Ed's Day Wednesday
Dear FOLKS,
Here we are again. It is Wednesday when I share with you some of the stories that my late cousin Ed Ostrom collected of his ancestors. Of late, we have been learning about Peder Christian Nilson, one of Ed's great-grandfathers. Peder was Ed's, mother's mother's father and like Ed's other great-grandparents, Peder was born in Norway.
Dora Elise Nilson (1877-1965), wife of Reinert I. Emerson and daughter of Peder and his wife Gurine Tomasdatter, would in 1959, sit down with one of her children to tell her life's story as best as she could remember. A while back, I included the portion of Dora's memories that held her own immediate family... husband and children. That segment can be read by clicking here.
Today, while continuing to tell Peder's story, I want to share with you the first part of Dora Elise's story.
Dora Elise Emerson's Memoirs - Part II
by her daughter, Vivian Emerson Crowe
written in 1959
In Dora's own words:
It is with mixed feelings that I start this episode of my life. I was born January 13, 1877, in Meeker County, Union Grove Township on a farm of 160 acres, eighty in Kandiyohi County. My parents were God fearing, hardworking people. Coming from Sjonæs, Råna in northern Norway with four children. My mother’s first husband, Jens Nilssa, drowned in November 1858 while fishing in a sailboat that capsized during a storm. To their union Christian and Mary were born. Christian died in Norway.
In September 1860, Mother married Peder Christian Nilson, my father. To this union was born Jensine ‘Sina’, Nellie and Petrine, they were also born in Norway. They came to America the 9th of April 1866 and landed in Racine, Wisconsin. Sometime later they moved to Minnesota and took up homestead. Their first home was a log house built on a hill. The soil was very fertile and there was lots of moisture, consequently, there was an abundance of tall wet grass. There, Thomas and his twin brother Peter were born. When Tom and Peter were infants, there was little hope for the survival of baby Thomas, as he was puny and sickly. Peter was strong and robust, but the stronger baby was taken in death when just a few days old.
Sometime later they moved to Meeker County and built on a very nice location below a long hill with the hill to their north to shut out the cold north wind. Here we would often ski. This new location was flat and a desirable home-site. My father planted several rows of poplars to the west and north, he also planted apple trees and Mother moved wild plum trees from areas around, thinking that they would never survive. I can remember as a child picking a great many apples and plums my Mother knew would never bear.
The barn, granaries and machine sheds were to the east. At this home site, Anna, Jacob, myself, and a little sister Gina were born. We were a large, happy family. One incident I recall vividly, I was five or six years old. I teased my older sister Sina to give me coffee. She paid me little attention. However, when any demands reached a provoking stage, she promptly filled a cup half full of coffee, went to the pantry and filled it with salt. When I was to drink it, I saw the salt and tasted its bitterness and stamped my feet in anger, but I never teased for coffee again. When I was about six, my father’s parents came to America from Norway. I can vaguely remember my parents going to the funeral of one of them.
My father was a sincere, devout Christian. He spent most of his leisure time reading, making and mending nets. He was of medium height and weight and had black curly hair. He was of a more stern nature than my Mother who was of a mild temperament, patient and long-suffering, yet she demanded obedience and respect. She was rather plump and short with blond or golden silky hair. She read her Bible much of her spare time.
Sister Sina taught our home school. I was proud when she asked me to visit school one day. A boy by the name of Reinert Emerson was charged with the task of building the school fires, a duty he cared little for. One day he decided to rid himself of the job by building a fire a little too good, the stove got so hot the finish peeled off the desks. He was discharged of his fire-building duties.
I recall one Sunday when my brother, Thomas was to take Sina back to her boarding place where she taught school, my sister Anna and I went along purely for the ride. When we had gone a short distance one of Sina’s suitors came in a cutter, he was quite determined to take her himself. He jumped out of the cutter and was going to tie his horse to our sleigh, when Thomas jerked the reins for a quick getaway. This suitor would often come to our house after we were all in bed, go upstairs and sit in a chair beside Sina’s bed and plead for her to marry him. Tom played a trick on him one time by putting several stovepipes in front of the stairs, creating a thunderous noise when leaving in the dark, naturally arousing the entire household.
