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.
February 23, 2025
Why does history matter? Besides being our business at the museum, history provides insight and an
understanding of past events, brings cultural awareness, helps give a sense of where we came from to
bring us to where we are today. There is always something new to learn about Roseau County’s history. It
really is endless and can bring you down many different paths.
But the more we explore our history collection, the more we find we are missing. A vast majority of our
documented history stops in 1995 when the Roseau County Centennial Book was published, or 1992 for
family histories due to the Heritage Book being done at that time.
Our goal at the Historical Society this year and next is to focus on collecting the history of the past 30
years. We encourage you to sit down and write down the dates and special events in your life, family, or
business. Tell your own story and share your history with us to preserve for future generations. 2026
marks the 250 th year of the United States, and 2027 will mark the 100th year of the organization of the
Roseau County Historical Society. We are seeking volunteers to help pull an idea together. If you like
visiting with people, like to learn, and enjoy history, please contact the museum by mid-March as we
start to look to the future and gather the past.
We invite you to help us capture the spirit of Roseau County! We’re reaching out to people of all ages to
share their reflections, memories, and experiences of living in this unique part of Minnesota. We’d like
you to tell us in 200 words or less what Roseau County means to you. Maybe it’s a story from your
childhood, a fond memory, or an experience that defines your time here. We live in a remarkable area,
and we want to hear what makes it special for you. If brevity is more your style, describe life in Roseau
County in six words or less. Whether it’s our communities or the distance from major shopping hubs, we
want to hear your honest thoughts.
The reason for this assignment is twofold. First, we’re working on building a tagline and brand for the
museum that reflects not only who we are, but what Roseau County is. Second, your stories will inspire a
future exhibit! If your memories include a photograph, we’d love to see it too.
When the 1992 Heritage Book was compiled for Roseau County, our organization was still in the brick
building along with the library that had been built in 1976. Our Curator at that time was Ardyce Stein.
Like Ingvard Sunset before her, Ardyce held that position for about 20 years, becoming curator in 1981.
She was a great promoter of the organization with historical stories published in regular submissions to
the paper, and was also often interviewed for articles about the activities at the museum.
One of the newspaper stories in Ardyce’s family file in the research area was from 1991. At that time she
and her Assistant Curator, Deb Strandlund, were shown reading microfilmed records on the reader in the
Museum’s research area. By day, they worked together helping research other people’s families, and
after the doors closed for the day, they could use the microfilm reader to research their own family
history records. They told about the many records held at courthouses, including the birth, marriage, and
death records, which give information about where people were living, maiden names of brides, and
often parents’ names.
Ardyce promoted the use of the microfilm reader for people doing family research. The many years of
newspapers saved on those films contain a trove of anecdotes and local history. There are also census
records which can legally be made available after 70 years. They contain a variety of details such as who
else lives in a household, what job a person might be doing, whether they’re going to school, and in many
of the older census records, what their language is and what country they came from. Ardyce was very
interested in researching her Irish heritage. Her great-grandfather Sean O’Farrell was from County Cork
and came over to America. Her grandmother dropped the O and made it Farrell for the rest of the family.
Ardyce said that the O means ‘the grandson of’. On her mother’s side, family ties stem back to Rumania
and Prussia. She knows a little of the history on that side of the family. Her grandfather John Kuck was in
the army in Bucharest. He married and came to America in 1902.
Ardyce related stories from her mother Esther Hoffman, who recalled gathering dried buffalo chips from
the North Dakota prairie to burn as fuel. She also related that the dust was so bad back then that they
packed the windows with rags and put masks on their faces.
Ardyce’s father Bert Hoffman was the line superintendent of the Roseau Electric Cooperative. He also
worked on the Alcan Highway.
Ardyce’s co-worker Debbie related that her great-great-grandfather Per Peter came to America in the
late 1800s, but didn’t like it. So, he turned around and went home to Sweden, leaving his wife in America
with their children. One of those children, her great-grandfather Peter Strandlund became the first rural
mail carrier in Roseau County. “He also put up the first telephone pole,” Debbie said. Roseau’s first calls
were placed through the Strandlund and Farmer’s Telephone Company. She was proud to be living on the
family’s original homestead north of Roseau at the time of the article.
She also told that her family history is complicated by the fact she’s related “double”. “My great-
grandfather’s sister, Carin, married my great-grandma’s dad. So his sister was his mother-in-law.” This
tangle in her family tree took a day at Moe-Rose Cemetery to untie. She was hoping to get back a few
more generations on her father’s side before starting on her mother Rose’s side. That would take a few
trips to Warroad, where that part of her heritage is buried in paperwork.
Neither Ardyce nor Debbie were scared of paperwork, and they looked forward to continuing their
research at the museum after hours.
There’s a lot of information to help you with your own family research. Come in and see what’s already
been found for you. Become a member to help keep that information safe for the future.
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.