Our family ties to Laura Ingalls family and the Little House On the Prairie

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Rebecca Lynn Norberg
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Brandon Michael Smith
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Allison Paige Norberg

This was sent to me from Grandmother Gertrude's nephew, my first cousin once removed, Orville Johnson:

<<<Yes, it was your great, great, great uncle Anders Haraldsen Wigen who left Norway and probably arrived in Walnut Grove Minnesota in 1870 or early 1871 with his brother Harald. He homesteaded 80 acres and settled in the sod house set in the banks of Plum Creek a couple of miles north of Walnut Grove in North Hero Township. His other brother Ole arrived in 1871 and claimed the adjacent 80 acres to the east. In 1873 Charles Ingalls and his family arrived and according to Laura Ingalls Wilders' book "On the Banks of Plum Creek" in the Little house on the Prairie series, traded their horse Bunny and wagon to "Mr. Hanson" for the farm and sod house. At that time Anders used Haraldsen, not Wigen as his last name and could easily been misunderstood or changed to Hanson for the story. The Ingalls stayed on the farm for two years, which would have satisfied the five year homestead requirements, and then sold it and moved on to Dakota Territory. They returned to Walnut Grove several years later and Charles Ingalls was involved in community leadership

I first heard this story from my mothers cousin Myron Wigen and he showed us the place probably thirty years ago. I searched for some documentation and ultimately with the help of Stan Gordon, the curator of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, came up with a "Declatory Statement" showing the signatures of Anders Haraldsen and Charles Ingalls. The Declaratory Statement was used until the homestead had satisfied the five year period and been "proved up". Stan Gordon lived on the farm as a child and now owns it. There is a memorial sign on the side of the road and he has tours to the sod house site.

Anders and Harald went on to the Dakota Territory and Ole remained on the adjacent place and it was in his family until his son Harald died in a tractor accident in 1933.>>>

Check out this link http://www.ourstorymn.com/ for a story about the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum. Scroll down to The Women of Sweet Swine County Episode 17.

There are also two other stories about Walnut Grove and the Wilder Pageant if you go to the bottom of the page and select Walnut Grove under the Featured Towns.