Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1917-11-08
The Early History Of
T Tod q. b 3 'Langdon and Vicinity

Robert Baird was the only one tha'
l remember as living directly west
of Langdon when l came. know
that I have omitted the names of
some, but these are the people whose
names come to my mind as l write.
Thus the n%eighborhood was pretty
WILL settled at first, ard as the PEG
pie had come to get land and make
homes the prospects were fair, ant
it is a matter Of regret that so many
of them were disappointed. Few Of
the early setti srs had any experience
with prairie conditions and much OF
the fertility of the soil was exhaust.
ed in raising crops, which in the
early years, were frozen before ma.
turity. This with the low prices TO,
what the farmers had to sell, and the
high rate of. interest on money Dor
rowed, forced many to dispose of
their holdings and adv ance again to
locations further west.
There were plenty Of young mel
in the neighborhood then and also q
sprinkling of young women. There
were the Lindsay girls. a mile to the
east. Nellie Donovan, (Mrs. Lind.
say) at the O'Grady home, also
Sarah Doyle and Ella Gavin and
some distance north the Prinyer girls.
The married women, living nearer
the town, were Mrs. John Lindsay,
Mrs. o'Grady, Mrs. Doyle. Mrs. De.
brow, Mrs. Hawkes., Mrs. Gagan,
Mrs. Hamann, Mrs. Dohmann, Mrs.
Muhs, Mrs. Levere, Mrs. Desrosier.
Mrs. Josiah Myers, Mrs. Samuel NV
ers. Mrs. Doyle was then a grand.
mother, and her grand daughter.
Mollie Comstock, was one of the
early sunbea=-2 of the place.
Turning now to the record I find
nat at the commissioners meeting on
October Goth, 1884, voting precincts
were establish ID and officers of cleo.
ton chosen for the first election to
be held in Cavalier county, also that
Mr.. Joseph Hamann wa. given the
appointment Of justice If the peace
At the first election the county off.
GERS chosen were:
Register of Deeds--P. McHugh.
County Treasurer-C. B. Nelson,
sheriff-Clarance Hawkes..
Sup't of Schools-H. D. ALERT,
Probate Judge-W. j. Mooney.
Coroner-Dr. j. j. Reilly.
Go. Assessor. Albert Cavers.
Justices of the Peace-Joseph Ha.
mann, W.. H. Conn, Charles Thorn.
Constables-John Debrow, James
Lindsay, William Porter. =
have now stated briefly the con-
dltlons when | wandered hither at the
close of the good old year One Thou
sand Eight Hundred and Eighty. Four.
And coming to my own part will YOU
understand that l came to do office
work, but this part of the task was
not at all strenuous as there was work
to do only when people came on bust.
nsss and this was not every day. The
work was chiefly making filings on
land, declarations of intention to
become a citizen of the United States
and final proof of settlement on land.
Many people came of course, but as
conditions were not very homelike,
they stayed only long enough to do
business, unless they happened to get
caught In a blizzard. Those from a
long distance had to stay all night,
and among those I remember Jack and
Richard Hannah, Alpheus Adams,
William Porter, Bob Layburn, Peter
Murchie, Daniel Shanks, Donald Shaw
and Robert Naismith. Then there
were the people from Mt. Carmel and
the surrounding n%eighborhood, and the
people from Pembina county, who
were tributary to Langdon for land
office work, including Robert Work,
Harry Dunford, Henry Mclean, Alex.
Stewart, and others.
Not many men came to Langdon
that winter, especially from a dis.
lance. and the one that I remember
best as Mrs. McTavish, who lived at
Hannah, n of the kind of women who
bring peace to the mind and courage
to the heart. She came all the way
across the snow to have some work
done in regard to her land. l was
more than glad to attend to what she
wanted and said that l would like to
offer her some refreshments. but that
had only bread and tea and some
syrup. and she said, "That will be
fine, and 30 it was.
Jack Deck, who had a sale a few
weeks ago and left overland via au,
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