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Andreas Herlaugson Oksendahl

Skreven av Arthur (Arth) Oksendahl f. 1903, son av Andreas.
Samla og oversatt av Hugo Solhaug

Introduksjon:
I Amerika kall Andreas seg Andrew.
Eit av barnebarna til Andreas, Robert Finnegan, har skreve ei helsing i gjesteboka.
Sjå ellers sida om "Oksendahl bruk 2 i Amerika", introduksjonen der.
Her kan du lesa meir om broren Torbjørn, her meir om broren Johan Karl, her om systera Dordei, her om halvsystera Ingebjørg, her om halvbroren Knut, her om halvbroren Lars, her om halvbroren Nils.
Historien:
Andreas Herlaugson Yksendal var født 5/2-1865 d. 7/3-1953.

Han kom til USA i 1883. Han kom da til Grant County, Minnesota. Tilbrakte et par år her, før han flyttet vestover til Nord Dakota, eller det som da var Dakota Territorium. Kom til det som nå er Pierce County i 1886. Kjørte til Hillsboro, Nord Dakota med fire okser og en vogn. Turen tok ca en uke. Som nybygger bosatte han seg og gjorde krav på eiendomen.
Blant annet jobbet han nede i Mississippi og Tennessee, nedover elvene. Han jobbet også på jernbanen. Assisterte i oppmålingen kommunene etc.
Lik hans bror Torbjørn (Tom) var også Andrew en aktiv politiker. Hadde forskjellige embeter/verv i skolen og bysamfunnet, så vel som staten. Tjente som representant i 1917 også som senator i 1919 og 1921 samlingene. Han var Pierce County sin første folketeller i 1900.

Han blei gift med Sophia Gustafson fra Varmeland i Sverige nov. 1901.

Andreas med fam. ca 1915, huset på garden bak
Dei fikk åtte barn, Emma (døfødt), Arthur, Ester, Selma, Alice (døde som spebarn), Viola, Victoria og Justin Ferdinand.

Bodde på en gård sør for Tunbridge inntil 1939, da de flyttet til Rugby hvor de levde til de døde. Fru Oksendahl døde i des. 1945.

Innhausting på Andreas sin farm tidleg i 1920 åra.


Her ein avisartilkkel om "Andrew" frå avisa Pierce County Tribune datert 5. juni 1952.
Denne er så langt ikkje oversatt til norsk.

Newspaper article from the Pierce County Tribune June 5th 1952

There are those who consider themselves pioneers who came to this country 40 or 50 years ago. And we think they are right. But there is a difference among pioneers. Few, if any in this area, can top Andrew Oksendahl. Now approaching .fourscore and ten., he is living out his remaining time moving about among his children. But his health loses a little ground with the passing years, he is spending more and more of his time in Rugby with his son and daughter-in-law's family, Mr. And Mrs. Art Oksendahl. Don't anyone get the idea he is an invalid. Far from it, for a man of his years, his mobility is good indeed.

Born in Norway
Oksendahl was born in Norway and came to Herman, Minnesota when only 17 years of age. He came over with his brother Tom whom many of the people here will readily recall. They knew people at Herman, Jacob Leraas, for one, father of Louis Leraas , himself a pioneer in this community.

But Andrew stayed at Herman only two years. After that he came to Hillsboro, N.D., and worked on a large farm. This was in 1886 and this year also marked the time when Oksendahl first came to this community! That's 66 years ago.

He didn't stay here then, and he came because his employer and his relatives wanted Andrew to come up here to improve land on which they had filed. I believe it was in the Barton vicinity.

Oksendahl and his brother Tom made the long trek from Hillsboro with 4 oxen, some equipment and supplies. The supplies consisted mostly of guns and ammunition with which to rustle wild game for food. All kinds of game were very plentiful then, he says.

But even in 1886 there were some people in the area. He recalls that Welcome Holbrook and a man named Mendennall were already set up at Pleasant Lake. Pam Cruden, Sr., Billy Hamilton and a man named Williams were in the Barton area.

To build a shack, lumber had to be hauled from Minnewaukan which was the closest town.

A good team of oxen, Mr. Oksendahl recalls, was better in some than horses or mules. Feeding them was a cinch. You relieved them of their yokes at the end of the day and they made out for themselves. Unless somebody scared them away. That happened once to the two brothers. A small souled neighbor didn't want the oxen on his land and chased them off. They retrieved them miles away, where Rugby now stands. Oksendahl says he broke about 40 acres with the oxen for the first year 1886. He squatted on land for himself the first year up. The second year, he had only two oxen.

Indians Friendly
Often on his trips, Indians camped near him at night, but they never bothered him and he was in no hurry about getting sociable with them.

Oksendahl explained the difference of tree claims, homesteading and pre-emption, but it didn't register too well with us. At any rate, by a combination of two such privileges, a man could get a half section of land. But there was a time limit and a man had to make some improvements.

He was farming here in 1888 to 1891. The years were dry so he practically sold out for nothing to Emil Seel. He went to Minneapolis planning to work in the woods, but because of the heavy snows, no men were being hired. So Oksendahl ended up working on the levees in Mississippi.

In 1895 he went to Roseau County, Minnesota, and the Red Lodge Indian Reservation. He fished and hunted and all the while also looked for land to homestead. The law was that all swamp land belonged to the state. In the dry spring of that year, settlers moved into the lowland and contested the state's definition of swamps. Then the heavy June rains flooded out the would-be homesteaders, including Andrew. He walked a mile to dry land. After that experience he came to this community again and homesteaded land in Tuscorora Township. This was 1896.

Married in 1901
In 1901 he was married to Sophia Gustafson, who herself had come here to homestead land in 1899. The couple had 8 children, 4 girls and 2 boys living. The sons still live here but the girls are scattered over a wide area. Mrs. Oksendahl passed away in 1945.

Oksendahl had serious operation at 74 and another about 7 years ago. On the last deal, he almost didn't make it. He was in a Bismarck hospital for 6 days. Said he didn't know what all they had done with him but a lot of it he didn't know about until he got his bill. He complained of illnesses he suffered more than 50 years ago. He doesn't feel in the pink now either, but it could be that some of his trouble is due to not being used to North Dakota's variable weather.



His Obituary

His cause of death was cancer and pneumonia. He was a former state legislator, serving both the house and the senate. He served in the house at the session of 1917, and was a member of the senate at the 1919 and 1921 sessions. Andrew Oksendahl was born in Exingdalen, Voss, Norway Feb 5, 1865. He came to the US in 1883 with his brother Tom.


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Sist oppdatert 17. april 2023

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