Ardys Oberg Sharpe
MEMORIES
PART II

OBERG LINEAGE       (Grandparents and forward to my immediate family)
              (I have no information back farther than that.)

In keeping with the genealogy study of both sides of the family - I have some information about the Oberg Lineage.  Parts of it are quite incomplete, but it puts together the information that I have collected throughout the past years.


PART II (continued)

OBERG LINEAGE .....
"I looked into a window of the past, and this is what I saw."

Each of them - had their own unique identity -- Social Security gave them each a number - and no one will ever have one like it!
Reuben Walter Oberg - 392-12-5123 and Anna Evelyn Oberg 397-22-0360

Have you ever crawled up upon a chair, and peered into an open window, and with awe, gathered in what you saw?  That is the way I feel right now.  In writing this for you as a family, I wanted to include as much as I could, of what I knew, to share with you -- about your family that came before.....
It happened.  I was assigned as guardian for my Mother when she became ill, and therefore as things progressed I got involved in a lot of information of the past.  I used only what was needed at the time, but now the time as come when I have to decide the destination of some of that information.  I have gathered the bits and pieces together.... and as of this writing I share them with you, my family.

Family history began long before my mother and dad, Reuben Oberg and Anna Gabrielson were married.  Each had a life of their own, and some of those treasures I share with you at this time.
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1862 -Way down deep in the box I found the original Homestead paper that was issued to my grandfather, August Oberg

Homestead Certificate No. 2535, application 3455
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.....There has been deposited in the general Land Office of the United States a Certificate of the Register of the Land Office at  Falls St. Croix, Wisconsin, whereby it appears that, pursuant to the Act of Congress approved 20th May, 1862, "To secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the Public Domain," and the acts supplemental thereto, the claim of AUGUST OBERG has been established and duly consummated, in conformity to law, for the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section twenty-three in township  thirty seven north of range eighteen west of the Fourth Principal Meridian in Wisconsin containing forty acres.......etc......TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the said  tract of Land, with the appurtenances thereof, unto the said AUGUST OBERG and to his heirs and assigns forever...... Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, the tenth day of May, 1882... By the president, Chester A. Arthur...Recorded Vo. 6, Page 11.             (Notice:  Act of Congress was 1862 - but the document was signed in 188)
On the 12th day of September of 1878 he must have purchased an additional 5 acres from John Erick Herman for the cost of $12.00.  I found the Warranty Deed for that transaction.

1886 - In the Union Cemetery, at Atlas, WI, there is the cemetery lot of Grandfather Obergs.  I found the receipt for the payment of that lot for the amount of $.80 (80 cents).  Hardly seems possible, but that is the amount given.

1887 - On the 16th day of September of 1887 he must have purchased from John and Catarina Nylander an additional 40 acres for $150.00.  So with the original 40 acres homesteaded, and the additional 5 and 40 more, it made a total of 85 acres which was about the acreage I remember of Grandfather Obergs farm, tucked far into the woods east of where I lived.  It was on this farm that my father had his home before establishing his own a few miles west of this original home.
Dad, my father, Reuben Walter Oberg was the youngest son of August, and remained on the farm the longest of any of the other children.  He was born in 1895 so this all took place before the time of his birth.  I notice that all these transactions were to him, August Oberg, not his wife.  They must have done things that way in those day, although the last transaction was purchased from Nylander and his wife.
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In this packet of materials, I found the receipts of the taxes paid by my grandfather, August Oberg -- Interesting things I noticed were:
In 1877 he had only personal property taxes of  $1.37.
In l878 he had only personal property taxes of $1.23 plus a .02  collection fee.
In 1879 his personal property valued at $$62.50 was taxed $2.01, the 5 acres .06 and fee .04.
By 1883 his personal property value went up to $l05, taxed $2.52; and with his extra acreage the tax was $1.73 plus .09 collection fee.
Valuation increased from $111 in 1885 to $127 in 1886.
With the addition added, his 1887 valuation went up to $155,
Valuation fluctuated from $l05 in 1888 to $119 in 1897.
Something must have happened, valuation was $146 in 1898 to $157.  Collection fee was .34 by that time.
By 1902 valuation was $303 and up to $559 in 1910 when taxes were $29.35.
The last receipt I found was for 1913, with personal property valued at $410, land at $1515, and a total tax of $37.17.  (collection fees stopped in 1912)

1895 - My father, Reuben W. Oberg, was born on March 21, 1895.  He evidently did not need evidence of his birth certificate for I find that he wrote in  for a duplicate copy of it in 1942 when he began working in the shipyards at Superior Wisconsin during the World War II.

1903 - The Round Lake School was built.  There was where my father attended.  He was already 8 years old by the time the school opened, and he only got to attend until 1909, through the sixth grade. Evidently he was needed on the farm - he was 14 by then, and full-sized help.    He had shared with Dorothy that the means of discipline there was to be hit across the hands with a ruler.  (It never hurt his penmanship -- he was a beautiful penman throughout his whole life!) When the school opened there were 63 males, and 47 females, making a total of 110 children of school age in the district.  The children were required to buy their own text books.  There was one teacher hired.  The room was big and bare, with a large heating stove in the center of the room.  You could say the hot lunch program began at this time, for the children placed their syrup pails around the stove so that lunches could thaw out before noon.    The pupils on the school numbered about 60, and they sat about the room at double desks.  A tower bell was bought and installed in 1904 for the sum of about $45, and in l906 eight reflector wall lamps were added to the school, as well as a well being dug.  They had a book printed for the 50th anniversary in l952, and in it was a picture of the school children in l906, but I have no idea where my Daddy is in the picture!  He would have been about 11 years old then.  In one of the local papers about that time, they had a picture of the school children there in 1989.  In the list were two of Dads older brothers, Charlie and August Oberg.

1916 - Grandpa Oberg put on a monument and marker on his cemetery lot for the amount of $73.00.

