Rural Life on the Bardahl Farm (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 44 theme "Rural")

When not "doing genealogy" I am often engrossed in another of my passions: creating original quilted fabric wall hangings. My most recently completed one inspired this week's "rural" post. 

John Deere "D" Tractor Quilted Wall Hanging (40 X 31 inches) - Joanne Barnard 2025

I like to tell the story of my entire 15 minute farming career occurring on this tractor when I was 8 or 9 years old. My Dad put me in charge of  driving the tractor so that he could pick up hay bales and load them onto a stone boat attached behind. When he told me to "go", I did it with such enthusiasm that I separated the tractor from the stone boat. The word "clevis" comes to mind -- that was what I broke before being summarily dispatched to the house to "help" my mother. 

The wall hanging was based on a photograph I had taken in the 1980s. Even then, the old tractor was being subsumed into the environment. It somehow seems fair that a machine intended to conquer the prairie was itself being overtaken by nature.

This got me thinking about how farm machinery had changed rural life from when my paternal grandfather John Bardahl homesteaded his Saskatchewan farm in 1910 until his death in 1945. Old family photos document some of those changes. 

When my grandparents started to farm in Saskatchewan, the land was virgin prairie. Horses provided the energy for breaking sod and seeding crops. The horses themselves required food, water and shelter. 

According to my Dad Ken in his memoir written in 1991:

It must have been a dream come true when in 1917 they were able to build a 32’ X 60’ hip roof barn with a hay loft to hold the winter’s supply of hay. . . . This barn was ample storage for up to 6 head of horses, which were his pride and joy.  . . .  He was able to finance the whole building with the proceeds off one flax crop.  

Within a few years, other options started to become available. The number of horses required decreased accordingly. By the 1950s, we had just two horses on the farm, used most often in the winter to pull a wagon or sleigh to visit neighbours.

1911 early tractor - John Bardahl on the left

According to Dad, this tractor purchased in the spring of 1911 was one of the first in the district.

Grandpa's Truck purchased in 1928

The purchase of this truck enabled my Grandfather to do some custom work hauling grain, cattle and gravel. 

 Dad described some of the developments in farm machinery: 

A machine called the one-way disc came into being, replacing the plow.  This machine left much of the stubble, anchoring the straw, which helped greatly in wind erosion of the soils.  A seeder box could be mounted on this machine so a person could till your soil as well as seed your grain in one operation.  About this time tractors came into more practical use.  Prior to this there were steam engines, used mainly for breaking the sod or as a power unit for threshing the crops. They were big and awkward and would not have been very practical for general farm use.  Tractors of 15-30 H.P. seemed to be the best size for farming in this area.  The early models had all steel wheels (rough to ride and dirty also).  Hand crank to start, no cabs and no power steering.  Several years later, rubber tires became a reality for tractors.  These were much easier to ride.  Later advancements were power steering units, wheel brakes (used individually for turning corners), lights and P.T.O. (Power Take Off) which could power a machine being pulled, combine, swather, etc. One of the later gadgets was the hydraulic lift system.  With this the operator could control the depth of the machine being pulled, a truly wonderful creation.  Its use even now is limitless, including of course, hoists for unloading a load of grain.  People in general were quite content with machinery of this size.  I can recall brother Jim and I seeding a field of 145 acres in 3 days by going night and day.  This would be with a 9’ one way disc and a sturdy John Deere “D” tractor.  

John Bardahl and some of his children and grandchildren at stooking time, unknown year c.1938

 

 Once again quoting my Dad:   

Another venture that Dad had was his threshing machine for harvesting purposes. . . . When the grain was not quite ripe a machine called a binder was put into use.  This machine was pulled with 4 horses and the binder would cut and bind into sheaves in one operation.  A unit called the bundle carrier would allow the operator to carry about 6 sheaves when they could be released with a simple fast manipulation.  This procedure was very slow, only cutting an 8 foot swath, 12 to 15 acres per day limit.  After this being completed, these bundles had to be put up in stooks, grain end up for drying, about 6 or 8 bundles to a stook.  People became adept at this and it was a beautiful sight on completion.  It was hard manual work with the old water jug not too far away at any given time.  The next operation was when the threshing machine pulled into this field.  The machine was set on level property, with wind on your back.  Next, the 6 or 8 teams of horses and hayracks would load up their bundles.  Each man went in rotation taking turns into the machine for the threshing.  Each unit was proud of their big and well built loads and if you went in early with a small load, you found out quickly that this wasn’t’ a very popular thing to do.

