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Ole Erikson (Flaamoe) was born on February 4, 1854, in Meraker, Norway to parents Erik J. and Olia (Hasesund) Flaamoe. Ole was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran Faith in the Old Meraker Church. He learned the craft of carpentry as a young man. Ole and his father both worked in the copper mines near Meraker for a wage of $2.00 a week. Olia Ingvaldsdatter Bakke was also born in Meraker, Norway on November 2, 1847 to parents Ingvald and Anne (Storoien) Bakke. She, too, was baptized and confirmed in the Old Meraker Church. ...
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Ole Erikson (Flaamoe) was born on February 4, 1854, in Meraker, Norway to parents Erik J. and Olia (Hasesund) Flaamoe. Ole was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran Faith in the Old Meraker Church. He learned the craft of carpentry as a young man. Ole and his father both worked in the copper mines near Meraker for a wage of $2.00 a week. Olia Ingvaldsdatter Bakke was also born in Meraker, Norway on November 2, 1847 to parents Ingvald and Anne (Storoien) Bakke. She, too, was baptized and confirmed in the Old Meraker Church. Ole Flaamoe and Olia Bakke were engaged to be married, yet at the age of 24, Olia Bakke emigrated by herself from Norway to the United States in 1871. It took nine weeks by sailboat to reach the new land. The boat landed in Quebec, Canada and she continued on her journey by train. Olia went through Chicago on October 8, 1871, when she witnessed the Great Fire of Chicago raging through the buildings. Olia continued on the passenger train enroute for Goodhue County, Minnesota, where her fiancee's half-sister, Kjerstine Lillesve and her husband Halvor Lillesve lived. The Lillesve family had paid for her ticket on the ship, therefore Olia had to work for them for one year to pay for the passage. The work was hard as she had to shock wheat and also tie bundles behind the binder.
In the spring of 1872, the Lillesve family sent a passage ticket to Ole E. Flaamoe, Kjerstine Lillesve's half-brother. He took the same route to Goodhue County that his fiancee Olia had taken the year before. Ole worked for the Lillesves and also found carpentry work in the area. Ole E. Flaamoe and Olia Bakke were married on December 18, 1873 by Rev. Bernt J. Muus. Olia had made her own white wedding dress and they had a wedding picture taken. Ole and Olia lived in a sod dug-out close to the Lillesve farm where two of their children were born - Edward, born December 23, 1874 and Iver, born January 4, 1877.
In the spring of 1877, Ole and Olia Flaamoe decided to "head west" where the land was more plentiful. They embarked on a 250 mile journey by covered wagon pulled by oxen enroute for Minnehaha County of Dakota Territory. The Christian Strom family accompanied Ole and Olia in their own covered wagon. They reached the John Risvold farm (one-half mile east of present day Baltic) three weeks after beginning the journey. Olia had broken her arm while helping to get the wagon across a river with no bridge. Ole made a splint for the badly broken arm. The Risvolds, who were good friends back in Norway, welcomed the weary travelers to their home in Sverdrup Township. Ole, Olia, Edward, and Iver went on to stay with Ole's Uncle, Jens Flaamoe who lived southwest in the same township. In the fall of 1877, Ole built a 12 x 16 foot sod house in Section 36 (School Section) of Lyons Township. Settlers were allowed to build temporary homes on the school land until they could file for claims of their own. Ole, Olia and the children joined the Nidaros Lutheran Congregation in Sverdrup Township, which was serviced by the able-bodied pastor, Rev. Ole O. Sando.
Ole and Olia soon added three more children to their family - Oscar, born October 3, 1878; Martin, born July 19, 1880; and Emma, born January 27, 1883. Ole did carpentry jobs to earn some money to keep his family fed.
Ole's parents, Erik and Olia Flaamoe, and a group of ten other people from Ole's family came to Minnehaha County from Meraker, Norway in 1881. With all of the Flaamoe relatives in Minnehaha County, it was becoming quite confusing who was who!! There were four Ole Flaamoes alone thus confusing much of the mail delivery. Ole Flaamoe decided to change his surname to avoid further confusion - since his father's first name was Erik, he took the name "ERIKSON" as he was "Erik's son."
In the spring of 1883, Ole and Olia Erickson decided that it was time to have land of their own. They and the Stroms began the 33 mile journey northwest into Lake County of Dakota Territory. Here in Antelope Township (later called Orland Township), Ole homesteaded 160 acres in the northeast corner of Section 34. Ole built a claim shanty (10 x 12 feet) into which they moved on July 6, 1883. Ole made his own plow and with the strength of the oxen, he broke the virgin Dakota soil that summer of 1883. In the fall of 1883, Ole built a sod house to adjoin the shanty and also a hay barn which he built from timbers picked up along the Big Sioux River. Ole's brother, Iver Erikson and his wife Marie also homesteaded nearby in Orland Township.
There were roving bands of Indians that would pass by the Erikson home. Once a young man from a nearby Lakota Indian encampment came up to the sod house in the early evening and motioned for Ole to follow, which he did. When they came into the camp, there was an Indian with a broken leg which Ole set with a splint. Ole's eldest son Edward, who had accompanied him, later recalled that the Indians were eating skunk for their supper.
During the winter of 1883 - 1884, the neighboring families became lonesome for the Lutheran Church. It was decided among the Erikson and neighboring families to establish a church. Ole was elected as secretary to write to Rev. Sando from Baltic to come and help establish a church. The pastor was expected at the Erikson sod home on May 13, 1884, but never arrived. They went to bed, but hung a lit lantern outside the door. Rev. Sando arrived after midnight, stating that he had been lost until he saw the flicker of light on the horizon. The next day, the St. Peter Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church was chartered following a worship service conducted by Rev. Sando. Ole donated one acre of his homestead for the St. Peter Cemetery and future site of the church. He and four of his sons were the carpenters that later built the first St. Peter Lutheran Church in 1897.