1917 - Dad had to register for the draft for World War I, and I found his registration certificate dated June 5, 1917, and he was classified as 3 on Order No. 546, Serial No. 628, on February 20, 1918.  He never did get called into service, evidently because he was the only son left at home on the farm.

Here is where I really feel like the "little girl that peeked into the window."  I found a diary of my mothers beginning in 1917, while she was still in high school.  I have chosen "bits and pieces" that might be of interest to you.

1917 - 4/15 - Oscar Johnson left for military training......
4/17 - The high school and 6th and 7th and 8th graders paraded down to the depot to see the boys off.  We sang "Star Spangled Banner" and "America."  We had 5 big flags.  Mr. Buck beat the drum.  In the evening a parade was given by the people in town.  Some girls dressed out like Red Cross nurses. At 8 p.m. Mr. Briggs, Mr. Hill, Herman Thorseson gave talks up at the court house on how to help reduce the high cost of living.  We walked  home.   Mr. Rocklin told us the horse had whooping cough.  Violet Johnson came back to school.  She rode with the mail carrier from Webster.  They got stuck so she had to help lift the car out of the mud......
4/19 - Was sick all day with a cold, but went to school for my civics test. A fire broke out in the school house.  A big hole was burned in the roof beside the chimney.  The fire bell rang and pretty near everyone in town was there
4/20 - My friend Augusta went home.  Alton was to meet her with horse and buggy......
4/22 - A whole page written in Swedish.  (Wonder what she had to say?!)
4/28 - Simon Olson, Fritz Christopherson, and Martin Nelson left school to work on the farm.  They will get their diploma just the same.....
5/3 - Miss Christian (she was her teachers training instructor) scolded for 3 of the girls did not conduct themselves in the  right manner....  Papa (that would be Grandpa Gabrielson) was in town and gave me $5.00.....
5/4 - Went to Sunday School....Papas first trip in our car this year.....Mr. and Mrs. Axel Hedberg were over.....Reuben, Milton G., and Samuel came too.
5/12 - Attended the Junior-Senior reception.  The post--graduates were invited but did not come.  First we assembled at the school house.  Then we went down to the show; after the show we went to the English Lutheran Church for dinner at 10:00.  There were 3 long tables arranged for the pupils.  The other room was decorated like a parlor.  There were rocking chairs, sofas, and all kinds of cushions.  A table in the middle had a phonograph on it, which played all the while we were eating.  Six courses were served. (l) Sherbet, strawberries, cherries and grapefruit.  (2) 2 kinds of sandwiches - one of lettuce leaves between and one of cheese, cucumber pickles and jellied chicken. (3) Salads, peaches and pineapple with whipped cream and nuts (4) ice cream with pineapple flavor and a piece of cake (5) chocolate candy (6) Grape juice punch.  Tables were decorated with carnations, jonquils and ferns - 2 vases on each table - and 3 candle sticks on each.
4/13- 3 of us girls went for a walk.  We walked through "lovers lane" and strayed way off in the woods and picked winter greens......
5/18 - Papa came up in evening about 3:00 and we went home......
5/19 Gerda and Sam were married.  Reuben and I stood up.  Elfie and Emil Johnson and Reuben and I went out riding......
5/21 - Debate up in school house about examinations should be abolished with students taking negative and affirmative sides......Elfie and I wrote up about Gerdas wedding......
5/24 - Called home and found out that Emil had the measles....
5/28 - Wrote my civics test, got 96......"

Here it sort of stopped, but she did have the list of all the students in her class, and even the members of the other classes.  She also had the list of the names of all of her high school teachers and each class that she took from them.

1918 - Mother, Anna Gabrielson, took her Senior year along with her teachers training.  They devoted 6 weeks of that year to special training -- and they were ready to go out and teach! 
Her class song for this 1918 was:
Seniors, Seniors, here we are tonight
Happy have we been looking for the right
Tramping, stumbling through our high school years
But weve met our struggles with a cheer.
While at school our busy pencils fly,
Working with a smile never with a sigh,
For our sums and English, U. S. History, too
Were working to be loyal, brave and true.
Thinking, thinking, thinking, of the days that now are past,
Pen and pencils, books upon the shelf -- School days cannot last!
Thinking, thinking, thinking, also of our boys who were glad to go
That Old Glory which they hold so dear,
May be guarded from the foe.
They also had a  class prophecy.  I have copied the introduction of it, but have only included Mothers portion when it mentions all the prophecies of the students.

"Just a portion of an island..  Rising from a deep blue sea.
Emerald green against the azures.  That is our own fair country.
Though it be but mere atom, in the universe maze
Though about us are fair countries, ours is fearless in our gaze.
Were the class of 1918 and we love this island of ours!
For it will give life an honor, willingly as youd give yours.
When the nations over yonder asked for aid in that fierce brawl,
Asked for men to fight their battles, three  brave classmates heard the call
Simon Halverson in fighting, in the trenches over there
Facing shell and shrapnel bravely, left us in our freshman year.
RG, a sailor laddie, brave, and dauntless, fearless and bold
Dreading Huns no more than Civics, which he so disliked of old.
Harold J is another patriot we like to claim
Hell do his part of the playing, in the war, Gods checker game.
These are those who have enlisted, but we show our loyalty
Knitting, saving dimes for thrift stamps; buying bonds for liberty.
We are seniors and were leaving, we are sorry now to go
Juniors, pardoned are your failings; strange we once despised you so.
Sophomores we wish to thank you; you helped in the Banner Fight
Freshmen, your sins are forgiven; we want everything made right.
(and on with the individually named graduates in the prophecy ......)
Anna Gabrielson - Went to Normal after graduation.  Anna is now County Superintendent of Schools in Burnett County.  (not too far off from what she did become!)

They had little name cards, one with their name on, and another with Class of 19l8.
A graduation card was saved that she got from the David Larson family, and Elfie, Olive and Amber Anderson - families that were forever friends for her as her life went on.  They were very kind to her as she stayed in town getting her high school education.

