Clara (Jensen) Peterson

 March 12, 1855 - November 30, 1940   

85 years,  8 months, 18 days 

Marriage:   Ole Christian  "O.C." Peterson  - married February 5, 1878

Children of Clara & Ole:
  Amanda Constance (Peterson) Holtan (1879-1957 / 77 years)
Minnie Eleanor (Peterson) Raugust (1884-1926 / 41 years
Peterson (son) (unknown / died at birth) (1885 - estimate)
Harry Peterson (unknown / 3 months) (1886 - estimate)
Perry Peterson (unknown / died within a year) (1887-1888 - estimate)
Margaret Peterson (unknown / 3 months) (1888 - estimate)
Selma Syvernina Peterson (1889-1964 / 75 years)
Oswald Clarence Peterson (1891-1926 / 34 years)
Perry Peterson (unknown / died at 15 months)

Clara is Jon Q. Peterson's Great-Great Aunt.  Clara married O.C. Peterson.  O.C. is a brother to Jon's Great-Grandfather, J.P. Peterson.

The following is from the book "Fifty Pioneer Mothers of McLean County", written in 1932 by Mary A. Barnes Willams.

Mrs. O. C. Peterson

CLARA M. (JENSEN) PETERSON

Pioneering - making homes on the frontier, seems to have been the life mission Mrs. O. C. Peterson was chosen to fulfill.  Her years have been spent making homes in raw, sparsely settled territories, in the dense backwoods of Wisconsin, or on its cleared patches of farmland and on the bleak prairies of Dakota; only to move on until her pioneer feet wearied of the going.  Her homes were log cabins, dugouts, shacks, and sturdy frame houses.  Moving was Mrs. Peterson's greatest tribulation. She did not always understand the urge that led her husband on, but she followed, helpful and uncomplaining, but ever hopeful that each move would be the last.

When Clara Jensen was twelve, her parents with their four children immigrated to the magic land of America, at the advice of her uncle, near Martell, Wisconsin. Clara was the oldest of the children and was born March 12, 1855, on a small farm in Norway in the county of Hurdalen.  Her father was a tailor by trade.  Making a scant living on this small acreage, he wished to better himself, as did his several neighbors.  After much planning and saving they all found passage in the spring of 1867, on the sailboat, “Carolina”.

During those seven long weeks, there were strange, awful hours when the waves came thundering over the deck and the wind played among the rigging when the ship twisted and groaned in agony, and every moment seemed the last.  Then came calm, sunny days when gulls circled the ship and rested upon the quiet deep.  In the distance, sails glided into view and disappeared, a long line of smoke betrayed the presence of other boats bound for the same port.  At last - in the far distance that which looked like a cloud grew clear and remained immovable - land!

They docked at Quebec, and marveled at the strange sights, in this new country, such splendid homes, big buildings, everybody so well dressed - surely this was the land of riches, it was quite some contrast to the ray towns in their land.

With hundreds of other immigrants, they were jostled and shoved like so many cattle by the petty officious immigration agents onto a canal boat. This was pulled by mules on the river banks until they reached Montreal. There they crossed into the United States.  They were crowded into a great immigration house and were subjected to a great deal of abuse by the Inspectors. Their baggage was carelessly opened and the contents were thrown about and their chest with their heavy clothing was lost entirely.  They were so helpless in their own defense and knew not what to do.  Mr. Jenson did find room in a warehouse nearby, where he lodged his family during their detention. This was an improvement over the crowded immigrant station, where there was scarce standing room, let alone a sleeping room.

By train they reached Chicago and took a boat to Prescott, Wis. Clara became very ill from the new kinds of food she had eaten. This all added to the worry of these harried people.  For a brief while, they had a chance to relax as they once more traveled on the water and heard the familiar splash of the waves against the ship's side.  This language they knew of old and did not fear; it had lessened the torture of that part of the journey when they had been so ill-treated.  At last, they arrived at Prescott, and everybody was out in gay attire, flags were flying, streets were crowded with vehicles and people - firecrackers, shouting, bands, and merry-making were heard on all sides - It must be some feast day!  No, they were told.  It was the birthday of their adopted country, July 4th, 1867. 

The uncle soon found them and how good it seemed to see one of their own people, who would understand and help them.

They were soon snugly packed into his lumber wagon drawn by a fine team of horses.  In the course of time, they came jogging into his farmyard near Martell, Wisconsin.  Here they lived with their relatives that summer, while the building of their cabin was going on nearby.