I went to Union Grove School in Meeker County. This Reinert Emerson went to a nearby school at Irving. We often met at Church meetings near his schoolhouse. I saw him occasionally at his sister Ida’s home, who was a young bride and a dear friend of mine.
Nellie, my older sister, was married to Andrew Hendrickson. I so vividly remember their wedding day because of an unusual incident. Before the wedding, Andrew brought groceries in his wagon for their wedding and carried them to the house in the wheel-borrow. I felt that this mode of transportation was most unique and this whole thing was new to me. I do not recall any of the wedding itself, but do remember when they left to take up a homestead at Ft. Ransom, North Dakota. In due time Sina went there to teach; staying with Nellie, there she met P. Anderson who was also homesteading there. They were married and spent the rest of their lives in that vicinity. Nellie and Andrew moved to Seattle in their early years of married life.
About 1886, a diphtheria epidemic scoured the vicinity taking little sister Gina in its grip. Anna stayed home to care for her. I was out in the fields with Father, Mother and Thomas making hay. I felt ill and had a terribly sore toe. I begged them to let me go home. I too had the diphtheria bug; my sore toe became infected as a result. Mother had to take over, as Gina now was very ill. Dr. Fair from Paynesville was called and gave her medicine in powder form to gargle. In those days powders were prepared in little paper squares. He would repeat after his instructions, “Do you hear, do you see, do you understand?”
My parents had sent Thomas to Willmar for advanced schoolwork at the Seminary. They did not write him concerning the illnesses and deaths for fear of his missing school. However, a neighbor boy was also attending school and he had heard and told Thomas. He immediately came home; he seemed to grieve more than the rest as he felt he had at times been anything but kind to Jacob.
While the children were sick with Diphtheria, Abalone would come to help my Mother. She would take her dress off and hang it on a tree outside. She kept another dress that she would wear while helping Mother with the sick children. She was a sister to my mother’s first husband, Jens. They were great friends, chumming together like sisters. I recall one day. Gina and I were sent to her house on an errand. She walked a short distance with us on our return home. While walking with us she held her hands on her side and complained her “hoga needed cleaning!” Naturally, we assumed she was saying her “side” needed cleaning. This frightened us and we ran all the way home. Mother explained that ‘hoga’ meant garden! When Zacharias Johnson, Abalone’s husband, was in the fields he would holler the one-half mile to tell his son to run to the Post Office for his tobacco. He and Father each had forty acres of timber at Lake Kronis. This was wood each fall for fuel and rough lumber. They were wonderful good neighbors!
I remember as a child too, eating a lot of fish, pike and pickerel. Father would spend many evenings making and mending nets. He would put a nail in the windowsill, secure his nets and mend them. Mother carded wool, wove material for clothing, made her soap and candles. She also made all the underwear, especially for the men folks from hand-woven fabrics.
In the spring of 1888, my father was hauling lumber for our new house; during much hardship, he encountered pneumonia. It was his third attack. For sixteen days and nights my mother did not undress, as she was his only nurse. He passed away in March of that year. As custom was at that time when deaths occurred, the neighbors would come and pleat muslin cloth in preparation for burial. They would take complete charge of preparing the deceased for burial. Coffins were always purchased but the outer boxes were made at home. It was also the thing of that day that at this trying period, the family prepared a large dinner for all of those who came for the funeral. Mother had a neighborhood girl, Olive Hendrickson, come and help bake.
Then Thomas got sick. He had gone on horseback fourteen miles to Atwater to summon the doctor for Father. He too had diphtheria. Olive promptly went home and no more dinners were served for funerals. Tom recovered, but as a result of the illness, his legs were so weak for months, he would fall for the least thing in his path. At this point Tom had to take over the work and management of the farm. He was nineteen years old.
