|
We Get Letters! I have read some of
the articles on your Ambrose website. My wife, Janet Ryan
Tidemann, is a cousin of Annie Laurie Baker, whose parents were
Grenville & Annie Baker who lived for a time in Ambrose.
I read in your letters a couple of letters from Judy Frost, the
granddaughter of Grenville & Annie. Last info is that she lives in New
York City. Do you have any contact information for Judy? We
are especially interested in a novel which several have said Annie
Laurie Baker wrote about life in Ambrose. Has that novel been
passed on to you in some form.
My name is Gal Clark and I have a photo that you may be interested in putting with your web site Ambrose Photos - the first 100 years. It is a photo of the Christianson brothers (Clarence, Hans, Bill, Alvin and Lloyd) on Oxen. Photo was taken around 1906-1907 at the Frank Gillegen's Farm. This photo originally was in possession of my Grandmother, Anna Hermina Christianson, and the Christianson brothers in the photo are her brothers. Let me know if you are interested.
This is a photo of my Great Grandfather, Carl Johan Christianson, and my Great Uncles having an Oxen race at a neighbor's farm. Hope you can use it on your Ambrose site. Thanks. Any questions about the photo I will try to answer. (Click here to see the photo in the Ambrose Photo Gallery, page 4.)
A trip to Ambrose last week has me very impressed and curious about your town. I live in Minnesota but was recently back to my home town of Grenora and, now recently retired, may be back in northwestern North Dakota a lot more. Last week's trip to Ambrose was my first since the late 1960's. My only memory or knowledge of Ambrose was a drive to Ambrose in the winter with my parents when I was a teenager 40 years ago. All I remember of that drive was being impressed with the flagpole in the middle of Main Street. I made a point of driving to Ambrose last week, mainly to see if the flagpole was still there. Well, it was, but I was treated to much more than that. I arrived there at night and could not get over how many trees were in town. They dimmed the street lights as well as the lights of the homes there. I had to make another trip, in the daylight. The next day revealed a whole lot more of Ambrose. Again the trees. Trees, healthy ones, on most of the boulevards, trees on the opposite side of the many sidewalks that line the blocks, plus hedges between those trees and the houses. So many trees! My friend and I had to look very closely through the trees so as to not miss homes and other attractions. Some houses, the empty abandoned ones which had lost their paint and would have otherwise blended into the surrounding nature, were even more obscured by the thick forestry. The old hospital and nursing home, as large and impressive as it is, wasn't all that obvious standing there behind the wall of trees. Your website is great! But I don't find any answers to my burning question: Why all the trees? Why such a consistent look throughout the town? Consistent in terms of the thickness and placement of trees, plus what looks to be a very organized, methodically placed network of cement sidewalks. Was all this beauty and organization the result of some mandate of the town's early city fathers? Did they decree that such look should be one of the attributes of Ambrose? Often, in other towns, the boulevards are city property, so I would understand a consistent look on the boulevards, but it seems the city has had influence or even has ruled as to what kind and how the trees and bushes should be placed all the way from the boulevard and beyond to the other side of the sidewalks. Very impressive. I only hope that some of the treasures of the town can somehow be preserved, if not at least stabilized from further deterioration. One thought in this regard is some weatherproofing of the old hospital by way of roofing, window sealing, and brick tuck pointing. Even some manicuring of the grounds around it would be nice ------but please don't misinterpret my thoughts as being critical of anyone for such work not being done. I realize it is a daunting, overwhelming task for which so few people and likely no funds remain in Ambrose. Even some historical grant work requires people to organize, request, and put funds to use. I am so impressed with the efforts made on your great website, so I know there is interest in historical preservation, but likely lots of frustration as to the ability to accomplish any physical work on the properties. You have my best wishes for the town, and if you have any answer to my question "Why all the trees?" I'll sure appreciate it. Ron Laqua Hi Ron, We all have Rud Anderson to thank for the trees. Click here to read more about Rud and his legacy. Your comments
about the preservation of Ambrose are well taken. However, one by
one the fine old buildings are disappearing with nothing more than a
website to remind us of where they once stood. Best wishes, Roger Schlarb
Hi,
Hello, Dear Mr. Hirsch, Dear Roger,
Warren Hanson - Grand Forks, ND I don’t know what the lot numbers are, but attached are the markers of a number of my family members.
Please let me know
if there is any other information you need or would like about them.
