Starting the Family Farm With a Quarter Section

My grandfather, Soren C. Anderson, received the "patent papers" on his land donation claim September 29th, 1888. They are signed by President Grover Cleveland, and entitled him to 153 and 99/100th acres for his family farm. It was not a full quarter section of 160 acres because the land was just five miles from the "correction line." Grandpa raised wheat and corn, as well as some cattle and hogs. After a number of years he began to buy up nearby land until he had four additional quarter sections.

This is how it came about that in 1911 my father, John Hoien, rented two quarter sections from my grandfather. The land was about six miles west of Conde, South Dakota. I was born on that farm in 1914. We had a large, two-story L-shaped house with a roofed side porch filling in the L. Our barn was only a small she but when I was 4 years old a large barn with a big haymow was built. One day when it was nearly finished, I was playing in the yard, barefooted, when my father called to me, saying, "Go and wash your feet real good in the horse trough." I did and Father came and carried me to the new cement that had been poured for the driveway between the stalls in the barn. He carefully set me down in the wet cement, with his hand pressing my feet deep into it. When he lifted me up he said I could wash my feet again. So my footprints were always there in the barn. I was quite proud of them and when other children came to play with us I'd take them to the barn to show off my footprints. .

It was about a year later on a dry, extremely hot summer day that we saw black clouds forming in the northwest. Soon Father came running to the house shouting, "A tornado is coming!" He then hurried to the barn to close the big haymow door. Mother gathered us children into a back bedroom where we clung to her. We could hear the awful rumble of the wind that shook the ground as the funnel approached. Although it was daytime it became very dark, and I remember Mother quietly praying for God to protect us. Suddenly there was a screeching, grinding sound, the house shook and then all became quiet and rain began to fall. We looked out and Father came, saying it was all past now. Then we saw that the corner porch post had been wrenched out of our side porch! There were five buildings on our farm and that was the only damage to any of them. One header box had been lifted off of its wheels and smashed, and we found a few dead chickens, but we all felt that God had heard Mother's prayers for protection.