Halverson, Ludwig Haugen

Birth Name Halverson, Ludwig Haugen
Also Known As Louis
Gender male
Age at Death 83 years, 3 months, 23 days

Events

Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Birth 1871-05-18 Alexandria, MN  
1
Death 1954-09-10 Havre, MT  
1

Parents

Relation to main person Name Birth date Death date Relation within this family (if not by birth)
Father Halverson, Thorston Haugen
Mother Olson, Anna
         Halverson, Ludwig Haugen 1871-05-18 1954-09-10

Families

    Family of Halverson, Ludwig Haugen and Weymouth, Dora Mabel
Married Wife Weymouth, Dora Mabel ( * 1881-04-15 + 1940-09-17 )
   
Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Marriage 1901-10-00 St. James, MN  
1
  Children
Name Birth Date Death Date
Halverson, Helen Estelle1903-12-131990-01-13
Halverson, Gordon Weymouth1906-10-171973-06-00

Narrative

From the journals of Dorothy Halverson: "Louis Halverson (bornLudwig Haugen) was born and lived in Alexandria, Minnesota. Hemoved to St. James, Minnesota as a child and later worked as acigar maker there. His parents, Thorsten and Anna Haugen camefrom Norway to Minnesota. Louis and Ted were the only ones tomove to Montana. After Louis married Dora Mabel Weymouth, theymoved to Havre in 1913 because of Louis' asthma. Ted was inHavre first and later lived with Louis and Dora. Louis startedhis own cigar factory in town and was in business with a mannamed Charlie Crowley. Louis served as Justice of the Peace for16 years. He enjoyed music and played alto horn in "Havre'sCowboy Band." He also played the violin in the orchestra. "In1912, there was a big land boom in Montana because of the GreatNorthern Railroad being built there. Havre was in a boom time --homesteads were filed on all along the HiLine. Havre had a lotof saloons and cigar making was a prosperous business. At thattime, all cigars were hand made and were in great demand andcigarettes unheard of in the West --except the handrolled BullDurhams. Dad and Floyd Hall came to Havre and started a cigarshop in partnership. My Uncle Ted who was unmarried came withthem as a cigar maker. Havre was a wild cow town with 18 saloonson main street. Mother, Helen and Gordon came in the spring of1913. Helen was 9 and Gordon was 7. Havre was very differentfrom the town of St. James, Minn., where they had been born.Their home town had existed for a long time and had grass andtrees and well-established homes and schools. "The countrysidehad lakes and flowers and churches. And they had grandpas andgrandmas and cousins and aunts and uncles and many friends andplaymates. Havre was a new town experiencing sudden growth fromthe roots of a cow camp. The Great Northern railroad wasbuilding a railway line across Montana and Havre's location hadbeen chosen as a division point. Many people had moved here andmore were coming to work for the railroad and provide all theservices a town needs -- stores, barber shops, banks, homes,blacksmith shops, coal mines, ice houses, a creamery, a brewery,hotels. Montana was a barren prairie -- not at all like thewooded country of Minnesota. The Homestead Act had been passedand people came who wanted to start farms and ranches, startingwith 160 acres of land, free, if they would live on it for sixmonths and establish a home there. It was quite a challenge in acountry with no trees -- at least in this part of the state. Andlong, cold winters, and not too much rain in the summer. But allthese people had the same challenge, and were from various partsof the states east of the Mississippi. They made friends quicklyand established their homes and shared their joys and sorrowswith each other. "They found a small house on the corner of 6thAve. and 2nd St. We always referred to it in later years as "thelittle brown house." That's where I was born, at 3 a.m. onJanuary 18, 1915 -- Dr. J.S. Almas was the doctor, and he was mydoctor until his death in 1936. He told Helen and Gordon he hadfound me in Bull Hook and all the kids in the neighborhoodsearched that dry creek for days, looking for babies. Bull Hookwas a dry creek most of the time. It ran right through thecenter of town. In fact, the town was originally called"Bullhook" but when the railroad came, they didn't like the nameso they chose the name Havre, as suggested by Simon Pepin, oneof the town's founders. His hometown was LeHavre, France.Sometimes Bullhook had a little water in it, if we had rain. Butif we had heavy snow and had a sudden chinook wind, which meltssnow in a few hours, the "dry creek" would fill and overflow itsbanks and flood the entire town. "In 1917, the United Statesentered the war that was raging in Europe -- a long way fromMontana, but it had as much effect here as anywhere. Dad'sbrother Ted enlisted and was eventually sent to France. He cameback in 1919 and was a great hero to me. In 1919 the VolsteadAct was passed by Congress. This closed all the saloons and hada direct effect on the cigar business that was our support andwhile Dad kept making cigars, machines that made cigars finallytook over the industry and hand-rolled cigars became a thing ofthe past. Our income was limited but we got by and rolledthrough the Roaring Twenties into the Depression of the 30s." Hewas married to Dora Mabel Weymouth in Oct 1901 in St. James, MN.

Pedigree

  1. Halverson, Thorston Haugen
    1. Olson, Anna
      1. Halverson, Ludwig Haugen
        1. Weymouth, Dora Mabel
          1. Halverson, Helen Estelle
          2. Halverson, Gordon Weymouth

Ancestors

Source References

  1. No title - ID S1052