From time to time I will take a look at this web site. My father, Woodrow Sorenson grew up in Ambrose. He was born in 1920 and graduated from Ambrose High School in 1938. He is currently residing in Lincoln, Illinois with his wife and my mother Madeleine. His mother was Olga Vig and his stepfather was Hans Sever Iver Vig, both of whom were residents of Ambrose until their deaths in the 60’s. Also, his real father was Lasse Sorenson. He homesteaded up in Ambrose and my father still owns the land. Lasse, my grandfather, passed away in January of 1920 just a few months before my father was born. I thought you may
want to add them to the Former Residents
list. Both Lasse and Leonard are buried in the Immanuel Lutheran cemetery. Thank you, and
thanks for the web site. My father is loosing his battle with
Alzheimer’s and I have provided him with information I found here
which, until recently, he could appreciate. He has always spoken
fondly of his youth in Ambrose. Carter Sorenson
Sam Clark - Lucerne Valley, CA E-Mail 1: Mr. Clark sent the following photos and postcards:
E-Mail 2:
From information
left by my mother Agnes Brown Clark - her father William Myron Brown is
also buried there as well as one or two other sons of William and wife
Katherine (or Kate) - Ernest Simeral Brown born 1886 and Frederick
Peter Brown born 1881. One other child was born to William and
Sarah Brown in Ambrose ND about 1908/9 and died there a short time
after birth and should be buried there. We think others of the family
are buried there as well. E-Mail 3:
Barbara Handy-Marchello, Ph.D. I am a historian,
employed by the Center for Distance Education to create a series of
Primary Source Document Sets to aid in the study of North Dakota
History. Though the website is publicly available, the primary audience
is high school students. My current project is to develop a document
set about North Dakota's town and rural schools. I have found some good
materials from Divide county which presents an excellent historical
lesson on school consolidation. Subsequent
message: Thank you so much for granting permission to use
some of the Ambrose photos on the website for
North Dakota Studies (high
school). These photos will go a long way toward telling the story of
school consolidation in Divide County and North Dakota.
I've been doing family research and ran across your website with a photo of the L. B. Lodmell General Store. Do you have any background? I have two L. B. Lodmell's in our line - Louis Botolf and Leonard Barney. Also found this on the Flaxton website - "Other Business Concerns in Flaxton in 1902 included:"
And this is from your website page: "Early Main Street Businesses"
Is it possible he had two stores? I'm really just trying to sort out the information for accuracy and to actually see if this LB is in our family line. Thank you for your time. If anyone can answer Larry's question, please send an email to the address below.
I really enjoyed the
Ambrose web pages. One thing though: can you please correct the
spelling of my father’s name? It should be Dewayne Torgeson. Class
of 1943 My father passed away on August 17, 2002, but I did join him for his
50th Reunion in 1993.
This is from Velma Ness Lassen and my brother Lloyd Ness. We are two of the five children of Vernelle Ness, WW II veteran from Ambrose. Vernelle was brother to Ray Ness and "Toots" Lewis and son of Roy and Anna Ness. (Also cousins to those great "float" people, Ellen, Liz and Eric Ness and "cooks" Jon and Linda Ness....and the "western cousins" John Lewis and Susan Lewis Ferolito) We attended the centennial......and Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to ALL who made it such a HUGE success. Everything was planned and carried out very well and was greatly appreciate by all attendees. Please pass on our thanks to all.....usually those people do not hear how well they did their jobs and I especially want them to know how impressed we were with EVERYTHING!!!!!!!
Dear Ambrose residents, My mother Adele Jeannette Pomeroy was born on September 29, 1914, during the 1914 baby boom, in Ambrose. Her parents were William Bostock Pomeroy and Lulu Marie Romanson Pomeroy. Her father was of English-Irish descent and her mother was Norwegian. My mother is still alive and was delighted to find this website. She is one of the babies in the photo gallery of the 1914 baby boom but her name is listed as being Ardelle not Adele, and her mother is listed as Mrs. B. Pomeroy not as Mrs. W. B. Pomeroy as she would have been. Her brother Charles Mark Pomeroy was born in Ambrose on June 25, 1916. I am going to look through our photos of the family and find the ones that were taken by the local photographer and I believe we have some taken by the family's Kodak Autographic Jr. camera. We will send them to you along with as much as I can find and that mother can remember about living in Ambrose. She believes that her father had a pool hall or ran one there since that was the business he was in most of his life. He also at one time was a sign painter but she believes that was later when he moved to Baker, Montana. We look forward to sending your website as much information as we can in the next few days. Adele J. Pomeroy - Jessie M. Pomeroy and Jeannette M. Pomeroy (daughters)
I got an email from my cousin Norma Long having to do with this website and my Uncle Oscar Palm. I am his nephew, Mick Soiseth. I am very proud that Oscar was my Uncle for those of you that knew him and remember him. My other uncles Axel and Sven might be remembered well too, although I didn't know them as well. I have carried on Oscar's legacy of being a musician for many years. I played at the Ambrose Centennial July 8th. I didn't meet many people that night who knew who I was except for a fella named Overland, I think it was Mark? It was good to talk to him. My mother's name is Alice (Palm/Soiseth). I'm sorry to report she suffered a pretty bad stroke here in Williston in June and is now in Bethel Home here. Your prayers for her would be appreciated. She is able to talk but is unable to move her left side, we pray for her to recover at least to some extent. Any of you with any
comments, I'd love to get an email from you. God bless all the good people from the old town of Ambrose.
