Elias Benjamin Larsen Birklid, born Feb. 14. 1885, came to the US in 1905, to North Dakota where his brother Jacob lived. He worked there as a farmers helper. After one year he sent ticket to his sweetheart, Charlotte Konstance Ellingsen. They becaine married in December 1906. The couple had their work on farms, Charlotte as maidservant in the house. The work was hard and the day long. I remember dad said it was 5 miles to walk between the farms. I don’t know exactly how long time they did that, perhaps for two years. Then they moved to Poplar, Montana, where Elias worked on the railroad construction.He was section-boss. It was a time when people could by claim to land in Montana, which Elias did. (Called homesteading). He had 160 acres, which is a quarter section. This was quite a small farm for that area. He grew some wheat and also corn and other small grains for feed for the cattie. Horses were used to work the fields. We had 6-8 cows and some pigs. Also chickens for eggs and eating. Then came drought years, wheat rust, grasshoppers and hail, year after year. Like many others the Birklid family had to move out. In the fall of 1923 they came to Kent, Washington, where Charlott's parents and two brothers had already come. There Elias worked as a carpenter, a work which he enjoyed very much, until the day he died. That day was very warm and he had worked all day re-roofing. After evening meal he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died in the hospital a few hours later, at age 63. (Written by Elias Birklid’s oldest daughter, Lilly Ulleland, April 17,1988)
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