| Summary: | Townships Beaver Township On March 3,1904, the citizens of Congressional Township Number 155, North Range Number 69 West, in Benson County, North Dakota, petitioned the County Commissioners to organize that area as a civil township under the Township Organization Laws and that it be named "Beaver." There were six signatures on the petition. The first meeting of the Township Board was held March 15,1904, at the Tosten Berven home. C. J. Anderson, A. F. Hendrie, L. L. Elstad were the first supervisors; James Hendrie was clerk and L. B. Sandven, Treasurer. The township was named "Beaver" for Beaver Fall, Pennsylvania, the home of Andrew Fuller, one of the early settlers. L. B. Sandven served as township treasurer until his death in 1921. His son, K. L. Sandven, succeeded him in the post and served until his death in 1963. A grandson, Kenneth Sandven, was named to the post then and still serves to this day. For the year ending February 28,1905, the cost of operating the township was $296.30; the year ended with a deficit of $115.40. The first settler in the area, as yet unsurveyed, was Olaf Pierson. He came from Sweden in 1883 and to the area in the spring of 1889 where he homesteaded. He was followed by James and Art (A. P.) Hendrie who settled in the foothills of the ' 'buttes,'' a range of hills reminiscent of a mountain range, which are located in the southeastern part of the township. The hills sloped to the shores of Mud Lake bordering the southwestern border, a remnant of the glacier that at one time covered the area. Now virtually a dry lake bed and much of it cultivated land, water is visible in places in spring after a snow melt and in fall after rains when it becomes a mecca for ducks and hunters. Olaf Pierson farmed extensively in the area, and he raised Hereford cattle and Percheron horses. His lands in Beaver are still owned by family members and farmed by grandsons. Olaf's father homesteaded IV2 miles east of his place but in 1891 returned to Sweden, and Olaf purchased his lands and also his holdings in Minnesota. Mary Hanson filed on land in January, 1897, nearby, and they were married in 1897. The farmstead of his son, Ralph, which lies nearby, was the first farm in North Dakota to be electrified by a Rural Electric Cooperative in November, 1937. A bronze historical marker is placed to commemorate that event. Ralph's son, Orville Pierson, now owns the farm. James Hendrie was born in 1857 in Quebec, Canada, and came to the United States with four brothers in 1889 and homesteaded in Beaver. In 1891 he went to Towner where he engaged in farming for several years and then returned to his homestead. He served on the Township Board for 21 years as clerk and on the school board for 40 years. Art Hendrie was born in 1863 in Quebec, Canada, and farmed in Beaver from 1889 until 1937 when he moved to Leeds. Iver Strand, born in 1845, immigrated to the United States from Norway in 1866 and came to Benson, Minnesota. His son, Henry, also homesteaded on land in Beaver. His son, Galen, continued operating the farm until his death, and it is now farmed by grandson Michael. Anthon Thompson was born in Benson, Minnesota, in 1872 and left there in 1896 travelling by covered wagon first to Emerado, North Dakota, and then to the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota before filing on a homestead in Beaver in July, 1896. A son, Alvin, continued the farm operation until his death, and it is now farmed by grandson Anthony. Tosten Berven was born in Ostenso, Norway, in 1883 and immigrated to the United States with a sister and four other young people in 1887 coming to Willmar, Minnesota. When they arrived, he and his sister divided their cash receiving 96 cents each. In January, 1897, he homesteaded in Beaver coming from Abercrombie, North Dakota, where he had moved to join an acquaintance from Norway, Lars Sandven. Lars Sandven was born in Norheimsund, Norway, in 1867 and immigrated to the United States when he was 18 years old. He came to Willmar, 127 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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