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Wednesday, the 3rd of April in the year 1912 was a wonderfully warm spring day. It was the kind of day that a young man and a young lady would pick for a wedding day. Rising before dawn Oscar harnessed his horse and hitched him to the buggy. Then it was off to pick up Frankie, (his pet nickname) for his new bride to be. She was at her brother’s farm – she was waiting and eagerly climbed into the buggy. They drove to Sparta, put the horse in the livery stable, and boarded the train for Winona, Minnesota. This was a popular arrangement in those days. The train traveled from Sparta to La Crosse, across the Mississippi River, and then followed the river to Winona. This made for a lovely scenic and romantic trip. Plus the fact, that it was possible to go to Winona, apply for the marriage license, and get married all in the same day. Apparently no friends or relatives went with them to the wedding because it shows that the witnesses who signed the marriage license were from the office of the Judge of Probate. Now was this a wedding or an elopement? The Marriage Certificate is the thumbnail picture in the top right corner. It is unknown whether they stayed overnight to observe the sights of Winona or whether they returned to Sparta that same day. When they did return they lived for a short time at the home of Dad’s sister, Clara and her husband, Clyde Richardson. Dad continued to work for Mother’s brother, Louie, who was also married by this time. Finally a disagreement arose between Louie and Dad, and he quit his job. Dad and Mother made the decision to go farming on their own.

This was a decision that was to shape the rest of their lives. They never owned their own farm and from 1912 to 1946 they lived on fifteen different farms, in Monroe County, Wisconsin and Lake County, Illinois. These were small rental farms and like typical farm operations in the area, theirs consisted of 15 to 20 milk cows, 3 to 4 horses, some pigs and sheep, and some grain and hay crops. They were nearly always rented on shares. The renter would furnish half the livestock and farm equipment. The owner would furnish the other half and buy half the seed for sowing the crops. Dad and Mother would work the farm, growing the crops necessary to feed the animals, and the owner would get half of the profit made from the dairy operation or from the cash sale of animals, hay or other crops that were sold. Whenever they moved to a new farm it was on or about the 15th day of March. The land preparation for the new crops started in April in Monroe County, therefore, this gave them time to complete their move and be ready to start the plowing. Moving day was always a busy and exciting day. Equipment had to be moved and livestock herded along the road from the old farm to the new farm. All of the personal items such as clothing, kitchen utensils and dishes, and items used in the dairy operation had to be packed, loaded on the wagon and moved by teams of horses to the new location. Cardboard boxes were not plentiful in those days, so wooden crates, bushel baskets, gunnysacks and anything that would hold something else were used. Neighbors would come to help and the move would be accomplished in one day if the distance between the farms was not too great. The night that the move was completed there would be a welcoming house party on the new farm. The families that helped with the move and the new neighbors in the area would be invited. This would be potluck and there would be lots of food. Some musicians always showed up and the carpets (if there were any) were pulled back and the dancing commenced. Maybe that is why the folks moved so often – they loved those parties. For us kids it was even more exciting. It meant a change in schools, a new teacher, new friends to make, new bullies to confront and new places on the farm and the new community to search and explore. "What’s your name?" The reply was always, "Puddin Tain. Ask me again and I’ll tell you the same." "Lets dig some worms and go see if there are any fish in this new creek." Plenty to do, many things to see and enjoy, but, it would finally all settle down and the living would go on as usual.

The farms where Dad and Mother lived and where their children were born will be designated by the owners’ last names. Further research could have been conducted to obtain full names. Some of them are known but it was decided that that information was irrelevant to the story. The names as given are only to identify a particular period and location. A map of a portion of Monroe County can be found below and it shows the general location of the farm.

The first place of residence was the Burnett farm. The farm was located in Pleasant Valley in Leon Township. This is the same valley in which Dad grew up. Dad and Mother farmed the land and started building their livestock herd. They moved to the Burnett farm sometime in 1912 and on the 18th of February 1913, their first daughter was born. Adeline Marie was baptized in Fish Creek Norwegian Lutheran Church. Adeline was named after her grandmother, Adeline Webber/Berlin, the mother of Frances and Marit Anderson/Hagen the mother of Oscar. (In Norwegian Marit is the same as Mary or Marie.) The church record has her name recorded as Adilene Mary. Her sponsors were Guileld/Olga Svyerson, Ole and Anton Hagen. The Svyerson’s (sic) were neighbors. Ole Hagen was her grandfather and Anton Hagen was her uncle. Adeline still lives in Tomah, Wisconsin and is the matriarch of the descendants of the Oscar and Frances Hagen family.