Ole farmed more land each year, with the help of his sons. With tree claims and other land purchased, he acquired 800 acres total with his original claim in Orland Township.
Ole and Olia had six more children, three of whom were born in the sod house: Ole Jr., born Dec. 11, 1885 - died April 2, 1886; Oline, born Jan. 26, 1887 - died May 11, 1904; and Ida, born Dec. 6, 1888 - died Jan. 14, 1889. Ole began plans for a new house in the late 1880's. He and his four eldest sons began to build a house in 1889, completing the walk-out rock basement by the fall so as to move in. Olia gave birth to twins Ole and Ida who were born on October 27, 1890 in the new basement. The last child, Alfred, was born on February 11, 1894, but died on April 28, 1896.
It took several years to prepare for building the house--the lathe work had to be completed prior to the actual building, besides farming the land and also doing contract carpentry, building many homes and barns in the Orland and Madison area. In the spring of 1901 the building of the four-story house began--there was a full attic; the next floor consisted of six bedrooms, a large hall and a storeroom; the first floor had nine rooms - three bedrooms, living room, dining room, a large storeroom, a kitchen which was 16 x 16, a pantry 8 x 10, and a summer kitchen which was 16 x 24; the lower floor had two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. In 1905, a telephone was added into the home, being one of the first in the area. The home also served as the Orland, South Dakota Post Office of which Ole was the postmaster. This status brought daily visitors to the Erikson home.
Ole Erikson's health failed because of much hard work and being weakened by pneumonia nine times. Cancer was the final battle for Ole which caused his death in his new home on Tuesday, September 12, 1905, at the age of 51. His funeral was held on Friday, September 15, 1905 at 2:00 p.m. in the St. Peter Church which he had built. He was buried in the church yard cemetery which he had donated from his homestead. He was survived by his wife, his seven children, his parents (who had moved to Genesee, Idaho in 1892), and six brothers and sisters.
Olia continued to live at the old homestead. She ordered that a new big barn should be built which was begun in the summer of 1906 and completed that same fall. Olia passed away in her home on December 11, 1914, at the age of 67. She was buried next to her husband at their beloved St. Peter Cemetery. (Ole's father Erik Flaamoe died in 1907, and Ole's mother Olia Flaamoe died in 1911 - both died at 81 years of age after 57 years of marriage together.)
Ole and Olia's children grew up and married: Iver married Marie Smemoe on September 28, 1908, in the Old Nidaros Church near Baltic; Oscar married Anna Lunden on November 12, 1908; Emma married Ole J. Smemoe (brother of Iver's wife) in the St. Peter Church on November 19, 1910; Martin married Julia Fundaun in her parents' home southeast of Baltic on January 11, 1911; Edward married Emma Thompson in Minneapolis on November 1, 1911; Ida was married to Alvin Riswold, being the first couple to be married in the new East Nidaros Lutheran Church southeast of Baltic on September 25, 1912. Ida, who was a twin to Ole, Jr., died on January 14, 1917, from childbirth. The other twin, Ole, Jr. married Caroline Abrahamson on September 25, 1915, but she died on December 21, 1916 from tuberculosis. Ole, Jr. married Selma Hanson from Baltic in 1917, but Ole died on October 19, 1920, also from tuberculosis. He and Selma had one daughter, Otella.
Ole Jr. had a farm across the road to the north of the old homestead. Martin built up a farm to the east of that where he and his wife Julia lived and where their two children, Inez and Orlando were born; they later moved to Julia's homeplace (the Fundaun homestead) southeast of Baltic in 1919. Iver built up his farm west of the homestead-- he and his wife Marie had four children, Orville, Mildred, Irving and Arnold who were all born on this farm. Oscar and his wife Anna had their home in Madison where their five children, Percy, Glenwood, Herbert, Corma, and Betty were born. Emma and Ole Smemoe lived on the Smemoe homestead southeast of Baltic where their six children, Myrtle, Otella, Evelyn, Luella, Jennings, and Vivian were born. Ida and Alvin Riswold lived near Baltic where they had three children, Marlys, John Allen, and Ivan (Ida died when Ivan was born - Ivan was then raised by his uncle and aunt, Edward and Emma and used "Erickson" as his last name).
The Orland Consolidated School was built three miles northwest of the Erickson farms in 1920. The higher taxes that came with the new school, coupled with the dust and Great Depression of the 1920's and 1930's was the failure of the Erickson dream founded in Orland Township. All of the Erickson land was lost to the loan companies, but yet each of the brothers continued on in the true pioneer spirit of always hanging on and always looking ahead. Oscar Erickson died on June 18, 1952; Iver Erickson died on December 27, 1958; Edward Erickson died at age 90 on July 14, 1965; Martin Erickson died at age 89 on October 5, 1969; Emma Erickson Smemoe was the last survivor of her generation - she died at age 92 on May 17, 1975. Ole, Jr., Oscar, Iver, and Edward Erickson were all buried in the St. Peter Cemetery, while Ida Riswold, Martin Erickson and Emma Smemoe were all buried in the East Nidaros Lutheran Cemetery southeast of Baltic. The pioneer generation is now gone, but their Dakota spirit lives on in each of us with our values, our faith, and our heritage. |
