ARVID BODEEN


Arvid was born in Sweden on October 17, 1889 and immigrated with his parents Anna and Anders Bodin (or Bodeen) along with his brother Andrew and baby sister Annie who was about 6 months old.  They lived in Renville County, Minnesota for a few years, possibly 7 or 8 years, around Olivia and Bird Island.  The family left there around 1900 and moved to Coteau, North Dakota where his father took out a homestead.  After his father was killed in a threshing accident at Enderlin, North Dakota, he had to help his mother and other brothers prove up the land, and when he was old enough  he also worked on the railroad.

Then in 1912 the government opened up land around Parshall, North Dakota for young men to file on, under the Homestead Act of 1912.  He built the house and barn on his 160 acre homestead 5 miles northeast of Parshall.  He lived alone for about 4 or 5 months, then he went back to Coteau, where he and Christine Risberg were married on August 6, 1914 in Bowbells, North Dakota (the county seat of Burke County).  Their attendants were Ingeberg Jacobson and his brother Victor Bodeen.  Afterwards they loaded up the wagon and team of horses and drove with the furniture and dishes, etc. to thier new house about 60 miles from Coteau.

Christine (Risberg) Bodeen was born in Halsingland, Sweden, July 15, 1893 to Ole Nystrom who was an old man when Christine was born, and her mother was a young hired girl.  Her parents both died in Sweden.  Eric Risberg and his wife adopted her in Sweden and when they came to America they broght Christine along as their daughter, but she was really a hlaf sister to Eric.  Eric Risberg and his wife and Christine first lived in Regina, Sask., Canada, before moving to Niobe when she was about 16 years old, about in the 1900's.

Arvid and Christine's children were:  Walter, born October 5, 1915, died September 7, 1961.  Clarence, born December 30, 1916, and Allan, born February 12, 1918.

In 1921-1922 Arvid took sick with Brights Disease and passed away November 3, 1922 at 32 years and was buried in the Parshall Cemetery 1/2 mile south of town.

After Arvid died Christine was going to marry a neighbor by the name of Oscar Swenson, but he died of stomach cancer before they could get married.  He had been so good to Christine and the boys and they thought of him as their second father because they were very young when their own father passed away.

After Walter (the oldest boy) became old enough he left home in 1934 and went out to Montana leaving Christine and the other two boys alone on the farm to farm alone where they had 22 head of cattle, 10 of them were milk cows they also raised hogs, chickens and turkeys and shipped cream to Mandon, North Dakota then in 1940 or 1941, they sold all of the cattle and furniture and left for Montana also.

Walter married Lucy Brown from Choteau, Montana, February 18, 1937 at Vaughn, Montana.  He died at 46 years, September 7, 1961 at Kalispel, Montana.  He and Lucy has 14 children.

Clarence was in the C.C.C. camps during the Rosevelt administration in 1934 and 1935 one of the camps was about 16 miles outside of Brainerd, Minnesota, another camp by Milaca, Minnesota.  Clarence still lives in Great Falls, Montana, he never married.

Allan married a girl from Pathan, Alabama, Cora Lee French in 1943 when he was in the Air Force camp at Pothan, Alabama.  They had one son born 1944.  They live in Bartow, Florida now.

Christine died May 18, 1971 at Great Falls, Montana and is buried at Highlands Cemetery at 77 years old.

They went through a terrible depression in the 1930's and dust storms for over 10 years, and finally lost their farm.