versity of Wisconsin, Madison graduating in May 1988. He completed an internship in General Surgery in Easton, PA. Dan and Ann now live in Germany where Dan is stationed with the Army. Dan was deployed to Tuzla, Bosnia 24 Dec 1995.

Markestad, Charles

(Bev Jaremko)

Karl Christiansen, also known as Heberud (Markestad) was born in East Toten, Norway in 1849. He took work on a nearby farm and married the owner’s daughter Berthe Karine Markestad in 1872. He and his new wife emigrated on the ship Oder in May 1873 and moved to Lansing, IA. In 1876 they were living in Decorah when their son Charles Markestad was born. Charles took the name Markestad from his employer's farm.

Charles moved to Minneapolis and was a transit driver. He married a school teacher from North Dakota, Emma Lawston, and moved with her to Knox, ND. There they had several daughters. In 1899 Mildred was born in Knox; in 1902 Alta was born; in 1904 Esther was born and then in 1906 Hattie was born. For a time the young family lived in Leeds, ND. Ads about the opportunities in Canada appeared and Charles Markestad went up north to Alberta to investigate in 1908. The frontier land near Vermilion looked good so the next spring Charles returned with a train load of settlers, his wife Emma and the children. They spent the summer of 1909 in a tent waiting for a house to be built.

Charles and his wife were obliged as all other settlers to live in makeshift accommodations for awhile but with their own hands they built solid homes quickly. A school-house was built in 1910. In 1911 tragedy struck when daughter Mildred got very sick. The infection spread to her ears and medical treatment being unavailable, she went deaf. This devastated the family and Mildred was sent to the only school for the deaf known back in the U.S. In 1912 another daughter was born, lla, in the small town of Elk Point where the family had settled.

Then in 1917 tragedy struck again. Charles's wife Emma contracted breast cancer. Though she was taken to Rochester back in the U.S. for cancer treatment, it was not successful. She returned to Elk Point in Alberta and died in 1917. Now Charles had 5 daughters to raise alone, ages 5 to 17. The children were sent back to the States for a year to live with an aunt as Charles built a better home for them and organized a school for them. The next year the children were brought back. Charles had fallen in love with the local school teacher, Blanche MacDonald, an emigrant from Nova Scotia, whose family had Scottish roots. In 1918 Charles Markestad, now age 42, married Blanche MacDonald, age 22. The female line must have been strong in the Markestad family because Charles and Blanche had 3 more daughters - Ida in 1919, Edythe in 1921 and Doris. All these girls were born in Elk Point, the small town Charles had settled as a pioneer. In 1927 Charles had his 9th child, his first son, but this baby, Charles Jr., died at birth.

Charles Markestad operated the local grocery store in Elk Point for years and also the town car garage. He loved cars and was one of the first in his community to drive the roads in a car, not a wagon. His 8 daughters completed school and went into the professions. Esther, Hattie, lla and Doris became school teachers. Mildred, the daughter who had become deaf, also became a school teacher of deaf children at the Mississippi School for the Deaf. Edythe became a career nurse at the University Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta and Ida was a pianist.

Six of the daughters married before or during the second World War and again tragedy struck. Daughter Alta had married a German man and moved to Germany. She died mysteriously in Germany in 1938. Daughter Ida married James Fraser and when he went overseas to war his brother was killed. James was in a tank explosion where everyone but he was killed-he lost a leg. In those days nurses were not allowed to be married women so Edythe turned down a proposal of marriage by Don Buchanan. As it happened, after she retired from teaching 50 years later, he had still kept track of her and now they did marry, in 1989. She was 68 and he was 67.

The fact that all of the children were girls meant that in effect the Markestad name has died out in this family. However as a tribute to it, daughter Ida named her son James Markestad Fraser and daughter Doris has a granddaughter Deborah Markestad Jaremko.

The Norwegian roots of the Markestad family have continued in the larger family as the daughters of Charles became mothers and grandmothers. Several of the women in the family are now professional painters, many are pianists and in the grandchildren’s generation several became school teachers. Charles Markestad was a strong Lutheran and the strong faith he had has continued in his children. One of his wife Blanche's nieces became a missionary to India.

Charles Markestad died in 1947. That year the town of Elk Point dedicated a park to him, the “Charles Markestad Park.” It was a tribute to a brave pioneer whose sense of mission to future generations saw fruit as his children grew into fine citizens. The trees he had planted as small saplings were now towering shade trees in the park.

Marsh, Benjamin and Bertha (Tobiason)

(Alice Hamre Arneson)

Bertha M. Tobiason was born 25 Feb 1865 and died 27 Feb 1931, the 4th child of Tobias and Mari (Henrickson) Tobiason. (See separate article.) Benjamin O. Marsh was born 15 Mar 1862 and died 3 Oct 1938, the son of Gertrude (1842-1929) and Nathan S. March (1839-1896). All 4 are buried together at Phelps Cemetery in Decorah. On 1 Aug 1886 at “the house of Nathan S. Marsh” Bertha M. Tobiason and Ben O. Marsh were married by “Th. Eggen, Ev. Luth. Pastor.” Bertha taught piano lessons. They did not have children.

Ben’s brother Ole Marsh was a baseball player and world champion wrestler. Ben owned the Marsh Music Store in Decorah. It was located on Winnebago Street, south of the alley on the east side of the street. He printed