My Daddy must have had his plans well in mind.  He was going to buy a farm and have it to offer to his bride-to-be.  I find his mortgage midst their things, dated November 17, 1918, for the purchase of that 36 and 83/100ths acres for the sum of $2000.   Payment was planned with 10 promissory notes of $200 each at the rate of 6%.  He bought it from an Alec E. Johnson who lived at Puyallup, WA at that time.  Somehow it involved August Ekstrom and his wife in 1919. ( I cant make out for sure that part of the deal.) He did pay those notes, all on time, plus the interest.  The property was Dad and Mothers by November 15th,  1926, and Alec Johnsons final letter to him said: "Let me say this much that I would not want a better man to deal with than you.  You certainly have done fine considering the hard going you have had."

}}}}}}}} But the most touching bit of news from this 1918 discovery is an old tattered New Testament -- the cover is completely gone  The first 4 pages are no longer there - but at the back on one of the back blank pages is the most precious note.........in my fathers good handwriting....
"Sweet Remember Eve" - December 21st, 1918.  "When we were betrothed.  Reuben and Anna."
And the receipt for the genuine diamond of FINE quality, weighing 1/8 carat, in the mounting of 14-K, solid gold, was priced as $19.98.   It was purchased on December 11th, 1918 from Montgomery Ward and Company.  She was so happy about that ring, and cherished, but many years later the diamond became loose, unknown to her, and she lost it.  I have the mounting, and in it I put the opal that Wesley gave me on my 65th birthday.  We bought only the opal in Hawaii and brought it home and mounted it in her ring.  (Both the note in the New Testament and the receipt for the diamond you will find in the photo album.)

1919 - Reuben and Anna Oberg (Mother and Dad to me) were married on June 14th, 1919 at the Methodist Parsonage at Atlas, WI, with her sister, Mabel Gabrielson and Dads friend, Arnold Selin, as their witnesses.  Rev. Forsberg married them.
During that year she was awarded the Wisconsin Teachers Reading Circle Diploma, having completed one year of reading prescribed.

1920 - I understand that when Grandmother Oberg (Dads mother) came to live with us she brought with her cherry (reddish color) little sewing rocker.  She had been given that as a gift from the Trade Lake Baptist Church in 1917 where she had been an avid Christian worker there.  That rocker was a special piece of furniture in our home.  Dorothy now has it in her home.

1922 -Of course, I was just a babe then, having been born in March of 1921, but evidently Daddy was putting up a silo to add to his farming facilities. .  I found a paid 6-month note for the amount of $80, with interest at 7%  It was payable to the silo company and that gave me the clue of the date of that original silo on the home farm.  That December he got another note from the First National Bank at Frederic for $81.85, payable in anther six months at 8%.  I wonder if he had to borrow from the local bank to pay for the silo.  Depression was on then, and other indications were that things were very hard for them.

1924 - 1925 -  However, they managed to have a little savings account during 1923, 1924, and part of 1925.  The largest balance shown was only $255.50.  It makes my heart ache as I write this, finding out how difficult things were in those days when they were beginning their married life together.  In those days you did not have, until you had earned it.  That was the "rule of the day."  You didnt buy on credit, unless it was for something you had to have to make the income.
Dorothy arrived on June 8, l924.  I have not found any special little notes about her arrival, but with the situation there at home, I am sure Mother was more than busy, for she was involved with chores too.  I did hear that Dorothy cried a lot, and after some time they figured out that she was not getting enough nutrition from being breast fed by Mother.  I suppose Mother worked so hard that she did not produce enough for Dorothy to be satisfied.

1925 - I had arrived at about the age of four in 1925..  A little note was tucked midst their things saying that at an auction they purchased a wooden youth chair for me.  It was like a regular chair, but with longer legs so that I sat up at the table like everyone else.  It had no sides on it.    It was one that Rev. Ekstrom (pastor of the Trade Lake Baptist Church at one time) gave to his granddaughter, Alida Ekstrom Grandstrom,  in 1917.  That little history tells the busy life that hair chair must have had, even before I sat in it.  Then it went to Dorothy, and our Steve used it, and all of Dorothys children used it too.  It is still with Dorothy now.
Dads forty acres, there on the intersection of Hwy 48 and Co. Highway Z, had had a corner taken off it before he bought the parcel of land.  But then the  Wisconsin Highway Commission came in and purchased that little piece from Carl Holmberg who owned it at that time.  Dad received a letter, July 24, l925,  indicating that that 17/100ths of an acre would be reverted back to Dads 40.  I had not known that, but as I am "peering through windows of the past" I found that letter.   Another letter, arriving in 1926,  reversed their previous decision ... "It will not be possible for the State to give you a deed to that part of Mr. Holmbergs property which lies between the present road and your property.  You will be permitted, however, to put in a driveway at the most convenient place, provided of course, that you do not harm any trees and that you put in a culvert to take care of the drainage; also that you construct a neat-appearing driveway.  You may also plant small flowers in this area, but not high growing shrubbery which might obstruct the view.  The trees which remain on this property belong to the State, and must not be molested under any consideration by anyone." (Sounds like a DNR of those days, doesnt it?)  That letter was put on file in the Register of Deeds office there in Burnett Co.  Real official!

In 1925 they found that the means they had to make meals for the family, four of us now, was very inadequate, and they became the owners of one of the well-known "Home Comfort" Kitchen Ranges -- with the warming ovens on the top, and all those nice designs around the doors.  They bought it on a one-year note, for $109 -- plus paying $30 upon its delivery.   That stove was always the pride and joy of my folks, and they treated it so lovingly.  That remained there at the farm until the day in 1978 we had to sell Mothers things when she had living in a nursing home.  By that time it had become an antique, but  in almost "mint" condition.  We did sell it to the family that had rented the pastures the last years when Mom was away teaching.  We sold it for $500.  That stove worked "its heart out," for all of us for over 53 years!  How well I remember warming my feet in its oven when we came in from the outside when it was cold.  And, sitting by it to get the warmth from that open oven door when the house was cool otherwise.  When we were little, Mom would have the wash tub or wash boiler there on the floor in front of the oven door as we took our baths right there in the kitchen.  We never did have a bathroom during the time we lived at home.  She put in the bath long afterwards,  -- when she came home after retirement in l968.
Things became more and more stressful for both of them, and Dad developed ulcers in 1925.  I found the brochure from the Frederic Clinic on his treatment procedure.    It was a regimented 6-week diet.  Imagine the planning Mom had to do to plan his meals, take care of  Dorothy and I (4 yrs. and 1 yr.), and all the chores.  She worked so hard.

