The C. W. & Florella Myers Family
Back: Millard, Nettie, Arthur, Alva
Front: Lillie, C. W., Mabel, Zora, Florella
 

Nettie was born March 25, 1913 in Plankinton, South Dakota. Her parents were Charlie William (C. W.) Myers and Florella Mayo (Kinman) Myers from Winterset, Iowa. The seven children in the Myers family, from oldest to youngest, were Arthur, Alva, Zora, Mabel, Millard, Nettie and Lillie.
 

Her family moved to Ambrose in 1915 when Nettie was two years old. They came by train. They bought farmland 4 ½ miles NW of Ambrose and lived in the granary on the property while C. W., with the help of Joe Ness, built their home. She remembers that her dad would chew wheat like it was gum, but she could never figure out how to do that.

Grant School No. 1, 1922-1923
Millard Myers, Mabel Myers, Nettie Myers, Kermit Thomte, Zora Myers (teacher), Vernon Thomte

Nettie attended country school at Grant School No.1, about one mile from her home. During the 1922-1923 school year her teacher was her oldest sister Zora!  Her brother Millard and sister Mabel were also students that year and there were 6 students total. Nettie hated geography and history. One day Zora gave everyone an assignment to learn the names of the 13 original colonies. When Nettie refused, Zora told her she would have to stay after school until she agreed to learn them. Nettie said that was fine, but she still wasn’t going to learn them. So Nettie and Zora stayed after school for a long time, but Nettie kept refusing to do the assignment. Nettie proved to be more stubborn than Zora, because finally Zora gave up and took Nettie home. Nettie thinks maybe she gave up because it was dark by then.

On the farm there was no running water. The family hauled water from the well and also had a cistern and a hand pump in the kitchen. There was no electricity or telephone. They used carbide lights. Her mother used sadirons for the ironing and Nettie helped her iron.

The Myers family decided they wanted a smaller farm closer to Ambrose and the high school, so in 1927 they sold out and bought another farm ½ mile north of Ambrose. They sold their original home to Murray Torgeson, who moved it on telephone pole skids to his farm south of Ambrose. Murray’s daughter Kathy Radenic and her husband Joe Radenic live in that home today. On the new farm the Myers built a house that later became the Rudie Anderson home and is today the home of Rudie’s grandson B. J. Wehrman and his wife Kami.

Nettie’s father loved music and dancing but was unable to dance himself due to a bad leg. Her mother was a strict Baptist who thought dancing was sinful and you would go to hell for it. She would rather be dead than caught in a dance hall. Nevertheless, C. W. took his daughters to the Ambrose dances when they were teenagers. He loved listening to the music and watching them dance with the local boys. Strangely, Nettie doesn’t remember her mother ever saying anything about it or getting mad at her dad for taking them dancing. Nettie has loved dancing ever since. Her husband Arne was a good dancer, although he wasn’t that crazy about it. But he took her dancing often because she loved it so much. Once, when Arne was in the Good Samaritan Home where he spent the last seven years of his life, Nettie danced with him while he sat in his wheel chair. Even today, after Arne’s death, she often puts on a tape of dance music and dances alone in her house for a half hour or so.

Nettie is the only person she knows of who attended Ambrose High School for five years without having to do so. She wanted in the worst way to go to college, but money was tight and women did not often go on to higher education in those days. So, she went back to high school for another year to take additional classes, including typing. That typing class really paid off in later years when she needed a job.

Sander & Mabel Torgeson and Ole & Zora Myers Nygaard double wedding November 10, 1924

One day her sister Zora married Ole Nygaard. The witnesses at their wedding were Mabel and Sander Torgeson. When the party arrived at the courthouse Mabel and Sander suddenly decided to get married too, so it became a double wedding!

Nettie’s mother Florella died when Nettie was 21 years old. Her mother stepped out of a sleigh one day, slipped and broke her leg. She spent the next six weeks in the Ambrose Hospital. Finally the doctor said she could go home. She was so happy she sang a hymn. Nettie has always regretted not being able to remember the name of that hymn, as the nurses told her what it was. Her mother had heart problems and just before she was due to go home she had a heart attack. Since there was no phone at the farm, a friend drove his buggy there to tell the family they had better hurry to the hospital. But when they got there, Florella was gone.

Nettie particularly remembers a clothing and general merchandise store in Ambrose run by two sisters. The sisters never married and ran the store for many years. It was very unusual for women to be in business in those days.

Nettie married Arnold (Arne) Torgerson November 10,  1937. Arne’s parents Henry and Carrie Torgerson farmed south of Ambrose. Carrie died in the great flu epidemic in 1918. The photo at the bottom of this page shows  Henry and Carrie on their farmstead with two oxen teams and little Arne, about 1909. Arne worked for Miller’s Garage in Ambrose as a mechanic. For about three years when they were first married Nettie and Arne lived in an apartment on the second story of the Miller building. There were many one-room apartments there, but because Arne worked for the Miller’s they got three rooms for $11 a month.

In 1941 Nettie and Arne moved to Crosby. They bought an unfinished home and then lived in the house next door for quite a few years while they completed their home.  Nettie still lives in the same house.  The house next door (currently owned by Ellen Ness) is still there also.

Arne contracted tuberculosis while in Crosby and spent 2 ½ years in a sanatorium. When this happened Nettie got a job at a dime store for $100 a month. Later she worked for 13 years as secretary at the Crosby school, and then worked part time at the Divide County Treasurer’s office for many years.

Art Myers, one of Nettie’s brothers, was James Myers’ father. After James’ mother died his uncle Alva and wife adopted him. James married Arlene, who still lives on the farm in the Ambrose area. James was crushed to death by an escaped bull some years ago.

Nettie's fondest memories of her childhood in Ambrose were being able to go to high school for a fifth year to learn all the things she couldn't fit into her schedule during the first four years, and attending the frequent dances in Ambrose.  She says Crosby is "not a dancing town" and she really missed the dancing when she moved.

Henry and Carrie Torgerson and Arnold around 1909 on the farm south of Ambrose

Nettie Torgerson, Crosby, ND

Family history taken from a personal interview
conducted on January 31, 2006 by Donna Haslett-Nelson.
Photos from the collection of Nettie Torgerson.