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Fingal Enger

 

It was during harvest in 1913 that Fingal Enger was caught in a downpour. He wouldn’t go inside until all the wagons were in and every horse was tended. He ended up with pneumonia. It was a hard thing for Enger to be slowed by illness – the 6'4" farmer was legendary for his size and strength.

Enger was born in Norway in 1846. Early in 1872, he left Fargo to find land in the Goose River area. By the time they chose homestead sites, they were out of food and were lucky to share fox stew with a local hermit.

The men took turns helping each other build log houses, with Enger’s being the first settler’s house in Steele County. They used no nails. Instead, they used wooden pegs and had roofs of bark covered with sod. To make money for farm equipment and to buy more land, Enger took work in Fargo cutting firewood and loading river steamers.

Within three years, Fingal found the “right girl,” Gjertrud Nyhus, but the two had to wait for a minister to pass through town. When the opportunity finally came, the couple almost missed it because a cow got out, and Fingal had to find her and repair the fence. The church service was nearly over by the time Fingal and Gjertrud had walked the five miles to church.

Education was important to the Engers; they had nine children – eight boys and one girl. When a college-educated man filed a claim nearby, Enger talked him into teaching school in Enger’s home, then got the neighbors together and built the young teacher a house.

Enger also helped start Oak Grove Seminary in Fargo, helped establish Augsburg College in Minneapolis, and was on the executive board for Deaconess Hospital in Grand Forks. He helped many people with loans and gifts, was twice elected to the state senate, and invested in grain elevators.

By the time Enger lay dying of pneumonia, he was the largest single landowner in North Dakota with 73 quarters. He called for his attorney and representatives of the schools and hospital he had helped, and they arrived on this date in 1913. Fingal asked them to put in writing how many thousands of dollars he had promised them, so he could sign, but Fingal died a few minutes later.

The Steele County Historical Society gathered the remains of Engers’ log house and rebuilt it next to the County Museum in Hope. It’s definitely a worth a visit.

Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm

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