Hans Dalager: Lavilla (Dalager) Peterson remembers her father

My aunt Lavilla has related a number of memories to me about her father, Hans, some siblings, and other people of interest.  They’re all in the next few posts.  Following shortly after are more memories by Lavilla’s daughter, Wanda, my cousin.

Note:  When writing this information up later, I was left with several questions which you’ll see in the texts.  Please contact me if you have answers to any of these questions.  My contact information can be found by clicking the “About DFH” link above.

Lavilla remembered how Hans had admired the new horses someone had brought to the farm. Hans had had many horses and knew a good horse when he saw one. She remembered someone saying that Hans would have 7 hired men during the harvest season. He ran many outfits for cutting grain and threshing so he had to have many horses. Each grain wagon required two horses but when they plowed, there were 4 horses on each plow. Did he thrash out of stacks or use bundle rack to haul directly to the thrashing machine as was done later? ________________________ One year Lavilla said she had to drive a binder. She followed Herman’s binder. Therefore, if she had any trouble he could help her. That was the year that her school board came to get her signature for the next year while she was cutting grain with the binder. She said that was a ‘binding’ contract. Sometimes the fields were a long way from home. Therefore when they quite for the day, they would unhitch the horses and they would drive the horses home. She would have to walk behind the horses to control them with the reins and she said she did not like to do that. Sometimes this could be a rather long distance.

Cora (Dalager) Anderson: Lavilla (Dalager) Peterson remembers

Cora was married to Adolph Anderson. Adolph was a farmer and their farm was in the Garfield area. Adolph was killed in an accident. What kind of accident? _______ ______________________Cora was a teacher before she was married. All the girls in the second family were teachers except Tillie.

Their sister Alma died from an appendicitis when she was about 7. Lavilla said that she remembered Karl, my dad, coming to visit Amelia. Lavilla thought every thing was fine between them.

Lavilla did not remember much concerning the death of Hans. She was 7 years and Lucille was 5. She remembered that someone told them to get up because Papa had died. They kept the body in the home in those days until the funeral. She remembers seeing Hans lying on the bed.

The Holtens: Lavilla (Dalager) Peterson remembers

Lars Holten was a neighbor of Hans Dalager when Lavilla was growing up. The Holtens and Vindedahls were cousins to Hans. Lasse Holten was Lars Holtens father. Lasse Holten homesteaded the farm next to Hans Dalager in Chippawa Falls township. Other sons of Lasse were Chris, Henry, and Jacob. There were also some daughters who were married and lived in this area. Names Robert knew were Dearstead and Erickson who were related to Lasse Holten so must have been the families of daughters of Lasse Holten. Lasse Holten died about 1925 and his wife, who was crippled for many years, died about 1936. Lavilla remembered helping at the Holten home when she was a young girl. What was the name of Lasse’s wife? After the death of Lasse, Chris, Henry and Louis or Louise continued to farm. Question, is it Louis or Louise, a son or daughter? None of them married. They did not have any information on Jacob. Lars, who was a brother to Chris, Henry and Jacob was married and they had a daughter named Tilda who was a very good friend to Lavilla’s sister Tillie.

Lavilla remembered that one of Lars sons and a Vindedahl boy had a run-a-way with horses and a buggy in the Glenwood Park. She said that one horse went on one side of the tree and the other on the other side of the tree. Oscar Holten was killed but Benny Holten was saved. Question? Were there more than 2 in the buggy? What year did this happen?

Lawrence Holten married a Sue Cihlar from New York. Was Lawrence a son of Lesse Holten? _____________________________Lawrence Holten was hurt badly doing road maintenance on the edges of the road with a mower and horses. Robert said that Lawrence did not die in that accident. Robert said that Lawrence and Sue did not have any children but Sue had some children before she married Lawrence.

When Robert Peterson went to country school they would walk past the Holten place. At Christmas time when school kids were asked to sell Christmas seals for tuberculosis, Robert would stop at the Holtens. Robert said that Henry and Louise were always good for ten cents. Louise would pick out ten pennies from the change purse to pay their ten cents. Louise died of tuberculosis. Lavilla said that she has a picture of Louise. Henry and Chris were hard workers. They were dairy farmers and also raised a lot of hogs. They also farmed quite a bit of land with horses and later with pretty small tractors. The Peterson boys would help the Holtens with shacking and harvest.

