Helen Ruth (Knox) Northup was born on July 9th, 1918, the second daughter to Normanand Esther (Fleischman) Knox in Missouri.
Helen Explains: "They were in Mo because it was in 1918 and we were in the 1st World War . I believe my Dad was in some kind of a military academy or school as we had a snapshot of him sitting on a cannon in a uniform. However he was never in the service that I know of. When we came back we lived in the log house down by Ten Mile Lake. We did not move to the big house on the hill until my brother Gerald was a baby. He was born in Dec of 1925 so it was probably in 1926. My Knox grandparents lived in Bemidji on Park AVe and 12th St. after we moved into that loghouse. I remember a picture of my grandfather with us kids when Norma was the baby and Elroy very young They are the next younger than me. and I know they came out from Bemidji to visit us and we lived in that house then. My mother went to High School in Bemidji and lived with a family by the name of Rice. After graduating she went to school for only a few months, I believe to be certified to teach. She stayed with the Knox family while teaching at the Ten Mile School which it was at first called so that was when she met my Dad. They were married on June 21, 1916 when she was 21 years old and at first lived in a little house that was across from where David Bryans live. I think they lived there until we went to Missouri."
She was raised on the farm North of Puposky, Minnesota, where they were living when Vyron Northup came up from Ottertail county and went to work for her Dad. They eventually got married on September 20, 1936 in the Knox living room by Rev. J.T. Stolee.
In Helen's own words: I live in the same place as we lived most of our married life; which is only about a mile and a half north of the place I was raised in. We lived from the fall of 1936 until Nov of 1939 in a house which belonged to my Uncle Carl and Aunt Margie (Knox) Jones a mile south of here just across from the Pleasant Valley Church. At that time we moved into a house which Vyron built and added onto a couple times until the fall after Ron was born when we moved into this larger house built on the same location. Just recently the children have been improving this house by adding on a garage and enlarging some rooms and adding on others. At age 83, I suppose I will not be enjoying it for many years but as long as I am able, I intend to stay here and appreciate what a blessing my family is to me. There are still several of them living close. Chuck has 5 head of young stock (cattle) here in the pasture so he is over every day at least once and generally more often. He lives just around the corner to the west on a forty which was part of our farm(We had 160 acres across the road and this forty which is the building site.) Rick has a house just across the road but has moved to Coon Rapids and is just back on occasional weekends. Darien lives about a mile and 3/4 south of here on the Pleasant Valley road and daughter Judy and her family live to the west on the shore of Ten Mile Lake on part of what used to be my parents farm where I grew up. Leanne lives on a farm near Bemidji and is home for weekends frequently. Two more of the children live in Minn. Diana (who with her husband Paul have a Nursery and several greenhouses near Warren ) and Ron who lives in Thief River Falls with his family and works for the Highway Department. There are three daughters on the west coast (Dorothy in Edmonds Wash., Connie nearby in Shoreline, North of Seattle and Juanita who teaches elementary school in the Santa Ana School District and lives in Orange, Calif.) The final son lives in Katy, Texas and works for El Paso Gas in Houston. This is Francis ( or maybe you know him as Frank or Francisco or even Odin!!) |
Children of Vyron and Helen Northup
u Pictures of Helen Northup Family |
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