Nels Enget was born in Verdalen, Norway on May 25, 1882 to Ole and Martha Enget. He immigrated to the United States in 1901 and settled on the Campbell Flats near Doran, Minnesota. He worked in the lumber camps and did farm work. One by one they came to America, each one working to help bring the family over, until all seven brothers and two sisters and parents arrived. In 1903, Nels came to North Dakota to file on a homestead. His claim was south of Powers Lake. The nearest town was White Earth. From there they hauled their coal, fuel, and supplies for the long winters. They had to make their own trails as there were no roads. Nels would tell of the times when they were hauling coal or had gone to town to secure supplies, a blizzard would hit and they could not see their hands in front of their eyes. They would let the horses have the reins and invariably they would find their way home. The summer would often become very dry which would add to the hazard of prairie fires. In 1916, he went to the big city of Chicago to visit his two brothers, Olaf and Bennie, who were attending Seminary in Morgan Park. There he met Anette Marianne Ragna Lorentzen who was born June 24, 1890 in Forra, Norway to Gudmond and Anne Lorentzen. Marian was the youngest of ten children. Her mother died when she was only six years of age. Her father later remarried and Marian went to live with her sister, Amanda and her husband Ole Olsen until she left home to be on her own at the age of 16. Marian immigrated to America from Norway in 1911 at the age of 22 to join three of her brothers who had settled in Chicago. Nels and Marian then were married in Chicago, on September 30, 1916. They came to North Dakota that same year where they settled on a farm southwest of Powers Lake.
Nels farmed until 1934 when the Depression came and then moved into Powers Lake where he was employed as a carpenter and a telephone linesman. Marian was the telephone operator in Powers Lake from 1942-1957.
Nels was a charter member of the Bethel Baptist Church until his death on October 7, 1963 from an apparent stroke or possibly cancer. Marian, also a member of the Bethel Baptist Church, continued to live in Powers Lake until 1983 when she became a resident of the Mountrail Bethel Home in Stanley. Mrs. Enget died on July 16, 1985 at the age of 95 years from congestive heart failure.
To this couple were seven children:
- Margaret Ovedia (Mrs. Earl Grubb) – July 26, 1917;
- Avery Gordon – March 28, 1920
- Alvera Nancy (Mrs. Ted Gibson) – June 6, 1921
- Rayburn LeRoy – June 26, 1922
- Doris Pauline (Mrs. Glen Arrison) – October 30, 1924
- Herbert Lavern – July 10, 1928
- Adeline Marie (Mrs. Lyman Lorentzen) – September 30, 1931
Both Nels and Marian were laid to rest at the Bethel Baptist Cemetary, south of Powers Lake.
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