In 1946 there was a big storm which took a lot of the Holten building and the Peterson’s barn. The Peterson boys helped the Holtens take care of their animals after the storm. The Holten barn had fallen down on the livestock that were in the barn. The Holtens crawled into the barn on the hands and knees to see if any of the animals were still alive. The Holtens had two big white horses and one of them was Cap. Some of the neighbors told Henry that you need to shoot that horse but Henry said “Naw” like people had heard before. They worked and wiggled this horse to the milk house which had been emptied. When they got the horse to the milk house, Henry said, “Com’on Cap.” Cap stood up and everybody cheered.

There are no descendants of this family with the Holten but there are descendants of the two girls who married, Erickson and Deerstad.

Lavilla said that Lasse had married a women who had children. Then she mentioned one, Edwin and not other information was given. Can you give any more information? _________________________________________________.

Hans Dalagers original homestead? What is its location? _______________This house burned. Them they rebuilt at a new location about a mile away, closer to a lake. What lake? ____________________ Which place did Herman live on? _______ ______ Lavilla said that the place where Selmer lived was also part of the homestead. Selmer and Willie tried to farm together for a while. Then Willie went off to school and Selmer stayed on the farm.

George and Christine Houstine: Wanda (Dalager) Megers Wagner remembers

Wanda remembered going to visit Aunt Christine in Wisconsin along with her mother and dad. George and Christine were getting on in years but George still had milk cows. When George would come in from the barn at about supper time, he went directly to the basement and shower. When he came up stairs he had put on all clean clothes. Wanda said she was surprised by this because her dad had not changed clothes for dinner as George had done.

Hans and Christ and the House of David: Wanda (Dalager) Megers Wagner remembers

Wanda remembered when Hans and Christ came to visit her family. She remembered that they were full of tricks. Wanda said they would place a pencil on their hand and talk to the pencil saying, “Come on, stand up.” and it would stand up. Grandma Amelia was afraid of them and would not come into the room where they were. Hans and Christ were members of the House of David. This was a religious sect with headquarters in Benton Harbor, Michigan. When their leader ‘Benjamin’ died they preserved him in their headquarters for a long time. When they came to visit the Willie Dalager family they came in a big Cadillac. Wanda told an incident when Hans and Christ went into a restaurant. After they had ordered their meal one of them put a imitation mouse on the table. When the waitress came with their food, she dropped it all on the floor when she saw the mouse.

Willie Dalager: Wanda (Dalager) Megers Wagner remembers

Wanda remembered that when ever my dad, Karl, visited Glenwood, he would always visit Willie. Wanda said they were pretty close. Willie visited us at St. Hilaire several times and I believe he was at Horace’s wedding. Wanda said her dad’s eyes lit up when he knew that Karl was coming for a visit. Willie’s wife was Esther Lee. Wanda told that Esther’s dad remarried after his first wife died and they had children. Therefore, Wanda had aunts and uncles that were about her age. Wanda’s dad, Willie, married a 2nd time when Esther died.

Wanda never got to know Aunt Hannah but the family members that knew both Hannah and Wanda said that Wanda looked like Hannah and sounded like Hannah. Wanda had a brother Hans who contracted polio when he was 15 years old. He spent much time at the Sister Kenny Institute in Minneapolis and recovered quite well from polio. He married a women who had been a foster child. What was her name? __ ____________________. In whose home was she a foster child? _________________ They had three children.

Hans died in 1968 when his third child was 3 years old. After Hans died, the family moved to Idaho. There was not much contact with Hans’ family for many years. However, Hans youngest daughter Kathi Burks and her two boys Benjamin and Jere were at the reunion held at the Barsness church when Asmund Dalaker from Norway was there. They live in California but they are keeping in touch with Wanda and her siblings. That reunion must have been in 1996. Eleanor’s son Jeff Mason, has been at some reunions. He works for FeatherLite Trailers in Iowa. He is the accountant or financial officer. Wanda does hear from her brother Jerry. He travels around a lot. He is involved with the construction of service stores such as Osco Drug etc.

Hans Dalager: A Brief History by his granddaughter

The following essay was written by Lavinia (Dalager ) Martinson Larson in 1942 for a college course. Lavinia is the daughter of Herman Dalager from the second family (younger brother of Karl).  She is therefore the granddaughter of Hans. The essay was found in the archives of Lavinia’s aunt, Lavilla (Dalager) Peterson, Herman’s younger sister.

