The teacher

Nellie Marie Forthun Dahl, circa 1906
 

This is my great-aunt, Nellie Marie Forthun Dahl. She was the older sister of my maternal grandfather, Julius Matthew Forthun.

Nellie was born in Traill County, Dakota Territory (later North Dakota), in 1886. Her father, a Norwegian immigrant, died when she was 13 years old. At a time when less than 10% of men were high school graduates, Nellie graduated from Mayville State Teachers College (North Dakota) in 1906 and became a teacher. While teaching, she also filed a Homestead Claim in McKenzie County, North Dakota, as a single woman. She married a fellow homesteader, Christ Dahl, a Norwegian immigrant, in 1910. Nellie gave birth to a stillborn baby girl in May 1918, and died less than two months later at age 32, likely as a result of heart problems complicated by childbirth. She left behind a six year old daughter, Olive, and a two year old son, Henry. Henry was killed in action in Italy during World War II. Olive married and had a son, who generously gave me this photograph of his grandmother (circa 1906 while she was in college) before he died, and helped me gain a greater understanding of Nellie’s life. Nellie and her husband are buried in Garden Valley Cemetery, Watford City, McKenzie County, North Dakota.