Dalager place. There were over 20 students. Most of the children walked to school. Lunch usually consisted of slices of bread with molasses, molasses cake and once in a while an apple. To have apples they would be bought by the barrel.

Once when Cora was walking to the Gilbertson school she met a wolf. She had a tin pail to hold her lunch. She banged on the pail and the wolf ran off. It is not known if this was before or after the school was rebuilt.

One year a prairie fire took all the crops and a pair of oxen.

Once when Carrie Scokerstaff, who lived near Terrace, was to come over to help with house work, a big winter storm hit. Hans, who had gone to Terrace to pick up Carrie, and Carrie were caught in the storm and had to wait out the storm under the tipped over wagon box.

In 1888, when Tillie was a baby, Hans bought a team of horses in Goodhue County where he had relatives. On the way home from Goodhue County the horses became frightened and ran away. This happened near Willmar. The wagon tipped over and Hans broke his leg. Hans was hospitalized at Willmar. Because the leg was not set properly he always walked with a limp and had to have a heel built on his shoe.

Amelia Dalager went to church every time there was church service. Children and hired help also went. They usually loaded a wagon in the summer and a sleigh in the winter.

Hans served on the church building committee in 1883 when the first church was built in Barsness township.

He built an elegant brick house on the homestead place in about 1899.

Hans Dalager was always a hard worker and by persistent effort he became one of the richest farmers in the county. At the time of his death he owned nearly 2 sections of land.

Hans’ daughter Alice remembered when Hans brought home a new surrey around 1903-05. A surrey was a two-seated buggy pulled by two horses and had plenty of room for the kids. He had gone into town by himself that day. She did not know where he bought the surrey, whether in St. Cloud where he did most of his shopping, Alexandria or some place else. He came home while it was still light. The roads were not very good at that time but she didn’t think it was muddy. Alice didn’t think Hans would have taken them out in the mud. First they ate supper. The kids didn’t know any thing about the surrey as yet. After supper Hans said he had something to show and they were all surprised and excited. Hans loaded as many kids as would fit in the surrey and took them for a mile and a half ride to school district 78 as he wanted to look at some land that was for sale near by. Alice thought he bought the land later on because this land later went to the Groves as a part of Jennie’s share of Han’s estate.

According Lloyd Vindedahl of Glenwood—a distant relative of the Dalagers—Hans was a good operator. Lloyd had worked for a man who had worked for Hans Dalager many years before. This man had been hired to plow for Hans and his was one of eleven walking plows that Hans had working in his fields. A walking plow had only one moldboard. The pay was fifty cents a day plus food and lodging which was not bad at that time.

Hans Dalager: Obituary

Glenwood Gopher Press
Vol XIII, No 30
Thursday March 24, 1910

Hans Dalager passed away yesterday morning, Wednesday March 23, 1910 a victim of cancer of the stomach. During the past three years Hans Dalager, who had previously scarcely known what sickness meant for himself, suffered considerably with his stomach, and about a year ago was so seriously ill that his life was despoiled of for a time. He got up again however, and last fall felt much better for many months. Shortly before Christmas he began to fail gradually and grew worse till the end came March 23rd. Cancer of the stomach was given as his trouble by attending physician.

Hans Dalager was born in Norway 67 years ago the fifth of November and came to America when 17 years of age living first in Goodhue county. He came to Pope County 40 years ago and took a homestead in Barsness township. In 1871 he married Ingeborg Knutson by whom he had six children: Mrs. J. O. Grove & Mrs. Theodore Ogdahl of Glenwood, Mrs. George Houston of Herman, Mrs. Tollef Solverud of Deering, N. Dakota, Mrs. P.O.C. Johnson of Ardock, N. Dakota, and Carl Dalager of Inverness, Montana. His first wife died 25 years ago and two years later he married Amelia Bentrud Dalager who survives him with 9 children, the youngest a little over a year old.

The deceased is also survived by one brother Nils of Barsness township and a sister Brita of Webster, S. Dakota.

Hans Dalager was a man of industrious and steady habits. He was careful and farseeing in a business way, and despite the expense of an unusually large family was able to acquire considerable property. He was honored by his neighbors with official positions in the township and school districts and was known as one of the most substantial and successful farmers of the county. The grief of the family is shared by a large circle of friends and neighbors.

Funeral services will be held from the home on Tuesday next at 12:30 and at the Barsness church at 2 O’clock.

Pastor J.(Jens) E. Bale in late 1896 moved into a large new furnished home built by Hans Dalager. It was used as a parsonage until September 1903 when the new church parsonage was ready. At this time Hans and his family moved into this home. A picture of the home can be found in the Barsness Lutheran Church. centennial book.

Amilia Bentrud Dalager: the early days

by Lavilla Dalager Peterson (daughter of Amilia)

Second Wife of Hans Dalager

In Norway the first son or heir would inherit the farm, but many first sons gave up their inheritances to come to America. Norwegians were very excited to emigrate to America. The ones most ready to come were young men and, very often, young married couples with small children. They could picture vast farms ready for the taking. One such young couple was Caroline and Thurston Bentrud.

