The library at Alexandria, Egypt burned in 48 BC. Caesar’s army set Egyptian ships afire which spread into the city and destroyed the large collection of knowledge stored there, as many as 40,000 scrolls. Legend has it that all the accumulated knowledge of the world went up in flames, but that is probably not true since other libraries did exist. Nevertheless, much was lost, maybe some that hadn’t been collected in other places.
When a person dies, it is as if a large library has burned to the ground. They always take knowledge of their personal lives with them that no one else can recall or knows about. Many people leave little record of their existence, often times only a stone in the cemetery that marks their grave. Pictures are forgotten, many times not identified, so that future generations don’t know who they are.
Preserving family history holds a respected place in our household, and my wife works diligently to see that it is done. A trip to the NDSU archives library was recently required in her search for a couple of community history books where she could pursue some connection to a relative. It yielded a good harvest of material from Ransom County’s neighboring county on the east side, Richland County, where some of my early settler relatives lived.
In a compiled Richland County history book the township of Barrie was featured with informative history. My great-great-grandfather Rev. Ole K. Vangsness is buried in the West Prairie Church cemetery located on the north side of Highway 46 at the junction of Highway 18. In that book a bit of information about him was revealed: In 1876, “Ole K. Vangsness settled on a claim on the edge of the hills. He was a Lutheran minister, an honest God-fearing man and during those early years preached many a sermon, traveling often on foot, and seemed tireless in his efforts for the pioneers. He made caskets for the dead, then conducted services. He was also the first assessor in Barrie Township.”
Though the description of the reverend is limited, it is more than I knew. Other people and incidents in Barrie Township caught my eye. For instance, the treasurer of the school kept his records on the back of a granary door. When the minutes were called for, the meeting had to adjourn long enough for him to get the door so he could read the report.
There was a government bridge across the river near the site of the present one on Highway 18. It was guarded by a man who sold liquor, something which the citizens of the community thought was immoral. The history says the bridge was burned which leaves one with the questions, why did it burn, and who burned it? We don’t know, but people had to ford across the river for some time before another bridge was constructed.
One man volunteered to take a teacher to Walcott so that she could board the train. They were caught and stranded in the open in a fast moving blizzard. He made the lady help him cut and stack snowblocks as a shelter for them and the horses. As the story went, “Again and again she begged to lie down and rest, but he told her she would be whipped if she did.” As cruel as it sounded, his insistence to keep her moving and working saved her life in the frigid weather.
In 1883 as the Sheyenne River flooded, a lady in her house kept hearing cries for help. She ran to the river and found a man hanging onto a branch over the water. In order to help, she had to pull an empty wagon to the river’s edge and push it into the water to where he could safely jump. Another incident told how three Indians were struck and killed by lightning. Their companions believed the Great Spirit was angry and had punished them with a bolt from the blue. They quickly buried their dead and fled.
Little snippets of history are fun and interesting to read, but for someone trying to fill in holes of unknown history they help form a more complete picture. Because someone thought to include these old stories, we know just a bit more about my great-great-grandpa. Putting this in perspective for my grandchildren, he was their four-greats grandpa. Now try to imagine his forebears that many generations previous to his life. They have disappeared into the dark past.
No comments:
Post a Comment