Name/Title
Enger family: Fingal & Gjertrud (Nelson) Enger, early pioneers of Traill and Steele Counties, Dakota TerritoryEntry/Object ID
2025.126.1Description
This Enger family history folder contains documents describing the life of Fingal Enger and his wife Gjertrud Nelson (photo, left). As described on pages 55 and 56 in Volume I of the Traill County History book published in 1976, and on pages 1 & 8 of the 5 June 1947 issue of the Hatton Free Press newspaper (see below), Fingal Enger came from Fargo on foot in March 1871 with John Amb and Iver Fecher to what is now Traill and Steele Counties. They were some of the earliest pioneers in the area.
Another account, on display at the Goose River Museum in Mayville (see below), states that "It was March 1972 when three labor-hardened bachelors (one of which was Enger) sauntered out across the prairie from Fargo in quest of land in the Goose River area."
In 1875, Fingal Enger married Gjertrud Nyhus Nelson, a widow with a son, Olaus. Fingal and Gjertrud had nine children (photo, below), eight sons (Gilbert [Gulbrand], Peder, Edward, Carl, Gabriel, Fritz, Thorval, and Oliver) and one daughter (Elisa). Over time, Fingal Enger became one of the largest landholders in North Dakota, owning some 20,000 acres in Steele, Traill and Richland counties. He employed up to thirty men operating several threshing machines during harvest.
In 1890, Fingal Enger was elected State Senator, and served again in 1892, 1894 and 1896. He also served as Vice President of the Farmers & National Bank from 1905 to 1913 (photo, below). Enger Township in Steele County, west of and adjacent to Viking Township in Traill County, was named in honor of Fingal Enger.
Fingal Enger was featured in as the "Goose River Giant" in an article written by Erling Rolfsrud in the fall edition of the 1971 North Dakota Horizons, a quarterly magazine. This article was reproduced in the 30 December 1971 issue of the Hatton Free Press newspaper (available online at ndarchives.historyarchives.online/home by searching for the Hatton Free Press newspaper and then for the name: Fingal Enger).
Fingal Enger passed away on 27 August 1913. A funeral was held at the Enger home (photo, below). Gjertrud (Nelson) Enger died in November 1913. They willed a section of land to each of their nine sons.
Fingal and Gjertrud (Nelson) Enger were buried in the cemetery of the Little Forks Lutheran Church located southwest of Hatton, ND, on land donated for the Church by Fingal Enger. In 1919, a hand-carved tombstone of granite from Vermont was erected at the cemetery as an Enger Memorial Monument (photo, below). A sign describing the monument is located at the monument (see below). Fingal Enger and Gjertrud (Nelson) Enger grave-marker by the monument (see below).
This Enger family history folder at the Plummer House Museum includes an Enger Family Book available for viewing. The folder also includes a Traill County History document briefly describing the life of one of Final and Gjertrud's sons, Carl Enger (see below).Acquisition
Accession
2025.126Source or Donor
Traill County "Yesteryears"Location
* Untyped Location
Resource RoomBuilding
Plummer House