1926 - This new year did not bring all joy and happiness.  Dad had another bad "bout" with ulcers --  probably a good reason why, with all that stress and income so limited.   A friend of mine, daughter of the doctor that lived across the street from us, told me, this past summer, that when Daddy got that bad spell , he vomited up a dishpan full of blood -- and that was when her father, our family doctor, Dr. Albert J. Swanson,  rushed him to Minneapolis and he had surgery and they removed part of  stomach. The billing from the Swedish Hospital there in Minneapolis is interesting --
2 days @ $3.00  $     6.00
       l0 days @ $3.50     35.00
Operating room, including anesthetic     16.25
Dressings and medicines      1.30
Pathological Examinations        1.00
4 nights board of nurse @ $1.25        5.00
7 days board of nurse @ $1.25           8.75
Nurse (D. Chellin)     35.00
Nurse (V. Johnson)           20.00
Total$128.30
(and those where the days of no insurance!)
While he was there - I was also taken down for surgery to remove my tonsils and adenoids.  Guess that Dr. Swanson thought that was a good time to get that done - for I needed it.  That way the family was down there anyway. .  How well I remember how my throat hurt, and I was in another part of the hospital than my father was.  That cold ice cream that they gave me to eat was so cool and soothing, and then they took me up to Daddy in a wheel chair so that I could sit in the room with him.  I evidently had it done after they had completed his surgery, and Uncle Al, (our neighbor doctor) took Mother back and forth. 
Little Dorothy was with his wife and Jane during that time.  There were times when we were with Aunt Birdie and Uncle Al (that is what we called our neighbors, the doctor and his wife).  They had an out-house, but it was way down a steep hill in the back yard.  I was old enough to dash down there and take care of my duties.  Dorothy was too little.  They did have running water into the kitchen sink, but no bathroom.  When it was time for Dorothy, and she was being trained, Aunt Birdie would just lift her up to the kitchen sink, turn on the running water, and that gave her the urge.  She was trained in no time.  We did not yet have that luxury in our home.  It did the trick!
Jane was an artist and  copies of her art in the family photo album.
If Daddys medical problems would have ended then -- life for him would have been so different -- and for the family too. 
It started in 1924 with his ulcer attacks.
Then this drastic surgery in 1926
In 1938 he had a ruptured appendix.
In l939 he obstruction of the bowels.
In 1947 he had hernia surgery in August, & l8 days hospitalized at Thanksgiving.
In 1949 his asthma was so bad.   He went to the Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN
In 1954 ulcers plagued him again
After that his heart condition worsened, and became enlarged from the stress of the asthma, and finally, in 1958,  his heart just got too tired to function.

Final Legal papers were drawn up and the tract of land, upon which they were living,  was theirs in 1926.  I often wondered why they had 36 plus acres.  I find that long before they had it a little less than 4 acres was sold for $200 to Erick and Margaret Johnson on May 11, l904.  It surely made a mess out of the 40 the folks had, for the farm we had surrounded that piece on three sides.  Erick Johnson  was once a Wisconsin Assemblyman and he surely threw his weight around.  They were difficult people to deal with, and "not-too-pleasant" neighbors either.  I felt uneasy as we walked by their place on our way to school for she might come out and complain about one thing or another - maybe involving us kids walking by, or even about things  relating to my folks.  She was an unhappy lady and wanted others to be unhappy too! 
Dad and Mom never did give up. They knew there was a brighter future, and then in 1926 they signed up to be connected to the Rural Electric program, to the tune of $200.  The farm was paid for by then.  I remember so well, that before that time, when they would go out to do the chores in the evening, they would move the kerosene lamp from the kitchen table, and put it up on the top of the warming ovens on that shiny new Home Comfort Range.  It made light for us -- but rather far away for us to do any reading for that slot of time.  It was most important that we were safe --it was better for us to have less light than to have more light and the risk of fire.  We always pressed our noses to the windows watching for them to come from the barn so that we could have the lamp down again on the table.

1927 - Daddy had been so sick, and I remember when he was in the Grantsburg Hospital that year, and he said to Mother that it was about time that he turned over the farm and everything to her so that it would not become a legal hassle for her when he was gone.  He was serious about it.  A quit claim deed was made out on January 27, l927.  The attorney came right up to his room in the hospital.  I was there at the time.   Frank Dahlberg and Sam Oberg witnessed that.  The Bill of Sale was made out the same day and Frank Dahlberg and I witnessed that.  (I cant quite figure out how they let me witness those papers.)   This was for the personal property to all go to her.  It was filed with the Register of Deeds in April and Walter Jensen and I signed that.  Those papers are all with the materials in the photo album.

