| Summary: | and her step-daughter, Ella. A third generation of Swensons, Lynn Swenson, is now farming the original homestead. Homestead neighbors of Kari Swenson's were Anders Elton, Kirsti Grive, Pat and Joe Doyle and Mr. and Mrs. Anton Nelson with their children, Ernest, Albert, Arne, Helmer, Agnes and Inger. When Gudni S. Sigurdson arrived in America from Iceland in 1874, he settled in Milwaukee. There he met and married Sigridur Joakimsdottir. In 1903 when Mr.) Sigurdson was visiting his brother-in- law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Harald Thorlackson, in McKenzie County, he decided that he would like to be a part of the homestead movement. After filing on his homestead he returned to Minneota, Minnesota, but in 1904 he settled on his claim. In 1905 Mrs. Sigurdson and their daughter, Henrietta, came to make McKenzie County their home. In 1906 another daughter, Bertha, arrived from Brookings, South Dakota, where she had been a milliner. In September of 1906 the sons, Paul and Carl, joined their parents. They had been making their home in Washington, D. C. with their oldest sister, Mrs. S. Th. Westdal. In recalling his first year on the homestead, Paul Sigurdson, tells that that year the size of the farmed land varied from 15 to 80 acres. However, the crop was good and he and his brother, Carl, hired out to the Quale, Brenna and Martinson threshing rig as bundle pitchers for two dollars a day. Paul recalls that the bundles were large and heavy for the eighteen- year-old youths to handle. In 1907 the Sigurdsons purchased broncos and machinery and began farming. It is remembered that the winter of 1906-1907 was a long winter with four feet of snow on the level. However, with ample supplies of timber and coal nearby no one suffered hardships. A large spring on the Corwin Wright homestead supplied neighbors with water for both stock and household use. The Sigurdson neighbors included the Porter Brothers, Mr. Spencer and his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Falk; Mrs. Falk's children, Bert, Leslie, Hazel and Florence Purdy; and Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Rud. 19 north dakota state, library bismarck4^54 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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