The house was built as Father had planned. We moved in before the stairs were finished There was a temporary ladder installed in its place. Tom slept upstairs, Mother and I in the bedroom downstairs. Anna was away at school. Tom had a bad head cold and was delirious, he came down that rickety ladder to our bedside and pleaded with Mother to set him on his feet. He said he was standing on his head!
One of my duties was to go to the Post Office for the mail, a distance of four miles. I would run, then walk a few steps, then run again. Once I was caught in a heavy rain shower. There were two ladies ahead of me who retreated to the nearest farm house but I stood under a tree. I was too bashful to go in at first but finally built up enough courage to go in the house. They gave me some honey from the comb, which I did not like.
Some years later the Post Office was moved closer to our house. I would ride sidesaddle on ‘Lizzie,’ she being mean and lazy. Those days ‘a lady’ never would straddle a horse. It was considered very un-lady like and you would risk being the talk of the community! ‘Lizzie’ had a sister named ‘Victoria’ not only a more agreeable nature but also a more refined mare. We often had to wait hours for the mail carrier. Once I tied ‘Lazy Lizzie’ to a post. She got tired of being tied and put her weight on the rope. Of course, it broke and off she’d go. There was so much luscious grass along the way. She would eat and run and eat and run and eat and run. When the postman arrived, I would gather the mail and start walking, nearly catching up with her but she would arrive home before me, and Mother seeing the horse without its rider, would naturally be worried.
I remember once riding ‘Victoria’ to another Post Office and store. I was riding in a full gallop, a hole in the road caused her to fall to her front knees. Over her head I went. She promptly got up to start up again and saw me on the ground. She threw herself back not wanting to step on me. From then on, I loved her dearly. She did not want me to mount her again after this incident. I had to stand on an elevated object, like the fence post, to mount. I would often hug and caress those two dear animals.
Tom asked me one day to fetch the five young horses that were in a pasture a few rods west of the house. They were all by the gate waiting to get to the barn for their feed. I untied all the halter roped, lowered the gate rails and led all five prancing to the barn. With consternation, my brother met me, scolding me for handling them all at one time.
When I was sixteen, Anna and I went to Willmar to take up dressmaking. We rented an upstairs room. Tom hauled a load of wood for us thirty miles by horses. The woman had two girls, ages 9 and 11. The eleven-year-old would scrub the kitchen till it shone. The floor was entirely bare of paint but was so clean she would kiss it.
The following year Anna was sent to the teaching seminary at Willmar. When she got her certificate, she went to Ft. Ransom to stay with Sina. When she was finished with a term she asked me to come and we’d go home together. There were many young people that would gather at Sina’s home. They would sing so lustily; the neighbors would hear them far and wide. They also played ‘last couple out’ and had square dances. One of these I went to, but refused to dance. I had had a Christian teacher who spoke very sharply against dancing. I made up my mind never to dance. He also was opposed to usage of by-words such as “my goodness” or “for goodness sake.” This was good as I did not have to break myself in later years. He advised our speech should be “yay,” “yay,” and “nay, nay” as the Bible teaches.
Some years later, my girlfriend, Thea Ditmarson, her brother and her father and myself were going to Willmar for a week’s church convention. The son was along to take our team of horses back when we boarded the train. Mr. Ditmarson was driving and as we were going down a steep hill, the tongue dropped down and plowed into the deep sand. The horses became frantic, both men hollered for them to stop! Mr. Ditmarson pulled so hard on the reins he was pulled out of the buggy. Then I said, “Whoa;” when they heard my familiar voice they stopped immediately!
Thea and I stayed at my Uncle Andrew Johnson’s house. My father’s half- brother lived in a large house and lodged four men delegates who were staying there for the convention. The mother and oldest daughter did most of the work, cooking for all of us. Thea and I could have been a great deal of help but it was not fashionable in those days to accept help from strangers and-we didn’t have enough sense to offer! I apologized many years later for this act of inconsideration.
