WILD RICE CHILDREN'S HOME - Twin Valley, MN

We went to visit Joe Merhiy at Twin Valley, and he shared with me a list of children from Wild Rice and the dates they were confirmed.  Also, stopped to see his sister, Marian Shoemaker, in Detroit Lakes.  Northern Minnesota was lovely with all the hues of green, lakes and rivers.  Stopped by the Wild Rice River - it was beautiful!

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this

Confirmation Class of 1925, minster is B.L.Opdahl

Some of the children pictured:  Middle row of boys, 2nd boy from left is Albert Nordquist, 3rd boy Joe Merhiy, 4th boy James Hearn, 5th boy is Clarence Amudson. Martha Larsen (front row, black stockings) and Martha Krebs girl at the far right.  Top row, 3rd boy from right, is Johnnie Jenson.  Middle row, 3rd boy from right is Charles Turner.  Others were:  Pete Sorenson, Ester Nordquist, Melvin Runine, Evelyn Hamre, Hilda Ikel, Amanda Skjegstad, Edelyn Pederson, Lewis Gunderson, Milton Erikson, Chester Chapen, Ross Grantbon, Stella Olson, Alice Langseth, Dagny Gunderson,Myrtle Tildal, Melvin Berg, and Milton Rodlen.

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this

The last name, Maudal, is a farm name in Norway. The Maudal children's  father,  Karl Elias Mauritssen (b. 12-22-1870 in Ovre Maudal, Gjesdahl parish, Rogaland County, Norway) was the son of Maurtis Rasmusson (b. 3-15-1835) and Sara Teoline Olsdatter (b. 1837 in Stuhaug farm, Bakke in Sirdal, Norway).  Karl could trace his roots back to his Norwegian ancestor, Velle Anundsen  Espeland who married Asgjer Mauritsdatter.  But, when Karl emigrated from Norway in 1900 his last name was listed as Maudal, the farming area where he was born. Contact with relatives in Norway was lost, and the Maudal children at Wild Rice Children's Home, would never know their relatives.

The second picture is of Mary Olson who married Karl Maudal on Sept. 6, 1912, at the Lutheran Parsonage in Osage, Iowa.  Her parents were Tonnes Olson and Mebu Tobianson.

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this

I've had to stop writing the newsletter.  However, I am publishing here two undated photographs (probably 1917-1920 time frame) sent to me by Olger Ronnie's grandson, Ritchie.

The first shows the boys and girls roasting hot dogs on sticks, and eating hamburgers at picnic at Wild Rice.

The seond shows a group of children gathered on the grass.

Ruth Johnson's daugther, Jan, provided the photographs of the original buildings; and construction of building additions.

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this

Editor's Note:  (8/3/07)  I head from John N. Powers from the WWII North China Marines group regarding Sgt. Morris Haugo.  He writes "Morris was part of the embassy guard unit in Peking and Tientsin prior to the war.  They were to have left China on 10 December 1941.  The were surrounded and captured on the morning of 8 December, which was 7 December in the States.  They spent from 8 Dec 1941 until mid September 1945 as prisoners of war.  It took that long for US forces to get to the camps all over Japan.  The prisoners were used as slave labor in China and Japan.  One of the group was killed in an American bombing raid in Japan, others died from starvation, disease, and beatings. Thanks again for your help" 

Happy 97th Birthday to Joe Merhiy (March 12), and Happy 91st Birthday to Florence Mortensen Glover (April 9th).

Pictures on our cover include:  Sgt. Morris Haugo, who was stationed in China during World War II.  He was captured by the Japanese, and became a prisoner of war, until the United States forces freed him.  At the end of the war, he returned to Shelly, Minnesota, where he met his wife, Georgia.  They had three children.  Morris decided to stay in the Marines, and was stationed in Korea.  He and his wife settled in North Carolina, where he remained in the military until he died.  (Morris was about 2, when his mother died, and he and his sisters went to Wild Rice Lutheran Children's Home in about 1916).

We also have a picture of Carl Narveson with Ma Skauge (Skauges ran the home), taken at one of the Wild Rice reunions.  The last picture is of  Morris Haugo's sisters, Margaret, Ruth and Hazel Haugo, and their friend, Esther Nordquist.

