#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Challenge Week 41, Stanley Vold, A Hometown Hero

#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Challenge Week 41
Prompt: Sports

A Hometown Hero

Stanley Erling Vold

By The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde-Beatty

Sports? Really! The prompt for week #42 is Sports. I am stopped short: My ancestors left no records of their sports prowess.  I wrote about my first cousin twice removed, Stanley Erling Vold, because he was a football hero and golf champion in Northwood, Iowa. He was childless, having no one to celebrate him for posterity.  What makes a hero? I believe the blood of the immigrants coursing through his veins, a force unbidden to achieve, pulsating with the same drive that brought his immigrant grandparents to America.  

I remember Stan Vold.  He was one of those relatives I really regret not visiting more. I had heard he played football.  I never knew he was a hometown football hero until a few years ago.  

Stanley Erling Vold was born on 25 Feb 1914, in Northwood, Iowa, to Sever O.Vold and his wife, Emma Hagen, their third and last child.  He joined two older brothers, Arndt and Bernhardt. Stan was baptized in 1914 and confirmed in 1916 at First Lutheran Church. His father was handsome, and his mother very pretty; Stan Vold was a handsome hunk on and off the football field.  He led his team to many victories, being celebrated as a hometown hero.  He graduated from Northwood High School in 1932; he entered the Army Air Force and served in World War II.  On 25 July 1940, he married the love of his life, a pretty, dark-haired beautician, Mable Davis.  Stan was a vendor with the Iowa Liquor Commission for 30 years. Mable owned a hair salon in Northwood.  The couple remained childless, but the love of sports continued as he won several golf championships on the local golf course.  He suffered a lengthy illness and died at his home Tuesday morning, 25 May 1965.  His funeral was held Thursday, 27 May 1965 at Conner’s Funeral Home with John M. Halaand presiding. Left to mourn the loss were his wife, Mable and his brother Arndt of Park Rapids, MN.  He was buried in Lot 2, Sunset Rest Cemetery.  Rest in Peace, Hero!

The Hero’s Dad

Sever O. Vold

Wedding Day

Sever O. Vold, the 3rd son, was born on 20 March 1874 in Brookfield Township, Worth County, Iowa.  He was baptized on 3 May 1874 in the Silver Lake Lutheran Church and confirmed in 1887 in the Elk Creek Lutheran Church. Raised as a farmer’s son, he was encouraged to study.  Following his education in the public schools of Kensett, Worth County, he attended the St. Ansgar Seminary, St. Ansgar, Iowa, and graduated in 1896. In the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, Deer Creek Township, Worth, Iowa, he was enumerated as single, working as a dry goods salesman.[1]  He was married in April 1901 to Emma Hagen, an immigrant from Valdres, Norway.  In 1903, he was living in Tenold, Iowa as the appointed postmaster.[2]  Three sons were born to that couple: Arndt, Benhard, and Stanley.  Sever became the Worth County Recorder on 1 Jan. 1911 and to 1 Jan 1935 and served for 24 years until 1 Jan. 1935.  By the 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Sever was divorced, with his son Stanley living with him. His son Bernhardt died from acute appendicitis in 1932.  Emma died in 1934. Sever served as treasurer of the Northwood Independent School District and of the First Lutheran Church in Northwood.  In later years Sever suffered from atherosclerosis and made his home with his son Stanley. He died at Stanley’s home Monday morning, 17 December 1951, at age 77. The funeral was at First Lutheran Church with the Rev. J. O. Tweeten officiating.  At the time of his death, he was survived by two sons, Arndt, and Stanley, a grandson, Dennis Vold Talle, and granddaughter, Marilyn Vold Talle, a great-granddaughter, and two brothers, Carl and Knut of Northwood. Sever was preceded in death by three sisters and three brothers. He was buried at Sunset Rest Cemetery, Northwood, Iowa. 

The Hero’s Immigrant Grandparents

Ole Halgrimsen Vold and Brynhild Engebretsdtr. Gandrud

Ole and Brynild Vold

Stan’s grandfather, Ole Halgrimsen, was born March 19, 1832, to Halgrim Sigurdsen (Syver) Wold and Anne Olsdtr. Save who had established a home on the Vold Gaard (farm) in the year 1820, Flaa, Buskerud County, Hallingdal, Norway.  His baptism was on April 1, 1832, at the old Stave Church in Flaa, which was directly across the road from the Vold Gaard. He was confirmed in the Lutheran church in 1847.  He was one of five children, the others being Ragnhild, Severt, Margit, and Truls.  When the children grew to be young men and women, they contracted the epidemic of  'Amerika Fever.'

Ole’s sister, Margit (who was married to Jon Hellerud), and his brothers, Truls and Severt were the first to leave the family circle. In 1852, they made preparation for the long, tedious journey. After several weeks they reached the shores of a new and foreign land. They moved onto Rock Prairie, Wisconsin, and then to Rice County, Minnesota, where the younger generations continued to live.  Ragnhild and Ole were the only two at home in Norway. Ragnhild Halgrimsdtr. Remained in Norway, and very little is known of her family.

In 1861, Ole Halgrimsen Vold and his bride of one year, Brynild Engebretsdtr. Gandrud contracted the "Amerika Fever." They sold the Vold Gaard (farm) and for America out of Drammen, Norway, with a group of others.  They set sail on the ship Flora on May 3, 1861, to become pioneers in a new land. They landed in Quebec, Canada, and later moved to Rice County, Minnesota, where they lived for eleven years. Ole Halgrimsen Vold,  his wife, and their children born in Rice County decided to take advantage of farmland available in Iowa. They moved by covered wagon to Iowa, while others in the family remained in Rice County.

According to an article in the Northwood Anchor dated July 29, 1943, the Vold family came to Worth County in 1872. They are located in Brookfield Township, seven miles West of Kensett, Iowa. Quoting the Northwood Anchor article, "Ole H. Vold went by the name of Ole Halgrimsen for the first few years, according to a Norwegian custom, but soon changed his name to Ole H. Vold. All the brothers have "O" as their middle initial. Halgrim, who was eight years old, recalls the trip from their farm home in Rice County, Minnesota, made with peril in a covered wagon, with livestock driven behind the wagon. They came through Owatonna and Albert Lea, and near the latter city, they had considerable difficulty in getting the cattle across the Shell Rock River, which they had to ford. They spent the first night in Iowa at the Silver Lake Church, and they went on to Brookfield Township."They purchased a hundred and twenty-acre farm for $780.00 - no small sum of money in those days. 

All six of the sons spent most of their lives in Worth County. They purchased farms, and some later took other occupations. The three older ones were born in Minnesota, and the others in Brookfield Township, Worth County, Iowa. July 29, 1943, the Northwood Anchor contained an article stating that the six living brothers' ages totaled 436 years. Two sisters, Gunhild (Mrs. Peter Hansen), died in 1920 in Rosseau County, Minnesota, and Mrs. Malla (Maline) L.O. Brunsvold died near Kensett in 1935. The other sister, Anna, never married but worked as a stenographer for Whitcomb and Sons.

Six Vold Brothers

What makes a hero?  A dare to try, and a desire to achieve, whether in sports, moving, and succeeding in a new area of the U.S., or moving to an entirely different country. We celebrate heroes!

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[1]

Year: 1900; Census Place: Deer Creek, Worth, Iowa; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 0143; FHL microfilm: 1240468

[2]Ancestry.com. U.S., Appointments of U. S. Postmasters, 1832-1971 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.