Maria Wifstrand

Author Dorothy Christensen abt 1980, Maria's granddaughter
Digitalized 2013 by Jon Heintzman, great-great-grandson who also provided the pictures

Maria Wifstrand was born on January 15th, 1852 in Sweden. After arriving in America she changed her name to Maria Wilson. She immigrated July 28th 1873, from Kongsted, Hyllede, Præstø, Denmark, to Green Bay, Wisconsin, Aboard the S.S. Washington, arriving August 21st, 1873 in New York. There she married a young man named Anders (Andrew) Christensen, who was working as a logger in the Fort Howard, Wisconsin area. Maria and Anders were married June 3rd, 1874. They are recorded in the 1875 Brown county, Wisconsin census. In July 8th, 1875 their first child Herman was born, he is also listed in the Census.

The Christensen family - picture taken early 1893, before the youngest boy Ben was born.

About 1876, the Christensen family moved to Saint Ansgar, Iowa, where they were recorded in the 1880 census, note their last name is misspelled as Christian. Their second child, another son Charles was born there, April 3rd, 1877. Another boy Wilhelm, was born there on February 1st, 1879, he died August 2nd, 1880.

The Christensen family moved back to Fort Howard, Wisconsin for brief time, in 1881, where another boy was born, and named William, on January 4th, 1881, he was named after Wilhelm. On April 1st, 1883, Maria gave birth to her 4th son, John. In 1884 they decided that they wanted to head west and homestead in the Dakota Territory.

Anders drove a team of oxen to the now South Dakota, and settled on a quarter of a section in Spink county, and he filed for a homestead for that quarter on April 4th, 1884. The improvements to the land consisted of a framed barn of fourteen feet, by twenty feet, along with twenty acres of breaking. The value was given as $200. Maria and the children arrived at their home in the Conde , Turton area in July, 1884. They traveled on an immigration train to Ashton South Dakota, where Anders met them a team of horses and a wagon.

The Christensen residence - photo scanned from an old Turton, South Dakota, History book.

Anders and Maria had 11 children in all, Herman, Charlie, Wilhelm, William, John, Frank, George, Arthur, and a daughter, Hannah. They later had another daughter Ida, and another son Ben.

According to Anders ledger, he raised 306 bushels of wheat, 100 bushels of oats, and 100 bushels of corn the first year he farmed in South Dakota. The family lived upstairs in the loft of the barn the first months that they spent in South Dakota, later they moved into a small shanty. Herman and Charlie slept in the loft area.

The family worked hard, and made improvements to the farm, Anders kept a careful record of his records. In 1903, he raised 5,557 bushels of wheat, 1,162 bushels of spelt, 635 bushels of barley, 500 bushels of oats, 465 bushels of mullet, 1000 bushels of corn, and about 200 bushels of potatoes. In December of 1902, he raised $20.45 for turkeys and chickens that they had sold.

Christensen family reunion - picture taken
between 1910 and 1915.

Maria churned butter, and help pay for groceries with the eggs, and butter that she sold. At one time Anders and Maria had about 40 head of cows, and 40 horses in pastures.

Getting water for their use was always a problem, until the 8th or 9th well had been drilled finally proved to have lots of artesian water. They had tried to dig several surface wells, but they were all dry. One son was kept busy every day hauling water, with a ”water wagon” for family and livestock use.

In 1890 when the final homestead papers were signed, the total value of the improvements on the land was valued at $990. This included buildings, fences, and a well. When Anders and Maria decided to retire from farming, they built a fine house in Conde, South Dakota. Perhaps they were still remembering their struggle to get water to the farm, for when they built their three story house, several of the closets not only had cedar lining, but also sinks with running water. They also built a barn to shelter their horses, along with a hen house.

The Christensen headstone in Conde, South Dakota. Picture from findagrave.com

Their sons William, and John remained on the homestead, and farmed together until John bought his farm 1 ½ miles away in 1911.

Anders died from a stroke on June 12, 1916 at the age of 67 years old. Maria lived only a few months longer, she died October 23, 1916. They worked very hard, and dealt honestly with God and man, and never gave up faith in South Dakota. They tried to teach their sons to live healthy productive lives. Anders never smoked, and tried to discourage his sons from starting. Anders and Maria promised each either a gold watch, or a new wagon and team of horses if they refrained from smoking till their 21’st birthday. They each collected their bribe, although several of them did start smoking later on.

At one point 5 of the Christensen sons farmed around the ”home place”, William and his wife Grace and their 5 girls lived on the home place; Ben and his wife Alma, and son, lived across the road to the north; Charlie and wife Mary, along with one son, and a daughter, lived 1 ½ miles to the east; Herman, Anna, and their 5 sons, and 4 daughters, lived 2 miles south; John and Elsie, and their 4 sons, and 2 daughters, lived 1 mile south, and a ½ mile east. The two daughters Hannah, and Ida lived in Conde. Only George left South Dakota, at a young age, at the time his parents died, he was in Grand Junction, Colorado. Hannah, born March 15th, 1890, is believed to be named after her grandmother, Hanna (Håkansdotter) Wifstrand

Frank had died as a young man, at age 23, from typhoid fever, he was a butcher at the time with his brother George in Conde. By the time Anders and Maria had passed away, they had acquired 7 quarters of land, and a house in Conde. They left the house to Herman, and each of the other children got a quarter of land.