HOMESTEAD HISTORY

Jerry was born here on his grandparents' homestead in 1926, where he lived with his mother and her parents until enlisting in the Army Air Corps in June 1944. After the war, with a MS in chemistry, and a Ph.D. in Old Testament theology, he went on to become a Lutheran pastor and Associate Professor of Chemistry. He returned to this farm in 1978 with his wife, Joyce who eventually retired from her work as a college counselor and administrator to. devote her time to work alongside Jerry in building, rebuilding and restoring the homestead. 

The main house incorporates the homestead cabin built in 1884 under the authority of the Homestead Act. A certified document signed by President William Henry Harrison is displayed in the cabin.  Nine children were born in the original cabin built by Swedish immigrant John A Carlson and his wife Carolina Larson-Naess.

In 1978, Joyce and Jerry moved out to the farm to build, rebuild, and restore the property. They borrowed a bulldozer and dug a walk-out basement house made of concrete block and wood frame. Then, they chased the squirrels and chipmunks out of the homestead cabin, cut it in half and hired Ernest Johnson of McIntosh to lift the two portions on top of the first story with the bucket end of a backhoe. Finally, they  nailed it back together again and reroofed the whole three-story unit. They kept the cabin portion near to what it looked like in the 1800s, but adapted it somewhat to meet the needs of their own large family.

Many of the windows and doors were reclaimed from the Fosston recycling plant (before they restricted salvaging!). Joyce and Jerry built the fireplace using local field stones as well as rocks and fossils they picked up on travels both east and west, as far away as Norway. 

 Johann Carlson immigrated and  staked a claim to his homestead in 1883 as part of the Homestead Act.  He received a certificate of ownership for the farm  on February 12, 1891 under President Harrison.  The Homestead Act of 1862 provided 160 acres of public land to any adult citizen or to any immigrant who had filed their intention to become a citizen. The homesteader was required to build a dwelling and make improvements to the land in order to obtain a deed of title. The homesteader was also required to live on the land for five years. 

Joyce and Jerry attached the chapel to the old red granary, and converted that into another living area. Now instead of three grain bins, the granary has a kitchen and parlor. They recycled an old camper trailer, using the drop-down table/bed, kitchen sink, gas stove and iceboxes.

The parlor retains the old bin boards in the walls and the poplar poles used for studdings and stringers. Lighting comes from old kerosene and gas lanterns, but electricity was also added. Furniture and assorted antique items are from the original homestead cabin. They also incorporated a reception room at the front of the building (originally built for storing small machinery), which is accessed through the original sliding panel door. Convenient to the chapel complex, they built a new foundation for the outhouse built by Carl Carlson in 1935.

Outside the granary and barn are many of the old farm implements that were used in clearing, tilling, and planting the fields as required by the Homestead Act.

One of the most interesting items is a stump puller (windlass) powered in the early days by a Percheron. Tack for all the huge workhorses remains in the barn along with small equipment such as scythes, cauldrons for butchering, stone crocks, etc. 

Joyce and Jerry's next remodel was to convert the chicken coop into a woodworking shop and restore the old outhouse into working condition. Then they bought an old one-stall garage from a farmer near Gary, MN, rotated one wall out, and attached it to the chicken coop, creating an area originally planned as a refinishing room for projects built in the shop.

Due to a freak internal flood in the main house, much of the first floor had to be remodeled, so, not wanting to waste any of the material, they hauled what was damaged but restorable (cupboards, sink, picture window, patio doors) down to the refinishing room, and turned it into a kitchen and living room.

They later added a bathroom and bedroom, thus creating a small apartment. As Joyce and Jerry prepared to take retirement a little more seriously, they further subdivided the woodworking shop into a stained glass workshop, den, and entry closet.