When Hans came to his homestead he built a log house, a stable and cleared and broke up some land. He left the place in care of someone and went to work in Goodhue county. While he was gone a prairie fire broke out and burned the buildings and 2 mules. He became real discouraged and went to a lumber camp near St. Cloud to work. But when spring came he came back to the homestead and started over again. He had speedy oxen and neighbors helped each other with work. Mosquitoes were real bad at times but tired people slept anyway.

The first two years he was here the nearest town was St. Cloud. Some times this trip was made by foot or with oxen to get supplies. Going to town meant a trip of 4 or 5 days. One time on their way home it began to rain. They turned the wagon box up-side-down and sat under it until the rain stopped.

About 1870 Benson was established so that was closer and it was easier to haul grain to this railroad.

Hans bought horses as soon as they were available. He was one of the first farmers to have a barn with a hay mow. It was said people came for miles to see this. In 1888 he bought a team of horses in Goodhue County and went to get them. On the way back they became frightened and ran away. This happened near Willmar. The wagon tipped over and Hans broke his leg. It was never set right. As a result, this leg was shorter and had a bump on it. He had to have a built up heal on his shoe but he still walked with a limp.

Hans liked to sing when he drove along. The neighbors said they could hear him singing, mostly hymns.

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 forced his way ahead until he became what was considered the richest farmer in the county. At the time of his death he owned nearly 2 sections of land. He was married in 1871. Sixteen years later his wife passed away and 2 years later he married again. He had 6 children by his first marriage and 10 children by his second marriage.

Brita (Betsy) Dalager: Life and Times

The following was written by my aunt, Lavilla (Dalager) Peterson, in 1958 after a long awaited family reunion between the Glenwood, Minnesota and Webster, South Dakota branches. My Grandfather Hans’ family was separated from his sister Brita’s family in the late 1800s when tragedy struck Brita, and she moved with her children and my Great Grandmother Guri to Webster, where she would raise her family alone with little connection to Hans and his family until this reunion.

Today is the day to begin writing about our ancestors. It is the day following the 17th annual picnic, that the families of Hans, Nels, and Brita have had. It was in 1958 that Herman and Alma Dalager were invited to come to Webster, South Dakota to take part in their reunion. My brother Herman and his wife Alma in turn invited us and so after nearly 50 years of little communication the two families were brought together. Bertha’s son Andrew was there, his nephew McCarlson was there, their wives and many of their children and grand children.

You never heard such talking before. There were so many things to ask about, to marvel at and to tie together with long past events. I think by night fall we were all horse in voice and happy in spirit to think we had been united as kin.

We met and talked to my cousin (Guri) Julia Chilson, Brita’s daughter, and her children. She lived in Webster and her husband had run the Elevator Store which is still in Webster. It is still run by Herman and his sons. The Chilson family have records of their families so I do not have to go into that.

How did Brita happen to drift from Minnesota to South Dakota? She was living in Glenwood township, close to road 18 and joining Gerhard Swenson’s farm when there was an accident in their family. Her husband, Sjobakken, died mysteriously (hanging). Brita was grief stricken and determined to look for a homestead where there was room and a place for her and her five children. She decided to take her maiden name for herself and her children.

Now we must go back to see if we can get her mother into the picture. Guri Dalager had arrived from Norway bringing a small girl with her. I gather that Guri’s husband, Solfest, had passed away so she came to join Nils, Hans and Brita.

Brita and her mother Guri with the child from Norway started out in a covered wagon drawn by oxen traveling cross country. They set up on a piece of land in Day County, South Dakota. Her arrival in Webster was by covered wagon driven by oxen, Mike & Star, with all personal belongings, 5 children, Guri, her mother, and Kristie, a niece.

The first house built there is still standing and used as a granary. It was the first frame house built and it is now owned by John A. Dalager, a great grandson of Brita’s and the son of Albin Dalager.

When they arrived, they had 3 cows which they milked 3 times a day, trading milk for meat and potatoes from the Indians along the way. Jens Vinedahl was a cousin of Betsy’s who worked as a hired hand for her and also for the John McCarlsons and Andrew Dalagers. He almost lost his life in the 1888 blizzard that struck so suddenly while he was doing chores at Betsy’s.

A rocker was found there on our first visit to this location. I asked for the back piece of the chair and have it here. There is some carving on it.

