Roseau County Historical Society and Museum -

The Roseau County Historical Society is looking for Christmas decorations, if you decorations that no longer use, please donate them to the museum. On Sunday, November 28 we will be having a Christmas open house. The museum will have a wonderful festive after Jeff Pieterick and Lisa Hanson have done their handiwork. We hope you will put that day on your calendar and spend the afternoon from 3 to 5 at the open house. There will be music, Christmas goodies, games, and drawings.

We will also be opening our children’s exhibit of GI Joe toys and the Barbie doll collections. You won’t want to miss that exhibit!

RCHS Focus of the Week

This week we will conclude the articles from Edna Broten’s story in her memoir book, “SHARING MY PASSION”. Edna donated her book to the research center at the museum. It is a very enjoyable book with good recipes inter mingled with the family history. She had her 90^th birthday in April, with all her family around her. Edna and Henry’s children are Harlan, Glen Milo, Kenneth, Ronald, Lynette, Michael, and Wayne (Bodee). One of the enjoyable school photographs we have in the museum was taken by their teacher, Edith Larson during her young days as their teacher. She had taught them all how to make sling shots!

Edna writes: “We bought the Tom Fjeld Homestead in 1945; it was 160 acres and the biggest house in the whole country. We were very excited about out new place. We paid around four thousand for that farm; we thought that was a lot of money back then. We needed a new well; a crew from Grygla came in, and started blasting to get a big rock out of the way so they could drill deeper. A huge chunk flew out and landed way over by the outhouse. Uff-da. All turned out well and we had the best water.

“One morning I heard Henry, he was up getting the fire going in the stove to heat the teakettle, he was jumping up and down in the kitchen and making a lot of noise, hitting with the broom. A mouse had found his pants leg. I suppose the poor thing was cold too. Lynette and Mike would sometimes carry in little pink mice they would find out in the pasture and keep them warm by the stove. I must have had a lot of patience in those days because I would never allow that now.

“The black cast iron fry pan was always on the stove. If it didn’t fry bacon and eggs, it fried leftover potte klub and bread dough on bread baking day. It was the only pan I would use to make gravy. I usually baked bread three times a week, you had to be sneaky around Henry to eat store bought bread, he didn’t want any of the “scurrup” around, as Henry called it.

“The kitchen everyone sat in, not only did we eat our meals, baby chicks came in a box to keep them out of the cold. It was the most warm and inviting room in the whole house. We learned our faith in the kitchen—God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for this food and everything. Amen. Most important we learned sharing, not only food but our thoughts and dreams and the news of what we did during the day. Being around the table adorned with an oilcloth tablecloth was important because it brought the family together. Once the table was cleared Henry would get out the cards, we played rummy, old maid, or whist.

Edna’s thoughts about her reason to share this book is as sound as the marriage she and Henry shared. She said, “This book is dedicated to all who have learned to share, to share my passion of our strong, hard working heritage, to share this collection of memories of my family and friends, and to share my favorite passion - recipes. I felt we were always rich because we had strong family values and good health and what we didn’t have we didn’t miss. I have taught my seven children, Gods way of love and sharing, to be compassionate to others. To earn the respect of what my parents taught me and what your parents teach you. I hope this collection of memories will bring you warmth generated by the memories of a wood-burning stove, a cup of egg coffee, along with a doughnut. I hope this heritage book garnishes your coffee tables and is enjoyed by your guests and reminiscing your passions. My love to all of you, Edna.”

We at the museum would like to say thank you, Edna, for sharing this wonderful book. For those who would like to learn more about the heritage of those who have lived in Roseau County over the past one hundred years, the research center is a good place to start. We have about fifty family history books, a wealth of genealogy for the family historian.

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