In 1914, the family moved to the Swenson Farm. This farm was also in Pleasant Valley. Swenson did not farm his land but used it for pasturing cattle. The train would bring in young beef steers from Iowa. They would be unloaded at Sparta and driven to the Swenson farm where they were put out to pasture, fattened up and then sold on the market in the fall of the season. Dad, Mother and Adeline occupied a brick house that was the only building on the property other than a small shed for keeping their own livestock in the winter. Dad took care of the Swenson cattle, his own livestock and also worked for other farmers in the community. Mother planted her garden, helped with the farming chores, such as, milking the cows they owned. They also found time to produce two more children. Norma Garnet was born January 8, 1915 and Wendell Oscar, November 8, 1916. Both were baptized in the Fish Creek Norwegian Lutheran Church. The church records show that Norma was baptized March 21, 1915 with the name, Norma Garwald. Her sponsors were Gunhild & Ev. Syverson, Inga/Willie Christopherson. I suspect that all of these sponsor’s were neighbors. The baptism for Wendell is shown as Wendal Oscar. His sponsors were Gunhild & Myrtle Syverson, Anton Hagen and Alfred Larson. Anton Hagen is an uncle and Alfred Larson is the son of Ole and Amanda Larson and is a second cousin of Wendell’s. Whether the Syverson’s listed as sponsors for Adeline, Norma and Wendell are the same people or people from the same family is unknown.

In 1917 Dad and Mother wanted to go back to farming their own land so they rented the Frazer farm on shares. This farm is located in the Random area of Sparta Township. It was primarily a dairy farm with the milk being sold to the Sparta Creamery. In the dairy business the creameries paid the most depending on the butterfat content of the cream. Cows were milked and then a cream separator was used to separate this whole milk into cream and skim milk. The cream was used in the processing of butter. It was a period long before they worried about cholesterol and weight problems. They knew nothing about cholesterol, and they worked too hard to get fat. At this period of time it was general knowledge that the milk of the Guernsey breed of cows contained more butterfat than all other breeds except the Jersey breed but produced more milk than the Jersey cattle. Therefore, Dad started building a Guernsey herd of cattle. Selective breeding or purchasing them at auctions or cattle markets could do this. As we will see it took some years to develop his herd. All of this must have helped the economy of the Hagen family because in 1918 they purchased their first automobile, a Ford Model T. You had to crank it to get it started and be careful it did not knock your arm off. It also had fancy side curtains to keep out the wind, rain and snow.

Nineteen-eighteen was also the year that the United States decided to send an expeditionary force to Europe and help France and England combat the Kaiser in Germany. Dad was thirty-one years of age and did not have to go, but Mother had three brothers Fred, Cecil and Archie who volunteered and served in France. All three returned to the States and had received no wounds, but Archie had been through gas attacks and was suffering from what was referred to as shell shock. Today we would diagnose this as anxiety attacks or flashbacks. He was honorably discharged 17 December 1918 at Camp Douglas, Monroe County, Wisconsin and immediately came to the Frazer farm. The farm provided a place where he could recuperate and receive help and care from his favorite sister and her family. After a short while he went to work for a large dairy farmer, Mr. Sheraton, of Richland Center, Wisconsin. Adeline told me that Dad and all the family went to visit Archie at the Sheraton farm in their new Ford Model T. They got to see their first milking machine but were not too impressed. Mr. and Mrs. Sheraton had a daughter named Madeline. Archie and Madeline were married sometime in 1919, and soon after the marriage Madeline was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Mother had her brought to the Frazer farm and nursed her during her illness. Madeline finally became so ill that she was taken to a TB sanatorium in Onalaska, Wisconsin. She died in this sanatorium. There will be more on Archie and Madeline in "Everybody is Somebody, Section II".

The Frazer farm is where Adeline started first grade in the Random School. The school could be seen from the house and she said it was only about a quarter of a mile from the farm. She walked to and from school.
Two more additions to the family arrived on the Frazer farm. Archie Francis was born February 16, 1918. Archie was undoubtedly named after Mother’s favorite brother, Archie and herself or her grandmother, Frances Webber. Archie died of spinal meningitis at the age of 9 months. Three babies in this community died of this disease within six weeks. This must have been a very sad time for them. Archie is buried in Leon Cemetery, Leon Township in the same plot as Dad and Mother.

On October 8, 1919, Vera Louise was born. Research has produced no data as to where Archie or Vera was baptized. They are not in the Fish Creek Ridge church records. There were two churches in the town of Leon; one was a Lutheran Church, which became the Leon town hall. The congregation of this church moved to Sparta. The second was a Congregational Church, which is still active. Efforts are being made to search the records of these churches.

The Federal Census for 1920 shows that in Enumeration District 144, Sparta Township, Monroe County, the census taker visited each farm or house to obtain the census data. This was accomplished on the 3rd through the 5th of February according to the census record. Oscar is listed as 33 years of age, his occupation as farmer, and that he rented his farm. He was able to read and write English. He was born in Wisconsin, and his father in Norway. The place of birth of his mother is not given. His wife, Francis (sic), is also 33 years of age, born in Wisconsin, and her father born in Germany. Her mother was born in Wisconsin. She could read and write English, and her occupation is listed as "none". Excuse me! Doing farm chores, planting a garden, bearing four children, cooking, washing and doing housework is not a "none" occupation. Times have changed.