I often spoke poems at Christmas programs. I recall Andrew Borsheim would tell me I was the only one he could hear. Our cousins from Willmar, Julia, Ida and Mary would come to visit us. Their mother was my father’s half- sister. Ida had been in contests speaking on prohibition. She had won several medals. Nettie Anderson, a neighbor girl and I had some material from her and spoke in a contest in one of the neighborhood schools. Often in the evenings, we would have spelldowns at our schoolhouse. Brother Thomas and another young boy would usually win.
Another episode with Nettie Anderson I shall never forget. We were going to try out a boat. It was rather a large watertight box! The men had made it to ford themselves through a slough to put up a fence for the cattle. We would push the boat with sticks. The boat came too close to the fence so Nettie stood up to push the boat away from the post. This resulted with a splash into the muddy water up to her hips. When I saw she was in no apparent danger, I had a hearty laugh! Her pretty white dress was a sight to behold! Her dress was washed and hung to dry. A few years ago, she wrote to me at Christmas time, mentioning the incident and said, “Your mother didn’t even scold us!” Nettie and I got the same amount of head marks in spelling one year at school. We each got an autograph album for our achievements.
I cannot remember if I was fifteen or sixteen years of age when several Evangelists came to our community. The rumors were that two young men had been baptized in a lake close by. I was happy to hear this as I had been reading in the Bible a great deal. I would go out in our grape arbor where I had a hammock and read my Bible and Black Beauty. I knew the two young men that were baptized. I admired them and thought they were brave and respected them for obeying the Bible. When I read my Bible, I discovered it was so different from what I had been taught. I wished I had someone who could explain why they were practicing so differently from the Bible teachings. Occasionally, other Evangelists would come to the community, I went with others to those meetings. God spoke to me several times to make peace with Him. I was timid and refrained, but one evening the women speaker saw I was under conviction, she came and spoke to me. I immediately surrendered to the pleadings of the Holy Spirit. For the first time, I had peace with God and felt clean in my soul. All my sins were washed away. My name was written in the Book of Life.
My half-sister, Mary was sick one winter. I went to her home to help with the work. For this, my brother-in-law bought me a bicycle and with this I would go to church three miles away and the Post Office three or four miles away. I would also often go to see my dear friend Ida, whose brother, Reinert, I would often meet there. I suppose it was at this time that a romance was building between us.
It has been a real pleasure to share Dora Nilson Emerson's memories with you. It tells of the hardships, adventures and experiences endured by early homesteaders of Minnesota. I am very thankful that individuals in my cousin Ed's family shared these memoirs with him, so I can tell them now.
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| IMAGE: Peder and Gurine Nilson, circa 1880. From the collection of Edwin J. Ostrom. |
Sister Sina taught our home school. I was proud when she asked me to visit school one day. A boy by the name of Reinert Emerson was charged with the task of building the school fires, a duty he cared little for. One day he decided to rid himself of the job by building a fire a little too good, the stove got so hot the finish peeled off the desks. He was discharged of his fire-building duties.
I recall one Sunday when my brother, Thomas was to take Sina back to her boarding place where she taught school, my sister Anna and I went along purely for the ride. When we had gone a short distance one of Sina’s suitors came in a cutter, he was quite determined to take her himself. He jumped out of the cutter and was going to tie his horse to our sleigh, when Thomas jerked the reins for a quick getaway. This suitor would often come to our house after we were all in bed, go upstairs and sit in a chair beside Sina’s bed and plead for her to marry him. Tom played a trick on him one time by putting several stovepipes in front of the stairs, creating a thunderous noise when leaving in the dark, naturally arousing the entire household.