Clara had a way with children and hired out to the neighbors for 25 cents a day to help about.  Her greatest handicap was understanding English - but she was young and bright and it was no time at all until she could both speak and understand this country's language.  It was when she was sixteen, that she left home to earn her own living.  She was petite, and fun-loving, becoming one of the favorites of the young crowd, who attended the singing schools and parties.  She had a clear soprano voice and was a leader among them.  She worked in the community thereabouts until she was married in 1878 to one of the boys of the neighborhood, Ole C. Peterson.

They rented a farm near Kinnicinic, where they lived for several years.  Here Amanda Constance was born. This home was in a new sparsely settled country, but Mrs. Peterson was to know lonelier abodes, in her years of home founding.

Her next home was in the backwoods of Barren County. The little log cabin seemed dwarfed by the dense black pines that towered in the background.  It stood by the lakeside where deer came down to drink, and was far from neighbors or traveled highways.  It was a lonely place for Mrs. Peterson.  She was alone much of the time, while her husband was far away in farming communities, working for a wage.  The days were not as lonely as the nights.  Then the woods became alive with night creatures, and the most harmless made the most noise. The owls would hoot, and the wild cats screech like a lost panic-stricken child.  Later wolves would add their howls to the uproar.  Bears were prevalent and were a constant worry to Mrs. Peterson.  One day while Mrs. Peterson and Amanda were gathering berries two big brown bears loomed up on the other side of the bushes.  Once when Amanda's parents were fishing in a boat and had left her onshore within sight, their boat struck a snag and they were all but drowned.  Mrs. Peterson's only thought was "The bears will get Amanda."

The Peterson's had three milk cows, on which they tied bells to locate them in the dense timber.  They bought a fine team of horses, paying $375.00 for them, when they moved to this place, only to have them die of some disease soon after.

Life humbles us, and in our humility, we can be exceedingly grateful for small things.  One of those small things Mrs. Peterson was grateful for was a pet lamb, Amanda's only playmate.  She found in it much enjoyment and company, although it bunted her and became rough at times.

The second daughter, Minnie, and two sons were born here, far from medical aid or special attention.  One son died at birth, while Harry, at three months died of whooping cough.

Mr. Peterson next moved his family to the fine settled community of Martell, where they lived on an improved farm in a comfortable house.  Life was pleasant here and Mrs. Peterson was well content. Although there was much work to do, as all farm women know, there she was never lonely and wished to remain.  Perry, Margaret, and Selma were born here.  Margaret only lived three short months, dying of cholera infantum.  Perry died within a year of Ricketts.

Mr. Peterson's brother, J. P. lived in McLean County, Dakota Territory, and induced him to leave Wisconsin and his farming and come to Dakota and raise stock on these boundless prairies.

O.C. made a trip out here and traded land with Sangsland, who then moved to Wisconsin.  Mrs. Peterson and her three little daughters came out here in the spring of 1889 to live in the two-room house on the Sangsland place.

The prairie sort of stunned Mrs. Peterson with its immensity.  Its expansiveness gave her an impression of remoteness.  It seemed to stand aloof and had a note of hardness in its far-flung skylines. She was unaccustomed to its solitudes, she knew towns and villages, friendly settled communities, sheltering woods, and thought this a courageous little house, standing so small and lonely on the windswept plains.  She set about at once to make it into a cozy home.  Although neighbors were few and widely scattered, they were friendly.  Trails began to be worn from one farm to another and a sense of home intangible as the scent of spring from the woods but no less certain pervaded the neighborhood.

Oswald was born bere, with the kindly neighbor, Mrs. Hans Holtan's competent help.  He was a fat healthy baby that grew to manhood and became the mainstay of the family. 

Mr. Peterson was anxious to get into stock-raising.  So the next year he pushed on to open country near Brush Lake.  Here there was water and grazing lands.  He leased a ranch and stocked it with cattle and sheep.  There was a miserable little house on this ranch, which Mrs. Peterson tried hard to convert into a cheerful home.  It was lonely for her there.  The lake, the interminable prairie; water and grass in the summer; ice and snow in winter; that was the view their single window held.  Stock raising didn't prove profitable. There were heavy losses of feed from prairie fires, and stock from disease, exposure, and coyotes.  Markets were far, prices low and help was high.

