Watford City golden jubilee, Watford City, North Dakota : 50 years of progress

A history of Watford City, North Dakota including family biographies. 303 pages : illustrations, portraits 28 cm. LUPEON FANCY buried in the Charbonneau Cemetery. In 1937 Mr. Berg sold his land to the government and moved his family to Klaber, Washington. They have four living children. They are Emi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Taylor Publishing Company
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: North Dakota State Library 1964
Subjects:
Ida
Online Access:http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/19364
Description
Summary:A history of Watford City, North Dakota including family biographies. 303 pages : illustrations, portraits 28 cm. LUPEON FANCY buried in the Charbonneau Cemetery. In 1937 Mr. Berg sold his land to the government and moved his family to Klaber, Washington. They have four living children. They are Emil of Chehalis, Washington; Alice, Mrs. John Heezen of Ree Heights, S. Dak.; Charlotte, Mrs. Clayo Van Wagner of Denver, Colo.; Ida, Mrs. Evan Campbell, of Florence, Oregon. Mr. Berg died in April of 1963 at a rest home in Chehalis, Washington. Lupeon Fancy was born in Nova Scotia on Feb. 16, 1879, and came to Marlboro, Mass., in 1897 and lived there until 1902. In Sept. of 1902 he came to McKenzie County arriving at Schafer with the mail stage from Williston. He received his final citizenship papers on Sept. 24, 1906 before Judge Goss in Williston. His two witnesses were Jeffrey E. Hanley of Schafer and G. B. Metzger of Williston. He filed on a homestead about 8 miles northeast of Schafer and began to work for Jeffrey E. Hanley. He worked for him until 1917. He then went to his homestead near Fancy Buttes and lived there until 1939 when he went to work for Angus Kennedy, Sr. Mr. Fancy recalls that Frank Poe was the first sheriff in McKenzie County. He knew the Charles Shafer family, Frank Banks, Bob Wilcox, the Uhlmans, Randall Brothers, Pete Johnston and many other old timers. His cattle brand was bar over V on left ribs and on horses a bar over V on left shoulder. He does not own the brand any more. He still makes his home at the Kennedy Ranch. He is 85. OTTO BERG Otto Berg arrived in McKenzie County in 1910 and was married thet same year to Miss Anna Skjermo at Williston. On August 10, 1910, they filed on separate homesteads in the Spring Creek area. Martin Hildre, their neighbor, helped them build their shacks. In 1917 he gave up his land and in 1923 Arne Berg bought his rights and later sold it to Peter Omlid. Skjermo's land was traded with Robert Norheim of Alexander for some land south of the community of Charbonneau. The family moved there in 1917. In 1925 Ingeborg Anna Skjermo died and was Olaus Tweden's Shack Olaus Tweden came to McKenzie County in 1912 with his father, the late Ole P. Tweden. At that time McKenzie County was known as the "Last Frontier." At this time Mr. Tweden was twenty years of age and so he had to wait one year before he could file on a homestead. In 1913 he filed on land in the Spring Creek area and three years later when he had proved up on the land he had 320 acres of land. Most of this was for grazing. Mr. Tweden recalls how bleak it was in those early days. Here and there one would see a black tar paper shack. In order to avoid some of the loneliness, the homesteaders would gather at someone's shack and dance. The shacks were usually about twelve feet square. Everyone would have a good time at these old time dancing parties. They had a ball team called the "Spring Creek Ball Nine." This provided the people in the vicinity with a great amount of amusement. In 1918 he was inducted into the United States Army, at Camp Custer, Michigan. He was discharged in April of 1919 at Ft. Sheridan, Illinois. He then came back to the "Last Frontier" in McKenzie County. It was during the depression years that Mr. Tweden left this area for Washington state. Later he went to Alaska and proved up on another homestead at Homer on Kachemak Bay on the Kenai Peninsula. Afterwards he moved to Mountain View, suburb of Anchorage. There he worked for a number of years in civil service work. Presently he and his wife live at Mountain View, Alaska. 139 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.