Adeline is listed as 6 years old and that she attended school. Norma is listed as 3 11/12’s years old and Wendel (sic) as 3 1/12 years old. The surprising thing about the census is that Vera is not listed. She would have been about 4 months old at the time the data was collected. Apparently she was just forgotten or maybe the census taker believed you had to be a year old before you could be counted.

In March of 1920, reason unknown, the family moved back to Pleasant Valley in Leon Township to the Oswald Farm. It was a dairy operation, where Dad continued to develop his herd. Adeline moved from the Random School to the Pleasant Valley School. This is the same school that Dad attended when he lived in Pleasant Valley. This is also the farm where Marlyn (Pudge) Wayne was born March 7, 1922. He received the nickname Pudge while very young because of his size. I was quite old before I ever knew his name was Marlyn. Like most farms in this part of Pleasant Valley the land was very hilly, even where the crops were grown. They are very much like what I saw in Norway, where Dad’s ancestors had lived and from where his father had emigrated in 1869. It must have been exceedingly hard work for the horses and the people that had to farm in this area. The soil, however, was very rich, and it was not difficult to get crops to grow. The buildings on the Oswald farm are no longer there. The land itself has been sold and absorbed by other farms around it. When I visited it in August 2001, the place where the house, barn and out buildings had stood is a cornfield.

The hills caused another problem for the Hagen family. They still had the Model T Ford and the steepness of the hills in this part of the valley caused some problems when trying to get from the bottom of the hill to the top of the hill with the car. The gasoline got to the engine from the gas tank by gravity. If you didn’t have much gas and the hill was steep the gasoline could not get to the engine and the car would stall. The only way to solve this problem was to turn the car around and back up the hill. Adeline gives me the following story:

 "Dad was not very confident of his ability to back the car or even to drive it down the other side of the hill. So whenever we got to a steep hill, Dad would stop the car and make all the passengers get out. They had to walk up the hill and down the other side while Dad backed the car up the hill, turned it around, and drove down the other side. I can still remember Mother carrying Vera with me dragging Norma and Wen up and down the hills."

In April of 1923, Pudge became very sick with what was thought to be a normal cold. Finally they took him to the Doctor and it was diagnosed as pneumonia. One of the folks was always at the hospital, given tender loving care. Much of the time they just did not believe he was going to get better however he finally became well enough so that he could be brought back home. Mother said that there were many times that they felt like they had another Archie, and she wasn’t sure she could take it.

They lived on the Oswald farm until March 1924 when they made their fifth move to the Roberts farm. This farm was in an area referred to as Cole’s Valley and was located in Adrian Township. Gilmer Christopherson, husband of Mildred Richardson, daughter of Clara Hagen Richardson, told me that he remembers very well the move from the Oswald farm to the Robert’s farm.

"It was very cold with snow when your folks moved to the Roberts place in March of 1924. I worked some for your Dad at that time. He had two teams of horses and I drove one of the wagons. We got to the farm late at night. There was no heat in the house. I think we slept in the barn under the hay. Your Dad had an excellent herd of Guernsey cows, about 27 of them as I remember."

My sister, Adeline, also remembers that move very well. In an interview with her about it, she said,

"It was very cold but we finally got moved. There were two schools, the Cole’s Valley School and the Mound Prairie School. The Mound Prairie School was much closer than the Cole’s Valley School so Mother wanted us kids to go to the closer one. The Mound Prairie school board didn’t see it that way and said we had to go to the other school because the farm was in the Cole’s Valley School District. This was probably because we had three of us going to school, Norma, Wen, and me. The Mound Prairie District did not want to take on the added cost. Mother got after them, and they finally came to the farm to see Dad and Mother. When they left it was decided we would go to the Mound Prairie School. Mother had a way of convincing people. I graduated from the eighth grade in 1926 and went to Sparta High School for two years. We, of course, had no school buses, so I worked for the Beckun family in Sparta for my room and board during those two years when school was in session."

