Pioneer Life

Lucien A. Barnes Papers, 1853-1942, 1955 (Mss 189)
The collection documents a farm family that settled in Cass County near Fargo and consists of a wide variety of family documents.

Benjamin H. Barrett Papers, ca. 1950-1976 (Mss 255)
Extension agent in Emmons County, N. D. from 1934 to 1959 who wrote about his life as a county agent and childhood days in Steele County, N.D.

John Burham Papers, 1818-1911 (Mss 155)
Burnham, native of New Hampshire, served in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, and under Henry Hasting Sibley in North Dakota, also with the 121st United States Colored Troops, and later was a Minnesota and North Dakota pioneer and legislator.

Oscar A. Christensen Papers, 1949-1959 (Mss 336)
The collection consists of correspondence and writings, including The Man Behind the Plow, a family history of pioneer life in Minnesota.

Don J. Clark Family Papers, 1843-1957 (Mss 660)
The collection consists of the justice docket for Abercrombie (1907-1940); mortgages; contracts; warranty deeds (1885-1895); First Rifle Regiment of Vermont roll (1843); financial records (1862-1880) of his father, Martin C. Clark; corpse transport permits; county tax receipts; and tow scrapbooks (1980-1956) of clippings on people and historical events at Abercrombie and Richland County which were complied by Ethel Clark Hutchinson.

Robert D. Crawford Family Papers, 1867-1963 (Mss 290)
The collection consists of family correspondence (1864-1894) and handwritten reminiscence (734 p.) by Crawford concerning family history, pioneer life in Minnesota and the Wahpeton, ND area, together with their Putney, Vermont background.

Merton Field Papers, 1901-1959 (Mss 28)
Merton Field was a Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin physician and NDSU graduate.  His papers consist of correspondence, writings, autobiography and newspaper clippings. The autobiography, "By Many Trails," is a typed transcription (131 p.) relating Mr. Field's childhood and college days to include his father, Jacob A. Field, ranch life near Bismarck, ND, herding cattle, schooling, death of his teacher in a blizzard, prairie fires, Nick Spain, his dog "Mac," school years at North Dakota Agricultural College, and reflections on his life.

Carl M. Grimstad Manucript, 1927-1932 (Mss 162)
Carl Grimstad was a Walsh County, ND pioneer.  The collection consists of a handwritten copy of his manuscript "Life in Dakota Territory, from 1879 to 1887," concerning his experience as a pioneer settler in Walsh County.

Simon Hoag Family Papers, 1874-1926 (Mss 643)
Simon Hoag was a Cass County, ND pioneer.  The collection consists of correspondence (1907-1926) and records relating to the Dakota Territory, Fargo, and national Granges; and the Red River Valley Old Settlers' Association.

Charles H. Hobart. Pioneering in North Dakota, 1930-1934 (Mss 227)
Hobart wrote five letters in the 1930s detailing his family settling near Cummings, N.D. in the 1880s.

James Holes Family Papers, 1875-1937 (Mss 211)
One of the earliest settlers in the Fargo area whose papers document his private and business affairs.

Edwin and Clara Johnson Papers, 1880-1898 (Mss 148)

George Lamphere Family Papers, 1863-1918, 1961-1967 (Mss 1151)
George Lamphere was a Civil War veteran and owner of Moorhead Daily News.  The papers consist of a scrapbook containing clippings on government and politics, articles by Mr. Lamphere, reviews on his book, The United States Government, poems, family and other subjects.

H. Elaine Lindgren Research Papers, 1977-2003 (Mss 292 & Tapes 537-563)
Research papers of NDSU Sociology professor related primarily to her book Land in Her Own Name: Women as Homesteaders in North Dakota and several other articles.

Charles Losk Reminiscence, 1905-1947 (Mss 76)
Charles Losk was a Jewish immigrant from Russia who homesteaded at Watford City, N.D. and later became a merchant there.

David McCauley Family Papers, 1845-1955 (Mss 329)
David McCauley was a postmaster, express agent and army sutler for Fort Abercrombie.

Iver Madson Family Papers, 1925-1955 (Mss 507)
Iver Madson was a Danish immigrant and Wheatland, N.D. homesteader.  The collection is a manuscript of Madson's recollections, dictated to his daughter, concerning his twelve years at sea, four years in New Zealand, immigration (1871) to America from Denmark, and farming in Minnesota before homesteading in Dakota Territory.  Also included are newspaper clippings on the Madson family.

Ole A. Olson Papers, 1950-1968 (Mss 79)
Ole A. Olson was a North Dakota poet and writer.  The collection consists of biographical material, the original typescript copy (238 p.) of his autobiography, poems by himself and others, and his manuscript, "One Day on a Territorial Homestead.

Gladys M. Pearce Papers, 1936, 1956-1957 (Mss 845)
Gladys Pearse was a Bismarck, N.D. resident and writer.  Her papers consist of correspondence and a carbon copy of "Claimed by the Prairies" (187 p.), Pearce's biography of her grandmother, Winnieford Winston Nicholls (1830-1914), a Bismarck pioneer.

Wallace Petrie Family Papers, 1885-1953 (Mss 801)
Wallace Petrie was an Emmons County, N.D. pioneer.

Fred S. Rutledge Papers, 1884-1961 (Mss 222)
Fred Rutledge was a Walsh County, N.D. homesteader.  His papers include correspondence; family histories of Becker, Canfield, Dickison, Harrison, Hudson, Lindell, Rutledge, and Wheelock families; his handwritten manuscript "A Christmas Vacation in Virginia" (52 p.), and a typed copy of his manuscript "Reminiscences of Fred Rutledge" (243 p.) covering his youth and days as a lumberjack, hobo, railroadman, thresher, and farmer in Minnesota and North Dakota.

John J. Shely Family Papers, 1872-1902, 1935, 1953-1956 (Mss 188)
John Shely was a pioneer settler at Shelly, Minnesota.
 

Manuscript Subject Listing