Threshing 1943

John Bardahl seeding spring 1941 with John Deere "D" model tractor; although this model was produced by John Deere from 1928 until 1953, the fenders weren't added until 1939 so Grandpa's tractor was quite new at this time 

As for the John Deere "D" workhorse of my "farming career", although I wasn't driving it long enough to warrant a photograph,  it had often served as the backdrop for many family photos over the years. 

John's daughter Inez Bardahl

John Bardahl's grandchildren Roger, Audrey and Harry Gordon

John's granddaughter Louise Barton

Some Resources:

• Bardahl, Kenneth, personal memoir written 1991 for his grandson Grant McClure, copy in possession of author
• "John Deere D", Machine Finder blog accessed online 2 October 2025 at https://blog.machinefinder.com/39268/the-john-deere-model-d-a-classic-tractor-spotlight

Job Judkins of Boston (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 43 theme: "Urban")

As unlikely as it seems, my 10th great grandfather Job Judkins is said to have been a Scot who migrated to New England during the Great Migration of 1620-1640. (Since the Scots did not tend to join the Puritan settlers, perhaps it is more likely that he originated from Warwickshire as others have suggested.) Wherever he came from, he was found in Boston by 1637, just seven years after the English started to settle the area naming it after Boston in Lincolnshire, England.

Certainly Boston was not then the large urban center that it has since become. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 675, 647 -- several hundred thousand more than in Job's time.

Present Day Boston MA Google Earth map showing approximate location of Job Judkins' home facing Washington Street near Summer Street

The extent of this part of Boston shown on present day Google Earth map is very misleading to the uninformed. Settlement by the English in the 1630s was on the hilly Shawmut Peninsula in the center of this map. It was only about 738 acres (smaller than my Dad's Saskatchewan farm where I grew up) and was almost completely surrounded by water at the time. The original peninsula was connected to mainland Roxbury to the south by a narrow neck of land along present-day Washington Street. Mud flats and marshes to the west were known as the Back Bay. The Charles River flowed through the Back Bay to Boston Harbor, separating the peninsula from the mainland to the north and west.  On the east side Town Cove divided the city into the North and South Ends. 

The additional lands around the outside were all added by reclamation done to roll back the waterfront in the 19th century. This expanded the land area to 48.4 square miles (an incredible 40X larger than it was during Job's time). 

The center of the original town was at the Old State House (built 1711-47 long after Job Judkins' time). When we visited Boston in 1999 we visited the Old State House and nearby Old South Meeting House, among many other historic sites. We had no idea at the time that we were treading on land so near the home of our ancestor Job Judkins near Washington and Summer Streets!

Old South Meeting House on Washington Street, Boston - photo by author 1999

Job was a sawyer. He married Sarah Dudley and had four sons, then finally one daughter who was my 9th great grandmother Sarah Judkins Pratt (1645-1726). Both Job and his wife are believed to have died and been buried in Boston in 1657.

The only cemetery in Boston until 1660 was the King's Chapel Burying Ground. Perhaps this was their burial location.

