ERIKSEN, ERIK P. AND LAURA
Erik Peter Eriksen was born in Chicago, Il. Nov. 4, 1870. His parents, Erik Peter and Christene (Pedersen) Eriksen were immi-grants from Denmark in 1868. His father was a cabinetmaker. The family lost all belong-ings in the Chicago Fire of 1871. Then they started to move west and finally settled on a farm in Platte Co, NE near Lindsay in 1878. At about 19 years of age, Erik found work in Omaha and during the drought of 1894 he was able to send his father a car load of hay to hold the cattle over until the next years crop.
“E.P.'' married Laura Louise Leonard in Omaha, NE on January 15, 1894. She was born February 3, 1871 in Cascade, IA. They lived in Council Bluffs, IA and Erik worked as a brakeman on the Union Pacific Railroad, however, he felt that the country would be a better environment for his family and in 1907 he filed on a homestead in Cherry Co., 13 miles northwest of Mullen in Section 17, T.25, R.33. The children were Ethel, Gladys, Berniece, Leonard, Lois, and Homer. Mr. Eriksen left his wife and children with his folks at their farm home while he built the sod house on the claim. In November, he came for them and the Grandfather Eriksen gave them a horse and cow and some necessary farm machinery to help them get started on their new venture. These, with the household goods were shipped by rail to Mullen. An aunt, Mrs. Annie Simonson and her family had already settled near the Loup River, and with their help, by the loan of horses and wagon, they made their way to their new home. Water was obtained from a neighbor or hauled from the river two miles away. But soon Erik got a drilling rig and drilled a well. Later, he drilled wells for other new settlers. The “soddy'' was soon replaced by a comfort-able frame home.
There was always a large field of potatoes and the kids had the job of picking potato bugs. Each carried a can of kerosene and went down the rows brushing bugs into the cans as long as the vines were green. The mother raised chickens and turkeys and since they had cattle and hogs, they never lacked for meat. The haying season was an especially busy time. The children all worked as they got old enough and since the girls were the oldest, they wore coveralls and worked like the men. It was not uncommon to encounter rattlesnakes while mowing and they prayed that no rattlers would be thrown up on the stack as they worked. Devastating fires sometimes swept across the prairies, usually started by lightning. As a safeguard, E.P. would plow a fireguard around the house.
The Erik Postoffice was established within the Eriksen home April 14, 1908. The mail came from the Prentice Postoffice three times a week. The mail route from Prentice to Mullen was a two day trip and they stopped to change horses at Erik. The Postoffice was discontinued in 1923.
The family enjoyed listening to the old Edison phonograph with its cylinder records and the horn. They occasionally went to barn dances. They would put hay in the wagon-bed for the comfort of the family and sang songs going and coming home. The dance started early, stopping only for midnight lunch, after which the parents usually visited and the young people danced until daybreak. Then they would travel home to face the usual morning chores before catching a few hours of sleep.
In 1923 they moved into Mullen where E.P. was Hooker Co. Judge for four years. He also carried rural mail and served as village clerk. He was a member of the Mullen Masonic Lodge and Laura and he were faithful members of the Episcopal church.
Erik died in Mullen April 7, 1937 and Laura in Seattle, WA on May 4, 1963. They were both buried in the Cedarview Cemetery in Mullen.
Ethel was born on February 24, 1897 in Omaha. She married Harold Iversen of Seattle, WA. She now lives in North Kansas City, MO. Gladys was born in Council Bluffs, IA on August 22, 1900. She married Merrill Burnidge and after his death she married John Clark. She passed away May 7, 1981 in Kansas City, MO. Berniece was born in Council Bluffs, IA on April 17, 1902. She married Otis J. King of Whitman, NE. She died November 1, 1985 at Torrance, CA. She is buried at Fairmont Cemetery in Denver, CO. Leonard was born at Courcil Bluffs, IA on September 14, 1903. He married Virginia L. Hodges of Mullen. He died in a Denver hospital on March 25, 1964 and is buried in the Cedarview Cemetery in Mullen. Lois was born July 21, 1905 at Council Bluffs, IA. She married Ed McCafferty of Seattle, WA. She continues to live in Seattle. Homer was born December 4, 1906 at Council Bluffs, IA. He married Beulah Hett of Kansas. He died October 21, 1976 at Cedar Falls, IA.
The life on the homestead was a hard life but no one would have changed it if they could. Although most of this family moved away as they were grown, they have always looked back to those days with nostalgia and they treasured the years in the sandhills.