Diane Thomte Clinton - Bismarck, ND Congratulations on a job well done! The centennial celebration was great, fun, and just right! Thanks to all who put so much work into it. Good to see so many in Ambrose - many I hadn't seen for years. You folks should go into the planning business. The town looked great and even the little breeze on Saturday didn't hurt the enthusiasm! Thank you, thank you.
Glendon Kriese - Bar Nunn, WY (Casper suburb) Just a note to say I plan to be in Ambrose July 8th. I’ll probably arrive in Williston July 6th and stay in a motel there until July 10th when I’ll leave and return to Casper, WY. My daughter in Casper was able to get some info off the NET for me - thus your address I keep in touch with Art Strand, so I can call him anytime. I hope our Class of ‘41 is represented. Six of us still remain. My dad moved to
Ambrose in July 1938 and was the Soo Line Agent until 1948. Both my
folks are deceased. My sister Phyllis Kriese class of ’43 married Arden
Carlson and they live in Pahrump, NV.
Lois Shultz Ouse - Seattle, WA Ollie Harrison and I plan on coming on Amtrak to the Centennial. Ollie is Clara Lindseth’s sister – we all grew up there and graduated from High School there. My house was the house where Myrtle Hagen now lives. I have nothing but great, good, happy memories of Ambrose. Love, Louis Ouse (Shultz) (Received via U. S. Mail)
Howard in Lancaster County, PA Hello from
Pennsylvania! Though most of my visitation will be centered around Crosby, I have been thoroughly charmed by the marvelous spirit of community and shared history that your website represents. I am almost jealous that I didn't have relatives there! Unfortunately, I will not be in the area during the time of your celebration, but I am absolutely determined to visit your fair village when I am there. Best, Howard
Lorraine (Rae) Larson Fladland - Becker, MN
Thank you, Lorraine (Rae) Larson Fladland (Received via U. S. Mail)
Helen Almos Biorn - Palo Alto, CA Thanks to all the committee for all your great work. Today I talked by phone to Judy Frost who lives in New York City. She has always been interested in Ambrose and was delighted when she found it on the Internet. Her grandfather, Grenville Baker, a lawyer from St. Paul, came to Ambrose to homestead. The Bakers had six interesting children. Annie Laurie Baker was a social worker for the University of Minnesota. During World War II she was sent to London to head up the American Red Cross. Judy’s mother Margaret Baker was an artist, Betty Baker was an opera star and Thad Baker a lawyer in Arizona. I don’t know what Steward and Bob did. The best to you all. (Received via U. S. Mail)
Nicki Wehrman Starr - San Diego, CA Hello Ambrose! Please add me to the
list for coming home for the reunion, as well as a "past resident." We
currently live in sunny and gorgeous San Diego, CA.
