Chapter 5: Life after Nils
After Nils died, my older brother Ole who was going to the state university that year stayed with us. He took us back to Minneapolis after Christmas. We hired a young woman from Rushford to go back with us to help. And she stayed until we moved to Rushford in July of 1934.
The birth of Nels
I had been anemic that winter and had been going to a doctor for checkups, but he hadn’t given me anything to check it. Then on April 20, 1934 — just four days before what would have been his father’s birthday — I gave birth to a boy I named Nels Erling. Nels was so weak when he was born the doctors didn’t expect him to live.
My mother came by train and stayed a week and took the street car to our home on Pillsbury Ave. and to the hospital to see me almost every day. I have to admire her spunk doing this alone at age sixty-five. Nels was kept in an incubator for five weeks before I could take him home. He picked up fast after that.
We were on city relief until we moved back down to Rushford.
Moving back
Later that summer we moved back to be closer to home. There was a trucker’s strike in the cities at that time so Ole made arrangements for someone from Rushford to come and pick up our furniture. We were afraid the strikers would stop the truck but we got through and down to Rushford.
My parents had rented a house in Brooklyn [a neighborhood in Rushford] owned by Mrs. Henry Martin for $20 a month. We lived there seven years until the Hollenbeck house was vacant, two houses up the street. We lived there about seven years.
It wasn’t easy to be left alone with four young children. I remember many times I was scared. The children would play at other peoples homes and sometimes forget to come home before dark. But God was with us and nothing bad happened. I believe God answers our prayers and many went up. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy especially for the boys to grow up without a dad.
No father, little money
I applied for Aid to Dependent Children when we came to Rushford. We were told we had to live in the county one year before we would be eligible to receive county aid. Nils had a $2,000 dollar life insurance policy and this helped a lot. It paid for the funeral expenses and kept us going almost the whole year. The rent and light had to be paid on time and wood had to be bought for fuel.
I bought cord wood and had someone saw it. And I would split it. I remember one time the cord wood was from willow trees and that is twisted and harder to split than other kinds of wood. But a little at a time and I got it done. When you are young things go easier.
The grocers were willing to let us charge until I could pay. I must have looked honest. I know grocers lost on some people. I remember it amounted to $80 by the time we received our first Aid to Dependent Children check for $35 a month.
The only doctor care needed was that Nels had to have his tonsils and adenoids out when he was about one and a half years old. He struggled so for breath when he was sleeping that it had to be taken care of. James must have been twelve or thirteen years old when he had his out. We were on relief after Nils took sick and I had to take the street car down to City Hall to apply for relief every month. The school nurse found that Ethelyn had to have her tonsils out so I had to take her down to the hospital at seven in the morning and leave her there all alone. They didn’t want any relatives around. These tonsil operations were paid for by the county.
Getting by
The $35 a month was raised to $40 after several years. The folks tried to help but they, too, were not in too good circumstances.
The girls worked for some family in town on Saturdays and did baby sitting. Hesbys had Ethelyn and later James help them in the summer when they were big enough and Nels later yet. Lila had a paper route for a while and the boys later. The John Bergs asked Ethelyn to go with them to work when they moved to La Crosse. Then when Ethelyn graduated, Ole had a job in Chicago and asked Ethelyn to come down and get a job.
She and two of her friends from Brooklyn went. They stayed with Ole so we weren’t so worried about letting them go.
Next: Epilogue
Margit Mindrum 