FlorenceMortensen Glover says there is about 2 feet of snow on the ground in Austin, Minnesota, and "wishes" that everybody with health problems "gets well an stays well."  She reports that her husband, Russell Gover's cousin, Dayton Hansen, is living in the same apartment building as Joe Merhiy, and they are able to have lunch together.

Joe Merhiy has moved to an apartment with assisted living for the winter, his new address is:  Joe Merhiy, Lincoln Terrace, 205 Third St. N.W. #202, Twin Valley, MN  56584-4024.  Phone number is the name.

Memories of Selmer Hilstad, Casper, Wy., Dec. 23, 1986:  "I was born on March 20, 1915 at Hillsboro, North Dakota.  My father, Simon Hilstad, came from Norway.  My mother, Emma Jacobson, was born in Gardner, North Dakota.  Her father was Hans Brerman, and he came from Norway.

"My father died when I was eight years old, and I stayed with the Skogans in Hillsboro for one year, then I was sent to the Twin Valley, Minnesota Orphans' Home.  I stayed there until I was 15 years old.  Then I was sent to Fargo, North Dakota to stay with Mrs. Vail.  I stayed there until I was sent to a farm at Durban, North Dakota.  I worked on the Wm. Erdmann farm until I was 18 years old.

"When I turned 18, I moved to Hawley, Minnesota where my sister, Minnie, lived.  She was married to a man named Ellingson, and they lived 10 miles south of Hawley.  I lived with them about a year, and then started to work all over the county.  I did anything to make money.  Things were very bad!  (It was the Depression).  The best I could get was $1 a day, and board and room.  The food was very good.

"But in the winter, there was no work, and we had to 'rough it out.'  There was no welfare, and we had to make out the best we could.  One man had room in Ida Carlson's hotel in Fargo, and we all stayed in it.  The room was 9x10, and there were eight of us living in it.  My brother, Conrad, and I lived on one meal a day, all we could eat for about 40 cents a day.  This was in 1934, and 1935.

"After that, Hansel, and I went to the Twin Cities to sell wood tables for a truck farmer at Fargo.  We got back to Fargo in the spring of 1936, and caught a freight train to Hardin, Montana.  There we had two uncles, Albert Brerman and Ellis Jacobson.  I got a job on a big wheat farm, and worked for Cambeles Corp. and Ed. Hopoc.

"In August of 1941, I was called for the Army, and sent to Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri.  I spent 14 weeks there, and then was sent to Vancouver, Washington.

"On December 7, 1941, the Japs hit Pearl Harbor, and we were sent to Canada to build the road from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks, Alaska.  I was in the 18th Eng. Reg.  We spent one year building the road, and then they sent us up to the Aleutian Islands.  We landed on Shemya, and built roads and an airport.

"I was there 39 months, then I came back to the states.  I was being sent to Florida.  I got a 30-day leave and got married to Barbara Gress at Hardin, Montana.  She came with me to Florida, where we spent the winter.

"That spring, they sent me to Texas.  This was my fourth year of service, and that fall, September 26, 1945, I got my discharge.  We went back to Hardin, and our first daugther was born November 20, 1945.  We had two more girls, Sonja and Jean.

"We had three fine girls and 12 grandchildren.  In Hardin I worked at anything I could find.  I worked as a plumber and a carpenter, and in a garage.  After this, I started to build houses on my own, and I built hourses on the Crow Reservation.

"In 1965, I bought a service station at Casper Wyoming, which I ran for ten years.  I worked on houses for Sonja and Jean.  They live west of Midwest Heights, here in Casper, Wyoming.

"Right now, we live in Casper.  We have had good times and bad times, but I can't complain.  We have had good health through the years.  I'm 71-years-old, and still in pretty good shape.  And if the Good Lord will permit, I will be here for some time yet.  May God Bless You."  -- Selmer 'Sam' Hilstad     (Selmer died in January 1989).

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY -- Pictures on the cover are clockwise:  Selmer and Barbara Hilstad, November 1988; Sophie Hilstad at her 90th birthday, October 2006; Ruth Haugo, Rachel Nordquist and Margaret Haugo at a Wild Rice Children's Home Reunion; (in front of Marlon's store, Fossum) Hazel Haugo, Esther Nordquist, Ruth Haugo, Louise Waley, Conrad Berg and Joe Merhiy; and Lloyd Aronson with his sister, Annabell, and brother Rueben.

