This is the last known photograph of my great-grandfather, 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝗸𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻. He was the eldest of six children born to John and Mathilda Hokanson. He was 8 years old when his father purchased more than 200 acres of land in Todd county, one mile south of Bertha, Minnesota, where the Hokanson family moved in the spring of 1890 and developed a farm. The newspaper described it as “one of the best dairy farms in Todd county.”
He and my great-grandmother, Clara Swenson, were married on June 21, 1905. She was the youngest of five children born to Carl (aka Charles) and Mathilda Swenson. She was 7 years old when her father purchased 160 acres of land, two miles southwest of Bertha, from the Great Northern Railway Company on October 8, 1888. At the same time, Clara’s older brother Charlie received 80 acres. They were among the earliest pioneers of Bertha township.
Herman was a farmer like his father. After purchasing the 80 acres from Charlie, he established his own farm. They raised livestock – cattle, horses, chickens, pigs – and produced dairy products in addition to grains, corn, alfalfa, potatoes, and other crops. After John Hokanson retired in 1916, Herman maintained both farms with help from his two sons. They toiled long hours, six days a week, for many years until Herman was forced to quit on account of poor health in 1935.
At public auction on March 4, 1935, Herman sold much of the property on the John Hokanson farm, including more than two dozen head of cattle, over half a dozen horses, farming machinery & equipment, and many other items too numerous to mention. My great-grandparents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on June 16, 1935 with a supper served at five o’clock to friends and family who had gathered at their home for the occasion.
By the fourth week of March 1936, Herman had become sick with the flu but dismissed it as just a bad cold. Over the next two weeks, his illness worsened. On the morning of April 8, 1936, he milked the cows and fed the animals. Then drove his horse-drawn buggy to the old Thiel hospital in Bertha to see the doctor. Upon examination, the doctor diagnosed him with pneumonia and told him to go home because he would be dead by morning.
Herman died the following day at his home near Bertha, at the age of 54. The funeral was held on Easter Sunday at the Congregational Church, where the family were members. He was buried in the family plot at Zion cemetery in rural Bertha, Minnesota. Afterwards, Clara sold the farm to her nephew, Stanley Westergren, and moved to Bertha where she lived in an apartment above the Golden Rule store, owned by Leonard Bluhm.
There were three apartments upstairs. The adjacent apartment was occupied by Clara’s friend Edith Kapphahn. No one has lived there since Clara moved out in 1962, three years before she passed away. My Dad and I visited the graves and the former Golden Rule store on our trip back there last summer. The John Hokanson farm is now owned by Edith’s great-grandson Kirby Kapphahn.