In those days, a number of young people would gather at our home and sing and play “last couple out,” a favorite game of those days. I cannot recall celebrating Thanksgiving, but always Christmas and the Fourth of July. My strongest childhood memories of Christmas were stringing popcorn to decorate the tree. I never knew of such a thing as a present. We always had a special Christmas dinner and the stove was given a special polish. One Fourth of July, Tom took Anna and me to Spicer to see a prize fight, it was the first one I had ever seen and I saw it all night in my sleep. I can remember the entire neighborhood having picnics at Lake Kronis.
I went to Union Grove School in Meeker County. This Reinert Emerson went to a nearby school at Irving. We often met at Church meetings near his schoolhouse. I saw him occasionally at his sister Ida’s home, who was a young bride and a dear friend of mine.
Nellie, my older sister, was married to Andrew Hendrickson. I so vividly remember their wedding day because of an unusual incident. Before the wedding, Andrew brought groceries in his wagon for their wedding and carried them to the house in the wheel-borrow. I felt that this mode of transportation was most unique and this whole thing was new to me. I do not recall any of the wedding itself, but do remember when they left to take up a homestead at Ft. Ransom, North Dakota. In due time Sina went there to teach; staying with Nellie, there she met P. Anderson who was also homesteading there. They were married and spent the rest of their lives in that vicinity. Nellie and Andrew moved to Seattle in their early years of married life.
About 1886, a diphtheria epidemic scoured the vicinity taking little sister Gina in its grip. Anna stayed home to care for her. I was out in the fields with Father, Mother and Thomas making hay. I felt ill and had a terribly sore toe. I begged them to let me go home. I too had the diphtheria bug; my sore toe became infected as a result. Mother had to take over, as Gina now was very ill. Dr. Fair from Paynesville was called and gave her medicine in powder form to gargle. In those days powders were prepared in little paper squares. He would repeat after his instructions, “Do you hear, do you see, do you understand?”
Gina passed away in the middle of the night. Anna and I slept upstairs, she heard Father and Mother weeping the loss of their youngest. Anna awakened me to tell me Gina had died. To this day, I have a feeling of remorse at the seemingly indifferent attitude I had, “Now,” I thought to myself, “I can have her doll.” Anna, Gina and myself had all received dolls from Sina for Christmas, they were lovely dolls with wax faces. When it was cold, we would wrap their faces for fear they would crack. I was not content with just mine, but now I could have two. Our little sister was eight years old and I was nine and a half. When they loaded the coffin in the wagon, I can remember my Mother held fast to the wagon weeping. She had to fumigate the entire house, but in less than a month Jacob, thirteen years old, became ill too, he developed a bad infection on his leg. The doctor was called again, same medicine and same instructions. Late one afternoon, they could see he could not live long without help. Father started off to a neighbor, Hogan Johnson, to get the doctor. When he had gone but a short distance, Mother saw Jacob was dying and sent Anna to tell Father it was too late. I do not remember the funeral proceedings, this death was a heavy blow to my father, I do remember Father had some nice verses framed and on the graves of Jacob and Gina.
My parents had sent Thomas to Willmar for advanced schoolwork at the Seminary. They did not write him concerning the illnesses and deaths for fear of his missing school. However, a neighbor boy was also attending school and he had heard and told Thomas. He immediately came home; he seemed to grieve more than the rest as he felt he had at times been anything but kind to Jacob.
While the children were sick with Diphtheria, Abalone would come to help my Mother. She would take her dress off and hang it on a tree outside. She kept another dress that she would wear while helping Mother with the sick children. She was a sister to my mother’s first husband, Jens. They were great friends, chumming together like sisters. I recall one day. Gina and I were sent to her house on an errand. She walked a short distance with us on our return home. While walking with us she held her hands on her side and complained her “hoga needed cleaning!” Naturally, we assumed she was saying her “side” needed cleaning. This frightened us and we ran all the way home. Mother explained that ‘hoga’ meant garden! When Zacharias Johnson, Abalone’s husband, was in the fields he would holler the one-half mile to tell his son to run to the Post Office for his tobacco. He and Father each had forty acres of timber at Lake Kronis. This was wood each fall for fuel and rough lumber. They were wonderful good neighbors!