Betsy lived in a wheel chair for her final 35 years, died at the home of her daughter, Julia Chilson in Webster March 31, 1921. Although severely handicapped, she often instructed confirmation classes and Bible school in place of the pastor.

Note: There is a plaque in Brita’s memory in Webster, South Dakota, commemorating her survival of a great prairie fire. To survive the fire, Brita hid down in a well for an extended period. Sadly, though she survived, her legs were paralyzed for the remainder of her life. Guri (Hans and Brita’s mother) passed away in the fire. Much later, the relatives decided to buy a marker for Guri’s unmarked grave under the lilac bushes on the original homestead near Webster.

LaVilla (Dalager) Peterson: Memories

Lavilla is the daughter of Hans and Amelia, half-sister to Karl. What follows are some memories I compiled from an interview. –James Dalager

I was born May 18, 1903. I have been reminded many times by my sister Tillie that she, a girl of 14, came home from a dance and had to stay up and take care of things in the home while I was born. No doubt it was more like being born into a company as I had 7 sisters and 3 brothers older than I. I was also unfortunate enough to be born on a different place than any of my sisters and brothers. This was because the family was living on the Allen Hanson (1976) place waiting for their new home to be vacated by our Lutheran pastor Gens Bale. Pastor Bale was living there until the parsonage was completed and ready for occupancy.

My older sisters tell me that the family moved to the new home in September of 1903. I never lived on the homestead as this had been rented to Sophia and Theodore Ogdahl. Sophia was my half-sister. We never moved back to the homestead. I have two sisters younger than I so that was 10 children my mother had between 1888 and 1910.

During the 1908-09 school year my sister Cora went to live with Julia and Tollof Solverud in Sherwood, North Dakota. She finished 8th grade there. Tollof was real friendly and treated Cora as their adopted daughter who they nicknamed ‘Tootse.’

Tollof was a druggist by profession. Later Julia and Tollof went to Kirksville, Mo. to study and become chiropractic doctors. The started their Osteopathy business in Mankato. Later Tollof and Julia adopted a boy who they named Truman. They had plans to adopt girls also; however, Tollof died at an early age (1915-1916) so they never adopted a girl. Julia continued the Osteopathy work at Mankato for a short time and then moved to Glenwood. Julia took a job as teacher in Lowry. Later she became Superintendent of Pope County schools. Mother rented the house Hans had bought in Glenwood to Julia. Frances, Hilda’s daughter, still lives in this house.

Later Julia was a matron at an orphanage in Willmar and director of the House of Mercy, a home for pregnant girls in Fargo.

Julia’s son, Truman Solverud, finished college at St. Olaf during the depression years. Jobs were scarce. Julia suggested that he do volunteer work at the welfare office. This eventually lead to his work with the Red Cross. Following WWII he became director of Red Cross activities in Japan, Korea and Okinawa, the Philippines and Taiwan. By 1956 he was director in Hawaii, Guam, Enewetok and Kwajalein working with military hospitals, educational programs for military personal.

In later years Truman was located in Washington D.C. and lived at 5701 Colfax Ave., Alexandria, Va. His wife, Lila, whom he met while a student at St. Olaf College, was from Watford City, North Dakota.

In 1914-1915 my sister Cora took normal training in Glenwood and taught in school district 78 during the 1915-1916 school year. Lucille, Helen and I all had Cora as our teacher that year. She was super.

My niece Christine also taught for a number of years at Cokato, Minnesota. She had a blond haired boy friend named Tilrud but this didn’t go. Alice went to live with Christine in Herman, Minnesota where she took her 8th grade.

My nephew Kenneth Dalager married Barbara Steward June 15, 1956. Ken was employed as an electrical engineer at Remington Rand Univac. They have divorced and Ken has married Judy Beiswinger and they live in New Brighton. She is the owner of Biswinger Hardware.

My brother Herman Dalager and Clarence Pladson were head of the church crops project to raise money for the Barsness Church. The project leased 65 acres from N. P. Halvorson.

Fun on the farm

When growing up Hannah played a mouth organ and the youngest children danced and had fun.

The hired men were Anton Hoff, Rasmus Feigum, Anton Ogdahl, ‘fatty’ Gunder Johnson. Fatty became part of the Dalager family for a long time. After working for dad he worked for Cora and Adolph Anderson and later in the 3d generation my son Ralph teased my daughter Lila about him by just pointing his finger at her and saying ‘fatty Gunder.’

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.