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.
June 23, 2024
Today’s story is from the book Pioneers, O Pioneers, compiled and published by Roseau County
Historical Society and Warroad Bicentennial Committee. It’s the story of Fay and Esther Young of
American Point.
Esther Degerman Young was born in 1895 near Roseau in what was then Kittson County. She
was one of ten children. Her mother died in childbirth when Esther was only five years old. As
Esther grew to adulthood, living with an aunt most of the time, her mind was strongly made up to
become a nurse. At every opportunity, she helped care for sick or ailing people. Esther went on
to school, and in 1920, she received her “cap” at Saint Luke’s Hospital in Fargo-a registered
nurse.
In 1920, while on a trip to the Northwest Angle with her uncle, Charles Fernstrom, she filed on a
homestead located on Popple Creek.
Esther met Fay in 1920 when he piloted the Old Homestead for Charlie Fernstrom. In 1922, they
were married and lived on Fay’s homestead at American Point.
Fay bought the Nina in 1920 from Lou Moyer and was captain and pilot carrying freight,
passengers, and mail until 1924 when the old ship was condemned. That same year, Fay bought
a second boat, the Resolute, from Lou Moyer and continued his trips across the lake until 1976.
Failing health made Fay give up the work and the lake he so dearly loved. Dave Kleven piloted
the boat for Fay the next year, but because of new government regulations, the Resolute was
put in mothballs. It was given to the village after Mr. Young’s death in 1973 and placed in the
park as a memorial. The boat was destroyed by vandals during the winter of 1975.
Mr. and Mrs. Young and their three daughters resided at American Point during the years 1924-
34. One of the little girls, May, died there. When Fay and Kaye were old enough to attend school
the family moved to Warroad.
While living on the Angle, Mrs. Young had many occasions when her nurse’s training was
prevailed upon. She delivered seven babies, David McKeever was the first one, besides
administering to the sick time and time again.
In 1932, she was asked to fill in at the Warroad Hospital for a few days, but her work there didn’t
end until 1950. She was a most efficient nurse and well-liked by all whom she attended.
The Youngs have made their contribution to the community.
Much more about Mr. Young was published in the book “Remembrances,” which was compiled by
Hazel Wahlberg. The facts for the story of Mr Young’s life were related orally to Linda Myers from
Kay Young, daughter of Fay Young. This, plus the personal experiences of the Julius Andersons
with Fay Young, was the source of the data. I’ll begin reading the story today and will continue it
next week.
Fay Hiram Young was left for dead first when he was nine years old. They were wrong. At the
age of nineteen, he was told he had perhaps six months to live. They were wrong. At the age of
seventy-one, he underwent extensive abdominal surgery not once but twice. He was told he
would never lead a normal life again. They were wrong.
Born in Rockton, Illinois, in 1885, Fay was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Young. His family
was of a patrician background, with both Oliver Cromwell and the Comstocks of Comstock Hotel
and Comstock Lode fame being prominent in the family tree.
Fay was always a sickly child. He suffered from recurring bouts with pneumonia and other lung
problems as well as scarlet fever. He was thought to have died at age nine, but after the body
had been removed to a cold porch of his childhood home, a tiny spark of life flared, and he
miraculously pulled through.
In his late teens, his health once again worsened, and he decided that if he were to die young, at
least in his remaining time, he would do something he had always dreamed of. So in the fall of
1919 he and several doctor and attorney friends came on a hunting trip to Lake of the Woods.
As happens so often in the north country, the weather turned terrible. Blizzards came, the ice
froze, and the only way out was to walk across the ice from the island to the mainland and from there
some thirty miles through the brush to Middleboro, the closest train stop. Fay was in no condition
to make the hike so he stayed with Charlie and Elizabeth Fernstrom, his hosts, and much to his
amazement, in that island cabin, during a premature winter, his health began to improve. By
Christmastime, he was well enough to make it back to Warroad and civilization. But he was
smitten with this new and wild country and would never be the same again.
He returned to Illinois, got together what money he could, and returned to Warroad to buy the
Nina, the boat that had carried him to the islands the previous fall.
Fay bought the Nina from its previous owner on the condition that he teach him the channels and
navigation routes. The teacher navigated the boat on one trip to the islands and back. The
following trip the boat was turned over to Fay while the previous owner went below to sleep.
While traversing the channel between Garden Island and Driftwood Point, Fay steered a little too
far to the east and ran aground on the Garden Island bar. Feeling the lurch and bump of the
keep, the old pilot stomped up the stairs to the pilot house cursing, “What the hell is the trouble?
Haven’t you been here before?”
Fay’s answer was the obvious one. “Not here!” said he, and needless to say, that was the last
time he hit the Garden Island bar.
We’ll continue this story next week.
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.