school until May of 1900 when he moved with his parents, four sisters and two brothers to a 160 acre farm which they purchased in Madison Twp. and he attended rural school there.

On 21 May 1905 he was confirmed at the Madison Lutheran Church by the Rev. Thos. Nilsson. From 1907-1910 Joseph attended Luther College. He played basketball for the L.C. Prep Dept. It was played outside as there was no gymnasium. He and Myrtle continued as avid fans of Coach Hamlet Peterson’s great teams of the 40's and 50's.

For his entire working life Joseph was engaged in farming. Being the eldest son, he farmed with his father in Madison Twp. From 1912-1914 he also was employed by the Ice Cave Creamery Co. of Decorah as a cream hauler using a team of horses and wagon. On 7 Apr 1915 he began farming on his own on a 150 acre farm in Calmar Twp. known as the John McCullock farm which his parents purchased from D.J. Falnes his uncle. His sister Anna kept house for him for one year.

Joseph was united in marriage 7 Jun 1916 with Myrtle Charlotte Wheatman by the Rev. Paul Koren at the newly built home of her parents in Calmar Twp. Myrtle was born 18 Dec 1893, the daughter of Almond and Bertha (Fristad) Wheatman of English and Norwegian ancestry. Prior to her marriage Myrtle attended Valdres Business College in Decorah. Four children were born to this union: A son (stillborn), Arlene  married Louis Tveter, Pearl married Gerald Gilbertson, and Ruth ( married Lester Branhagen. They were members of Calmar Lutheran Church where their children were all baptized by the Rev. H.A. Preus.

In Feb of 1930 they purchased the 160 acre home farm in Madison Twp. from his parents. They joined First Lutheran Church in Decorah in Dec of 1933 and were faithful members of that congregation. Joseph served on the Board of Trustees and was a member of the building committee when the parish house was built.

Myrtle belonged to church circle, Ladies Aide, and the Madison Willing Workers, a charitable neighborhood organization that specialized in quilt making. She was a fine homemaker, a great gardener (both vegetable and flower) and an excellent baker and cook. Almost everything was grown or produced on the farm including meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit and dairy products. Bread, rolls, cakes, pies and cookies were baked with flour and sugar purchased in 50 lb. bags in Decorah (Peterson Grocery Store where Security Bank is now located) and Calmar (Bucheit Store and Weselmann’s Meat Market). Vegetables, fruit and meat were canned in glass jars and kept in the basement (fruit cellar) and potatoes and other vegetables were stored in the root cellar. There was still time to cultivate a flower garden with plate-sized dahlias, pansies, phlox, bleeding hearts, peonies, lilacs and clematis as favorites.

During their lifetime they saw many changes such as: from horse and buggy to automobiles, farming with horses to tractors, kerosene lamps to electricity, dirt roads to pavement, threshing rings to combines, wash boards to “Maytags", silent movies to "talkies" and Technicolor,

splitting wood to coal, oil and gas for heating and cooking, homemade soap to “Tide", just to name a few.

Neighbors were so important and their friendships were valued more than can be explained. When out of state company visited, Joseph and Myrtle would take them to the Bily Clocks which were then located on a farm in Lincoln Twp. about 5 miles southwest of their farm.

They practiced diversified, mixed farming (growing clover, timothy, alfalfa, hay, oats and corn and raising Holstein cattle, Duroc or Hampshire hogs, Phymouth Rock chickens, sheep and horses) until the 1950’s when they rented their land out on shares and began raising beef (Hereford) cattle. Joseph was a good steward of the soil and practiced crop rotation faithfully. In 1972 they sold their farm and in May of that year they retired to Decorah, IA and lived in an apartment on Fifth Avenue. No early retirement for this hardy couple as Joseph was 82 and Myrtle 79 at the time.

Their lives continued to revolve around their family and church. Birthdays, anniversaries and holidays were always family get-togethers. Because of health reasons they became residents of the Aase Haugen Retirement Home in March of 1981. They marked their 69th wedding anniversary 7 Jun 1985. Myrtle passed away 27 Sep 1985 at the Aase Haugen Home at the age of 91. Joseph died at the Winneshiek Co. Memorial Hospital 19 Jan 1990 at the age of 99 years, 3 months and 28 days. They were interred at Phelps Cemetery in Decorah.

Their 3 daughters and 2 sons-in-law, Arlene Tveter, Pearl and Gerald Gilbertson, Ruth and Les Branhagen still reside in Winneshiek Co. There are 7 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren. Their son-in-law Louis Tveter passed away 29 Nov 1991.

What great parents they were! Joseph truly had the patience of Job, which was proven as he went shopping with his wife and three daughters numerous times.

Flaskerud, Ole and Kari (Flaskerud)

(Ruth J. Bjonerud)

Ole A. Flaskerud (5 Jan 1829-24 Jan 1899) was the youngest of four children of Ingeborg and Andrew Flaskerud. His education consisted of two months each year from the age of seven until he was confirmed. He met with an accident at the age of twelve when he stumbled on a scythe and cut his ankle. This left him lame for the rest of his life. He was one of ten men called from Calmar Twp. to serve in the Civil War but was rejected because of this injury.

Kari Flaskerud (27 Nov 1829-22 Jul 1912) the oldest of seven children of Knut and Anna Flaskerud. She was required to go to work at the age of eight and earn her own living because their ten acre farm would not support the family of nine. Her first job was herding cattle. When she was fifteen she was promoted to budeie, the one who took care of the saefer, or mountain pasture. She milked the cows and made the cheese and butter. Finally she became an injenta, or house servant. She had very little edueattw,. She attended, parochial school loop enough to learn to read but she never learned to write.