Individual Details
Gladys Olivia Bonnes
(16 Mar 1908 - 3 May 1975)
She was born Olivia Gladys and change her name because everyone called her "Ole" and she hated it. Her Godparents were Mr. and Mrs. A. I. Rogness (Anders and Marit Ingebrigston) Grandma Bonnes's oldest sister and her husband.
THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN BY GLADYS:
We lived in Astoria, South Dakota. The earliest recollection of my childhood was at age four (1912). Not remembering much of that only that the ground around us was very rocky and also, we had a dog named Rover. My parents and two sisters (Minnie born 1898 and Agnes born 1904) and I lived there a couple of years and with another sister (Lillian born 1910) added to the family we moved to a town called Hendricks, Minnesota. This was about 12 or 13 miles from the little farm in Astoria, South Dakota. Hendricks is located about 1 mile from the state line of South Dakota.
At first we rented an older home in the center of town. It was while living there that we used water from a contaminated well and my two sisters and I contacted typhoid fever. Doctors didn't know much about this disease and with the excellent care we received from my mother we recovered. There were many others at that time not so fortunate. My hair was all gone due the the high fever and because I was the sickest I had to be wheeled around in a cart until I gained strength.
Not long after the typhoid fever had happened my father, who knew carpentry, decided to buy some ground and build us a new house. After completion, it was a magnificent two story home with four bedrooms with a full basement and a large attic which we girls had as our play house. In the winter it was used for drying clothes because of the extreme cold and snow. There were, of course, many inconveniences such as carrying coal from the basement for the cook stove and heater. We all had various chores to do. Mother took care of the garden, raising vegetables and many flowers too. We had enough chickens for our own use, a cow for milk and at that time my father owned some beautiful horses. He built a huge barn to accommodate these animals and it had a large hayloft. It was there that he made a swing for us girls. We had a lot of room to run and enjoy life.
Father at that time had the freight line business and delivered all the freight from the railroad depot to the grocery stores. We rarely saw any money, many of the things we needed were traded in some way. I am sure that my father was probably not getting what he was entitled to because of no system of accounting.
Our grammar School days were happy ones and of course, we got the normal communicable diseases that went around. After school we were with our friends. In the summer we would take walks out in the country to pick wild flowers, take a picnic lunch and sit under some large shade tree to eat it.
There was a lake only a couple of blocks from our home and we lived there a good part of the summer. In winter we could ice skate on the lake and when the lake was completely frozen over we could ride across on our father's sled. One such recollection was when we went to grandmother's (Rogness) house. We were all packed in the grain box sled and wrapped in quilts and robes from hides because it was very cold. The ringing of the bells from the horse's movements made the holiday season very real. Another great pastime in the winter was coasting down the hill. Right after school we changed clothes and got our sleds and off to the hill we would go. The older boys poured water over the hill to make it slick and faster. This was so much fun that we stayed much to long and came home with frozen hands and feet.
The amount of snow we had then is almost unbelievable. It would snow and drift and this kept up all through the winter. We sometimes were snowed in. The back door was only a step up and it was usually covered by high drifts. We had an open front porch with six steps up to the front door and that was the best way to get out of our house. When we were at school and if the snow was bad our father would come and get us because we did have a long way to get home.
THIS WAS ALL SHE WROTE. SHE PLANNED ON WRITING MORE BUT NEVER GOT AROUND TO IT.
THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN BY GLADYS:
We lived in Astoria, South Dakota. The earliest recollection of my childhood was at age four (1912). Not remembering much of that only that the ground around us was very rocky and also, we had a dog named Rover. My parents and two sisters (Minnie born 1898 and Agnes born 1904) and I lived there a couple of years and with another sister (Lillian born 1910) added to the family we moved to a town called Hendricks, Minnesota. This was about 12 or 13 miles from the little farm in Astoria, South Dakota. Hendricks is located about 1 mile from the state line of South Dakota.
