*I copied this from a letter from Irene and some words were unreadable* -Val
Dear Valarie, This is about all I know about your Grandma
Thorson.
When she was a young girl (in Norway) *** to have special shoes made for her, she had rickets.
She knitted socks for the family. She went to a board school. She finished in
the eight grade. They taught their members and to sew, crochet & **. Then
she went to work in the store.
My mother had one crossed eye so she wore ** glasses.
Mother borrowed $50 from her older sister so she could come
to America. I don’t know how she got here. All I know is she came by train to
North Dakota. Mother was only 20 years old when she made this trip. She had cousins
in ND who lived on a farm and had children. They wanted Mother to teach
Norwegian to them but Mother didn’t want too. She worked on the farm.
My Dad and his family had a farm not too far away. I guess
that is how Mother met my Dad.
This is all I know. I hope you can read this. Love Aunt
Irene
******************
Verbally told to someone who wrote it down for Irene:
Mother’s cousins, the Berg’s, in Bottineau wrote to Mom to
come to America. Bottineau and family farm was 20 miles from Lake Metigoshe (sp).
The area was a Norwegian farming settlement with a few Germans, French, &
American Indians.
We had a Summer home on Rugby Island, which was part of Lake
Metigoshe. Dad would put the rowboat he built into the water and Evelyn would
swim behind the boat from Rugby to Bottineau side of the lake. One mile to
little store on the shore.
Ingier (my grandfather) had 2 mills, one was flour, one was
wood.
Notes- Livingston, Montana, Dad lived there for one year,
homesteading before he met Mom. Dad went fishing in Winnepeg. Northville, MN(?) Bottineau, ND—pop. 1700 people.