Cole’s Valley was flat and must have been much easier to farm than in Pleasant Valley. It is also known for its good land. Dad and Mother had built up a very good herd of Guernsey cows by this time when tragedy struck. In the state of Wisconsin some dairy herds were having a problem with the unexpected abortion of calves by mother cows. A study was launched and it was found that these herds had a disease known as Bang’s disease. Bang’s disease in cattle, first known as "contagious abortion", had been a serious problem as early as 1843 in other countries, mostly in the Mediterranean countries and in Africa. Once the cow acquired the disease it would cause the cow to abort its calf either the first year of contacting the disease or for sure the second year. A Danish veterinarian, Dr Bang, hence the name Bang’s disease, isolated a small organism, Brucella abortus, in the placenta of aborted calves. He later discovered this same organism was located in the milk given by these cattle. He also found it in the tonsils of children who drank this milk. Further inspection showed that the disease caused undulant fever in those humans who came in contact with the infected cattle and persons who consumed raw milk or ate cheeses made with the raw milk. Undulant fever is characterized by a fever that may be continuous, intermittent or irregular. Other possible symptoms included headaches, weakness, sweating, chills, pain in the joints, depression and weight loss. Some people got over it quickly, others were very sick and some never got over it. Through studies it was found that the most important steps to prevent Brucellosis (new name for Bang’s disease) in humans was to control Brucellosis in animals. In the early 1920’s the State of Wisconsin decided to test all of the dairy herds within the state to see if they were carriers of the disease. When the State veterinarian inspected Dad’s herd it was determined that they were infected. Therefore, the entire herd had to be destroyed. This may have been a blow from which Dad and Mother never recovered. They never seemed to have the energy or desire to build another good quality dairy herd. Their herds from then on consisted of many different breeds, Guernsey, Holstein, Brown Swiss, Jersey – whatever was available that could be purchased for the cheapest price.

There were other items of interest that happened on the Roberts Farm. Adeline relates :

"In the fall of 1925 the government was building a cement road between Sparta and Tomah. This new road ran close to the farm so the folks boarded about 8 men who worked on the road. Mother and I would get up at five –o-clock in the morning to get their breakfast and fix their lunches. I can remember that because one of those mornings, it was still pitch black in the house, and stumbling and hurrying I ran into the table and busted my toe on the leg of it. I was sure glad when those guys moved on to another place down the road."

Another incident was when Dad taught Mother how to drive the Model T Ford, even though she never really liked to work with machinery. One day Dad asked her to drive into Sparta and pick up some supplies at the Sparta Feed Mill. She arrived at the mill and had the supplies loaded and proceeded to return to the farm. While going home she lost control of the car and ran into a telephone pole. She climbed out, walked home and told Dad,

"I am never going to drive that damn thing again".

And she never did.

This is also the farm and time period when Mother had her run in with the wolf. Again Adeline tells the story.

"Dad was away at one of the neighbors where they were threshing oats. Toward evening Mother said she was going to go down and get the cows in the pasture and also try to find the cow that was very close to having her calf. As she entered the woods she felt something sniffing at her heels and thought the dog had come along. Finally she turned and there was a wolf. She climbed a tree that was close at hand and yelled for help. The wolf decided to lie down under the tree and take a rest. Finally Dad came home and when he asked for Mother we told him she was looking for the cow that calved. It was very close to dark so taking a lantern and the dog he went to find her. He found her, up her tree, and she said the wolf left when he heard them coming. They found the dead calf the next day. Mother maintained that the reason the wolf did not eat her was because he had already killed and eaten part of the calf."

The rest of family figured that the wolf probably thought she was too tough to eat.

Finally on January 24th of 1926, Oscar and Frances Hagen had the last child in their family – me. It was a very cold night with wind and snow blowing across the flat land of the Roberts farm that I chose to come into the world. Adeline said that when she heard Mother was going to have another baby, she told Mother that she was going to kill it because she knew she would have to take care of it. I was told that I had very long hair on my head and body when I was born. Pudge, then nearly four, was overjoyed when he saw me for the first time because he thought I was a "puppy dog". Emma Schaller was the midwife for my birth. Dr Beebe was brought out from Sparta, but Emma had brought me into the world. She was a close neighbor and Mother had been the midwife for her when she had a baby, so she was just returning the favor. Doc Beebe didn’t stay long enough to get a name because many years later I found my birth certificate had the name listed as "Boy" Hagen. At least he stayed long enough to find out I was a male child. Dad always said that he wanted to call me "Enuf" but he was overruled and Mother chose Dean Calvin. I don’t know where the Dean came from but the Calvin was probably after Calvin Coolidge, who was the president at that time. He was known as Silent Cal. I was never silent.

The birthing of the children was over. Both Dad and Mother were forty years of age when I was born. They had lived on five farms, had produced seven children, and as Dad said, "This is enuf".

But where did they get the names for their children? In many families it is customary to select names that were from the maternal or paternal ancestors. This is true of Adeline and Archie, but I can find no ancestors that were named Norma, Wendell, Vera, Marlyn or Dean on either side of the family. I do not believe that they were even common names during that period. At least I could never find any others on the census for that period. I believe that Mother took the responsibility of naming the children. I wonder why those names were chosen. I wish I had asked her.

This ends the time period of 1912 thru March, 1927. There would be more moves and more experiences for Oscar, Frances and the family but they will be saved for the next chapter.

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