Identity area
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Authorized form of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Oscar and Alice Simonson were married on June 11, 1938, and made their home in Day County, South Dakota, where they farmed for forty years. They planted their first crops in the spring of 1939. Over the decades, they witnessed significant changes in rural life and agriculture, including the transition from horses to tractors, the adoption of crop hybridization, and the introduction of electricity and indoor plumbing. They practiced diversified farming, rotated crops, planted shelterbelts, and saved seed annually for the next year’s planting. Alice maintained the financial records for the farm.
In 1957, they purchased the 1890 homestead of Lars A. Sand in Union Township, Day County, from Alice’s father, Elmer Bakken. The Simonsons lived on this farm until 1978, when they sold the property and moved to Webster, South Dakota. They also acquired Oscar’s family farm in Union County, which had originally been homesteaded by Alma Smoots and later passed down through his grandfather, Ole Simonson, to his parents.
Oscar and Alice enjoyed traveling by plane and bus, including a trip to Norway to visit the birthplace of Oscar’s mother.
Oscar E. Simonson was born on August 14, 1913, in Bristol, South Dakota, to Simon and Annie (Skudal) Simonson. He attended country school in Union Township and graduated from Bristol High School. In the 1930s, he worked with the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Black Hills before returning to farm with his family. After retiring from farming, he worked for ten years at the Farmers Elevator in Holmquist and served on the board of Sun Dial Manor in Bristol during the 1980s. Oscar Simonson passed away on March 5, 2014, at Bethesda Home in Webster.
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Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Field of Activity: Farming
Occupation: Farmers