Walter Dahlberg farm is named Century Farm

By Darlene Sawyer

The family of Walter Dahlberg of Clearbrook has been notified by the Headwaters Farm Bureau Federation and the Minnesota State Fair that their farm has been designated a Century Farm in Clearwater County. What this means is that the farm has been under the ownership of a Dahlberg family member for 100 years.

To understand this award, we need to go back into one hundred years of history for Clearwater County and the surrounding area.

Hans Dahlberg was born in 1869 in Rittvik, Dalarna, Sweden. At age 23 (in 1892), he joined other Swedish immigrants and came to the Cambridge, Minn., area to work with some cousins. He met his wife in Cambridge and married her in 1901. They raised three children: Walter, Mary Ann, and Henry.

In January 1919, Hans and son Walter, age 17, loaded four freight train cars in Cambridge with their horses, cows, chickens, pigs, hay, grain and wood to burn at the farm that they had bought in Clearbrook. It took them three days to come from Cambridge to Clearbrook. Hans’ wife Anna, son Henry, and daughter Maryann came later in the spring.

Hans bought the farm in 1919 from John Asplund, secured a loan, and paid him off. In their early years at Clearbrook they raised potatoes, and within four years paid off the loan, built a new barn, and bought a new car. Walter met his wife Ellen Sjolander when she helped pick potatoes for the Dahlbergs.

Walter and Ellen married in 1939 and bought a farm in another township. They raised four daughters: Linda, Dianne, Pam, and Cindy. All four girls attended Clearbrook High School. In 1953, Walter bought the Dahlberg farm from his dad.

 Ellen graduated from high school at the age of 16, and after one year of normal training at Bemidji began teaching country school. She taught from 1929-1939. She quit teaching when she married Walter.

When World War II started, Ellen was recruited by Supt. Mae Barness to return to teaching at the Winsor School (north of Gonvick). When the war was over, she again quit teaching but returned to the classroom in the 1960’s. By then, country schools were closed. She went back to college and earned her teaching degree, graduating in 1966, the same year their daughter, Linda, graduated from high school. She taught in Lengby for two years and then in McIntosh until she retired at age 65.

After Walter retired from farming, his nephew David Dahlberg rented the Dahlberg farm and he continues to rent the pasture and fields today.

Besides teaching, Ellen raised raspberries and a big garden. Their daughter Dianne explained, “We canned everything, all kinds of fruit, including the raspberries. We also raised chickens and helped gather the eggs. Dad cut the heads off the chickens and we plucked and canned them.

“Mom loved to entertain and we had company almost every Sunday. The standard meal was fried chicken with lemon pie for dessert. Mom was famous for her cooking…especially her desserts.” Pam’s favorite was angel food cake with a chocolate sauce over it; Diane’s was pumpkin pie.

The Dahlberg family belongs to the First Baptist Church in Clearbrook. Hans was one of the founding fathers of the First Baptist Church. Dianne’s husband, Rick Moore, is also a pastor.

Walter enjoyed music, too. He was part of a male quartet called The Four Swedes. He sang tenor, along with Bill Anderson, Emil Nelson, and Elmer Anderson. Their pianist was Selma Nelson. They sang at many events around this area for over 30 years.

Life was much easier for the whole Dahlberg family when electricity was brought to rural farms by the REA. Before electricity, lanterns were a common source of light for the family. Diane added, “I still have one of the lamps that my father used.”

Walter also drove school bus for many years. In the early years he used a sleigh and horses. He would heat bricks for the children to put their feet on to keep warm. He also drove bus for Lewis Emmel and later for Harlyn Johnson.

Dianne said, “Both Mom and Dad spoke Swedish, especially when they didn’t want us girls to know what they were saying. Dad didn’t learn to speak English until he went to grade school because his family spoke only Swedish all the time at home.”

In 1995, Ellen went to Sweden as a tourist with Mary Eddy so she “could see her roots.”

Today, Dianne’s daughter Heidi and granddaughter Anna live in the original farm house. Dianne and her husband Rick own a home on the Dahlberg property. Anna is the fifth generation to live on the Dahlberg farm.