Last Name:Eid
First Name:Bernt O.
Publication: Prairie Pioneer: A Story of Adams County. [1976]
Institute Call Number: F642.A2 P55 1976

This is an exact transcription of the entry you requested. There is also an entry for Mrs. B. O. Eid following it. Let me know if you want that as well.

BERNT O. EID, written by Ernest Eid

Bernt O. Eid was born in Gjovik Sonndreland, Norway. Immigrated to US in 1903 at 21 years of age. Settled in Pigeon Falls, Wisconsin. Was a carpenter by trade--also worked in the woods in Northern Wisconsin in the wintertime while there.

Bernt and his brother, Christ, left Wisconsin and arrived by train in Lemmon, South Dakota on April 3, 1908. Homesteaded that spring on NE1/4 of Section 26, Beisigl Twsp, Adams County, North Dakota. Built a one room sod house that summer, later on also built a barn of sod.

On November 15, 1908, his brother and a neighbor, Douglas Lawrence, were digging their winter supply of coal, by accident Bernt was buried to his chest unde the coal. He suffered a broken leg, broken ribs, a punctured lung, ruptured kidney, and other internal injuries. They hauled him to Lemmon by team and wagon and put him in a home that was used as a hospital at that time. Nobody had any thoughts he could ever live, was in bed for about 6 months and little by little was able to get up and around. Dr. Sanbo was his doctor.

In the spring of 1910 Bernt returned to Wisconsin. On June 10, 1910 was married to Anna Tangen of Pigeon Falls, Wisconsin. I understand weddings in those days were something else, usually lasted 3 days at the bride's home, dance all night and eat all day. Bernt and his bride returned to North Dakota immediately after their wedding and made their home at the homestead in Adams County. Bernt and Anna had four children: 2 boys--Olger and Ernest; 2 girls, Mildred and Beatrice. All of these children with the exception of Beatrice were brought in this world by a midwife, Mrs. Anna Olson, a neighbor lady.

In the early years of the homesstead, Bernt worked a lot at his trade as a carpenter and helped build the Payne store building in Lemmon, more recently known as the Golden Rule building.

With Bernt gone from home so much, I recall Mother telling how frightened she was when strangers would stop at the homestead and ask to water their horses. Most of these men wore beards and pretty tough looking characters. Their homestead was only about 1/4 (one-fourth) mile from the Glen Ullin freight line trail and the only well for many miles.

Bernt served on the school board much of his life and the first to organize the Farmers Union in Beisigl Township. During all of his farming life he farmed with his horses. Never would drive a tractor. Planted all of the grain crop with his four (4) horse team and drill which included his own land of two quarters also one quarter of his brother's and neighbor's rented land of 400 acres. He loved his horses. Brother Christ worked the land ahead with tractor.

Homestead days were tough on the prairie and for the women it usually meant having small homes to do their work in, washing clothes on the washboards and heating tubs of water on laundry stoves or coal stoves, often used cow chips and corn cobs for fire. Baking bread was always a bad job when bread burned on one side and was raw on the other.

Mother's profession as a milliner and dressmaker kept her very busy sewing for neighbor families. Whenever any extra time, she was sewing, knitting, and crocheting. The quilting frame was set up in the small living room in the wintertime; this left little room for other activities so in the evening the family helped do the quilting.

Winter supply of coal was kept in a cellar beneath the kitchen floor. It was a big job for someone to carry pails of coal up a ladder twice a day or more often if it was wash day. After very cold winter nights, morning would find ice in the waterpails and washdishes.

Mother was a member of the Selma Ladies Aid, north of Thunder Hawk, South Dakota and later the Cedar Creek Lutheran Ladies Aid. Entertaining Ladies Aid was always a big event, an all day meeting with noon meal and the men enjoying a day of visiting as well as the women.