King's Chapel Burying Ground  - background is City Hall and King's Chapel Church photo taken 12 September 1929 by Leon H. Abdalian, author Boston Public Library on Wikimedia Commons This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Some Resources:

• "Boston by the Numbers, Land Area and Use", City of Boston accessed online 14 September 2025 at https://www.bostonplans.org/getattachment/86dd4b02-a7f3-499e-874e-53b7e8be4770
• Britannica website accessed 11 September 2025  at www.Britannica.com/place/Boston
• Judkins, Elizabeth Littlefield, Job Judkins of Boston and his descendants, Larchmont, N.Y., 1962 accessed 11 September 2025 on Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/jobjudkinsofbost00judk_0/page/n5/mode/2up
• US Census Bureau information for Boston, Massachusetts accessed 14 September 2025 at https://data.census.gov/profile/Boston_city,_Massachusetts?g=160XX00US2507000

John Firman (1588-c1642) (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 42 theme: "Fire")

Having already written about a relative who died in one of America's worst fire disasters -- Chicago's Iroquois Theater Tragedy of 1903 -- I wanted to find a less horrific fire story to feature this week.

While searching my database for any ancestors with surnames including "Fire" or "Burn", the closest name was missing an "e": my 11th  great  grandfather John Firman (Firmin, Fyrmin or Furman). Fortunately for my purposes (but unfortunately for his!), there was indeed a fire (with an "e") in John's story. Thankfully, no one died in this fire. 

John Firman was born in Nayland, Suffolk in 1588. He married his first wife Judith Bridge at St. Nicholas Church, Ipswich, Suffolk on 23 June 1614. 

St. Nicholas Church, Ipswich - The copyright on this image is owned by Geographer  and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

Their first child was a daughter Elizabeth (my 10th great grandmother) born at Nayland 27 April 1615.  Twins were born to the couple on 10 February 1617/18 but Judith died as a result and was buried at Nayland 24 February. After the death of his first wife, John married a widow named Susan Bush Warren and had more children with her. 

In 1630, John, Susan and 7 children were part of the Winthrop Fleet of mass migration to New England. A vast number of the emigrants were, like the Firmans, from Suffolk. Most were religious dissidents; John Firman was among a group of men who had been censured in Suffolk for not kneeling during prayer as required. 

The Firmans settled at Watertown where John is listed as among its founders. His name is included in the list at the Watertown Memorial erected in 1930 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of its founding. 

Watertown Memorial photo by J Furman on 15 March 2015 from Findagrave.com

Just months after their June arrival, on 10 November 1630,  it was reported that "Firmin of Watertown had his wigwam burnt." No additional information has been located, but it does sound as if this was a temporary shelter that burned. No doubt he soon built a permanent structure to house his growing family.

We often forget that the first immigrants to America did not move into existing houses. They eventually built their own, but that would have taken time. As a quick temporary solution, they did the obvious: built simple dwellings using whatever materials were at hand. This often meant digging a cellar or making tent-like structures by piling up branches or logs and covering that with cloth or branches woven into mats and covered with mud or sod. They may well have taken a lead from the local indigenous people who knew how to build with local materials for the local circumstances. This probably explains the reference to his "wigwam" having been burned.

John was made a Freeman of Watertown on 18 May 1631 and was chosen a Selectman in 1637.  He made a return visit to England in late 1633 but boarded the ship Elizabeth at Ipswich, Suffolk for return to America on 30 April 1634. 

We know John died before 10 May 1642 when his heirs were granted significant amounts of land at Watertown; no burial location has been located.

Some Resources: 

• Anderson, Robert Charles, Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volume 1, New England Historic Genealogical Society 2012, pages 675-678, accessed online 9 October 2022 at https://archive.org/details/greatmigrationbe0001robe
• Banks, Charles Edward, The Winthrop Fleet of 1630, an account of the vessels, the voyage, the passengers and their English homes from original authorities, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company 1930 accessed on Internet Archive 10 Sept 2025 at https://archive.org/details/winthropfleetof100bank/page/n9/mode/2up
• Polino, Valerie Ann, "The Architecture of New England and the Southern Colonies as it Reflects Changes in Colonial Life", part of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute Curriculum Resources, accessed online 21 September at https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/1978/4/78.04.03.x.html

Samuel Hartwell of Bridgewater (1693-1760), 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 41 Theme: "Water"

With so many possibilities to write about water, the obvious choice would be the Atlantic Ocean crossed by my ancestors to get our family to North America from Europe. Certainly there were many ocean adventures that could be shared. Also dozens of rivers, streams and lakes feature in the lives of family members. I have chosen instead to write about a place with "water" as part of its name: Bridgewater, Massachusetts. 