1928 - I found lots of little notebooks where Dad kept all kinds of records -- work on the barn, in certain fields, etc.,  but seldom put in the year so that I cannot tell what year it was that they built the new barn., etc. new silo, etc.   I find a day of hour records of tearing down the old log barn that shows it was done in 1928.  Both Willie Gabrielson (Mothers uncle or cousin) and Emil (her brother) helped with that.  They were paid $2.50 a day for that.  Conrad (mothers brother) helped some  Some neighbors were hired to help tear it down too.  Her Dad (my grandfather)  came up and helped cut potatoes and planted potatoes and corn

1930 -Things must have been a bit more bright for a few years, for in February of l930  they purchased a manure spreader.  I faintly remember that there was some kind of a deal he made with one of his neighbors, Hugo Johnson, that they would use it together -- I know no details, however.  It came into Frederic via the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific Railway, from the Galloway Co, at Waterloo, IA. 
Dad  realized that he needed more than 36 plus acres to make a living.  He and his brother Sam, leased the Englehart farm just a short distance away so that they had more acreage to till.  Not until now did I realize that Uncle Sam was involved with that.  It was to be for use for one year for $200.00.  I remember a little of those trips down there to that place, a real steep driveway up to the buildings..  I would have been about 9 years at that time.  They tried so many ways to have an income.  The land was hilly in that area,  and there were not many level fields to use for crop raising.
When they were making the new highway around the corner of our property Dad would hire out to them for $l.00 per day for his time and use of his horses.  He was furnished the scoop to move the road materials.  But, still Mother insisted that we get musical training on the piano.   We had bought the piano from Swansons when they went West about 1927.  Jane was unwell and they went West for her health.  They sold it to the folks for $25.00   Mother arranged to have a music teacher come into the home at one time, have her other students take their lessons at our home, and that way we would not be charged for the lessons she gave to Dorothy and I.  Mother, clever as she was, was right behind us in the same room when we took out lesson.  She listened so she knew what we had been told -- and that we were to practice one hour a day!  And, she listened so well that she would practice the same pieces we were assigned, while we were at school.   She knew all the notes by heart -- she could hear any mistakes we made, and they were corrected pronto!  Teachers charged 75 cents a lesson at that time.  There were times when we had to go to other destinations for our lessons too.

I found a little note that this was the year the  Model T Ford that was bought  at the cost of $185.  I remember that there were "side curtains" to be put  up when weather was not so nice.  But, Daddy always left the one on the drivers side, for the back seat up all the time.  That meant that when we girls had the back seat one of us had the open side, and the other the closed side.  That usually  made one of unhappy as we made trips.  I know we had to take turns.....but that was not always willingly. 

1938 - Daddy tried so hard, but as I mentioned before this was the year that he had surgery for a ruptured appendix.  It was also the year that I was leaving for college, and he was in the hospital at the time I left.  I remember that on our way that morning, Oscar, our friend, and Mother and I stopped at the hospital to bid him good-bye.  He was in tears, but he wanted me to go.  They could give me only $20, but I managed - finding different ways to earn a little here and there.

1939 - I guess they "saw the writing on the wall" that farming was not going to make a living and they decided that they would go into partnership with our friend Oscar Johnson, who had been the treasurer of the local creamery, and they bought a grocery store in Chisago City, MN, about a 45 mile drive from the farm.  I gather from the legal papers that they must have borrowed money to pay their part of the purchase, for they had taken out a mortgage for $2000 due to Clause Berglund, a friend of their at the church, at the rate of 4% and they had it paid up in l943.
They had an auction of the personal property there at the farm on August 30th.  They had 5 head of horses, 20 Holstein and Guernsey milk cows, machinery, household goods, and feed.  Looking over the items for sale brings back memories.  The DeLaval cream separator is now owned by a friend of mine, the Langs in Grantsburg, for just a collectors item, of course.  But I remember those days when we would have to go out and clean those many, many tight fitting disks that the milk went through to separate the cream from the milk.  They were so slimy and so hard to clean.  Many times we had to go back to the house and heat water to bring out to finish the job.  I recall the stock tank that was outside the barn.  When anyone of the family, from the cities, would go fishing they would put the live fish in the tank until they would be ready to clean them.  Sometimes they would put bullheads in there, and their stingers would scare me so I was almost afraid to go near the tank, thinking they might even jump out!   A cousin of mine would even lift a bullhead out and run after me, with the threat of throwing it at me.   An old horse buggy was stored in one of the machine sheds -- and that was the one that Dr. Swanson used to use when he went calling on patients years before when the horses would be used.  Dad often went with him on house calls if the weather was bad.  The genuine leather seated rocker was one that they had had forever, it seems, since they were first married.  It was big -- there were 2 of them, and both Dorothy and I could sit in it at the same time and rock back and forth -- until Mother would stop us, for they did tip over backwards!  Yes. we had experienced that, for seemed to forget it now and then.   The glass front bookcase had individual glass shelving that lifted up.  Many interesting old, old books were in there; even Swedish ones.  The old pump organ was black..  It was hard to pedal, and a big improvement to get the piano later -- but it was something that was hard to part with.  I dont know its origin.  The white enamel baby crib and mattress was the one that both of us girls used.  The kitchen table had drop leaves on both sides.  That had history.  I was born on that table,  for I was delivered right there at home in l921, with Dr. Swanson (Uncle Al) right there..  Mother had trouble, and I was taken by forceps at my temple area.  I carried those scars for many years.
I found the list of what things sold for - the organ went for $2.00, the leather rocker for $3.00; the buggy for 50 cents; the book case for $2.25;  the separator for $19.00; kitchen table for $5.00; horses went from $68 to $121; Heifers from $10.50 to $43; cows from $35 to $69; and pigs $7 each.  They had a net result of $1510.40 on the sale - not too much to begin a new business!  An auction is always a gamble!
I gone back to college by August 30th, for I cannot remember experiencing the auction itself.  Evidently Mr. Goff had been up to our home enroute from one of his trips, and he took me back to school.  He is the man (one of my teachers) that gave me work on his genealogy project  to earn extra cash as I needed it at 30 cents an hour.  Under the NYA (National Youth Program) I get 50 cents an hour.    A letter of mine to the folks  says that I was typing 81 words a minute.
The folks began their business -- The Fairway Market, at  Chisago City, MN.  Their ad I find in the folders says : "Mastered steaks, onion steaks, mock moose steaks, bacon steaks all 10 cents each."  Oscar was the meat man, Mother was in the store proper, and Dad did the trucking for stock and selling eggs to the wholesalers.  They had a special Mastering Machine that tenderized the steaks.  Individual roasts were 15 cents each, etc.   They were very discouraged with the business at the very start.  Even after just a month they were convinced that they had made a mistake in this venture.   They lived in the back room of the store, they  had rented out the home at Trade Lake, and Dorothy had gone back to attend  high school at Grantsburg staying with the ministers family there -- all did not make for a happy situation.  In my letter back to them I found that I had written: "This summer we can all be together and work in the harmony of a song.  I have felt like the period were passing through is like the mind of the musician before he writes.   There are conflicts of ideas and strains of music, but yet when they are properly assembled and arranged it will be a song with a life in it that will never die."  (I sounded like a philosopher, didnt I?)  Mr. Goff had said to me, "Tell your folks to stick to it. Everything has an expensive beginning."  I worked for Mr. Goff  102 hours during the month of September.

