Marit Tande Matson & Son Ludvick Henry Matson...

Young Man Ludvick Matson

Marit Tande Matson was one of my maternal Great-Grandmothers.  Her first of 15 children was Ludvick Henry Matson, my maternal grandfather.  My brother, Jim, and I have written some details about their lives which we have read about in a book written by one of her daughters, FROM BUTTON SHOES TO HIGH HEELS - The Childhood Memories of Evelyn Matson Tollefson. Some thoughts are from memories we have of things our mother told us. I have selected these paragraphs from email messages and put them together here.

These are some of our thoughts:
From Jim:

We (Carolyn and I) have been rereading the booklet, "The Collected Writings of Evelyn Matson Tollefson", which was put together and edited by Katrina and Brooks.  This is a great document and has a lot of Matson/Tande Family history.  Just reading some of it out loud this afternoon brought me to tears as I read about the many hardships, especially illnesses and death, that these families dealt with in the primitive conditions on farms great distances from the most basic medical care.

4 generations:  Marit, Ludvick,
Edna & Linda

One of the most harrowing stories was how 3 doctors from Westby and Viroqua, assisted by nurses from the Lutheran Hospital in LaCrosse, operated on Ludvick's mother for a blood clot in her lung.  It was the summer of 1912.  They did this surgery in her farm house on the kitchen table.  They had to remove part of a rib.  She lived 40 more years.  This is just amazing to me when I think about what that would have been like.

Ludvick and Tessie's wedding photo.

From me, Linda:

Ludvick's mother was Marit aka Mary.  She was the mother of 15 children - 3 of whom died under the age of 2.  The names of those 3 children were used for children born later.  So there was Little Tina and Big Tina;  and I'm not sure of the reused other names - maybe Andrew and Lester.  Ludvick was the oldest.  That harrowing surgery for Marit was done in the summer of 1912.  The 15th child had been born on April 28, 1912.  Thankfully she did not have another pregnancy after that blood clot surgery.  I remember this Great-Grandmother of ours though just minimally from summer family reunions/picnics.  Sometimes the reunion picnics were at the Viroqua Park and sometimes at a family farm - I think Alfred and Mabel Tryggestad's at least once. 

When Mom had to leave her home at age 15, she went to live with Uncle Alfred and Aunt Mabel whose sons were LaVerne and Blair.  Blair was deaf and attended a special school for the deaf in Viroqua.  They drove him to town for school.  And that is how it came to be that Mom was able to enroll in high school after having been out of school for 2 years.  And she was starting the school year 3 weeks late but caught up with her class. 

James Groves, Marit & Edna at
 bridal shower for our parents

This was the home where Mom's Grandmother Marit was living and Mom shared a room and a bed with her grandmother.  Mom remembers waking up in the night and hearing her grandmother praying for her children and grandchildren.  She especially prayed for Leroy who had epilepsy and a drinking problem.  For Mom, the prayers were comforting and some of the first impressions she had that maybe God was not a being to fear but maybe someone with whom you could have a relationship.

From Jim:

Ludvick and Tessie with 1st child, Norman

This booklet says that Ludvick's first wife, Tessie, died on January 21, 1925 leaving him with 7 children.  Ten days later his father died from pneumonia.  In those days childbirth was no easy thing and sometimes resulted in death and they also lost family members in 1918 from the flu plaque that went through Europe and the U.S.

From Linda:  

Tessie and our mother...

Mom was named after her uncle Edwin Victor who died in WWI - probably of the flu or pneumonia.  Mom was grateful to be Edna Virginia and not Edwina something but she didn't really like the name Edna either.   Ludvick's wife died unexpectedly one week and just 10 days later, his father died.  This left Ludvick with 7 children of his own and as the oldest child in his family, he was head of his family of 11 living siblings.   Apparently these tragedies were very difficult for Ludvick to accept.  He blamed God for causing what he felt was too much pain and loss. 

Farm buildings where Edna and her siblings were born.

Ludvick, Tessie, Norman, Albon, Lyle, Doris and Edna...

I have sometimes wondered if our ancestors had been homesteaders in WI so I'm happy to learn from Evelyn's book that those first immigrants from Norway were homesteaders.  We have quite a history on both Dad and Mom's side with people who were homesteaders - in WI, NE and MT.  Mom was born on the Matson home place which is on Hwy 56 west of Viroqua.  Her Dad farmed there until he married Ella.  Ella was single, age 40 and had some savings when she married Ludvick.  With her money they bought a very nice farm near Leon in 1928 or 1929.  They lost the farm in the Great Depression and moved to a smaller, less impressive farm which they farmed and was where Lyle and Marie Mattson would live later on.  The Great Depression was another thing for which to blame God.  What difficult lives these folks had. 

Our sister Barbara shares some thoughts:

Another detail in Evelyn's book that struck me was about her great grandpa Kveen (the Tande side of the family) who foraged far and wide to find food to feed his family. Apparently, the small acreage that these families had (less than 10 acres) could not support animals and gardens enough to feed a large family. This man would return home with a little grain of some sort which they would mix with tree bark to make it go further. Can you imagine the lure of coming to America where you could get 40 acres to farm? I believe the Homestead concept was the brain child of President Abraham Lincoln but it sure worked to bring in wonderful, hard-working immigrants.

As time allows, we will write and share family memories so that future generations will know what amazing people gave them their DNA and lineage.