Share what you know,
and discover more.
Share what you know,
and discover more.
Jun 29, 2022
Jun 29, 2022
Posted Date
Jun 29, 2022
Historical Record Date
Jun 29, 2022
Source Name
Original to family
Mar 15, 1904
Mar 15, 1904
My family home
Johan and Johanna Velure, my great-grandparents, emigrated from Norway and married in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1887. They settled on a farm near Ruthton, Minnesota, in 1888, and decided to set off on one more big adventure when they purchased school land in Skandia Township, Barnes County, North Dakota, in 1903. With eight children in tow, Johan and Johanna travelled by train then bobsled to their new farmstead in 1904. The family removed rocks, broke sod, and lived on a nearby farmstead while they built the house they'd move into in 1906/1907. Three more children filled the new house by 1910, around the same time Johan built a cattle barn. The family shared bedrooms and never had indoor plumbing or electricity, both of which were decades away. Johan's son William (Bill) married and took over the farm before 1930, and his son John (Jack) followed in 1964. Jack and his wife Arlene (Lennie) raised my two older brothers and me there, and today my brother Todd owns and operates the farm. My family is so proud of this place; so attached to this place. I could not be who I am today without waking to the dawn streaming through my open window each morning, the clothesline where my mom taught the art of line-drying, or the grain truck where my dad and I talked about the old days as road dust seeped up around the gear stick.
My family home
Johan and Johanna Velure, my great-grandparents, emigrated from Norway and married in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1887. They settled on a farm near Ruthton, Minnesota, in 1888, and decided to set off on one more big adventure when they purchased school land in Skandia Township, Barnes County, North Dakota, in 1903. With eight children in tow, Johan and Johanna travelled by train then bobsled to their new farmstead in 1904. The family removed rocks, broke sod, and lived on a nearby farmstead while they built the house they'd move into in 1906/1907. Three more children filled the new house by 1910, around the same time Johan built a cattle barn. The family shared bedrooms and never had indoor plumbing or electricity, both of which were decades away. Johan's son William (Bill) married and took over the farm before 1930, and his son John (Jack) followed in 1964. Jack and his wife Arlene (Lennie) raised my two older brothers and me there, and today my brother Todd owns and operates the farm. My family is so proud of this place; so attached to this place. I could not be who I am today without waking to the dawn streaming through my open window each morning, the clothesline where my mom taught the art of line-drying, or the grain truck where my dad and I talked about the old days as road dust seeped up around the gear stick.