Bridgewater, Massachusetts, is situated within a triangle formed by Boston, Providence and Plymouth.

Location of Bridgewater, MA
Google Earth image

Like so many other New England settlements, Bridgewater may have been named for the English ancestral home of some of its early residents -- in this case Bridgwater, Somerset. Although no record has been located to link the name of the town of Bridgewater to the significance of its bridges, it does not seem an inapt name for the new settlement. Nahum Mitchel's history of the town includes a listing of some of the local waterways: Nuncketest River (formerly Mill River, Town River), Cowesit and West Meadow Brook, South Brook, Salisbury River, Beaver Brook, Matfield River, Byram's Brook, Spring Brook, John's River, Poor Meadow River, Middle River, Great River, Satcuket River, Black Brook, Titicut River, Taunton Great River and Hullet's Brook. So much water to get across!

Perhaps not surprisingly, earliest records for the town of Bridgewater, Massachusetts (established in the middle of the seventeenth century) indicate the significance of bridges to deal with all that water in the construction of the original roads connecting local residents to each other and to the broader world beyond. 

Bridge construction and maintenance was included in the town records over the years. Sometimes the bridges were described as horse bridges. In 1680, John Washburn Jr. (my 8th great granduncle) was one of those tasked with maintaining a bridge and causey (presumably a short form of "causeway") toward Thomas Snell's house. The specification was that it be fit for cart, horse and foot traffic.

Included in the list of surnames of original and early settlers in Bridgewater are a whole slew of ancestors: Alden, Carver, Hartwell, Johnson, Latham, Mitchell, Perkins, Pratt, Simmons, Snow and Washburn. These families often intermarried over the years.

At the time of our genealogical journey to New England in 1999, we knew of just one Bridgewater family, that of my 7th great grandfather Samuel Hartwell. Samuel was born 12 November 1693 in Concord, MA to Samuel Hartwell Sr. and his wife Abigail Stearns.

He married Hannah Billings in about 1717 and had a family of 8 children with her before her death in 1736. The couple had moved about 45 miles from Concord to Bridgewater shortly after their marriage. 

Samuel outlived Hannah by many years before succumbing to smallpox in 1760. 

In May of 1999, we visited Samuel's gravesite at the Jerusalem Graveyard in West Bridgewater.  He is buried in plot 34 and his inscription (very difficult to see) reads: "Here lies buried Mr. Samuel Hartwell, who dec'd December y 25, 1760, in the 67th year of his age."  Buried with him were son and granddaughter: "Here lies buried Mr. Jonathan Hartwell, who died Feb. 8, 1761, in the 40th year of his age.  And Hannah, his daughter, dec'd Jan'y 30th, 1761 in y 3d year of her age."  In the book detailing the graveyards of Bridgewater found in the Bridgewater library, on page 48, it indicates parenthetically that these persons died with small-pox

Jerusalem Graveyard from Google Earth

Some Sources:

• Hartwell, John F., The Hartwells of America A Genealogy, Higginson Book Company 1956/58, based largely on Handbook of Hartwell Genealogy 1887 by Lyman Willard Densmore, Accessed 21 September 2024 on Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/hartwellsofameri00dens/page/n7/mode/2up
• Mitchell, Nahum, 1769-1853. History of the Early Settlement of Bridgewater, In Plymouth County, Massachusetts: Including an Extensive Family Register. Facsimile ed. with a new name index. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1983.  Also accessed online at Internet Archive on 22 September 2025 at https://archive.org/details/historyofearlyset00mitcch/page/124/mode/2up?view=theater

Bethel Cemetery, Leinan, Saskatchewan, Canada (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 40 theme: "Cemetery")

This cemetery near my childhood home is the one that comes to mind in connection with this week's theme.

