Brev 1

The 1:st letter as it was when sent to me by Jim.

Elva and Leila have written about growing up in North Dakota.

Elva's first account is titled, "Getting to School."

When the Hendrickson children were old enough to go to school, the only

school available was a small rural school.  Fortunately, the Posey family

had moved near-by with several children.  The Posey boys were older than

Agnes and Nora so they drove some sort of horse driven vehicle to and from

school every day.  As Arnold and Henry were ready to start  school, they too

would ride with them.  The two boys spoke only Swedish at first, as it was

spoken at home by our parents.

When the Glenfield Consolidated School was built about 1912, they could all

go there.  A regular bus driver was hired to transport children from their

homes to school every school day.  School started at 9 AM and was over at 4

PM.  Busses had regular routes to follow, sometimes starting very early to

drive the enclosed horse-driven busses to get there on time.  The busses

were on wheels except in winter when there was lots of snow -  when runners

were used.  A little round stove in the center would heat the bus in cold

weather,  and the bus driver sat inside the front of the bus with a necessary window

to drive safely.  There were 2 little windows in the back,

one on each side of the aisle for the use of the students.

Elva's second story is titled, "Transportation."

Having been born in 1912, I am not qualified to speak about the methods of

transportation by the Hendrickson family before that time.  However, I

presume it was with horses.

Up until Glenfield, North Dakota, was built in 1912, trips had to be made to

Cooperstown to get some food and supplies by horse and wagon.  I remember,

however, riding the 3.5 miles to Glenfield in a one seated buggy, driven by

our horse, Julia.  We could sit 3 abreast quite comfortably with room in

back for butter, eggs, and later, a cream can to sell in exchange for

groceries etc.  On a pleasant day, it was an enjoyable trip.  Julia was a

favorite and dependable horse to drive.  Leila and I would have Mother do

the driving, but I think we kids would later go alone to get groceries and

maybe a sack of "hard" coal for our kichen cook stove during the summer.

In the snowy winter, a sleigh driven by a pair of horses was used.  When we

went to spend Christmas with the Herman Johnson family, we would dress

warmly and have quilts and put straw on the floor of the wagon, and we would

drive cross country the 5 miles or so.

The first automobile that Mother bought was a Briscoe, an open car with side

curtains to put on in bad weather.  At first she drove it, but Hank and

Arnold drove as soon as they were old enough.  Now we could ride to

Glenfield on Saturday nights, to Juanita Lake to fish, and to Cooperstown to

the Fair every summer.

Elva's husband Fred Silliman and possibly a car mentioned.

 

Later, Mother bought a four door Ford sedan.  I remember driving it.  We

enjoyed that car for several years.  When Henry finished high school and got

his first job as a mail carrier, the sedan was sold and he bought a Model A

Ford which also served as a family car as necessary.

Leila wrote about Food:

After John's death, Josie was busy meeting the needs of her family of six.

One of the most important of those needs was, of course, food.  She bought

some of the food products such as flour and sugar and other things at the

grocery store, and her sale of cream, butter, and eggs paid for these.

Incidentally, it is remembered that the year's grocery bill at the store in

the fall of one year was sixty-nine dollars!

A garden was the source of a large portion of the food supply needed.  The

Hendrickson garden covered about one acre, quite near the house, well, and

windmill, which would be the source of water for the garden in dry years.

The garden was planted by Josie and later her family joined in the care of

it.  She raised a large variety of vegetables which in the fall of the year

were stored in the dirt cellar.  This was entered by a stairway from the

outside of the house.  There was also a small area in the bedroom here one

could lift a small trap door and go down a ladder to the cellar.

Along one side of the cellar was a large bin where the year's supply of

potatoes was kept.  Above this were shelves for dozens of glass jars of

canned corn, beans, peas, a large crock of carrots buried in sand, and a

large crock of sour-kraut made from cabbage.  Other than the canned

vegetables, there were also many jars of meat such as beef, chicken, and

pickled pig's feet.  Some jars were of choke-cherry jelly or juice.  The

choke-cherries were picked each fall at the trees by the Sheyenne River near

Cooperstown. 

Elva and Leila plan to write more before they leave for home on December

10th.