| Summary: | A history of Watford City, North Dakota including family biographies. 303 pages : illustrations, portraits 28 cm. California, Inez, Mrs. Bill Stringham, of China Lake, California. They have 19 grandchildren and three great grandchildren. In June, 1962, a family reunion was held with all the members present. This was the first time that thev had all been together in 28 years. Gust served on various boards in the community and during World War II he received a certificate for his participation in selling War Bonds. Gust died in January, 1961, at the age of 77. Freda has been and still is active in church and community affairs. She has served on the hospital board since the beginning of the local hospital. She resides in her home in Watford City. MR. AND MRS. GUST JOHNSON Gust Johnson came to McKenzie County in 1907 to homestead in Cherry Township. He was born and reared near Goteborg, Sweden. At a very young age he entered the Swedish Merchant Marine and later served in the army. He came to North Dakota where he had two sisters living at Bantry and from there he came to McKenzie County. In 1913 he returned to his home in Sweden. On his return he brought his intended bride, Freda Anderson, with him. She was born and reared in the same place in Sweden. They were married at Willow City on September 30, 1914. Their honeymoon trip was a three-day trip in an open wagon to McKenzie County. The first meal the bride cooked was on a wood stove in the wagon box. One of the first memorable events was a charivari given by the neighbors. Freda was not about to let them in, but some prankster covered the stove pipe with his hat and smoked them out. The stove was then thrown out and everyone danced. Freda filed on a homestead in Hively Township on Spring Creek in 1914 which became the family home. Gust sold his homestead and bought more land near Freda's homestead. On this farm they raised grain, cattle, and during the dry years Freda raised hundreds of turkeys. They continued to live on the farm until 1942 when they moved to Watford City. They were charter members of the Salem Lutheran Congregation. Church services were held in their home for several years. Later they became members of the First Lutheran Church of Watford City. 246 THE EDWARD L, WALLA'S IN 1904 Edward L. Walla was born in northern Norway on Feb. 20, 1859. He came to the United States with his parents when he was eight years old. They lived for a few years in Dakota County, Minnesota and then came to Horace, North Dakota. Betsey Sondrall was born on Dec. 21, 1866, near Dorchester, Iowa. Her folks also lived near Horace. After their marriage they went to Fort Ransom, N. Dak., back to Horace and then in 1906 they filed on a homestead in the Farland community. The family by this time consisted of Ira. Clarence, Alice, Estella. and Margaret. Their first winter in McKenzie County was an extremely hard one. Snow banks were all around and the family was snowed in for the larger part of the winter. They were most grateful to the stage coach which continued despite the heavy snow carrying passengers, mail, and even groceries. Many times the driver was forced to stay overnight with them because of the bad weather and these overnight stops were always welcomed by the Wallas. By 1916 a consolidated two-room school had been built just a quarter of a mile from the Ed Walla farm. There were two teachers and the attendance was usually 50 pupils. There were also two bus drivers. Mrs. Walla recalls the time the pupils could not get home because of a bad snow storm. They all stayed over night at the Wallas. The next morning she made a large stack of pancakes for them. Mr. Walla died in 1917. Mrs. Walla is nearing her 98th birthday and lives in Arnegard with her daughter. Alice Arnegard. Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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