(Dates were written like this, 7th, August 1880 in the original- they are changed for ease of reading)

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE LIFE AND EXPERIENCES

OF THE OLE PETER HAUGEN FAMILY

Gudbrandsdalen, Norway was the home of the Haugens

In the year 1881, on the second day of May, the Haugen family, (who were Gunshaugen in Norway), consisting of Mr. Haugen, his wife, Ronnong Haugen (maiden Odegaarben in Norway, Olson here), his mother Beret Anderson, and his two sons, Paul and Peter. Paul was born April 2, 1878. Peter was born August 7, 1880, arrived in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota from Gudbrandsdalen, Norway.

The details of their settling down are not known. He must have been involved in the logging industry of that time, and perhaps seasonally at farm labor.

Their daughter, Gina Bertine was born there- Boyd in (Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota) on June 12, 1883.

A very sorrowful time arrived on February 20, 1886, by the death of Mr. Haugen.

Four months and six days later on June 26th, posthumously, a son Ole was born.

We can only imagine the hardships this family went through in the following several years.

Years in a new country, where they could not speak the language so very well, no income, the oldest child being only eight years of age, years until in November 8, 1894, Ronnong Haugen married Rudolph Berg, a man several years her junior. The children of Ronnong and Rudolph were Benny; (Goldies dad), Nettie- married Sanco, and Anna married Oscar L. Myron. Then the family lived, farmed and worked out together until near 1900. By then, Mr. & Mrs. and Ole had gone to St. Hillaire in (Polk) which is now in Pennington County (Crookston is in Polk?) County, Minnesota, where employment was plentiful in the timber industry. Gina moved to St. Hillaire, about 1902 or 1903 and worked at the Hotel. (She was an experienced catering cook).

Evidently the past years of hardship had taken its toll on the health of the children. During the next two years, three of the Haugen children died. Ole, on April 2, 1904 Paul, the oldest, who was living on a claim near Tioga, ND, sickened during bad, cold, rainy weather and died May 15, 1905.

Gina, who had married on January 13, 1904, moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota, then to Dickinson North Dakota for her health, died on July 31, 1905. Her husband went away and to this day has not been located as to where he went. Benjamin C. Bowen was his name, supposedly from Auburn in New York State. (Note: Benjamin Clinton Bowen's five living daughters were located in 1996. Benjamin remarried in 1919 and died in Corpus Christi, TX in 1963)

Peter Haugen remained at Boyd, Minnesota until some months before June 1905. The date June 1, 1905, he was married to Cornelia Boersma at Clara City in Chippewa County, Minnesota. They eventually moved to Sherwood, North Dakota where they procured a farm.

The happy couple had five children:

1. Clare Sophia Haugen, died in infancy

2. Arthur Rubin Haugen

3. Florence Bertha Haugen

4. Marvin Iver Haugen

5. Carroll Peter Haugen

Gina and Ben had a son, but she was too ill to care for him. So she handed the child to a wife of a family that they knew (Albert Harden) saying to her "Here, you take him. You can care for him so much better than I can."

July 6, 1895 Cornelia's Family - U.S. Census Roll #53

---First time find at Clara City, Minnesota

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Names & Data 1900 Census

#216 Bota Boersma Born July, 1850 Age 50 Born - Holland

Annie Boersma, Born March, 1851 Age 49 "

Tine Boersma, Son ----------- Age 26 "

Rhonda Boersma, Daughter ---- Age 19

Cornelia Boersma, Daughter, Born May, 1884 Age 16

Isaac, Son Born May 1889 Age 11 all were in this country 9 years.