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Alfred C. Jesness collection, circa 1886-circa 1922

Title
Alfred C. Jesness collection, circa 1886-circa 1922
Identifier
NAHA 2019/046
Date
circa 1886-circa 1922
Description
Afred Jesness was born in Sawn Lake Township, Stevens County, Minnesota on 1883 February 2. His parents, Ole and Berte Larson, immigrated from Hedemarken, Norway in 1872 and moved to Stevens County in 1875. They homesteaded adjacent to Ole's half brother. The two families shared a sod house that theybuilt on the property line between the two homesteads. Each family lived in the half of the house that was on their claim. The women shared a cast iron cooking stove located in the middle of the house. Ole built a frame house for his family while his brother continued to live in the sod house for several years. 

In 1893 Ole changed his name to Ole Larson Jesness, taking the nae of the farm where is family lived in Norway. According to family lore, there were too many Ole Larsons and the mail got mixed up. The family lived in Stevens County until 1900 when Ole sold the farm and moved to Polk County near Fosston, Minnesota. The new owner was a widower with three daugthers. Alfred was interested in the oldest daughter of the new owner. He returned to Stevens County in 1901 to work on his older brothers farm When his brother, Ludvig, was killed in an accident in 1904, Alfred helped Ludvig's widow with the farm for another year and a half. during this time, he courted Clara, the daughter of the new owner of the farm where he grew up. 

On 1907 July 3, Alfred Jesness and Clara Carlson married at teh farm where he had lived for 17 years. They moved to a farm near Fosston where Alfred's parents lived. Their oldest daughter, Lillian, was born there in 1909. Clara was not happy living in a house that was said to be haunted. Clara's father remarried shortly after he moved to Stevens County. In 1908, Clara's step mother died in childbirth. The next year, Alfred, Clara, and their baby moved back to Stevens County to live with her father, two sisters, and half sister. 

Alfred worked on his father-in-laws farm for four years, and in 1913 bought the farm from him. He ended up wowning the farm where his father homestead. Five more children were born here: Phillip (1914), Dorothy (1917), Elmer (1921), and Ruth (1926). Alfred was the amateur photographer who took these family photographs.

Digital Collection's to the Alfred C. Jesness papers available here. 
Extent
0.6 cubic feet (3 boxes of 138 glass plate negatives)
Type
Negatives

Citation

Jesness, Alfred C., “Alfred C. Jesness collection, circa 1886-circa 1922,” Norwegian-American Historical Association, accessed September 20, 2024, https://norwegianamericanhistory.org/catalog/items/show/9770.