ERIKSEN, ERIK P. AND LAURA

by Ethel A. Iversen and Lois McCafferty

Entry F128 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Erik and Laura Eriksen

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.