Manfred History & Preservation, Inc.
Art and Edna Larson
Husband's Full Name: Arthur Ludwig Larson
Husband's Place of Birth: Cummings, ND
Husband's Father's Name: Peter Larson
Husband's Mother's Name: Hansine
Husband's Siblings' Names: Emil Larson
Wife's Full Name: Edna Christine Ongstad
Wife's Place of Birth: Pelican Rapids, Ottertail Co., MN
Wife's Father's Name: Hans Peder Hendrickson
Wife's Mother's Name: Nicoline Olson
Wife's Siblings' Names: Hilda, Clara, Alfred, Emil, Anna, Henry, Olaf, Oscar, James, Lottie, Minnie,
Children's Names: Leland (Delores Davidson) Larson, Ardis (Henry Kucera), Kermit (Beverly Valent) Waldo (Judith Stockert) Janice (George Dean)
Service to Country: Private Arthur L. Larson, Son of Peter Larson, Manfred, ND, entered the service November 5, 1918, and was assigned to the S.A. T.C. Co A., ND Agricultural College Unit. He was on duty at Fargo, but a short time when World War I came to an end and was mustered out of service December 9, 1918.
Wedding: Last Sunday, June 10 at 3 p. m. occurred the wedding of Miss Edna Ongstad to Mr. Arthur Larson at the Manfred Lutheran church. Rev. Langseth read the service in the presence of the immediate relatives and a number of friends. The altar was decked with flowers. Miss Mildred Ongstad and Miss Margaret Moen were bridesmaids and James Ongstad and Emil Larson attended the groom. Miss Gudrun Kopseng played the wedding march. She also accompanied Miss Evelyn Moen who sang, "Oh Promise Me."
The bride wore a gown of white satin crepe and silk lace made with a long waisted bodice and a bouffant draped skirt, covered with lace and rhinestones. Her veil was caught with a wreath of lilies of the valley and she carried a shower bouquet of pink roses and snowballs. Miss Mildred Ongstad wore a gown of peach georgette and Miss Margaret Moen a frock of orchid crepe de chine. Following the ceremony a reception was held in the church parlors, which were decorated in pink and white, and at five o'clock a wedding dinner was served. The bride and groom left Sunday evening on a motor trip through Northern Minnesota and Canada and expect to be gone about ten days after which they will be at home at the Larson farm six miles northeast of Manfred. Mr. Larson is a well-known, industrious young farmer of this community and has operated his father’s farm for the past few years.
His bride has been a resident of this community only since last fall but has won for herself a host of friends. She came to Manfred from Columbus, ND, and before that was a resident of Pelican Rapids, Minn.
Edna Christine was the youngest in the Ongstad family and was born in 1900. She came to visit brothers and sisters who had followed the adage of “going west” and met Art in central North Dakota. She was a redhead and had the pep and spice to go with it. If all the other farmwomen milked cows, that didn’t mean that she did. She had a mind of her own, was inventive and creative, learned to ride a bike at 40, to shoot pheasants and plan and carry out woodworking. Her life was cut short by injuries suffered in a car accident (of course she was driving at age 74). There was a resulting blood clot or heart attack as she was recovering.
Her husband, Arthur Larson, was born to a Swedish father and Danish mother who immigrated to America in the 1880s. Art started life in eastern North Dakota. He came (at age 4) with his family to homestead in Wells County in 1894. He spent his whole life as a farmer and with Edna raised five children during the depression. There was also another child – stillborn. Art survived blood poisoning, encephalitis, many bouts of pneumonia, high blood pressure and heart trouble, (which cut short his farming years). He lived for 82 years, the last ones being spent in Heimdal and then Fessenden. He was rather quiet, not easily riled, and had a good sense of humor.
Source: Janice Larson Dean