Mother was chosen to do the letter writing for many neighbors as she could write Norwegian as well as English. Many letters were written to the old country as well as the USA. With so much company, life wasn't dull. We had a big wooden barrel churn on a stand and it turned with a crank. You had to stop every few minutes and take out a cork to let the air pressure out or it would blow the cream out if you did not do this. One time Mother was writing a letter for a bachelor neighbor, Martin Matson, and Mr. Matson volunteered to churn butter for Mother for her writing a letter for him. He was sitting on a chair reading a newspaper and cranking the churn, not knowing about the cork, pretty soon it exploded spraying cream all over the walls and ceiling of the kitchen. Boy he did use some language I hadn't heard up until that time of my life. One of the funniest things to ever happen in our young lives but Mother couldn't laugh until the clean up job was over.

School days were rather interesting and unusual also. The Eid kids had 3 miles to go to school. The school house being one room with a lean-to hall for clothes and a coal bin. School usually was 8 months of the year. When the kids were old enough they drove a horse and buggy and in the winter a horse and cutter when enough snow. When weather was real bad however, Dad always took us with a team of horses. The school teacher usually stayed right in the school house. The bedroom was a corner of the school room enclosed by a curtain only.

Bernt Eid died August 30, 1932. Son, Olger died in 1966. Anna Eid is in good health and resides in Dickinson, North Dakota, near her daughter Beatrice, at this writing in January of 1974.

Thank you much, yes I would like to read Mrs. B. O. Eid write up also.
Margit

Dear Margit,

Following is the entry for Mrs. B. O. Eid. This selection seems to contradict the article on her husband, as in the latter article, Ernest Eid indicates his mother is living in Dickinson, ND. Dickinson is about 100 miles north of Lemmon, SD, while the information about Mrs. Eid indicates she is living about 20 miles north of Lemmon, still in Beisigl Twp. This was, of course, prior to the publication of the "Prairie Pioneer," in which my grandmother wrote the date she received her copy as April 18, 1975.

Letha Chunn-Mendivil
County Coordinator
Adams County, ND, GenWeb Site www.rootsweb.com/~ndadams/

PIONEER OF BEISIGL DISTRICT (No author given)

Mrs. B. O. Eid resides on a farm twenty-two miles north of Lemmon, South Dakota. She was born in Pigeon Falls, Wisconsin on July 18, 1887, and given the name of Anna, by her parents Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Tangen, both of Norwegian descent. Anna was united in marriage to Mr. B. O. Eid in Pigeon Falls, in the year 1910.

In that same year, Mr. and Mrs. Eid left White Hall, Wisconsin, and traveled by train to the Dakotas and arrived in Lemmon, South Dakota on June 24, 1910. The made their home where Mrs. Eid's present home is now sited. She is the only pioneer now living on her homestead in the Beisigl township.

Her first home was a frame building, covered with sod making the walls very thick. Mr. Eid was a farmer and carpenter. After the township was organzied as the Beisigl township, there were no further events.

The first settlers in the township were the Beisigl brothers, who had thousands of acres of land upon which they raised cattle. Waighten was established as the first post office. The first school was the Beisigl School, then located two miles north and one mile west of Mrs. Eid's home. It was made of lumber and had a seven month term. A church was never established in the township.

Mrs. Eid was not an exceptionally early settler in the community. Several other families had already made their homes there when she arrived, so there were several close neighbors. The neighbors often visited with one another because no towns were at a convenient traveling distance. Sometimes everyone would gather at one home for supper, and visiting. A carnival night came to a far off town but it was not often any of the families would be able to attend one.

Water could be gotten from a well. The most used fuel was coal which was hauled by wagon from the local mine. Trees were not plentiful, so wood was never burned continually.

The Glen Ullin Trail passed within a few miles of Mrs. Eid's home. Dust stained weary travelers, which often stopped at the Eid's well. Mrs. Eid often wondered at the exceedingly dark skin of the people. After living in North Dakota for a few years, Mrs. Eid learned that the Dakota sunshine could darken anyone's skin very easily. Another odd thing about the Glen Ullin Trail travelers were the swinging contraptions tied on their horse's nose. These bags would seem very uncomfortable to a horse, but evidently it was very important to its comfort.

--END--