John J. Osnes migrated to the US from Norway in about 1888. He came to his Uncle Tom's at Cherokee,IA. He worked with his uncle and traveled to Flandreau, SD, where they farmed for a while. They were cleaned out by drought and grasshoppers, so they went back to Iowa. He stayed there doing carpenter work until he went to Norfolk, Neb. where his Uncle Peter J. Osnes worked for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad, he became a bridge foreman. He worked up through the Elkhorn Valley and went as far as Deadwood,S.D. He then went back to Niobrara, Neb. working on the bridge there. On a day off, he rode to Bonesteel and the sign up for a homestead was on. He had not figured on signing up, but did and was lucky enough to have his number drawn. He got the W 1/2 of of the E 1/2 of Section 20, Burke Civil township.

There, he built a house and barn and dug a well. John J. Osnes and Anne Fagerli were marrried Dec. 29,1904 and arrived at their new home in Jan. 1905.

They encountered hardships as did all who came to settle on their homesteads, but raised a family of nine children. Herman was the eldest, followed by Ruth, Joseph, Markus, Mildred, Marvin, Harold (Jim), Junice and John R. (Bud). Probably the hardest burden to bear was the loss of three children, Ruth, Joseph and Markus within a few days of one another in 1914. Because they had contracted scarlet fever, their mother, Annie, and baby Mildred were moved to a tent
and she was not able to care for the children who were ill.

Herman married Dorothy Graesser and they had 4 children, one whom died in an accident at a young age. Mildred married Franic Kellogg and they had 4 children but lost one in infancy. Marvin married Dorothy Kucera. Their family consisted of 3 children. Harold (Jim) did not marry. Junice married Robert Herling and had 4 children. John R. (Bud) married Dortha Wilson and had 2 children.

Though they had hardships, John J. had a quarter of land that had an abundance of water. He piped water to two different tanks, one in the cattle yard and one in the hog yard. He also pipied water to the new barn in about 1920 using what they called a hydraulic ram. This ran all the itme and the overflow went through the barn and down the creek. Due to the abundance of water, during the dry years they always raised a garden to keep them through the winter. They
always raised potatoes and also milked some cows. There was an orchard with apple, cherry, plum and mulberry, so they always had fruit. In the dry years, they even had extra apples to take to town and sell, which helped out.

John R. is very proud to be the 2nd generation owner of the homestead and proud of the recognition by SD Department of Agriculture and the SD farm Bureau.