Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Oscar and Alice Simonson were married on June 11, 1938. They made their home and farmed in Day County for forty years. They planted their first crops in the spring of 1939. Over those forty years, the Simonson’s witnessed many advancements in agriculture and technology of rural America including the switch from horses to tractors, crop hybridization, the introduction of electricity in the home, and indoor plumbing. The Simonson’s rotated crops, planted tree belts, practiced diversified farming, and saved seed from the previous year’s crops to plant the next year. Alice kept the books for the family farm.
In 1957, they purchased from Alice’s father, Elmer Bakken, the 1890 homestead of Lars A. Sand in Union Township, Day County, South Dakota. Oscar and Alice lived on the Sand homestead until they sold the farm in 1978 and moved to Webster, South Dakota. Oscar and Alice also acquired his parent’s Union County farm, which his parents had acquired from his grandfather, Ole Simonson, which had been originally homesteaded by Alma Smoots.
Oscar and Alice thoroughly enjoyed traveling by plane and bus. They traveled to Norway to visit Oscar’s mother’s birthplace.