Also, in this issue, May 30, 1920 confirmation picture with Rev. B.L. Opdahl.. First boy on the left is Olger Theodore Ronnie born November 21, 1905, and who went to the Wild Rice Lutheran Children's Home on August 1, 1917, with his brothers, Arnold and Melvin.  His grandson, Ritchie, sent the picture after finding our web site:  WildRiceNews.net.  If anyone remembers the Ronnie brothers, he would appreciate hearing from them.

 Some of the children in this picture are:  Etheline Melberg, Orlean Forsland, Joseph Skafvod, Lars Balken, Edward Bergquist, Cifford Forsland, Edwin Jacobson, Olger Raunie, Genevive Korun.

We spent a quiet Christmas at Palm Springs.  Sally had surgery at the Mayo Clinic in mid-January, and is recovering well.  My brother, Mike, will retire from 3M at the end of February.

There's quite a bit of news!  Joe Merhiy moved to an apartment in Twin Valley for the winter!  Jan Ledbury (Ruth Johnson's daughter) has been to visit him twice.  She says his place is big and only 4 blocks from his old place.  Joe has the same phone number and address.  Says he has not been feeling well, with a lot of pain in his hip.  Also, he said it's 30 degrees below zero!  WISH HIM A HAPPY BIRTHDAY coming up March 12th!

Marian Merihy Shoemaker has moved closer to her brother Joe.  She said her new place is larger, and she has room for a double bed.  She said her brother, Joe, came down to visit and have lunch with her last Sunday.

Jude (Sophie Hilstad) Tragethon's niece, Jean Hilstad Harris, wrote to say Sophie has moved to Garden Square assisted living.  She just celebrated her 90th birthday.  She says Sophie's memory is failing a little, but this is what she remembers about the Wild Rice Lutheran Children's Home.  "When we were in the Children's Home at Christmas time, the townspeople would bring us gifts and there were so many gifts!  We had lots of Norwegian food and it was the best.  In the winter time, we would ski on the frozen river and go sledding, and in the summer time we would all go swimming in the river, it was the best time!  Not a single child didn't know how to swim, and in the summer, every Sunday, the townspeople would bring lots of food for picnics---it was great!

Jean also writes that her father, Selmer Hilstad, was a carpenter, plumber and electrician.  He built homes for the government, and moved to Casper, Wyoming, when Jean was 14.  He ran a service station there until he retired.  Selmer passed away on January 29, 1989.

Florence Mortensen Glover spent a peaceful Christmas with family.  She says she is feeling much better after her surgery, and is so grateful for all the help from her daughter, Floreen.

Mary Mortensen Baty had surgery on her leg in January, and we wish her a speedy recovery.

Margaret Haugo Peterson wrote to say she remembers "living in the old house before the new part was built.  The gym, dining room, thekitchen, the girls sleeping rooms were all news.  Also, I was there when the old round barn was there, and then the new barn was built.  The cows were all shipped out, because of T.B.  Skauge went to all the fairs that summer, and bought up the prize winning milk cows (to replace the cows they lost).

"I also remember when lightning struck the church!  It was built up again.  We walked to church Sundays in our white dresses and patent leather black shoes.  We sat in the front pews, and Rev. Opdahl was pastor.  He confirmed me an Gerda Larson, and Rachel Nordquist, and others.  We were pals.  I remember going down the hill in the summer to swim, and Aunt Skauge would go with us.  We all learned to swim.  Christmas has "Heaven on Earth!"  Right now in Minnesota, it is cold, below zero, and the widows are frosted over with white, new snow.  Time to to fix dinner for me and my daughter, Roselyn--she gives music lessons and I make the meals."

(Note: Margaret sent the photo of a group in front of Marlon's store.  "She said everyone would remember Marlon's store, we used to walk over the bridge across Wild Rice River to get there, we would ask permission to go there and spend the few pennies we had on candy!  Sometimes, the river would be so swollen with rushing water that we could not cross it."  -- Joe Merhiy thinks the store was probably in Fossum).

Thanks to everyone for the pictures.  I will be printing them all in the upcoming issues.

