| Summary: | John Jonas John Jonas was born in Ylitornio, Finland in 1859. He came to the Kintyre area in about 1890. He homesteaded land five miles south of Kintyre. He never married. He became ill in March of 1942, and the Oscar Stroms, who lived directly across the road from his place, cared for him until his death on May 12,1942, at the age of 84 years. Benjamin Kauma was a very young boy when his uncle, John Jonas left for America and at that time young Benjamin said to himself, "I'm going too, when I am old enough." and he did. Thomas Long Thomas Long and family came to North Dakota and settled in Kroeber township in 1902, on the farm that later was the Pete Marquart place. Mr. Thomas Long was a Civil War veteran. The family consisted of his wife, Louise, son Frank who used to run a grocery store in Braddock, ND, Clara (Pasahony), Lura (Shafer), Eldora (Vie), and Viola (Bertrand). William and Vivian McAllister At their homestead 6 miles southeast of Kintyre on Nov. 19, 1908, a son was born to William and Magdalena (Dockter) McAllister, already the parents of four girls. Undoubtedly he was a welcome addition to the family as pioneer farming required more than a little "brawn". Named Wiliam after his father, he grew up on the place of his birth, attending school at nearby Tell school or Goose Lake school, which was three miles north of the home place. It wasn't too many years before he was well indoctrinated in the use of pitchforks, pump handles and manure forks. However, he found time for baseball, horseback riding, skiing, snaring gophers, ice skating, snowball fights and practical jokes. And if he ran out of things like that, there were always the impromptu rodeos. Anything on four legs had possibilities as "rodeo stock", cows, calves, horses, pigs—no matter! And if things weren't lively enough, there always was a potential run-away to save the day. How he and his brother and sisters survived without major injury was a matter for wonder. And of course, the water fights—in and out of the house to his mother's (later his wife's) dismay! Teachers often resided with the McAllisters, and William became the official 'fire starter', going over to the school early in the morning to get it all cozy for the teacher and children's arrival. His pay was 15c—later 25c. He recalls one teacher, however, who never paid him. One morning, to top it off, she read him out for not having the school warm. (It wasn't always so easy. Sometimes the lignite was damp or the draft wasn't right.) She announced that he was fired, to which he replied, "Madam, I was never hired." But thereafter, she had the opportunity to freeze her own feet while getting the fire going. The winters were never to be forgotten. Hay had to be brought home twice a day with team and sled. Sometimes they made a little fire out of hay to warm their freezing hands and feet before returning home. In spring, the melting snow sometimes caused the sleigh to slip off the high hard packed track into the soft slush. Often the load tipped over, causing triple work. It had to be unloaded so the sled could be gotten up again. Then it had to be reloaded—all by hand—no farmhands then. But when the weather was nice it was fun to go for hay. Often the children and all would go along for the ride. As disagreeable as wind could be, a too still day was trouble too, because then water had to be pumped for the hundred or more head of stock—and pumped by hand until finally a gas engine and pump jack were purchased. Like as not, though it would pick the coldest or hottest day to balk, a fairly regular habit. William's first car was a Model T touring. One week end on the way back to Bismarck to school, William was driving with Flora sitting beside him with a 5 lb. jar of butter in her lap and Emma in back with the suitcases, William's foot got a little heavy. They hit some loose gravel and the wheels jacknifed. Before you could say "Whoops' they were upside down with the butter jar rolling down the road and the suitcases out the back window. Luckily no one was hurt. One evening at a dance in Braddock, William was introduced to Vivian Wescott, daughter of Sabert and Gertrude Wescott of Hazelton. It wasn't long until his tan Chevrolet was seen quite frequently in Hazelton and about a year later on Feb. 13, 1934, a beautiful spring-like day, they were married. They lived on the home farm where William worked with his father until his parents retired. William then took over the farm, purchasing it after his parent's death. As the drought and depression of the early 30's was in full bloom at the time of their marriage, William did road construction work to augment the family income. Vivian later went into the teaching profession and has continued in that field until the present time, first in rural schools in the community, then in the Kintyre school, then in rural schools again, finally in Hazelton where she has taught the past 19 years. The days of the rural school bring to mind many memories: pot-bellied stoves where your face roasted and your back froze, frozen water jars, slivery floors, sweeping compound (reused many 90 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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