1940 - The folks had rented out the house at the farmers to a family for a short time, from October of 1939 until June of l940.  That proved to be a disaster - bedbugs infested the house.  Mattresses we had left there has to be disposed of, and even the rugs held the threat.  That spring when I came home from college, and school was out for Dorothy, she and I stayed at home for several days to try to "out-smart" those intruders.  Mother and Dad stayed in Chicago City at the store overnight for several days.  We sprayed, sprayed everything.  At night we slept in the kitchen with the cross-draft of the east and west doors, while the rest of the house was wallowing in disinfectant spray.  When we talk about it now, it is a wonder that we were not exphixiated.  We did not know as much then about those possibilities.  But we won - the bugs lost!  It was this year that they purchased the new blue carpet rug for the living room.  It cost $63.20.  They also purchased a lamp and shade for $5.75.   A new mattress cost $11.50. That was the first carpeting they had ever had.  Just rugs were otherwise on the floor.  When they moved back, and stayed at home and drove to and from work at the store, they had many sleepless nights while the bedbugs were still  entertaining them.  They got these new items through Wm. Anderson, Dads brother-in-law, who was in the carpentry business and had access to items wholesale.

1941 -Mother and Dad, and Oscar, too,  had definitely become disenchanted with the grocery store business, but still continued with the solace of composure by being able to come home each night.  It meant a lot of driving, but they preferred it that way.  When they came to Chisago City they were anticipating the main grocery needs of a nursing home there.  When they found out that the folks were not Lutheran, they took their account from them and went to another town, Lindstrom, just five miles away.  There was a definite prejudice element actively evident in that area.  That did not make for happiness for the folks either.  They did have a delivery boy hired -- yes they delivered, free - and his name was "Roy," who had a "crush" on Dorothy.  She had started at Chisago the fall of l939 but only attended a few days of school there.  She was so unhappy about the offerings they had for her.  She convinced the folks she wanted to go  back to Grantsburg, and they consented and found that Rev. and Mrs. Walter Anderson, the Baptist minister, would take her.  They had two little boys and she could be of help to them too.  When the folks went back to the farm in 1940, Dorothy then did too, and that fall she went back to riding the bus to and from school, while the folks drove off to Chisago City every morning.
I have  reviewed their income tax filing for 1941 and they reported their share of the  net income of only $749.00 for that year.  There was reason for disenchantment.  That represented long hours, with both of them working full time.

(Now I feel like I really am peeking into the lives of Dad and Mother - things were getting really bad for them.  It was like getting up on that chair, and peeking through a window into their lives of frustration and discouragement. I was old enough to understand at that time.)

1942 -Things really must have been bad.  Their filing for their 1942 income tax indicated gross profit of only $764.98, but expenses of $1095.56!  That meant no profit for all that work.
Dad began putting in hours working for his brother-in-law, William Anderson, at St. Croix Falls in carpentry for 40 cents an hour, and also worked some at the Simmons Lumber Company..  Dad had begun to have asthma problems, probably due to the saw dust he was involved with.  And then, too, later doctors said it could have been instigated by the candling of eggs that he did at the store.  Folks brought in eggs direct from the farm, and he would sit in the basement and candle them.  That meant sort them out for size, cleanliness, etc. before taking them to Mpls. and St. Paul to sell them.  He would bring eggs down to sell, and bring inventory home from the Fairway wholesale house on those trips.   I find in his little books of records that he worked some for Richard Hallquist, but I dont know what for.
They must have sold the store inventory that summer.  I remember that they said that the person that bought it did not want all the inventory -- it was too old -- but still the folks, being inexperienced in that, bought it as part of the inventory  when they started.  Some of the dry goods probably had been there long before Mom and Dad took it over.  Discouragement loomed over them daily  Dad  did some carpentry work for Casperson Lumber Company in Frederic too.
War had been declared and there was a chance for him to work in the shipyards at Superior.  He was employed as a Shipfitter 3rd Class (sort of carpentry but with steel instead of wood).  His employer was the Walter Butler Shipbuilders, Inc.  His ID card is still with the momentos collected for years gone by.   He began there October 6th.  He rented a room in a home for $2.50 a week, and either rode with others driving up, or took the train.  His wage was $1.20 an hour and he worked a l0-hour day.    He could eat for about $2 a day.  He was taking out a war bond ($18.75) each week from his earnings.
Wesley and I were married on Saturday, October 24th at our home on the farm, at 8:15 p.m., and I remember that Dad came home on that Friday and we went to meet him at the train in Frederic.  By the end of the year he had earned over $l040.00 at the shipyards for that period of just 3 months.  That was a big improvement from the months prior to that!   I had planned to go back to Wausau to teach, for I had filled in there since January for a man that had been called into service.  However, they did not hire married teachers .... but I was offered a contract there at home at Grantsburg which I accepted..

1943 -As I mentioned before, in the  fall of l942 I came home and began teaching at Grantsburg, and I could be there with Mother and help her with the work there at the farm.  Dorothy was off to college at Whitewater.   Dad kept working at the shipyard - making income of $3974 for the year, and they restocked the farm with youngstock  That year the government imposed the Victory Tax to be added to the regular income tax.  They paid $97.00 that was taken right out of Dads check at the shipyards.  His regular income tax was about $550.  I thought these figures might be of interest to you readers .... some of you even wonder what World War II was all about!  Those were probably the first years that Mother and Dad really felt that they did not have to scratch for every penny, nor have to "squeeze" each one tightly into their hands to keep it from "slipping away."

