From:
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Erickson
Route 3, Box 48
Langdon, ND 58249
26 September 1982

To:
Jim/Evie Johnson

Dear Jim and Evie:
I’m going to try to give you some information – hopefully accurate. I started yesterday, couldn’t finish by mail time, and then discovered when checking with Henry that I had some things wrong. So, I’ll start over.

Henry’s mother, Lena, came here in 1902. Ole must have come here in early 1905, because he came to Lena and Erick Erickson’s and they were married in December 1904. Ole returned to Norway in 1907. He and Oleanna were married in 1908 in Norway. They lived in the Tromsø area, and Regnar said he was born in the Malsnaas area or town.

Ole, Oleanna, and Regnar came here in 1909. Lena’s and Ole’s parents and the rest of the family came here in 1909 or 1910 (unless Regina had come earlier). Henry thinks Edwin came in 1905, but I thought Regnar said he came with the rest.
Anyway, Edwin is the father of Alden O., Ronald O., Martin O., Hazel McFarlane, Effie Bingenheimer, Rhena Lorenz, Alida _____________, and Alice Andrews. Some of you have seen Hazel and Alden, at least at some of the funerals.
Henry thinks his grandmother’s maiden name was Anna Larson.

Regnar said if Marisa can get to the area and try to find the church where anyone as baptized or married, you might find someone who knows relatives. They kept good records there.

Henry also mentioned the name Monsalva (“alva” means “lake”, he thinks). He doesn’t really know the significance of the place, though.

Oleanna has a nephew who might be able to help. This would not be your relatives, but he has done some genealogy work and might have run into something. He left Norway by necessity during the war, went to Scotland, is married, has a family, and continues to live there. He goes to Norway quite often to visit his brothers and sisters, so it could just happen to be possible to meet and talk to him. Marisa should write to him immediately to give a little time for this:
Almar Ingebrigtsen
67 St. Quivox Road
Prestwick, Ayrshire
KA9-IJF
SCOTLAND

Almar came to see Oleanna last year when the family gathered for her birthday. We met him. Oleanna celebrated her 96th birthday on the 23rd, so Regnar and wife Myrtle came from Stillwater, and daughter Linda from Minneapolis.
Mabel and her husband came from Minneapolis and Doris came from Dickinson, North Dakota. We were there to have cake and coffee with her.

… Oh, yes, I should tell you – Oleanna fell in August and broke her hip. She had surgery in Grand Forks and was transferred to Maple Manor Nursing Home in Langdon at the end of two weeks. She looks well (much better than when she was in Grand Forks, the family says). They gave up her apartment now. They did take her to Lyla and Roy Herrud’s house for the party (in the wheelchair). Up to last February she as alone in her apartment except for a bi-weekly cleaning lady for a few hours. She as in the hospital twice, once the beginning of pneumonia and once because she fell. After that she had one lady in the daytime hours and another at night most of the time.

I suppose I’d better finish this off now so I get it mailed today. I hope Marisa has a good visit and study in Norway. I should be writing to my mother’s cousin in Norway. She lives at Haugesund (Stavanger). Her name is Marie Endreson.
Henry still milks three cows and makes hay, but he rents out the cropland.

Sincerely,
Edna Erickson