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Benson County North Dakota Genealogy

South Viking Township North Dakota
151 North, Range 69 West

History of South Viking Township

Information supplied by Jonelle Hvinden and Dean Lindgren

South Viking Township situated in the county of Benson in the State of North Dakota is located at 151 North, Range 69 West and the Fifth Principal Meridian.  Bordered to the north by North Viking Township, south by Norway Lake Township in Wells County, to the east by West Antelope Township and finally on the west by Arne Township. Viking was settled during the period known as the Great Dakota Boom. The 1880's was a time of considerable industrialization. Extensive railroad building, increased immigration, expansion in manufacturing, and growth of cities all helped to influence the boom in Dakota, according to Elwyn B Robinson in his book "History of North Dakota". Railroads played the most significant role, enlarging markets for producers. Many new areas became open to settling. Viking was one such area.

Settlers came to Viking for the same reasons as most others came to other parts of Dakota, cheap or free land. Many moved from  already established Scandinavian communities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa and some came directly from Norway and Sweden. Some of the early Viking settlers came by covered wagon but many more loaded an emigrant car with their possessions and came by railroad to Sheyenne or Oberon. They had likely arrived in Viking sometime earlier and found land to their liking, filed a homestead or tree claim and then returned to their homes until the next spring, when they brought their families along with the emigrant car and proceeded to establish their new home on the Dakota prairie.

Early Settlers

Early settlers in the area came during the opening of homestead acres during the 1880’s and the 1890’s and early 1900’s.  An early settlement was Viking, North Dakota which provided the homesteaders with mail service, blacksmithing and other farm supplies which they needed to sustain their newly started lives in North Dakota.  Click on photo to see enlargement.

Information on the early settlers of the township was gathered from the United States Department of the Interior in the Bureau of Land Management.  The earliest accession numbers in the NDMTAA would be as follows and they don’t denote the date of first filing their claims: 

            NDMTAA 007596 issued to Daniel Knauss in 1889

            NDMTAA 007601 issued to William Knauss in 1889

            NDMTAA 007610 issued to Thomas Arnold in 1889

            NDMTAA 007621 issued to Rasmus Wisnes in 1890

            NDMTAA 007624 issued to August Aanderud in 1890

            NDMTAA 007636 issued to Timan Quarve in 1890

Daniel and William Knauss were brothers born to parents George and Sarah Ann Staples Knauss in Westfall, Pike County, Pennsylvania. 

Rasmus Wisness was born 25 Oct 1854 and died on 30 Aug 1935, and his wife Ragnhild Hellerud born on 8 Dec 1853 and died on 29 Mar 1936, lived and farmed in the community.  Rasmus was one of the earliest settlers to the area, coming in 1886. He located his claim and built his claim shack along with five other friends; Timan Quarve, Abraham Faleide, Andrew Gilbertson, August Aaderud and Tosten Lommen. The six men worked together to build their shacks which were identical. Each shack was ten by twelve feet with a slanting roof, a door and a small four-light window sash set into the solid sod wall. The roof was covered with sod and the bare ground was the floor. After the shacks were built, the six men left for the year and returned in the spring of 1887. Wisness, Aanderud and Faleide came together and brought Ole A Bloom and Bernt Grondahl.

August Aanderud was born 28 Oct 1861 in Toten, Norway and his wife, Barbara Guttormson was born in Hallingdal, Norway. August was one of the earliest settlers to the area coming in 1886.

Timan Quarve was born on 17 Mar 1857 in Spring Grove, Minnesota and died on 13 Nov 1922. He was killed by an ambulance as he walked on the street in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Timan was one of the earliest settlers in the Viking settlement. After locating his claim in the summer of 1886, he left and returned  May 8, 1887 on an emigrant car containing household goods, a horse, cows, chickens, dog and lumber to build a small frame house. His wife, Sigrid Haraldseth Arnston was born on 2 Aug 1859 and died on 13 Dec 1950. Sigrid and her two young sons, Levard, age 4 and Halvard about 2 1/2 years old, were the first women and children  in the settlement of Viking, coming in the June of 1887 traveling along with her father Halvor Arnston who came that summer to file on a tree claim on a quarter of land. In the early part of the summer, Sigrid was the only woman in the settlement. To help during the busy braking season, she baked bread for five of the bachelors. They brought their flour sacks and set them in a row by her tiny kitchen stove and she baked a batch of bread from each in turn. Tilman and Sigrid's son Arnold was one of the first 3 children born in the settlement in 1888. The spring following settlement, Tilman built a lean to on the house for the post office and a small stock of merchandise. Later, he built a little store building and did a thriving business for many years as it was a long day's trip to the nearest town, even when the roads and weather were good.  Click  on photo to enlarge.

Quarve 4 Generations

Mrs Timan Quarve, first women settler

Quarve Farm

Paul J Moen was born near Spring Grove, Minnesota on 12 1866 and died in 1927.  He came to Dakota Territory in 1877 and was an early settler in the Viking area of Benson County coming in 1887 with his brother Haakon Moen.  In 1895 he filed on a claim in West Antelope Township.  Here is where he established a settlement he called Monterey which supplied neighbors with goods and mail service.  In 1899 he moved to Oberon, North Dakota where he became owner of a general merchandise store known as the Benson County Viking Store.  He married Antonetta Kieland of Spring Grove, Minnesota on 14 Nov 1899.  Paul was a charter member of both the Viking Lutheran Church and the Antelope Valley Lutheran Church.   Paul and Antonetta became the parents of a daughter named Anna Moen (Mrs. Henry Kolsrud).  Mrs. Antonetta Moen passed away on 14 Apr 1902 and was buried near Spring Grove, Minnesota.  In 1905 Paul married Siri Blegeberg of Esmond, North Dakota.  Paul and Siri became the parents of three children, Lilly Moen (Mrs. Darwin Olson), John Arnold Moen and Jennings Moen.  Paul J. Moen was also a real estate agent, was active in politics and served in the legislature as a representative from Benson County.  Paul continued to reside on his farm until 1915 and then he opened another general merchandise store in Flora, North Dakota.  He died in Fargo, North Dakota on 13 Jul 1927.  Paul J. had a brother named Even J. Moen, who also was an early settler in the West Antelop community but stayed mostly in the Viking area of Benson County.

