Title
ADELMAR AND HELEN BEAUDOIN
Creator
Joe Beaudoin
Coverage
TOWNSHIP 139N RANGE 96W
Text
ADELMAR AND HELEN BEAUDOIN
My mother, Helen Dorval, was born in 1871 at Cap-de-Magdalene, Quebec, located along the St. Laurence River, inhabited only by the French and the Indians. When she was eight years old, she with her parents left Canada and settled near Wild Rice, N.D. The first settlers, mostly French, made their living hunting buffalo and trapping. Later the government opened this area to homesteading. Under the Homestead Act, a family could acquire land by settling on it, plowing up so many acres, planting some trees and also budding a dam for their water rights. They had to live there three to five years and the land would become theirs. This required little money, but a great deal of hard work.
My father, Adelmar Beaudoin, was born at Penet Anguishene, Ontario in 1855. He arrived in the Wild Rice area five years after my mother's family had settled there. There he met my mother, Helen Dorval, then 13 years old and they were married. The homestead land was all taken up so they decided on filing in the area that is now Willow City, N.D., near Bottineau. They packed their belongings in a wagon and started out on the 200 mile journey, which took seven days. They built a shack out of sod and some wood, and broke a few acres of land. They were fortunate to have a creek nearby with plenty of water in it. Times were hard and there was no money for necessities. My dad with two other neighbor men went back to the Wild Rice area to help with the threshing, earning enough money to live through the long cold winter. My mother and the neighbor women were left alone during that time. The shack they lived in didn’t have a door, just a blanket hung in the opening. Bands of Indians would camp along the river. They would come to see and want to trade her wild game for the bread she baked. They’d keep coming back for more bread until she had given them all she had. They would have a pow-wow and then leave.
My mother was 14 years old when my oldest brother, Alex, was born on this homestead in 1885. They stayed here a few years to prove their claim, but the winters were so cold, many times down to 60 degrees below zero. Living in a shack with a small baby, it was all they could do to survive. The summers were so hot and dry that everything they tried to grow burned up. They decided to move to Montana, as he had two brothers there. He got work in a lumber camp. One day he picked up a newspaper and read that his two brothers had been shot in a holdup, while working on the Great Northern Railroad, north of Helena. My dad hired a guide and a pack horse, but got there a week after they were buried. He found out that his brothers and four other men were living in a tent along the railroad site. One night two armed men entered the tent while they were playing cards. The robbers commanded them to put their hands up and turn over all their money, but instead one of the brothers reached for his gun. He was immediately shot. One of the men got away and started to run and he was shot. All six men were shot, but two of them survived to tell the story and identify the killers. They were caught and tried. One of them had in his possession a watch that belonged to one of the brothers, the evidence needed to send them to prison.
Joe Beaudoin married Hannah Booke. They have lived in the Dickinson area for 59 years. They raised a family of fourteen children who are: Dorothy Pfau, Lester, Lorne, Wallace, Jeanette Giles (who is deceased), Arvilla Holder, LaVonne Zeren, Floyd, LeRoy (Pudge), Kenneth, Marlese Bogner, Marge Gunderson, Diana Meyers, and Tommy.
Joe and Hannah are both active members of the Sunset Center for Senior Citizens.
By Joe Beaudoin
My mother, Helen Dorval, was born in 1871 at Cap-de-Magdalene, Quebec, located along the St. Laurence River, inhabited only by the French and the Indians. When she was eight years old, she with her parents left Canada and settled near Wild Rice, N.D. The first settlers, mostly French, made their living hunting buffalo and trapping. Later the government opened this area to homesteading. Under the Homestead Act, a family could acquire land by settling on it, plowing up so many acres, planting some trees and also budding a dam for their water rights. They had to live there three to five years and the land would become theirs. This required little money, but a great deal of hard work.
My father, Adelmar Beaudoin, was born at Penet Anguishene, Ontario in 1855. He arrived in the Wild Rice area five years after my mother's family had settled there. There he met my mother, Helen Dorval, then 13 years old and they were married. The homestead land was all taken up so they decided on filing in the area that is now Willow City, N.D., near Bottineau. They packed their belongings in a wagon and started out on the 200 mile journey, which took seven days. They built a shack out of sod and some wood, and broke a few acres of land. They were fortunate to have a creek nearby with plenty of water in it. Times were hard and there was no money for necessities. My dad with two other neighbor men went back to the Wild Rice area to help with the threshing, earning enough money to live through the long cold winter. My mother and the neighbor women were left alone during that time. The shack they lived in didn’t have a door, just a blanket hung in the opening. Bands of Indians would camp along the river. They would come to see and want to trade her wild game for the bread she baked. They’d keep coming back for more bread until she had given them all she had. They would have a pow-wow and then leave.
My mother was 14 years old when my oldest brother, Alex, was born on this homestead in 1885. They stayed here a few years to prove their claim, but the winters were so cold, many times down to 60 degrees below zero. Living in a shack with a small baby, it was all they could do to survive. The summers were so hot and dry that everything they tried to grow burned up. They decided to move to Montana, as he had two brothers there. He got work in a lumber camp. One day he picked up a newspaper and read that his two brothers had been shot in a holdup, while working on the Great Northern Railroad, north of Helena. My dad hired a guide and a pack horse, but got there a week after they were buried. He found out that his brothers and four other men were living in a tent along the railroad site. One night two armed men entered the tent while they were playing cards. The robbers commanded them to put their hands up and turn over all their money, but instead one of the brothers reached for his gun. He was immediately shot. One of the men got away and started to run and he was shot. All six men were shot, but two of them survived to tell the story and identify the killers. They were caught and tried. One of them had in his possession a watch that belonged to one of the brothers, the evidence needed to send them to prison.
Joe Beaudoin married Hannah Booke. They have lived in the Dickinson area for 59 years. They raised a family of fourteen children who are: Dorothy Pfau, Lester, Lorne, Wallace, Jeanette Giles (who is deceased), Arvilla Holder, LaVonne Zeren, Floyd, LeRoy (Pudge), Kenneth, Marlese Bogner, Marge Gunderson, Diana Meyers, and Tommy.
Joe and Hannah are both active members of the Sunset Center for Senior Citizens.
By Joe Beaudoin