Days 36 & 37: Searching for Sando History

The weather this past weekend was what the British would term 'unsettled:' it could be sunny one minute, cold and raining the next.  So we needed to find something to do with ourselves.  

Alea's surname is Sando and her great grandfather, Halvor Lars Sando, had squatted on land in Pembina County, Dakota Territory in 1881, eight years before North Dakota became a state.  The land that he, his siblings and his mother had entered was mainly located in the section northwest of the town of St. Thomas.  A family history written by Gilbert H. Sando (Alea's grandfather) contained a quote stating that Halvor's mother, Guri Sando, had been buried at St. Thomas Lutheran Cemetery and it was located a mile west of the farm of Halvor's brother Nels.

So we set out to find St. Thomas Lutheran Cemetery, but could find no reference to it.  However, on the land that Halvor had patented (which he owned for just a short time) we found St. Thomas Catholic Cemetery.  Had the Lutherans sold the property to the Catholics?  Nels had patented property about a mile to the south, so was the book narrative incorrect about his properties' direction from the cemetery?

We then found where a "Gure Sando" was buried at St. Johns Lutheran Cemetery near St. Thomas.  Unfortunately, there was also a St. John Lutheran Cemetery nearby and we incorrectly visited that cemetery.  Needless to say, we came up empty.

We returned to Grand Forks and investigated by reviewing historic atlases found at Historic Map Works, where there were several atlases dating from 1893 to the 1950s.  In a 1928 Atlas we found where Nels had owned 420 acres near the intersection of US 81 and ND 66.  And that is when we figured out where the correct St. Johns Lutheran Cemetery (simply St. Johns Cemetery on Find-A-Grave) was located.

So on Sunday we returned, and found Guri's headstone (a fairly new stone, which partly explains the different spelling of Gure found on the stone).  We also found the headstone of Louise (Nyhus) Sando, Alea's great grandmother (Halvor's first wife).  She had died in 1895, leaving Halvor a widower with five young children.

Alea's 2nd great grandmother's headstone.

Alea's great grandmother's headstone.

So it turned out that the family history was accurate, with the exception of the name of the cemetery (though the confusion is understandable).

After our success, we traveled to Turtle River State Park for a picnic lunch and a hike on their trail system.

Alea and Joe hiking through the hardwood forest
at Turtle River State Park.

And we capped off the evening by attending the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks' penultimate baseball game of the season.  They had trailed the entire game behind the Amarillo Thunderheads, only to rally in the ninth to win.  It was a fun experience, as there wasn't a bad seat in the entire stadium, since everyone is seated close to the action.