| Notes |
- Andrew Sunde was forced to leave home when he was 10 years old to give roo m
for the younger children. He lived with a neighbor and did chores for his
keep. He did continue to go to school through about the 8th grade. In 19 09 he
travelled to the United States to work for three years for his mothers sis ter's
second husband--Tom Twedt. He was farming near Colton SD. He travelled w ith
the family to the Sinai area in 1911 when Tom purchased a farm about three
miles north of Sinai. He returned to Norway for about three months in 191 4.
During that stay he gave a mouth organ to his younger brother Chris. He
managed to play that and then moved up to an accordine and had a band for
sometime. When in Norway Andrew did a lot of blasting of a mountain si de so
that a road could be brought closer to the farm about 8 km east of Da le at a
small town called Sunde. Grandfather Karl Sunde ran the lighthouse.
Andrew spent some time in Haver Montana and had a homestead there f or a
short while. About that time he also lived near Willistan ND. He serv ed in
WWI (enlisted July 1918)and got pneumonia shortly before his unit was to m ake an attack against the Germans. He was sent to a hospital and wh en he was
recovered the war(Armistise Day Nov 11, 1928) was over.
Most men of his unit were killed in an attack. He
married Clara Sunde and took over the farm that her Dad had given to her.
However, in order to purchase some more land for her brother Oscar, Grandp a
mortgaged the farm for $5,000. During the depression that was more than t he
farm was worth. It must have been a terrible thing for him to go through.
Having three young children with a big mortgage and then have his wife, Cl are
(my mother) die. Not only that, but the awful drought that hit South Dako ta
and most of the midwest in the early 1930's. I remember him looking at th e
heat lightning in the evening and wishing it would rain. About the only t hing that stayed green was the Russian thistle. The would break away fr om the roots and then be blown into the fence lines. At that same ti me we had the awful dust storms. In fact on the 80 the whole north fen ce had to be removed in the early 1950's and a bull dozer used to push t he dirt out into the field. How he could stand all the bad things that ha ppened to him, I don't understand. I remember when the banks were clos ed during the Roosevelt administration. My Dad owned money to the Ambe rg (Como) bank and He couldn't pay. The bank took the little deposits th at Toots, Ken and I had and applied it to his loan. The sheriff came o ut to take my Dad to jail one evening. He drove a big Buick car with 8 cy linders. I could hear it idling in the drive way. I also could hear my D ad pleading with him not to take him. He said "what about the kids". T he sheriff didn't seem very concerned. I was upstairs in the south bedroo m. I thought that I would need to get up real early to get the milking do ne and the feeding of the pigs and chickens before we went to school. Eve ntually, the sheriff left and Pa stayed with us. I don't know how he sto od it. By the late 1930's he had married Bertha Moen on May 22 1937, the r ainfall had increased, the mortgage was
transferred to the Federal Land Bank from Bankers Life, the crops were bet ter, Kenneth was over his pneumonia, Toots had recovered from her masto id operation and things were looking up. He got the farm clear, in 19 49 he decided to build a new barn and he was happy. He died in Sinai at h is home in Town. The funeral was March 11,
1957. The Paster was Vernon Tweedt. The Pall Bearers were Albert Ersta d, Iver Erickson, Embert Clement, Ole Skordahl, Joe Husher and Alfred Neil sen. It must have been an awful experience to raise three kids, pay for t he farm and keep from going insane.
In the summer of 1999, I received a letter from Violet Twedt (Stime ). She was baby sitting us kids during the funeral for my mother. Both Ke nneth and I were sick from the flu (The same one that killed my mother ). She wrote "I will never forget the day of your Mother's funeral. Bo th you and Kenneth were sick in bed and I sat by you while Pastor Johns on spoke. I rememgber you Dad holding Toots and she said "Ma Ma.". It br oke my heart. Onwe of the other ladies a couple years ago told me that wh en my Dad held Toots up to see her mother in the casket in the Parlor (Th ey often brought the body to the house for a short funeral for the fami ly prior to the church service. Toots had said to Pa "Why is Ma Ma sleepi ng?" It must of almost killed my Dad.
This was one reason that I agreed to talk at the July 4th Celebati on in
in Sinai. I wanted to say thanks publically to my Dad for all he h ad to go through.
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Our Family History (Mehl and Styve)
1889 - 1957 (67 years)