I remember as a child too, eating a lot of fish, pike and pickerel. Father would spend many evenings making and mending nets. He would put a nail in the windowsill, secure his nets and mend them. Mother carded wool, wove material for clothing, made her soap and candles. She also made all the underwear, especially for the men folks from hand-woven fabrics.
In the spring of 1888, my father was hauling lumber for our new house; during much hardship, he encountered pneumonia. It was his third attack. For sixteen days and nights my mother did not undress, as she was his only nurse. He passed away in March of that year. As custom was at that time when deaths occurred, the neighbors would come and pleat muslin cloth in preparation for burial. They would take complete charge of preparing the deceased for burial. Coffins were always purchased but the outer boxes were made at home. It was also the thing of that day that at this trying period, the family prepared a large dinner for all of those who came for the funeral. Mother had a neighborhood girl, Olive Hendrickson, come and help bake.
Then Thomas got sick. He had gone on horseback fourteen miles to Atwater to summon the doctor for Father. He too had diphtheria. Olive promptly went home and no more dinners were served for funerals. Tom recovered, but as a result of the illness, his legs were so weak for months, he would fall for the least thing in his path. At this point Tom had to take over the work and management of the farm. He was nineteen years old.
The house was built as Father had planned. We moved in before the stairs were finished There was a temporary ladder installed in its place. Tom slept upstairs, Mother and I in the bedroom downstairs. Anna was away at school. Tom had a bad head cold and was delirious, he came down that rickety ladder to our bedside and pleaded with Mother to set him on his feet. He said he was standing on his head!
One of my duties was to go to the Post Office for the mail, a distance of four miles. I would run, then walk a few steps, then run again. Once I was caught in a heavy rain shower. There were two ladies ahead of me who retreated to the nearest farm house but I stood under a tree. I was too bashful to go in at first but finally built up enough courage to go in the house. They gave me some honey from the comb, which I did not like.
Some years later the Post Office was moved closer to our house. I would ride sidesaddle on ‘Lizzie,’ she being mean and lazy. Those days ‘a lady’ never would straddle a horse. It was considered very un-lady like and you would risk being the talk of the community! ‘Lizzie’ had a sister named ‘Victoria’ not only a more agreeable nature but also a more refined mare. We often had to wait hours for the mail carrier. Once I tied ‘Lazy Lizzie’ to a post. She got tired of being tied and put her weight on the rope. Of course, it broke and off she’d go. There was so much luscious grass along the way. She would eat and run and eat and run and eat and run. When the postman arrived, I would gather the mail and start walking, nearly catching up with her but she would arrive home before me, and Mother seeing the horse without its rider, would naturally be worried.
I remember once riding ‘Victoria’ to another Post Office and store. I was riding in a full gallop, a hole in the road caused her to fall to her front knees. Over her head I went. She promptly got up to start up again and saw me on the ground. She threw herself back not wanting to step on me. From then on, I loved her dearly. She did not want me to mount her again after this incident. I had to stand on an elevated object, like the fence post, to mount. I would often hug and caress those two dear animals.
Tom asked me one day to fetch the five young horses that were in a pasture a few rods west of the house. They were all by the gate waiting to get to the barn for their feed. I untied all the halter roped, lowered the gate rails and led all five prancing to the barn. With consternation, my brother met me, scolding me for handling them all at one time.
When I was sixteen, Anna and I went to Willmar to take up dressmaking. We rented an upstairs room. Tom hauled a load of wood for us thirty miles by horses. The woman had two girls, ages 9 and 11. The eleven-year-old would scrub the kitchen till it shone. The floor was entirely bare of paint but was so clean she would kiss it.