Bethel Church and  Cemetery - photo courtesy Ray Martinson on Findagrave.com

 

The land for the cemetery was donated in 1909 by Sigvald Jorgenson. The area was just opening up to homesteaders and before long, it became apparent that a cemetery would be needed in the community. The cemetery was alone on the prairies until Bethel Church was built in 1926-27 adjacent to it on land donated by Mrs. Anna Vatne, heir to homesteader Peter Anderson. This followed years of planning, fundraising and work by the community. There had been much discussion of various other locations for the church to be built, but in the end it made sense to place it adjacent to the cemetery. albeit on two separate quarter sections of land. 

Bethel Cemetery is located at SW22-18-14 W3M in southern Saskatchewan. I spent the first 10 years of my life just south of there on the farm at SW15-18-14-W3M. This was a short walk to the Bethel Church at NW15-18-14-W3M for Sunday School and Church services, though it was always done by car if my parents went.

Many activities occurred in the church: weddings, baptisms, funerals, Fowl Suppers, Christmas Pageants, bridal showers, and various meetings. The children all tagged along but escaped to play in and around the parked cars -- and, of course, in the graveyard. We would make a point of not stepping on any of the concrete and stone grave coverings, probably more out of superstitious fear than of respect for the dead. 

Findagrave.com website lists Bethel as cemetery id 2495060 and indicates that it has 101 memorials listed for people buried there. Surnames reflect the predominant Norwegian background of the congregation and include: Anderson, Bardahl, Berg, Bow, Brown, Bye, Doverspike, Eidem, Fladaasgen, Gilbertson, Grand, Hanvold, Hjermanrude, Johnsgaard, Johnson, Jorgenson, Kantrud, Koziol, Kvale, Kvello, Martinson, McCauley, Miller, Moen, Nygaard, Olson, Robertson, Rude, Rustad, Saaler, Sjoberg, Tangen, Tollefson and Wengel.

Bethel Church Congregation unknown year - probably 1940s

Although the church itself has not been used in decades and has fallen into a sad state of decline, the cemetery remains available. It was here before the church and is surviving long after. 

Despite the Bardahl homestead being on the adjacent farm, my Dad Ken is the only Bardahl who has been buried here. 

Ken Bardahl grave marker at Bethel Cemetery - photo by Ray Martinson of Findagrave.com

Some Resources:

• Anderson, Reynard, History of Bethel Church 1919-1954, privately printed, date unknown
• Memories to Cherish, Stewart Valley and Leinan, compiled by Stewart Valley - Leinan History Book Committee; Printed Altona, Manitoba: Friesen Printers, 1987, pp. 103-105
• Success, The Success History Book Committee, Printed Steinbeck, Manitoba: Derkson Printers, 1981, pp. 45-46

What Became of Mr. Murdy? (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 39 theme: "Disappeared")

Mr. Murdy (Murdie or McMurdy) was my 4th great grandfather. No first name has ever been found. He was believed to have been from Scotland and to have married Jane Davidson, though any evidence to support these suppositions has itself disappeared. 

He had a daughter Jane Murdy, my female mitochondrial DNA line ancestor (possibly going back another generation to Jane Davidson). Jane Murdy is said to have been born in 1801 in Hannibal, New York. She married David Bullen there in 1823.

Location of Hannibal, Oswego County, NY - Google Earth image

The only references that have been found relating to Jane's father are from the Source Book for the Bullen Family. One letter there dated 19 October 1935 from Americus Brown (a grandson of David and Jane's) reads: 

"Mother was born in Hannibal, NY.  Her mother was Jane Murdy. Her grandmother and she who was her mother came west from NY and settled in northern Illinois with their people.  Her grandfather came later as he was a breeder of fine horses -  bringing some blooded stock.  When he got where they were he wanted to see farther west so he hitched up a team and started out.  It was the last seen or heard of him.  It was always supposed he was killed by the Indians for his team."

An additional notation was made by Source Book for the Bullen Family co-compiler Mrs. A.H. Nelson: 

"My grandmother's (Jane Murdy) father died and her mother married a Mr. Chambers who was the father of Kate and Mary Chambers." 

I have learned that Kate and Mary's father was John Chambers who married a woman named Jane Davidson. Was this Jane Murdy's mother and the presumed widow of Mr. Murdy? 

