Henry and Amelia (Knudson)  Kjonaas
Henry is the son of Hans and Turi (Olson) Kjonaas
 
 
Henry and Aase Amelia's Wedding picture
 
Henry Kjonaas, son of Hans and Turi Olson Kjonaas was born April 9, 1884, in Freeborn County, Minn.  He attended school when not needed on the farm and completed the equivalent of about 4th grade.  He married Aase Amelia Knudson on Nov. 7, 1906.  While in his teenage years he fell and injured his left knee on a plow.  At the age of about 17 he contracted the disease of polio.  This left his right leg completely paralyzed and his left leg still greatly weakened from the plowing accidents.  His right arm was also paralyzed except for the fingers.  He attended a watchmakers school and from then on earned a living by repairing watches.  For several years after their marriage Henry and Amelia lived on the family farm.  Tilda, Tilford, and Hazel were born on the farm in Freeborn County.  About 1914 or 1915 the family moved to Farewell, Minn., where henry set up a watch repair shop.  Clara was born in Farewell.  The family moved to Starbuck, Minn., about 1916.  They had a new house built in Starbuck.  The new house had five bedrooms, a basement, electrical lights, two cisterns to hold rain water, an artesian well in the basement, hot and cold running water, central heat, indoor plumbing with a bathtub, two screened porches and even an electric washing machine.  The twins, Melvin and Manley were born in Starbuck in 1917.  A severe flu epidemic hit Starbuck in 1920 and Amelia died on Feb. 2, 1920.

    This is very difficult time for the family of six children and the father who was confined to a wheel chair.  Grandmother Turi Olson came to help for a short time.  The writer can vividly remember Uncle Ole and Grandma driving up to the house with the two people sitting on the gas tank seat of the Model T Ford flatbed truck and her single piece of furniture, a chest of drawers, on the back of the truck.  They had come from Park Rapids.  After Grandma's short stay, Aunt Anne Heegard came with two or three children and stayed a short while.  Housekeepers came and went quite frequently.  Some were good and a few were bad.

    About 1923 or 1924 Henry developed cancer in his left knee and this leg had to be amputated.  In 1924 the family purchased its first car, a 1917 Maxwell touring car.  It wasn't a very reliable car so it was only used for short local trips.  About the same time a radio was purchased.  This was  one of the earliest radios in Starbuck.  The car and the radio went together because the same battery was used in both.  When the car was in use the radio couldn't be used.

    In 1925 the Maxwell was traded for a 1923 Oldsmobile touring car.  This was a large, beautiful, dependable car and gave lots of pleasure for evening joy riding.  Sunday afternoon drives or trips to camp meetings on Sundays to places as far as 125 miles away.  This 1923 Oldsmobile was kept until 1933 when it was traded for a beautiful 1929 Oldsmobile 4 door sedan dual wire spoke side mounts.  The old touring car gladly given up because by then only poor people drove touring cars and more.

    Tilda left home at a early age to live with Aunts near Hartland, Minn.  In 1927 Tilford was in Tacoma, Washington, where he was working for the N.P. Railroad.  The family had previously thought of moving West so plans were made to take a trip West during 1928.  Hazel and Clara would drive the 1923 Olds to Montana, and Tilford would meet them to drive the car through the mountains.  All plans were canceled when Tilford was killed in a motorcycle accident in March, 1928.  Seven years later, in June, 1935 Henry, Clara, and the twins drove in the 1929 Oldsmobile to Washington State.  They returned to Starbuck in two weeks, packed the watchmakers bench and tools in a two wheel trailer and drove back to Grandview, Wash., to live.  During the winter in Washington Henry developed cancer in the lung cavity.  Clara who was then a registered nurse, came to take care of him.  In June of 1936 the four of them packed in the 1929 Olds and trailer and drove back to Starbuck.  Henry died one month later.

 1928
Hazel, Manley, Henry, Melvin, and Clara.
Starbuck, Minnesota
 
.................... ...................
     Henry 1920                                      Henry 1926                      Manley, Melvin Henry & Rover
 

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       Amelia Kjonaas                  Manley with a replica clock                Manley and Hazel  1990
                                                        In Depot Museum.
 

 
 
Written by: Manley Kjonaas
Typed and submitted by: Richard Kjonaas
 
 
 
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