These stories can also be heard on Sunday mornings around 10 am on WILD 102’s “Look Back in Time” program. Each week’s radio story will be posted here on our website.
Weekly radio stories are researched, compiled, and read by Sheila Winstead, RCHS Board Member.
March 2, 2025
On this very day in 1915, 110 years ago, one of Pinecreek’s old pioneers, Thor Helgeson Besserud, was laid
to rest in the Pinecreek Cemetery. Photos exist of the funeral cortege with horse-drawn wagons carrying
the mourners.
Another photo was taken at the cemetery with his family and friends surrounding his
coffin. He was a well-loved and respected man in his community.
His great-granddaughter Bonnie Elton Abrahams wrote about him for a school project when she attended
Roseau High School. I’ll read from her story today.
In the peaceful little valley of Eggedal, Norway, Thor and Kari Besserud lived a quiet life. They had a
country home, though his profession as an intricate woodworker was done in the nearby city of
Drammen.
On March 8, 1879, a daughter, Mary, was born to them. Little did they know that before too long they
would be just another family of immigrants, struggling in America.
At the age of one year, Mary sailed from her homeland with her parents to begin a new life. I sometimes
wondered what possessed them to leave a lovely country home and a good profession, not to mention
friends, family and mother country, to come to America. They knew little about America except what
travelers and explorers came home and told. Mary, my grandmother, answered all this for me. She said,
“We heard how grand and large America was, a land of only promise: good fortune, money, beauty and
complete freedom.” No one had ever mentioned the hardship and struggles of coming to a new
frontier.
The passage to America was rough. The ship was made of wood and was not very large. It was a vessel
with sail power so the two and one-half weeks spent on the sea is understandable.
In the spring of 1880, the family arrived at Ellis Island, New York. They traveled by railway to Hillsboro,
North Dakotah. They chose North Dakotah for a reason, however, not just at random. Thor’s brother
had come to North Dakotah in 1877 so there was someone to come to in the new land. The railway
ended at Hillsboro and the journey to Portland, North Dakotah was made by covered wagon. There they
settled, making their home in typical pioneer style – a two-room log cabin. Thor made his way as a
carpenter and farmer at Portland. His life as a wood carver was gone, for there would be little call for
decorative carving on the frontier prairies of the Midwest. The Besseruds lived in North Dakotah for nine
years. Little Mary grew fast and loved the free life she was leading. She went to a small log school two
miles from their cabin that was held for the settlement children. She says she still remembers well her
first weeks of walking to school. She was not accustomed to the country and animals. The small wild
animals scared her but not nearly as much as the walk by the huge Murray Mule Farms with five or six
hundred mules pastured by the road. Mary had never seen a mule and their appearance besides their
cry sent her running and screaming back home in sheer terror. After being reassured they would not
harm her she would set out once more, but for many weeks she walked a path a mile from the usual
road.
Thor and Kari’s life was hard. Facilities were few. Money and equipment was needed. The soil for
farming was rich but it took a long time to break and till the sod. Yet their life had its happy times.
During the winter evenings Thor, who was a concert violinist back in Norway, would play while Kari
made candy out of salted brown sugar poured over snow for little Mary. Many evenings stories were
read aloud, usually from the bible. Thor’s trips to town would be a great event for Mary. He never forgot
to bring something home for her. Sometimes it was calico for a new dress, beads, or just some “store
candy”.
Adverse weather and crop failures for three consecutive years led the settlement to search for new
land. In the summer of 1889, Thor and some of his neighbors set out to look for new prospects. They
journeyed to Devil’s Lake area only to find conditions worse. Then Thor heard of Northern Minnesota’s
rich lands with the heavy beautiful forests and the land literally waiting to be homesteaded. It was
getting late in the year to be moving by covered wagon to Minnesota. The nights were already growing
very cold and snow could come soon. There was little choice, however, because if they remained
another winter they couldn’t very well move in the spring when they should be planting. So, in October
of 1889, the family set out once more in a covered wagon to find a home.
The journey was slow and tedious. They traveled with a wagon full of household goods, their cattle and
horses. There was also a new family addition to contend with. A baby girl, Aase, was about eighteen
months old and rode with Kari while she drove the wagon. Thor had his hands full driving the livestock
on the trail and Mary, now ten years old, rode horseback as wagon guide. It seemed luck was against
them however, for one night while they were camped, the much-feared snow came. The children were
cold and cried, there was no place to turn to at that point and fires were built to drive away the cold and
every one huddled in the wagon under all the available bedding the last nights of the journey. One
more major fright and trouble was that the nearer they came to Minnesota’s northern forests the more
numerous and bold the timber wolves became. At night, they, too, huddled near the wagon and the fire,
but not to sleep. They howled until daybreak was near and helped prevent sleep along with the cold.
November brought winter to northern Minnesota and the Besserud family arrived just as it came. The
first winter was spent with a family of acquaintances [the Ole Moen family] that had a homestead along
what is now highway number 11, west of Roseau.
I’ll continue the story of Thor and Kari Besserud’s immigration next week.
Thanks to Bonnie Elton Abrahams for sharing this story.
Thank you to 
for letting us share our county’s history with your listeners by donating air time, studio time, and production staff every week.