Amilia Bentrud was the oldest daughter of Caroline and Thurston. She was born June 20, 1868 on the homestead her father settled on near Terrace, Minnesota, in Pope County (after leaving his and Caroline’s parents in Iowa soon after they were married). Amilia attended school in District 28 at Terrace. In her early childhood days she remembers seeing the Indians who walked by their place. The pioneer families were frightened when they saw them but at this time they did not harm them. The Indians they saw had wandered off their reservations. The family moved to a farm near Lake View which is about 4.5 miles from Glenwood. Here she continued her education at District 40.

One of her most exciting childhood experiences was when her family took a year long trip to Iowa. She told this story to the writer in 1947. Amilia described this summer as one of her happiest summers.

Amilia’s parents were lonesome in Pope County and wished to go back to their folks in Iowa to live. In the spring of 1878, when Amilia was about 10 years old, they made ready to go back to Iowa.

Mother had to get all five of us children ready to go–Julia, Lilly, Carl, me and baby Thilda Agusta. Father prepared the covered wagon for travel and hitched the two horses to it. Mother had to prepare food, gather clothes and cooking utensils to be used when they picnicked along the road.

They met many kind people on this trip. As a day of travel was drawing to a close, Amilia’s father would drive up to a farm place and ask if they could spend the night in the farmer’s yard. The horses needed rest, hay and feed and the children needed milk. They were able to buy the items they needed. Most of the farmers were anxious to help with supplies and very often invited the family to sleep in their house or other buildings if they had room. One of the towns they came to had a circus that they could enjoy. Oh such fun–the well groomed white horses, the funny clowns and the man who walked a tight rope. To these children this experience more than made up for the hardship of the trip.

One evening the family where they stopped seemed a little hesitant about inviting them in. The farmer talked to Thurston and the women went to the house. Then the lady of the house came out with a butcher knife and walked straight to the barn.

We were near the cow pen and we could see her using the knife to make the sign of the cross near the cow’s udder. This frightened all of the girls but mother said, “Hush, she thinks we bring bad spirits or evil.” Mother and father looked at each other wondering what to do. In a short time the lady came out of the barn smiling at all of us. We stayed the night and this family became one of our good friends.

When we arrived at St. Ansgar, Iowa, we spent the entire summer with grandmothers Olson and Bentrud and many aunts and uncles. The children had much fun playing with and getting acquainted with their cousins. Father worked on farms all summer.

By fall he had not found any place that they could rent or buy. Land was high-priced, so they had to go back to their farm in Pope County. They were reluctant to leave so it got to be fall-like before they got started on their way back. The fall rains had started which made traveling much harder. At one time it rained so much that everything in the wagon became wet. Luckily they met a man who saw their problem and invited them to his place so they could dry out. They were able to bring the wet things from the wagon into the house so they could be dried.

The woman of the house was ill, but Amilia’s mother pitched in and helped the hired girl and all went well. This family had 2 small boys who were happy over so much company. Things went so well that they stayed with this family for nearly a week.

They had hoped for drying weather to make the trip easier but there had been so much rain that the trails and roads were nearly impassable. The streams were swollen and many had to be crossed on rafts. After much struggle they were finally back at their own farm.

Amilia’s father had rented their farm to Mr. Christianson for a year while they were in Iowa. Therefore that winter there were two families in one house. That winter Amilia, Lilly and Julia attended school in Terrace. Their teacher was Jennie Wheeler. Moses and Jennie Wheeler’s father had the store in Terrace. The following spring the Bentruds moved to the farm near Lake View.

The confirmation class met at farm homes. One time at a home where they met the lady of the house offered them refreshments. She set a large bowl of milk on the table. Each student was supposed to drink from the same bowl. The girls got the giggles and no one could drink any milk.

When there were many children in the family, the oldest child had to go out and earn money. Therefore Amilia went to do house work for others. It wasn’t always housework. It included milking, herding, barn cleaning and various jobs in the house. She worked for $1.50 to $2.00 a week. One of the places where Amilia worked was the Hans Dalager farm. She would also attend school some of the months and took confirmation classes. Amilia was in the first class confirmed in the present Barsness Church.

In 1888 Amelia Bentrud married Hans Dalager, a widower. His first wife had died in child birth in 1886. Amelia stepped into a home where there were 6 step children, 5 girls and 1 boy. The oldest girl was 16 years old and the baby boy was 3 years.

It was a large farm at that time consisting of about 2000 acres. There were sometimes as many as 7 hired men and 2 hired girls. What would the bread making task be at this house? The women also did the milking and other chores during the summer months. The girls were being educated at St. Cloud Teachers College and went out teaching at an early age.

Reference: Dalager Archival Material, Lavilla Dalager Peterson