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this

Remembering my uncle, Melvin Maudal (Moudahl) he was the second oldest of the six Maudal children, born in February 28, 1914.  As a Marine, he would receive the purple heart and other medals.  He enlisted in the Marines and was stationed at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack. Melvin fought the war on various islands in the South Pacific, including Guam where he died trying to rescue drowning sailors. 

Mevlin died before I was born, but his niece remembers him bouncing her and her sister on his knee. On the cover, Melvin is with his brother-in-law, and sister, Emma.

Melvin was confirmed with his brother, Thomas, in 1930 by B.L.Opdahl  at the Wild Rice Children's Home.  Emma Maudal, born on March 13, 1913, was confirmed in 1929.  Once they were confirmed, the children left the Home.

Lloyd Aronson sent this picture of him with his brothers, Milton and Reuben, on the steps of the Wild Rice Children's Home in March of 1925.  His mother was a cook at the home.  Lloyd writes "My family is spread out all over, I have a son and two daughters in Michigan, a daughter and son in Arizona, and a son in Wyoming.  I have 18 grand children, 27 great grand children, and 9 great great grandchildren.  We had a family reunion last summer with other 150 people, and some couldn't make it.  It sure was nice to see everyone,a some I had never see before or for many years.

"I am now 90 years old, so I am thankful for what I can do, and I am always puttering with something.  That keeps me going."

Florence Mortensen is doing very well, after her successful surgery at the Mayo Clinic. She sent the following picture from the Wild Rice Children's Home News, November 1931.  (She is sitting on the right side of the couch). 

This issue also contains a letter written to one and a half-year-old Donna Orvedahl, (the daughter of Superintendent Orvedahl) by Caroline Ness and Alma Maudal (Margie Westmark) both who were at the home at the time of the fire: 

"Dear Donna, 
    We haven't written to you for a long time so thought we would drop you a few lines. 

    How are you getting along Donna?  I hope you will never forget Caroline and I.  We miss you so much.  We hope we can come down and play with you again some time.  When you get big we hope you will help your mama and daddy with every little thing, and be a good little girl as we know you will.

    You will have to try and come down this fall.  It is so long since we have seen you.  I bet you have gotten big, and we supposed you can say quite a few words now.

    Donna what do you do all the time when you haven't anyone to play with?  I presume you play with your daddy.

    Many times Caroline and I sit and talk about all the good times we used to have down there at the Home.  We sure hope they build up the Home again.  We miss it so much.  When you go down to South Dakota you must be sure to come and see us.  I suppose you have been away most of this summer, haven't you?

    We have received letters from the girls at Lake Park.  It seems that they are having lots of fun.  Well we too are having lots of fun.  We are getting along fine in school and in Sunday School, too.  Why didn't you come down for the Fall Festival?  I presume you went to Lake Park.  The Ladies' Aid from Fairview served dinner.  It sure was a big feast, that is what all us kids call it.

    Last year do you remember how after school Caroline and I would come running down and ask if we could play with you, and we would have lots of fun, wouldn't we, Donna?  We hope we can get to play with you again even if they don't build up the Home again.

    May God bless you little Donna and your mama and daddy and all the rest.

    Lots of love, your everlasting friends,

                                                    Caroline and Alma

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this

Honoring VETERAN'S DAY - November 10th - I've been journaling my uncle, Rudy Maudal's World War II diary, he writes:  1/21/42 - Wednesday, "God and my Country are fighting within me.  I don't wish to kill, for the Bible teaches it's wrong.  On the other hand, I love America and it needs me."

Gerda Larson Haglunds daugther, Yvonne Lowe, called to let me know that Gerda passed away on Saturday, October 28th.  Gerda was 94.  She had made a lot of friends at the nursing home where she lived.  Yvonne said her mother enjoyed sharing the "Wild Rice News" with the ladies and workers where she lived.  I thought about the treasured photgraphs and stories she shared with us, and I know she is at peace and in heaven with the other children from Wild Rice Lutheran Children's Home.

I've been busy working on a new web site:  Wild Rice News.net.  It features the newsletters, and will make your memories, and photographs available to more people.  The web site is not completely finished, but it's a start.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes to Sophie (Judy) Hilstad Tragethon, October 13.

