Chris Dragland 1885 - 1973

By Don Dragland

Chris Dragland told me he figured he started working when he was about 9 or 10 years old. School wasn't real important to the family, I guess, as he calculated he probably attended school for about three years. Whatever he picked up was basically self-taught or learned during what they called "reading for the minister" (confirmation). He went to barber school, but that abruptly ended when his father, Lars committed suicide. Chris left home after that and went out to establish a homestead for himself north of New England, North Dakota in 1907.

The land, consisting of 160 acres, was deeded to him in 1909, signed by President Taft himself. Chris was a bachelor out there for 8 years, until he met and married a former neighbor's daughter who had come out to the New England area to visit her older sister. Ansoph Krogh had lived her whole 20 years on her father Andrew Krogh's homestead which was about 3 miles from the Lars Dragland homestead. In fact, Ansoph had gone to the one room rural school with some of Chris' sisters. Ansoph, being "only" a girl, was not allowed to pursue her education. Interestingly enough, her brothers were even sent to a private high school in Moorhead, Minnesota called Concordia (which became a college in 1917, shortly after they graduated from the place.)

Ansoph and Chris were married in her parents' home on December 17, 1917. They spent the next 19 years on Chris' homestead and four more quarters he had purchased. Chris's farming in the western part of the state was "done in" by the Dirty 30's, but unlike a lot of other people, he had a place to go. That was Lars Dragland's homestead north of McVille, which had been rented out to various neighbors for years. Chris and Ansoph lived on that farm from 1936 until 1954 when the bank at McVille demanded their money for some loans.

Then the family lived in a house in McVille that Ansoph had inherited from her family. They both basically retired, doing odd jobs around town like babysitting or working for local farmers. Ansoph died from cancer in 1964 and Chris from a massive stroke in 1973. Chris had spent the last several years of his life in a rest home in Northwood, North Dakota.

Chris Dragland, September 3, 1885 - February 11, 1973
Ansoph Krogh Dragland, November 14, 1897 - September 8, 1964

Their Children:

1. Leroy Dragland, 1918 - 1998
2. Gladys Dragland Peterson, 1920 - 2003
3. Hazel Dragland Rust, 1921
4. Etta Dragland Tommerdahl, 1923
5. Chris Dragland Junior, 1925 - 2001
6. Sidney Dragland, 1927
7. Mary Ann Dragland Sundquist, 1929
8. Grace Dragland vonRuden, 1931
9. Dorothy Dragland Stevens, 1933
10. Mavis Dragland Dahl, 1936
11. Juel Dragland, 1938
12. Joyce Dragland von Ruden, 1940 - 1996
13. Don Dragland, 1942



Back to the list of stories