Bernice Grytness Lask - La Grange, Illinois (b. Ambrose 1918) My younger daughter and I would like to attend the Ambrose Centennial Celebration; however, a primary purpose for making this trip is to locate the gravesite of my brother, Paul Grytness. Paul Allen Grytness was born July 3, 1924 in Ambrose, baptized at the Norwegian Lutheran Church on August 17, 1924, and died of pneumonia at the age of two years on August 21, 1926. Paul was buried at the Ambrose Cemetery without a headstone or grave marker due to the rough economic time. Any further information regarding Paul or the location of his gravesite would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Bernice Grytness Lask
Happy Mother's Day. I'm sitting here with Jean Shaw Bryan and Toodie Hand Haak. I'm Jean's daughter, Peggy. We noticed that Jean Shaw and her brothers Jim and Hugh and her sister Margaret were left off the Former Residents page. Also, we identified two more of the Writing Rock Kids from the mystery page. Jim Shaw is between Gladys (aka "Rusty") Shaw and Gordon Miller in the lower left corner. Hugh Shaw is standing at the top to the right of Harry Miller with his tie blowing to the right. There is also a mistake on another series of photos of a little boy with a coyote. Although Archie Shaw helped catch the coyote, the boy is Jim Shaw. The little girl is Gladys "Rusty" Shaw. The bigger girl was the coyote's owner. We are inspired to send more photos because this was such fun. Wish we were all coming to the party. Peggy
Grete Isumvolden Kjølgård - Lillehammer Norway
Hello! I am interested in genealogy and started to search my family history and this two brothers we didn't know much about, and the older ones in the family who knew was not with us any longer. I found out that Ole married Ragna and that they all farmed in Ambrose, ND. So by good luck I stumpeled over this web site and suddenly I know a lot of my family in the States. Of course Ole and Chris are gone and so are their wives, and it seems that Kaare also is dead but from the family history it seems that I still have relatives living in Ambrose.
I just wanted to tell you this and that I am
reading your updates and watching all the photos with great pleasure. I
hope you will excuse my bad English but I hope you understand it. Send my best
wishes to Randi Knutson from the remaining Knutson/Isumvolden family in
Gudbrandsdalen/Lillehammer area in Norway. (It's a lot of them). And
Ambrose seems to be a good place for all the peoples who lived there and I must
say that it seems to be very green and beautiful. Perhaps I can see by my
own eyes sometimes. I hope the anniversary will be a success and a good
time for all of you.
Larry & Jean Olson - Phoenix, AZ My name is Larry Olson, my wife Jean and I were in Ambrose last summer to see my cousin Milton Olson. Milt was kind enough to sell us his house in Ambrose. We will be there this summer to attend the Centennial and move into the house. Ambrose will be our summer home, so we can get out of the heat in Arizona and spend time with relatives and new found friends. My e-mail address is norvgin =at= cox.net . See you in July, Larry and Jean Olson
Marjorie Caffrey Brackett - Casa Grande, AZ I grew up in Ambrose from 1919 to the time of my marriage in 1948. My grandfather, Thomas E. Stivers, pioneered in Ambrose in 1906 with his wife, Elizabeth, and opened a General Merchandise store. He is buried in the Ambrose Cemetery. My dad, Oren A. Caffrey, was also a pioneer in Ambrose and made his first payment on acreage in 1905. My mother, Luella N. Stivers Caffrey, came to Ambrose in 1915. I own 320 acres of land three miles northwest of Ambrose. We plan to attend the celebration with our family (there will be five of us and I will send you their names later). I am submitting this information for your updates. I have a picture of myself and friends taken in 1936 I can send if you would like it.
Thomas E. Stivers (Ted) was one of his sons and married to Pearl. They and their daughter, Jenora, lived in Crosby after their marriage. [Joy] - I learned you were related to the Millers. Last time I saw Gordon Miller, he and I were having a bridge game with his mother and mine at his house. I think it was 1948. Marge Caffrey Brackett (Read Marjorie's story of Growing Up in Ambrose.)
Diane Thomte Clinton - Bismarck, ND Hi, I am Archie Thomte's daughter. Dad passed away in April 2004. My aunt, Ruth Thomte Hansen is in Lincoln, Nebraska. I forwarded your site to her and she enjoyed it, too. I grew up 8 miles northwest of Ambrose and attended 6th grade at the Ambrose school. I graduated from CHS in 1970 - before it was DCHS. You can add me to the list of Ambrose students. I will try to write up a little family history. Thanks for putting in all the time and effort to make the website. The pictures are great. We probably have some you would be interested in - will look next time I am at the farm. I now live in Bismarck. We are having a Thomte reunion the weekend of the Ambrose Centennial. Thanks, Diane
I learned about your web site from the Crosby Journal. I just made my first visit and enjoyed seeing some familiar names even though I didn’t grow up in Ambrose. Our church, Twin Butte Lutheran, was part of the Ambrose parish, therefore, our family attended many special services there. One thing I would enjoy seeing on the site is an opportunity for people to drop a note so that we could possibly connect with past acquaintances. We became good friends with one of the pastors and I would love to know where the Kvale children are located. Keep up the good work, I’ll check back again.
