Golden jubilee, 1905-1955: Upham, North Dakota, June 3 and 4, 1955

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: North Dakota State Library
• Subjects: Augusta; Detroit; Esther; McIntosh; Minot; Iceland
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/48670

MR. AND MRS. JACOB E. WESTFORD Mr. Jacob E. Westford came to the vicinity of Upham from Iceland in 1892. In 1911 he married Jessie Mcintosh. Mr. and Mrs. Westford had four children. John, of the Westford Funeral Home, Kris works for Safeway, and Paul, who is manager of the Washington State Farm Co-operative Plant are all of Bellingham, Washington. Gordon is now living at Upham. When Mr. Westford came to Upham he homesteaded and became a rancher. He served on the Meadow Township board for many years, was county commissioner for 10 years, and was in the state legislature for two terms. Mr. Westford was one of the organizers of the Upham Farmers Elevator. As one of the early riders for the old Stevens ranch he claims that he had a herd of cattle on the present site of Minot, when there were only two small buildings in existence. Mr. Westford was one of the original large land owners in the county. He died on January 12, 1952. Jessie M. Westford was the only nurse in the Upham community for years. She superintended Dr. Duncan's hospital in what is known as the old Jim Vatsvog home. Ed Podolls live there now. Mrs. Westford delivered practically all the children in the community as long as she was here and administered to the sick and dying for years. People would call and come and take her away in the night and sometimes her family didn't know for a day or two to whose home she went. During the terrible flu siege following World War I both Mr. and Mrs. Westford drove from farm to farm taking care of whole families stricken with that deadly disease. Mr. Westford would feed the stock while Mrs. Westford cared for the ill, then they would drive on to the next farm. Mrs. Westford was the only trained pioneer nurse in our wonderful community. Both Mr. and Mrs. Westford belonged to the Melankton Lutheran Church at Upham. JOHN MILLER Mr. Miller was born in Rochester, New York and came to Upham in 1907. On December 12, 1890 he married Augusta Pliesies. Seven of their nine children are living. They are: Sophia (Mrs. Ray Carpenter), Ocean Park, California; George, Eugene, Oregon; Gustie (Mrs. Joe Jurgenson), Ocean Park, California; Esther (Mrs. Chester Peterson), Detroit, Michigan; Ted, Bottineu, North Dakota; Arthur, Deering, North Dakota and Arleen (Mrs. George Jurgenson), Upham, North Dakota. Mr. Miller homesteaded in Deep River Township. They belong to the Lutheran church. Mr. Miller was a farmer. His first car was a two-cylinder Ford purchased from Jim Vatsvog in 1910. One time when cranking it, it kicked and knocked out all his front teeth Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited in Multi-page TIFF Editor.