The following year Anna was sent to the teaching seminary at Willmar. When she got her certificate, she went to Ft. Ransom to stay with Sina. When she was finished with a term she asked me to come and we’d go home together. There were many young people that would gather at Sina’s home. They would sing so lustily; the neighbors would hear them far and wide. They also played ‘last couple out’ and had square dances. One of these I went to, but refused to dance. I had had a Christian teacher who spoke very sharply against dancing. I made up my mind never to dance. He also was opposed to usage of by-words such as “my goodness” or “for goodness sake.” This was good as I did not have to break myself in later years. He advised our speech should be “yay,” “yay,” and “nay, nay” as the Bible teaches.
Some years later, my girlfriend, Thea Ditmarson, her brother and her father and myself were going to Willmar for a week’s church convention. The son was along to take our team of horses back when we boarded the train. Mr. Ditmarson was driving and as we were going down a steep hill, the tongue dropped down and plowed into the deep sand. The horses became frantic, both men hollered for them to stop! Mr. Ditmarson pulled so hard on the reins he was pulled out of the buggy. Then I said, “Whoa;” when they heard my familiar voice they stopped immediately!
Thea and I stayed at my Uncle Andrew Johnson’s house. My father’s half- brother lived in a large house and lodged four men delegates who were staying there for the convention. The mother and oldest daughter did most of the work, cooking for all of us. Thea and I could have been a great deal of help but it was not fashionable in those days to accept help from strangers and-we didn’t have enough sense to offer! I apologized many years later for this act of inconsideration.
I often spoke poems at Christmas programs. I recall Andrew Borsheim would tell me I was the only one he could hear. Our cousins from Willmar, Julia, Ida and Mary would come to visit us. Their mother was my father’s half- sister. Ida had been in contests speaking on prohibition. She had won several medals. Nettie Anderson, a neighbor girl and I had some material from her and spoke in a contest in one of the neighborhood schools. Often in the evenings, we would have spelldowns at our schoolhouse. Brother Thomas and another young boy would usually win.
Another episode with Nettie Anderson I shall never forget. We were going to try out a boat. It was rather a large watertight box! The men had made it to ford themselves through a slough to put up a fence for the cattle. We would push the boat with sticks. The boat came too close to the fence so Nettie stood up to push the boat away from the post. This resulted with a splash into the muddy water up to her hips. When I saw she was in no apparent danger, I had a hearty laugh! Her pretty white dress was a sight to behold! Her dress was washed and hung to dry. A few years ago, she wrote to me at Christmas time, mentioning the incident and said, “Your mother didn’t even scold us!” Nettie and I got the same amount of head marks in spelling one year at school. We each got an autograph album for our achievements.
I cannot remember if I was fifteen or sixteen years of age when several Evangelists came to our community. The rumors were that two young men had been baptized in a lake close by. I was happy to hear this as I had been reading in the Bible a great deal. I would go out in our grape arbor where I had a hammock and read my Bible and Black Beauty. I knew the two young men that were baptized. I admired them and thought they were brave and respected them for obeying the Bible. When I read my Bible, I discovered it was so different from what I had been taught. I wished I had someone who could explain why they were practicing so differently from the Bible teachings. Occasionally, other Evangelists would come to the community, I went with others to those meetings. God spoke to me several times to make peace with Him. I was timid and refrained, but one evening the women speaker saw I was under conviction, she came and spoke to me. I immediately surrendered to the pleadings of the Holy Spirit. For the first time, I had peace with God and felt clean in my soul. All my sins were washed away. My name was written in the Book of Life.
My half-sister, Mary was sick one winter. I went to her home to help with the work. For this, my brother-in-law bought me a bicycle and with this I would go to church three miles away and the Post Office three or four miles away. I would also often go to see my dear friend Ida, whose brother, Reinert, I would often meet there. I suppose it was at this time that a romance was building between us.
It has been a real pleasure to share Dora Nilson Emerson's memories with you. It tells of the hardships, adventures and experiences endured by early homesteaders of Minnesota. I am very thankful that individuals in my cousin Ed's family shared these memoirs with him, so I can tell them now.
Thank you for joining me today. I am hoping that you have had a good start to your week.
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