Married 1st cousin

Karoline Aalberg Dahl was born in Trondhjem, Norway, in 1849. She immigrated to the United States in 1876, and lived near Fergus Falls, Minnesota for two years. In the Fall of 1878 she was married to Martin P. Dahl (her first cousin), who had just previously filed on a homestead in the Red River Valley of Dakota Territory. Immediately following their marriage, Mrs. Dahl and her husband journeyed to their new Dakota home in a covered wagon drawn by a yoke of oxen.
They took a miscellaneous assortment of property with them, including a meager food supply, clothing, a few utensils, some chickens, a couple of sheep, two heifers, and a little garden and field seed.

After a slow journey over unsettled prairies and through road less woods for a distance of over three hundred miles, they finally arrived near the site of the present city of Grafton on October
13, 1878, where their claim about five miles northwest of Grafton had previously been located.

Fortunately, a fine Fall gave them an opportunity to get a log house built and rudely furnished, into which they moved before winter came. Two neighboring brothers of Mrs. Dahl accommodated them in their new log cabins and helped their brother-in-law build his home. The first winter was a time of hardship and lean living, with rabbits and other game being their main supply of food.

The following May, on the 21st, Martin and Karoline's first child, Hannah Antonette, was born. She was the first white child
born in Walsh County and the first of seven children born to the couple. As a pioneer mother, Karoline had to deal with rude household implements or the lack of them. Her assistance also was needed from time to time in the fields. Winters seemed colder, summers hotter, prairie fires threatened to bum the pioneers out, and wild animals were sometimes a nuisance. In addition, the long distance to market necessitated Martin's absence for many days at a time when provisions were needed. Anxious hours were spent caring for small children and the farm while he went to Grand Forks for supplies. On one occasion when Karoline was home alone, she was startled and frightened by the appearance of a big Indian. He made signs to her that he wanted food, which she hastily prepared for him, and after satisfying his hunger, he departed with much gratitude and a relieved Mrs. Dahl!

Five of the children were born in the first rude log cabin, before the family moved into a larger and better house. They eventually lived in the home that Karoline's brother, Oluf, built.

Two of Mrs. Dahl's seven children died before their mother, the youngest daughter, Julia Alfreda, at the age of sixteen, and a married daughter, Mrs. Constance Elden at the age of forty- three. On April 20, 1930, at the age of almost 81, Karoline died, having been an inspiration to those who knew her. 63