Original Homesteaders, Charles Skoglund

Original homesteader Charles Skoglund lived on the Axel Johnson homestead for a brief time while he was in Canada.  When Axel moved back the the U.S. Charles Skoglund started a new homestead just half a mile away.   

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Skoglund were married in 1901 at Wheaton, Minn., both having arrived from Sweden several years before.  Charles was born in Vestergotland in 1864 and came to Minnesota with his parents when he was seven.

His wife was born in Varmland in 1877 and came to Wheaton, Minnesota, in 1886 with her father and brother.

This young couple first came to Bottineau County where they proved up her homestead in the Turtle Mts.  They moved to Souris in 1906 where he managed an elevator and was rural mail carrier.  They came to McKenzie County in 1910 and filed on a  homestead in Garden Township.  While they lived on the Axel Johnson farm in the summer of 1912, a tornado destroyed all the buildings on the place.  The granary in which they were sleeping left the ground just as Mrs. Skoglund woke up and called to her husband to grab the children.   They managed to escape but with possessions scattered all over the prairies.  Mr. Skoglund scantily clad went to a neighbor, P. G. Anrstrad for help.

They had 5 children.