At first we rented an older home in the center of town. It was while living there that we used water from a contaminated well and my two sisters and I contacted typhoid fever. Doctors didn't know much about this disease and with the excellent care we received from my mother we recovered. There were many others at that time not so fortunate. My hair was all gone due the the high fever and because I was the sickest I had to be wheeled around in a cart until I gained strength.
Not long after the typhoid fever had happened my father, who knew carpentry, decided to buy some ground and build us a new house. After completion, it was a magnificent two story home with four bedrooms with a full basement and a large attic which we girls had as our play house. In the winter it was used for drying clothes because of the extreme cold and snow. There were, of course, many inconveniences such as carrying coal from the basement for the cook stove and heater. We all had various chores to do. Mother took care of the garden, raising vegetables and many flowers too. We had enough chickens for our own use, a cow for milk and at that time my father owned some beautiful horses. He built a huge barn to accommodate these animals and it had a large hayloft. It was there that he made a swing for us girls. We had a lot of room to run and enjoy life.
Father at that time had the freight line business and delivered all the freight from the railroad depot to the grocery stores. We rarely saw any money, many of the things we needed were traded in some way. I am sure that my father was probably not getting what he was entitled to because of no system of accounting.
Our grammar School days were happy ones and of course, we got the normal communicable diseases that went around. After school we were with our friends. In the summer we would take walks out in the country to pick wild flowers, take a picnic lunch and sit under some large shade tree to eat it.
There was a lake only a couple of blocks from our home and we lived there a good part of the summer. In winter we could ice skate on the lake and when the lake was completely frozen over we could ride across on our father's sled. One such recollection was when we went to grandmother's (Rogness) house. We were all packed in the grain box sled and wrapped in quilts and robes from hides because it was very cold. The ringing of the bells from the horse's movements made the holiday season very real. Another great pastime in the winter was coasting down the hill. Right after school we changed clothes and got our sleds and off to the hill we would go. The older boys poured water over the hill to make it slick and faster. This was so much fun that we stayed much to long and came home with frozen hands and feet.
The amount of snow we had then is almost unbelievable. It would snow and drift and this kept up all through the winter. We sometimes were snowed in. The back door was only a step up and it was usually covered by high drifts. We had an open front porch with six steps up to the front door and that was the best way to get out of our house. When we were at school and if the snow was bad our father would come and get us because we did have a long way to get home.
THIS WAS ALL SHE WROTE. SHE PLANNED ON WRITING MORE BUT NEVER GOT AROUND TO IT.
Events
| Birth | 16 Mar 1908 | Astoria, Deuel, SD | |||
| Christen | 27 Mar 1908 | Singsaas Lutheran Church, Hendricks, Lincoln, MN | |||
| Christen | 27 Mar 1908 | God-parents: Marit and Anders Ingebrigston | |||
| Marriage | 1 Sep 1928 | Chicago, Cook, Illinois - William Bernard Wilson | |||
| Death of one spouse | 3 May 1975 | San Jose, Santa Clara, CA - William Bernard Wilson | |||
| Death | 3 May 1975 | San Jose, Santa Clara, CA | |||
| Burial | 5 May 1975 | San Jose, Santa Clara, CA, Oak Hill Cemetry |
Families
| Spouse | William Bernard Wilson (1907 - 1987) |
| Child | Richard Ray Wilson |
| Child | Janet Lynn Wilson |
| Child | William Lester Wilson |
| Child | Carole Marlene Wilson |
| Father | Lars Olsen Bonnes (1870 - 1951) |
| Mother | Gjertru Jonsdatter Rosbjorgen (1877 - 1952) |
| Sibling | Lillian Grace Bonnes (1910 - 1991) |
| Sibling | Agnes Julia Bonnes (1904 - 1987) |
| Sibling | Minnie Olivia Bonnes (1898 - 1969) |
| Sibling | Johnny Eilet Bonnes (1901 - 1902) |