Aagot Raaen

Biography
Aagot Raaen was born in Iowa on December 3, 1873, the daughter of Norwegian immigrants, Thomas and Ragnhild (Rodningen) Raaen.  The family moved to Hatton, N.D., where Aagot attended the local schools and in 1903 was graduated from the Mayville (N.D.) State Normal School.  In 1913, she graduated from the University of Minnesota. She taught rural schools in the area and also at the Oak Grove Seminary in Fargo.  From 1917 to 1922, Aagot was Steele County Superintendent of Schools.  In 1922 she began teaching at a number of post-secondary institutions in Hawaii. She was the author of several books, including Grass of the Earth, Measure of My Days, and Hamarsbön-Raaen Genealogy, and wrote a series of historical articles for local newspapers.  She died on January 7, 1957, at Fergus Falls, Minnesota .

Grass of the Earth: The Story of a Norwegian Immigrant Family in Dakota

This is an engaging, richly detailed biography of a family of Norwegian immigrant homesteaders in eastern North Dakota in the late 1800s. Educator and world traveler Aagot Raaen wrote this reminiscence late in her life. Like Giants in the Earth and Old Jules, Grass of the Earth deals frankly with a darker side of pioneer life on the prairie.

Website Links:

Institute for Regional Studies

http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndirs/collections/
manuscripts/women/Raaen2/index.html