After a year or so he found a cheaper, better ranch on Painted Woods Creek called the Christianson place. Here he used his homestead right and homesteaded eighty acres, adjoining.  Mrs. Peterson moved into the humblest of all her homes, a dug-out log house in which she lived until some time later when another house was built.  Perry, the last of her children was born here, who only lived fifteen months, dying of rickets.  Mrs. Peterson became very ill herself from exposure, when she was helping in wet weather, during lambing time. Washburn's doctor was called and after a long siege of suffering, she regained her usual rugged health.

They moved to the Malcolm district, some thirty miles northeast of Washburn, after six years, to a splendid ranching country on Snake Creek.  This was an ideal place for stock-raising and Mr. Peterson went into it extensively.  He homesteaded another eighty in this locality.  The Petersons lived in two different houses on this large land tract.  Here they prospered and remained for years.  Their place was known far and wide as the Peterson Ranch.  While neighbors were few, the Petersons were well content and were pleasantly situated.  Velva, thirty-five miles away was the nearest shipping point; Old Coal Harbor, eighteen miles distant from their nearest post office and trading point.  

Mrs. Peterson relates, during their move to this ranch, how they were compelled to spend the night in a haystack along their way when darkness overtook them far from any dwelling.  Ever the homemaker, she hustled about and made them all comfortable for the night, ere she slept.

The Petersons were very desirous that their children should have schooling and having been successful in ranching they could well afford it.  Mr. Peterson built a house in Washburn, where they spent part of the year, while the children attended the town school.

The years had been hard on Mr. Peterson, who was an untiring worker.  Several times he all but perished in blizzards, the long drives with his stock on horseback, on foot or wagon exposed him to all kinds of weather, until his health was undermined and resulted in his death in 1905.

Mrs. Peterson was to find great reliance and help in Oswald, a lad then of thirteen She was doubtful of her own management of such a large investment. But Oswald consoling and comforting, assured her that he would take his father's place.

That same fall a devastating prairie fire swept through that country and burned all their stacked hay, dotted over the prairie. The mother was distracted and worried over this great loss of winter feed for the stock. Blessings came in the guise of a lovely long fall and with hired help Oswald was able to put up hay from the land west of them where no fire had reached, to tide them over winter.

For ten years Oswald and Mrs. Peterson managed the ranch and made it pay.  Oswald tired of farming and persuaded his mother to have a sale and retire to her comfortable home in Washburn, which she did in 1917, while Oswald went into the real estate business in Van Hook.  From there he entrained for camp and enlisted in the 16th Co. 2nd Mechanic Regiment and served overseas, with the tanks.  He was in many battlefronts and was gassed, which later caused tuberculosis.  He died in February 1926, far from home and mother in the Veteran’s hospital in Denver, Colo.

That same year, previous to Oswald's death, Minnie, Mrs. G. O. Raugust, the second daughter died in Colorado of this same malady.  Mrs. Raugust was an invalid for several years prior to her passing.  She and her three children were cared for by Mrs. Martin Holtan and her aged mother.  After Mrs. Raugust's death, the grandmother took the two youngest into her home and raised them as her own.

Of the nine children born to this mother, only four grew to maturity and only two remain.  Selma, who lives with her mother in Washburn, and Amanda, Mrs. Martin Holtan, who lives just across the street.  There are seven grandchildren.  She has two sisters and four brothers living. They are Peter and Christ Jensen of Beldenville, Wis., Oscar and Ben of Washington state, Mrs. Anton Stelen, Sioux City, Ia., and Mrs. Ludwig Peterson of Bismarck, N. D.

Mrs. Peterson is now nearly 77 years old, although frail in health, is a faithful church attendant, alert in mind, and actively engaged in her home duties.

Now looking back over the long hard trail, with graves all along the way, she feels that if it was the Creator's plan that her purpose in life was to be a pioneer homemaker, and if the world is better for it, she is satisfied.

Her earthly reward is the love and esteem of all who know her.  May her heavenly reward be a home, all prepared for her.

Photos below are of the pages of the book "Fifty Pioneer Mothers of McLean County".  The text was captured via Google Pixel Lens and copied above for an easier read. 

Kinstories (home)  -  Peterson Family (home)  -  Johnson Family  -  Susag Family  -  Flatau Family  -  Beckman Family
Granquist Family  -  Anderson Family  -  Stout Family  -  Walker Family  -  Morris Family  - Cauble Family