A Scandinavian saga: Pioneering in New Folden Township, Marshall County, Minnesota, 1882-1905

by John R Tunheim

218 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a history book, for certain, but it's the beginnings of exactly where I live, which is interesting. I'm sure the pioneer experience is relatively the same across most of the Midwest although we have some very bitter winters here. The book has sections on beginning, building, farming, community, and eventually the major change that came from the railroad going through the township. I can't even imagine taking a full day to walk to town for supplies and another day back, and getting stuck because of a blizzard. I imagine the family just thought, well pa might be dead, he hasn't returned in 4 days...
This region is particularly Norwegian and Swedish and it talks about that a fair bit and how it gradually changed to "American" with the forced learning of English in the school system.

Just generally interesting but particularly so for being so close. My house isn't mentioned but my township is, being right next to New Folden township. But my house is probably from this exact time frame also. We haven't been able to accurately date it, but I'd guess it's about 1898-1900 or so. Which is not completely pioneer but the studs in the walls are made from trees directly and not lumber. So it's neat to see what was there compared to now and just how they got on back then.