Name/Title
Hagen family: Hazel Junis Hagen (Mrs. Wm Smith), residents of Hillsboro, Traill County, NDEntry/Object ID
2025.26.1Description
This family history file folder about Hazel (Hagen) and William Smith [photo, left] contains a number of images and documents, some of which are included here. Their lives are briefly summarized below, largely using information kindly provided in a Public Member Tree in Ancestry.com created by Jackie (Ausk) Baumgartner and titled: Ackerman/Kneip/Fleischer/Hagen Family Tree. Hazel was Jackie's great great aunt. For details about Hazel and William's lives, explore their profiles in this family tree.
Hazel Junis Hagen was born on 7 August 1907 on a farm in Norway Township in Traill County, ND, at a time when her parents, John and Hannah (Larson) Hagen resided on this farm, although they spent most of their lives in the City of Hillsboro [see TCHS Catalogit Family History entry 2025.25.1].
In the 1910 US Census, Hazel was 3 and as a girl [photo, below] lived on Fifth St. in Hillsboro with her parents and siblings. Hazel attended school in Hillsboro. When the 1920 US Census was taken on 7 January in Hillsboro, Hazel was 12 and resided with her family on Sargeant Street. In 1920, her father, John Hagen, was working as a house painter.
In the 1930 US Census, Hazel was 22 and was listed in the household with her parents and siblings. In this 1930 census, Hazel's employment was recorded as "Chamber maid" in a "Rooming house". In 1930, her father continued to work as a house painter. As a young woman, Hazel also worked "in Montana caring for children and for threshing crews" [obit info, Hillsboro Banner, 21 June 1993].
On 23 March 1934, Hazel Junis Hagen, 26, married William Smith, 27, of Hillsboro [news, Hillsboro Banner, 23 Mar. 1934]. They married in Moorhead, Minnesota. Hazel's sister, Bernice, and Edward Fleischer were attendants.
William Smith was born on 2 February 1907 to parents Peter K. and Manda (Olsen) Smith in Caledonia in Traill County, ND, where William was baptized at Caledonia Lutheran on 5 May 1907 [ELCA Baptism Rec.]. By 1910, William, 3, had moved with his family to a farm in Williams County in northwestern ND [1920 US Census]. In the 1920 US Census, William was 11 and recorded on his parent's farm in Big Meadow Township in Williams County, ND. But, as a young man, William came back to Traill County, where in the 1930 US Census, William, age 23, was employed as a laborer on the Otteson Farm in Blanchard Township.
After William and Hazel married in December 1934, they lived on Main Street in the City of Hillsboro, while William worked as a painter [1940 US Census] and in a potato warehouse [1950 US Census].
By 1950, William, age 43, and Hazel (Hagen), 42, had their five children in Hillsboro [family tree, below], including Rosalie Mae Smith (b. 6 Sep. 1937; m. Randolph Jeppesen, 15 Aug. 1958; d. age 85, 24 Dec. 2022, Missoula, MT), DuWayne Norris Smith (b. 23 Sep. 1939; m. Mary Ellen Bruce, 19 Dec. 1959 in Cass Co., ND; living), Caroline Lori Smith (b. 18 Mar. 1942; m. Ralph A. Baldani, 27 Jun. 1964 in Missoula, MT; d. age 74, 2 Jul. 2016 in New Stanton, Pennsylvania), LeRoy Merlin Smith (b. 3 Mar. 1946; m. Carol Ann Hannestad, 1 Nov. 1969 in Fargo; living), and Marvin Alan Smith (b. 1 Nov. 1947; m. Carolyn Paulette Jacobson, 26 Aug. 1966 in Moorhead, MN; d. age 46, 16 Jul 1994 in Detroit Lakes, MN). For details on the lives of William and Hazel's five children, explore the Ancestry.com Public Member Trees: Ackerman/Kneip/Fleischer/Hagen Family Tree by Jackie (Ausk) Baumgartner and also the Gunderson-Smith-Ike-Valtinson-Aubo Family Tree by MilfredS.
After living with his family and working in Hillsboro, in the 1950s, William and Hazel and family also lived in Casselton before moving to Fargo in 1960, where William worked as an auto mechanic [obit info, below]. William Carson Smith passed away, age 73, on 30 August 1980 at St. Luke's Hospital in Fargo [ND Death Certif.]. William and his wife, Hazel, resided on 2nd St. S. in Fargo. Earlier, William had retired as an auto mechanic. William was interred at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Fargo [grave-marker photo, below].
After her husband died in 1980, Hazel (Hagen) Smith continued to reside at their home on 2nd St. S. In 1992, Hazel moved to Bethany Homes in Fargo, where she died, age 85, on 11 June 1993 [obit info, below]. After funeral services at Peace Lutheran Church in Fargo, Hazel was interred next to William at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Fargo [grave-marker photo, below].Acquisition
Accession
2025.26Source or Donor
Jackie (Ausk) BaumgartnerLocation
* Untyped Location
Resource RoomBuilding
Plummer House