Paul J Moen. Maddock, of the twentieth legislative district. was born in Black Hammer twp., Houston county. Minn., January 12, 1866. In 1887 he came to North Dakota, locating in Benson county, where he took up a homestead. He operates a mercantile business in connection with his farm. He is married and has one son and two daughters. He was elected as representative in 1908, 1910 and in 1912, as a republican.[Source: North Dakota Blue Book, 1913 Legislative Manual, Published under the direction of Thomas Hall, Secretary of State, 1913. Submitted by Linda R.]

Knute Liudahl came to South Viking later in the summer of 1886 along with Andrew Faleide. They located claims adjoining the settlement of the east and built their shacks but the entire settlement was left void of human habitation throughout that fall and winter of that year. Knute's newly married wife Inger, was one of the first women in the settlement of Viking. Their son Alfred was one of the first 3 children born in the settlement in 1888.

In the spring of 1887  Rasmus and Ole Stenerodden, and Erik and Johan Hagen all of Spring Grove, Minnesota arrived. Mrs Rasmus (Anne) Stenerodden and daughter Cecilia Maria, age five and son Peder age 3, along with Mrs. Erik (Lisa) Hagen and two small boys, Louis and Adolph were some of the first women and children in the settlement. During this time Martin L Arne and Iver J Larson arrived from Willmar, Minnesota along with Martin's wife Lisa Arne and sons Ole, Lars, Andrew and John and daughters Bertha and Thilda. Mr. and Mrs. Martin Arne came from near Bergen, Norway, to Minnesota. In 1887, they moved from Pennock, Minnesota to the Viking community. They were charter members of the Viking Lutheran congregation. They had four sons, the oldest, Ole, was born in Norway in 1868, and the next oldest was Lars, then Andrew and John. Their two daughters were Bertha, born in 1878, and Mathilda, the youngest child, born in 1881. Bertha became Mrs. Abe Georgeson and Mathilda married Lage Lageson.

Other homesteaders in South Viking Township are as follows.  Claus Aanderud, Colben Albertson, James Alspach, Halvor Anderson, John A. Anderson, Thomas Arnold, Christian Arnston, Martin Arnston, James Ashford, Anna Bakke, John Berg, Aagot Bergsgaard, Lars Bergsgaard, Ole Bergsgaard, Johannes (John) Bigseth, Andrew Bloom, Hannah Bondeli, Ole Bondeli, William Braithwait, Bernhard Bredeson, Bertha Burkholder, Herman Carnaham, George Case, Thomas Case, John Clifton, Paul Clifton, Anna Conkey, William Duff, Gilbert Elkin, Louise Flaskerud, Nels Gjellestad (Nelson), Carrie Greenfield, Hakan Hakanson, Olaf Hakanson, Thore Halverson, John Halvorson, Christ Haugen, Henrik Herbeck, Ole Holdal, Robert Hollinger, Carl Holm, Lena Hvinden, Francis Kain, Hazzie Keime, William Kilpatrick, Martinus Knatterud, Daniel Knauss, William Knauss, James Koon, Gust Larsen, Alfred Larson, Lars Larson, Martinus Larson, Albert Lindahl (Liudahl), Knute Lindahl (Liudahl), Amund Lindalen, John Maddock, James McKibbon, John Merriman, John Milne, Kate Milne, William Milne, John Moen, Frank Murdock, Ole Myhre, Christian Olsen, Hans Olsen, Maria Olsen, Tjastel Olsen, Iver Olson, Maria Olson, Frank Nielson, Andrew Nelson, Jens Nelson, John Nergaard, Nils Johan Nilson, Lars Nilsson, Nels Olson, Fred Paul, Halvord Peterson, Frank Phillips, Andrew Reierson, Loyd Roberts, Hartley Shaffer, David Simon, William Simon, Hans Simonson, Andrew Stade, Carl August Svenson, Sidney Tuttle, Joseph Ungerback, Thomas M. Walker, Annie Waters, Perry Waters, Edward Westby, Mathias Wisness, and Frank Woolley.

Click on photo to enlarge.

Ole & Brita  Hakanson home	Mrs Aagot Bergsgaard, first secretary Viking Ladies Aide	Mrs. T.P. Lommen, Mrs. Timmen Quarve, and Mrs. A.K. Gilbertson
Ladies Aide at Claus Aanderud home about 1907 FR: Mrs. Anton Ellingson, Mrs. H.K. Gilbertson, Mrs. Alfred Larson, Mrs. T.P. Lommen, Mrs. Ole Kopperdahl, Mrs. Jens Nelson BR: Laura Bergsgaard, Mrs. Paul Moen, Mrs. Andrew Foleide, Mrs. Mike Paulson, Mrs. N.E. Morken, Mrs. Claus Aanderud Mrs. Peter Aanderud, Mrs. Hans Paulson	Early Settlers FR: Rasmus Wisness, Abraham Faleide, Andrew Gilbertson BR: Timmen Quarve, August Aanderud, Tosten Lommen	Nels J. & Gunda Nelson home Built 1913
Rasmus Stenerodden farm	Rasmus Stenerodden family Taken about 1922

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