Birger Rudolph Olson

Birger Rudolph was born on May 23, 1900 at Sharon, ND. The 1900census for Steele County, Westfield Township notes he is 8 months old.Rudolph is not on the Westfield School class picture taken in 1905 buthis name appears as a student of Westfield School for the school termOctober 15, 1906 to May 17, 1907. Rudolph was confirmed by Rev. IngelHovland in 1914 at Hoff Lutheran Church. He married Ellen Christen onJanuary 12, 1925. They lived on the Olson farm and raised their childrenthere. After Dan Olson died, they continued to live on farm with Anna.Farming during the thirties was very difficult. During the drought yearsI remember taking coffee to Uncle Rudy who was in the field on thetractor and I watched the North Dakota dirt blowing away.
Rudy decided that he could better use his combines harvesting crops inother states. During the summer he and Ella, their children, his crew,some of his nephews, and the converted school bus and equipment began'custom combining' in Texas and states to the north. My brothers havemany stories of the combining days.
In 1943 Rudolph moved his family to Braham, Minnesota where he was anengineer for Dahlman Manufacturing until 1972 when they moved toFranklin, Minnesota. Rudy invented a straw feeding device for theBaldwin combines, straw chopper, miscellaneous parts for potato combinesand the Olson Beach Cleaner which is now Cherrington Beach Cleaner. Thisbeach cleaner has cleaned and beautified many beaches in Florida andaround the United States.
The D. B. Olson farm was eventually sold and the beautiful home andmagnificent barn were removed from the property.
Rudolph and Ella were parents of eight children: Harvey Doyle, BettyAnn, Laurie, Betty, Richard, Kay, Donald, and Marjorie.
On July 28, 1974 their children celebrated Rudy and Ella's 50th weddinganniversary with a family reunion. On January 12, 1985 the familycelebrated their 60th anniversary at St. Luke's Lutheran Church. On May20th, 1990 the children hosted a luncheon celebrating Rudy's 90thbirthday. He was active in the community with Lions Club, City Counciland St. Luke's Church council.
Rudy died at Redwood Falls Hospital on October 17, 1990 of cancer.Funeral services were held on October 20, 1990 at St. Luke's LutheranChurch, Franklin, MN with burial on October 22, 1990 in Hoff Cemetery,Sharon, North Dakota.