Mary Belle Hanson-Pierson
Benson
1897
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Mary Belle became 21 on January 6, 1897, filed on her homestead claim January 11, and was married January 23 to Olof Pierson. Throughout their lifetime together, the two of them amassed substantial land holdings, but Mary Belle kept her original homestead in her own name until she died in 1941. The business operation demanded many hired hands, and the household responsibilities were considerable. Mary Belle was in charge of providing food, housing, and clothing for 5 to 8 men in the winter and 15 to 45 men in the spring and fall. In addition, she cared for her own 7 children and husband. She cooked, baked, churned butter, raised turkeys and chickens, gardened, sewed, canned, and saw to the cleaning of their large home and the bunkhouse. Her grandson remembers her as a woman devoted to "production, support, and discipline."

(Courtesy: R. Warren Pierson, Minot)

Fannie Overstreet-Henry
McKenzie
1914
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Whether women worked in the fields depended on custom, circumstance, and personal preference. Some ethnic groups disapproved of women's taking part in field work, while others expected it. Women often worked because their labor was necessary, but some simply preferred outdoor activities to housework.

Fannie came to McKenzie County in 1908 as a teenager to visit her brothers who were on homesteads. She returned to homestead her own 160 acres. A year later, she acquired another quarter-section through the Enlarged Homestead Act.

(Courtesy: L.O. "Pat" Henry, Tucson, Arizona)

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