Pictures on the Cover:  Thomas Maudal (Moudahl) 1915-1998, Rudy (Moudahl), Alma (Margie Westmark) and Emma (Jean Lindberg) Maudal, Thanksgiving 1987.  Selma Maudal.  Marian Merhiy Shoemaker and Selma Maudal Hamilton, Carlsbad, California (2004).

Fall Festival - Wild Rice Lutheran Children's Home - Twin Valley, MN.  Usually held the last Sunday in August, this annual festival was also marked as a thanksgiving day, for the bountiful crops harvested and the blessings enjoyed during the year.  The 1930 festival records about 800 cars, and 4,000 people attending.  After the March 18, 1931 fire, it was moved to September.  In September 1931, J.R. Orvedahl writes"  "The annual Fall Festival of the Wild Rie Chidlren's Home was held Sunday, September 13th.  The weather was threatening in the morning but it soon cleared and we had a beautiful day.  During the noon hour every one enjoyed their picnic dinners on the campus.  Hot coffee and cream were served by the Home.  The Twin Valley Concert Band supplied the crowd with splendid music during the noon hour.  The male chorus of Fertile furnished the assembly very liberally with their splendid music thruout the afternoon meeting.  A harvest offering was taken.  Two hundren fourteendollars and eighty cvents were collected."

He also paints a poignant picture of autumn at Twin Valley:

"Fall is here with all its splendor.  The wood are clad in scarlet and gold.  Because of the late rains the grass seems greener than usual.  This is indeed a time for artists to glorify nature.  All the colors of the spectrum can be seen among the wild trees in the woods.  The valvet green carpet of grass, the winding stream with the late fall flowers blooming on its banks, the hillside covered with the majestic oak, the hardy ash, the royal birch, the scarlet maple and the stately elm, with here and there a twining of bittersweet showing forth its rare fruit and above, the azure autumn sky with the lazy floating cumulus clouds makes a most beautiful picture.  It reminds one of the handiwork of the the Almight One, and one cannot help but feel that he is walking with God when one roams about in the out of doors at this time of year.

"As I was walking over the hills and thru the woods where the children loved to roam so well, I could not help but feel the loneliness of it all.  Where once could be heard the merry voices of children in their play now only the audile sounds are the singing of the birds and shuffle of feet and pulling of grass as the cows go grassing by.  It seems that the woods never looked more beautiful than they do this year.  There has been more wild fruit on the trees than there has been for years. It seems too that the trees have been lonesome for the companionship of the children and have used all their efforts in making themselves beautiful and producing a bountiful crop for the children to gather.  One cannot help but feel the loneliness as here and there one sees the remains of a log house, a fort, or camps.  As a rule these were never completed, but in the minds of the children they were equal to any heard on in history.  The rustic bridges built by the boys are going to ruin.  The lookout for the Jacobs ladders in Adolph's camp is also going to ruin.

"The thing that impressed me the most in going over the favorite spots of the children in the woods was the discovery of carvings on the tree trunks.  The significant date in the hearts of every little child in a children's home is not his birthday nor the day on which he came to the Home, but the day on which he leaves.  Every child has that day in his mind every day.  Not that he is dissatified at the Home but he knows that sooner or later he will go, and he hopes that he will be permitted to live in a home with a good father and a mother like other fortunate children.  I have just recently discovered that when that significant day arrives some of the boys had made a last trip down the hill in the woods to a well selected spot and there with their knife they had carved their initials and these simple words "left the Home" and the date.  That was their important date.  It was the turning point in their lives."

_______________________________________________________________

I had hoped to get home to see all of you, and up to Twin Valley to visit Joe Merhiy, who reports that after about an inch of snow, which melted, they've been enjoying a little of "Indian summer."  Marian Merhiy Shoemaker said she remembers one thing about Thanksgiving, sometimes the Indians would go hunting, and they would give some of the deer meat to the Home.  She said "wild venison" is one memory she has of Thanksgiving.

I had hoped to walk over the grounds, see the swimmign hole and creek, and take photographs before the "snow flies."  I'd also like to see and photograph some of the trees, where the boys carved their names--which was a way of saying "goodbye" too, I suppose.

_________________________________________________________________

It's hard to believe that "Thanksgiving" is only three weeks away.  Selma and I wish you all a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!     Patricia Hamilton

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this