Bill and I had an opportunity to go to the Lone Rock Historical Church in Flandreau, North Dakota on Sunday, riding along with my dad and Carol. We were celebrating the Heritage Family of Stork and Betsy (Bertina) Ringham and their children Theodore, John, Susanna, Bertina (Betsy), John II, Christopher, Albert, Peter, Andre, Minnie, Ernest, Carl and all their descendants. Stork Ringham signed the Charter document organzing the Lone Rock Norwegian Evangelical Congregation on November 21, 1877. Stork and Betsy Ringham were my great,great grandparents. Their daughter Betsy married Thomas Styrkson Ringham. Betsy was my great,great grandmother and she had 7 children. My grandmother Stella was the 4th child born to them. It was interesting to see the family line both Betsy's(Rosheim)and Stork's traced back. Stork was born in Voss, Norway and Betsy was born in Rock County, Wisconsin. Also, in attendance was my great aunt Mildred (grandma Stell's sister)who is 96 and is the last living child of Betsy and Stork. Mildred is a spry 96 years old and is fun to talk and joke with. She lives on her own, here in Albert Lea at a senior living apartment complex.
A couple of the relatives in my dad's family are very into tracing the heritage and have traced both families back to the 1400's. My aunt Shirley has been back to Norway and visited the site where Stork was born. She has a tin cup which possibly belonged to the family. They were farmers and undoubtedly lived a fierce life out on the open prairie. They farmed 120 acres. Words describing their life said they were "adventurers".
The church service was very nice with two of the great,great granddaughers of Betsy and Stork providing piano music and singing. A potluck followed with much visiting, picture taking and picture sharing. It was a very enlightning day tracing back my ancestors.