First of all, thank you for the website. Ambrose means a lot to me as it was where I spent nearly all my childhood summers on my grandparents' farm (Lars & Clarice Windfaldet). The pictures and information are great to see. First, I have one name to add to your past students, my mother, Elaine Kay (Windfaldet) Mahan. She was, I believe, part of the class that had to make the move to Crosby for their senior year. I also have a few old postcards that may be of interest to you that I acquired on EBay, as well as a copy of some family photos - I know one is of an old Ambrose basketball team my grandfather was on. My Uncle Lyle has the original, I assume. I was wondering if any of this would be of use to you and if so how have you been receiving these items? Oh, and there are a few more Windfaldets resting in Ambrose cemetery (which I did the mowing for a few years in the summer) than are listed on the website. Again, thank you for the website. Well, quite some time ago I promised you some scans that went with an email I sent to you. Here they finally are. I hope that they are of sufficient quality for you to use.
It is addressed to a Mr. William Putney, 2500 Walnut St., Cedar Falls, Iowa U.S.A. It reads as follows:
If I can be of any more assistance please don't hesitate to ask. Troy Downey
Dear Ambrose Community: I just looked Ambrose up on the Internet and was excited to read about the Centennial. My mother and her 8 brothers and sisters were born in Ambrose -- my grandparents lived there from 1908 to 1924. Their names were Grenville and Annie Baker. They spent their first few years on a claim, then lived in town. Grenville had a law office in town. In 1924 the entire family moved back to St. Paul, leaving only the graves of two children who died. I have heard about Ambrose all my life. My aunt, Annie Laurie Baker, now deceased, wrote a wonderful novel about life near Ambrose -- it's never been published, but I would be delighted to make a copy of at least part of it for the reunion. I'm not sure I can come, but would love to contribute our family's memories. I'm so happy to hear Ambrose is still such a live place. The photos are beautiful. I'm tempted to make the trip! Very much look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Judy Frost My aunt, Annie Laurie Baker, was actually born in Westhope but the family moved to Ambrose and soon staked out a claim near there. They lived through several winters in a sod hut. Eventually they moved to the town of Ambrose where my grandfather practiced law. Annie graduated first in her class from the high school [Class of 1922]. She wrote her novel in the '30s. The characters are fictional, but based very heavily on lived experience. It's full of authentic-feeling detail. The first half is very readable, just needs a little editing, but the second half is very ragged. I've had it in a drawer for about ten years, planning to edit it some day. I was wondering if one of the historical societies or universities would be interested in publishing it, but haven't gotten around to doing anything about that. Maybe this Centennial is what I need to get back to work on it! Thanks for your interest. Look forward to staying in touch. Judy Frost
Shirlee Anderson Lee - Vancouver, WA Hi, I am Rudie Anderson's daughter, Shirlee, and I just was checking to see if the Ambrose website had been updated and to my surprise, I came upon the most awesome site I have seen in a long time! It is like walking down memory lane. Could I possibly have my parents names added to the list of those buried in the Ambrose Cemetery plus my aunt and uncle and of course, Grandpa Rud? Rudie Anderson, Stella Guttu Anderson, Omer Stenson, Anna Stenson, Rud Anderson Thank you so much for the list of teachers - I had forgotten some of their names. Unfortunately, I did not get to graduate from Ambrose High School. The school closed at the end of my sophomore year and I attended my last 2 years of high school in Crosby, but my heart will always be with Ambrose. I will notify everyone here I know who is from Ambrose of the website. I plan on finding some pictures to send along by email or mail - and we definitely plan on attending the Centennial in 2006 - I can hardly wait!! I have always said if someday I should win the lottery, my wish is to bring Ambrose back to life - fix up the old houses that hold so many memories for me. Thank you for this awesome "Walk Back in History". I will visit here often. Shirlee
Barbara Mace - Eden Prairie, MN Greetings to all of you hard working committee members! ... I hope to come for the celebration and to visit aunts, uncles and cousins. P.S. You might want to make a correction in the FAQ section. Under "Where is Ambrose" - it should say northwest instead of northeast. Barbara Mace (Read Barbara's story of Growing Up in Ambrose.)
Debra Grote Snyder - Schnecksville, PA Dear Friends, My name is Debra Snyder - maiden
name Grote. I grew up in Ambrose and presently live in
Schnecksville, PA. I heard through my brothers that this 100th
was taking place. I wouldn't miss it for the world! I plan
to attend along with my husband Craig and our children. God Bless Debra Grote Snyder (Read Debra's story of Growing Up in Ambrose.)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Thanks for your comments. We are always glad to hear from you. |
.jpg)
