Albert Hoiland

Find A Grave Memorial

Albert Hoiland, 88, inventor and resident of North Dakota since territorial days, whose home was in Fargo many years, died Wednesday in Lansing, Michigan.

He and Mrs. Hoiland had been in Lansing since February and were staying with their daughter, Mrs. Jessie Johnson Combs. Their home, at 823 27th St. N. Fargo, was destroyed in the tornado of June 20. Mr. Hoiland was the inventor of numerous devices used in farming, his best known being a wild oats separator.

He invented the device in 1912 and came to Fargo in 1914 to manufacture it. In subsequent years he continued the manufacture of this and other devices, his shop being at Main Avenue and 23rd Street. The shop at present is leased to Donald Dickerson.

The body will be accompanied to Wright Funeral Home, Moorhead, arriving Saturday afternoon. The funeral will be at 2 Monday in Wright Chapel.

Mr. Hoiland was born at Rushford, Minn., April 23, 1869, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Aadne Hoiland. The family came to Dakota Territory in 1879, settling in what is now Barnes County, south of Valley City.

Mr. Hoiland attended school in what is believed to have been the first school in that area, 10 miles south of Valley City.

After growing to manhood, he farmed in the Kathryn, N.D., area until soon after 1900 when he moved to Nome, N.D., and became a distributor of windmill feed grinders. His first invention was a shutter for automobile radiators, which he sold for $50,000 and which was widely used. In 1912 he developed his wild oats separator and came to Fargo in 1914. He tinkered in his shop and came up with numerous other inventions, having received some 26 patents at various times.

He resided in Fargo much of the time since 1914, but spent 33 months in charge of the tool room of Nash-Kelvinator Co., East Lansing, Mich., in World War II. Afterwards he returned here and resumed the manufacture of his wild oats separator.

Mr. Hoiland married Paula Harland of Fingal, N.D. June 6, 1897. Besides Mrs. Hoiland and the daughter in Lansing, he leaves two sisters, Mrs. Alfred Zuger of Bismarck and Mrs. R. D. Flavin, Swartz Creed, Mich., and a grandson. A daughter, Mrs. Thomas Boyd, died in 1945. Seven brothers and sisters also preceded him in death.

Mr. Hoiland was a member of First Lutheran Church and of the Masonic Lodge.

Published in the Litchville Bulletin, Litchville, North Dakota, 1957. Courtesy of Dennis C. Olson