All efforts to locate additional information about the Murdys/Murdies/McMurdy's have proven futile. Nothing relating to the Davidson or Chambers surname proved of any relevance in locating information on Mr. Murdy. Nor could anything further be found in the history of Hannibal, NY.

Unanswered questions: Where in northern Illinois did Mr. Murdy disappear from? Was he killed by Native Americans or by someone else keen to rob him of his fine horses? Was he involved in a fatal accident in the wilderness? Or did he voluntarily disappear, change his name and start a new life with a new family farther west? 

He disappeared. End of story.

Some Resources: 

Nelson, M. and Dunlop, R., Compilers,  Source Book for the Bullen Family; Privately printed in the 1930s, p67 (copy in possession of author)

Martha Pray and Joseph Wilkinson (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 38 theme: "Animals")

My 7X great grandparents Joseph and Martha (Pray) Wilkinson were born in Providence, Rhode Island in the latter part of the 17th century. They were married in Smithfield, Providence, RI in 1713 and  went on to have a large family of 15 children. 

Joseph Wilkinson had come to the northwest part of Scituate in 1703 and spent 10 years establishing himself there prior to their marriage.  He erected the first barn there to house the first cow brought to town.  His home, on the most northern turnpike, was considered to be a good farm. It was said that Martha had planted apple trees on their farm during the first year of their marriage. Both were doing their parts to establish a good home for their family in the new community.

Locations of Providence and Scituate, R.I. - Google Earth

Joseph was known to have used the hunting lodge that was built for the convenience of sportsmen from Providence and surrounding places. But sometimes the tables were turned and it was the wildlife doing the hunting.  

One often repeated story tells how Joseph and Martha in their early married years had to keep guard on their sheep at night to protect them from bears and wolves.  The sheep were kept in log enclosures near the house.  One night Joseph and Martha were awakened by the sound of a bear rolling the logs away; they had to get up quickly to rescue their sheep.  

Another frequently told animal story relates to Martha being visited by a bear when she was home alone. Martha had an apple tree full of ripe fruit that the bear was shaking from the tree. In desperation, Martha took her husband's loaded gun kept on a peg on the wall for just such emergencies. She took one shot.  This so frightened her that she dropped the gun, ran back into the house and fastened the door.  When her husband returned home and was told what she had done, he went out to investigate and found the bear dead near the apple tree. Not only had Martha saved their apples but also provided some fresh bear meat for the family.

In fairness to the bears, black bears were believed to have been common throughout Rhode Island when the first Europeans arrived. Colonists soon cleared about 2/3 of the forest lands, drastically reducing bear habitat. It isn't surprising that the bears were doing what they could to find food amid depleting resources. Bears had essentially disappeared from the area by the 18th century.

Joseph died at the age of 58 and is buried in the Westcott-Wilkinson Lot (also known as R.I. Historical Cemetery #14); Martha lived to the age of 91 and probably told her bear story many times to her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Westcott-Wilkinson Lot  burial site for Joseph Wilkinson (and possibly Martha Pray Wilkinson)

photo courtesy Gene Kuechmann of Findagrave.com

Some Resources: 

• A History of Scituate, R.I., Being an account of its Early Settlement & Events to the Present, Compiled by the American Studies Class, Scituate Jr./Sr. High School, N. Scituate, Rhode Island, Project Heritage 1977
• Beaman, C.C.,  An Historical Sketch of the Town of Scituate, RI,  published by Order of the Town Council, Delivered in Scituate July 4, 1876 at the Request of the Town Authorities, Phoenix Capron & Campbell, Steam Books and Job Printers 1877
• Roberts, Gary Boyd, "Genealogies of Rhode Island Families volume 1", New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1989
• Kuffner, Alex, Providence Journal 11 June 2019, "Bears, too, Finding R.I. A Good Place to Settle Down" article accessed online 25 August 2025 from The Herald News at https://www.heraldnews.com/story/news/2019/06/11/bears-too-finding-r-i/4938185007/