Ann's Childhood, part 1 1927 - 1937

Ann Adeline Dravland

"I was born January 13, 1927 in Bottineau, ND. My parents, Jonas and Theresa Dravland, lived on a farm about 2 miles from Carbury. This is the same farm which my brother Vern and his wife, Eunice now own. I was the youngest of nine living children. I was named after my grandmother, Dad's mother, Anna, who died shortly before I was born.

Jonas and Theresa (Utgaard) Dravland

"I always thought my middle name was Adeline until sending for my birth certificate in 1980. My name was given as Anna Telma Dravland. It looked like my fathers handwriting, so evidently he wanted me to be named Telma, but my mother had other ideas. I had it legally changed to Ann Adeline after finding some school records and with an affidavit from brother, Oswald.

The Ole Dravland Farm

"My oldest recollections are of Grandpa Ole Dravland holding me on his knee, calling me Lis (little) Anna and telling tales from Norse mythology. My favorite was about 2 kings. One had 12 daughters and one had 12 sons. The 12 daughters were captured by a giant who lived on an island. The 11 oldest sons of the other king tried to rescue them without success. Finally the youngest son goes to the island and discovers that the giants strength is contained in an egg. The son finds the egg, taps it and the giants arm goes limp. He cracks it and the giant falls down.

"'Finally, he slaps his hand down on the egg, crushing it and the king falls dead.' As he said this, Grandpa slapped his hand loudly on his knee to illustrate. "Then the young prince rescues all the daughters and the brothers marry them and they all live happily ever after." Some of the songs he sang were Kjerringa med staven (the old woman with the cane) and Nikolina.

"Another happy recollection is of some of the foods that Mama used to make. I always liked grot, made with milk and flour, eaten on a plate with a pat of butter and brown sugar in the middle. My older brothers and sisters couldn't understand why I liked it so well. They said during the depression they had it for almost every meal.

"When Utgaards (mamas brothers family) came to visit, we would always have their favorite, rommegrot. This would be made with cream instead of milk. The butter in the cream would float to the top. This was a real treat. Another favorite of mine was raspekake. This was potato pancakes made with a piece of side pork fried in the middle.

"At Christmas mama made lefse, fatteman, date filled pinwheel cookies, and other delicious foods. Making lefse was a big project. Mama would roll it out and dad would cook it on top of the range using a long wooden spatula to turn them. They were about 18 inches across.

"This was the real Norwegian type lefse, not the Americanized type made with potatoes. The milk lefse had to be dried and was kept in a cold place and taken out as it was used, then it would be sprinkled with water, wrapped in a dish towel until it softened and was ready to eat."

from The Ann Adeline Dravland Story on dravland.com