1944 - The war still was on.  Dorothy still in college (not many boys left there so she bunched up her credits and was able to finish in three years instead of four!).  I was teaching at Grantsburg.  Dad was still at the shipyards.  That year he took in over $4000 getting a raise to $1.32 an hour, and Mom even made some income at the farm.  She bought young stock and raised calves and sold them.  She named them, kept records of who was the mother, and even described them,....."all white calf with black tipped ears...  called her Betsy, daughter of Clara .... etc."

1945 -Dad still at the shipyards until August, but not as many hours for his total for the year was about $2900.  I left home and my job the first week in May to go to San Francisco and meet Wes coming home from the war.  A newspaper had these headlines, "Manpower shortage" in Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor."  That was the year that Dad built the second silo, a concrete one (the old one was made of wood staves).  It never did get a top on it, but it cost $181.72 to put it up.

1946 -Things were looking up.  They had 15 head of cattle.  Dad was working hours for Casperson Lumber Company in Frederic.  Mother was teaching school at Wood Lake.Dads little notebooks show that he was pricing many items, but I cannot tell when they were actually purchased.  Dad was a generous man, and loved to do nice things for us

1947 - I find the receipt for perpetual care paid for the Oberg lot at the cemetery.  Dad always got the bill all those years.  None of the rest of the family offered to help pay for the yearly care charge.  Mother made up her mind that one of her  first teaching paychecks was going to pay for that..... so that it would not be billed to them every year.  She did that, and the amount of $50.

Mother was teaching at Wood Lake School.  Dad bought the tractor and the side-delivery rake that year -- total of $2225.  That was such a happy day for Dad needed the power.  He strength was giving out, and he worked so hard on things that took more than his strength.  It did happen!.  He had to be operated on for a ruptured hernia in August. 
The sun did not always keep shining .... They  got the  "Bangs Disease" in the herd of cattle.  It was something that could not be cured, and the animals had to be slaughtered, for it was contagious.  They took a terrible loss then when they had to sell 9 cows.  That took an emotional toll on them,  and then from November l7th to Dec. 5th Dad  was hospitalized again - 18 days - no doubt the stress brought on  some of the problems, for his office visits to the doctors began in early October.

1949 - My Wesley, after coming home from the war,  had gone into business selling appliances.  It was this year that he arranged to get Mother a nice electric kitchen stove at cost price.  She loved that stove - she did not have to heat up the range to do her baking.  She had that stove the rest of her days there on the farm.  It was sold at her auction -- and it went too cheap!  (I hate auctions -- people have to sacrifice what they love and what they cherish dependent on the "whims" of those attending!)  Mother was at the same school again teaching, Trade Lake Central.  The farm operations were declining in income.  Farm work was taking its toll on Dad.

1950 - Dad was still interested in keeping going, but they made the decision to get a milking machine installed for the barn.  Wesley arranged that for them too, for he was selling them for the distributor in Madison.  He got it all for them for $156.20.  That did help.  It was easier for Mother too when she had to do it alone.  Dad had purchased a side-delivery rake to help with the haying.   He paid $220 for it. Evidently there was not enough farm income to report to the IRS for they did not report any farm net income..

1952 - Mother at Bass Lake School teaching the full year. I just have to add some information here.  Mother was teaching about trees and how to determine their ages.  There is a formula that can be used -- this is it:  (I did not want to lose this, so putting it in this project will preserve it.  I am sure that would please her)
Measure the diameter of a tree at breast high (about 4 1/2 feet above ground level) in inches, and multiply that by the following number according to the kind of a tree.  The answer is the age of a tree.
For chestnut, elm and tulip use 2 1/2
For Black walnut use 3
For Black oak use 3 1/2
For Birch, sweet gum, red oak, scarlet oak, and sycamore use 4
For ash, white oak, and burr oak use 5
For beech, sour gum, sugar maple and shagbark hickory use 6

1954 - Dad had an older  half-brother by the name of John. who lived in Sonoma, CA. Correspondence began between he and my dad in December of l948.  The first letter sounds like Dad was feeling so unwell, maybe he was thinking a need for change of the warmth of California.  John  wrote long letters, very descriptive.  He was active in Shriners and Masons, and had a 12 acre fruit ranch at one time He spoke of his pears, grapes, and prunes.  He wrote this: "Yours was the first letter I have ever received from any of the Obergs in  which every word was spelled perfect."  He never married that we know of.  But he surely wrote like he was an active and self taught man.  He had lived in California since 1903.  He was in the Spanish-American war and getting a pension from that.  He and Dad had the same Dad, but different Mothers.   He speaks of being so healthy - not having a cold since l898.  Letters stopped coming in October of l952.  Letter from an attorney there tells of his death in May of l953 from old age and failing the last 6 months..  Evidently Dad had inquired.  He had changed his will 3 times I notice,  but the last one to include his natural heirs which included my Dad.  Dads nephew, Roy Oberg took care of the correspondence. On one of the envelopes he had addressed it as "Fredric" and at the side written "used to be known as Trade Lake."  In May of 1955 Roy, his nephew, send Dad a check for $600, his share of his brother Johns estate.

1955 -The first part of the year she was at the Bass Lake School.  During the summer Dad had become so unwell and he was hospitalized 4 days about Easter time again.  His asthma is so bad and he could  hardly breathe. I had been home several times, and finally made the suggestion that Mom come down my way and teach and I would take care of Dad.  After lots of consideration and planning -- mother applied at the Pardeeville Schools and got a job there that fall.   During the summer they had come down to interview and with the permission of the Pardeeville church, where we serving, they let us put the trailer (which they had purchased new in Portage) in our back yard.  That way I could take care of Dad while Mom was at school working.  They had cut down on the cattle they had and disposed of what was left.  The last few years most of their income was from field crops.

Dad is writing this:
"September, l954 I became hospitalized for bleeding ulcers and again in March 1955.  I became hospitalized for asthma, a bad heart condition, and pneumonia.  I have not been able to work since.  I sold my diary herd in l954 and some young stock in l955.  June 1955 I left the farm and I am now residing close to my daughter as my wife has to work.
    My medical and doctor care were by the following:
Dr. Fisher, Dr. Arverson, and Dr. Moore of Frederic, Wisconsin
Dr. Larson (now at Ashland, WI) and Dr. Hartzell of Grantsburg, WI
Dr. Westcott and Dr. Winkler of Pardeeville, WI
My hospitalization and medical care amounted to $1089.05 in l955.
Yours truly,  Reuben W. Oberg (signed)
****
On September 6th, 1956,  Dr. Arverson wrote this letter for him ---
Dear Mr. Oberg:
You asked that I write your medical history from 1947 and I am taking it from my records which is as follows:
On February the 20th 1947  I removed a ganglion of the long tendon of the thumb in the right wrist.  You recovered very well.
On July 31st, l947 you had a left sided hernia and it was very large and I operated upon you on the 5th of August.  The recovery was excellent.
In October, l947 you got the finger of your left hand in a planer which took off the tip of the forefinger.  It was thoroughly cleaned and dressed and you recovered from this very well.
On November 4, l947 I saw you for the first time, as far as I can remember with an attack of asthma, which lasted for some time.  He says that he has had asthma for the past eight years.  It came on while he was working in Minnesota.   There are no "rales" in the lungs today.  Blood pressure was 170/100.  His heart sounds were good.  His urine was neg.   There is a suspicion of a polyp in the right nostril.  He has lost his sense of smell.  From then on he began to have attacks of asthma which became worse and were exceedingly difficult to treat. 
On November the 10th he said the Ephedrin made him worse.  He has lost in weight and is down to 140 pounds.  He was given Digitol 20 drops p.e. and l l/2 gr. of Amatol at bedtime.  I put him on K.I. at that time also.  The amatol did not agree with him either. 
On December 9, he was confined to the hospital.  He was confined from the l7th of November to December the 5th with bronchial asthma.  This probably started while working over a wood sander.  He has had the usual run of asthmatic drugs without much result.
On December 20, 1947 the patient was much better although he says he is very weak.  He only has slight attacks of asthma at night for which he takes adrenaline inhalations. 
I did not see him again until April, l950 when he was brought to the hospital with an extreme attack of asthma.  He was given adrenaline and he gradually got better.
In January of 1952 he goes from doctor to doctor without much relief.  He finally wound up at Rochester in September of l952 where they put him on Cortisone.  This helped him at once.   At the clinic they removed a Boecks sarcoid from the right clavicle.  He had uveitis (and eye problem) while at Rochester.
Over the years of 52, 53, and 54 he has gone on about as before.  Nothing, outside of Cortisone, ever seems to do the man much good.
Sincerely, signed by R. G. Arverson, MD
(Now I remember, we were trying to get disability from Social Security for him and that is why he was getting this information.  It never did work, and he died before he ever got a cent from Social Security.  The impression given him was that if he can get up and walk around he is not disabled.  It surely is different now, for rules are much more lenient.)

1957 - Mother teaching at the Pardeeville School System the first part of the year. In the fall she took a job at Horicon, and we moved the trailer over there on a piece of property that Wesley and I bought.  We did not want them to be tied up in any real estate purchase. A real surprise to find a copy of a fishing license!  Evidently he must have felt he would have some time at Pardeeville, but I cannot remember him going any.
Dad had a spurts of improvement  while there at Pardeeville.  He helped with lots of the work at the parsonage improving things.  He made me a magazine rack that fits up closely to the wall which I still have.  It was a pattern that Wesleys Uncle George had given us.   But when the weather was hot, and it was hard for him to breathe, he would go to the church basement and spend his time there.  It was cool, and less humid there.  Mother sang in my choir there.  It was nice to have them so close.
When they moved to Horicon, Dad was interested in a garden - and we made one.  Wesley and he built a garage there so that Mother would have a place to study and keep her school supplies.    The pasture rental at the farm at Trade Lake brought in only some income, but a net loss for the year of $480.

1958 - Dad had big plans.  Wesley tilled up quite a good sized garden -- and Dad even ordered some fruit trees to be planted.  Things began to grow -- but Dad in May was unwell, and unable to do much with it.  He was hospitalized in Beaver Dam for four days with a "cardiac asthma attack."
After school closed that spring they went back to the farm, and there on Thursday, June 12th, he died quietly on the couch there in the dining room at 10:02 a.m. -- where he had found comfort during many difficult hours in past years.  Further details of his death and funeral are recorded in the story of our lives, Wesleys and mine, in that portion of this project.  This portion represents the "bits and pieces" of the glimpse into the past of Mother and Dad.
I did find a few notes that she had saved.
Think of Dad:Stepping on shore, and finding it Heaven;
Of taking hold of a hand, and finding its Gods hand;
Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial air;
Of feeling invigorated, and finding it Immortality;
Of passing from storm and tempest, to an unknown calm;
Of waking, and finding it Heaven."
Elmer Oberg, another of Dads half-brother, sent flowers to his funeral.
After the funeral Mother went on to the Summer School that she was planning to attend, and then back to teaching at Horicon that fall.  She was a strong and capable lady.

1959 -With the memorial money that was received when Daddy died, a specific amount was sent to overseas missions, which was the request of Dad at some time before, and then some was put into a memorial communion table to be used at the Trade Lake Baptist Church.  It was made and designed by a special carpenter from our church in New London.  It was shipped up there, and a glass top provided for it so that if flowers were put on it, it would not be watermarked.  It was actually put there in memory of both Dad and Mother, and the memorial plaque indicates that.  They had just used a long table before.  This table had a place to store the communion supplies as well.
About that same time was given  a pair of lovely collection plates to the Pardeeville church as part of his memorial too.

Ardys' Family     Contents