Return to Home Page

Genealogical Charts

Orlynn Mankell (1928-1999)
and Vivian Jordin Mankell (1931-1994)

Orlynn and Vivian met in New London, Minnesota in the early 1950s. Vivian worked at the Big Store, (the local grocery store in New London) and rather than return to her family's Irving Township farm each night, she stayed in New London with her aunt, Hannah (Johnson) Rose. Then on the weekends she went to the farm east of New London; her father, Walter, would pick her up. After meeting Vivian, Orlynn volunteered to give her rides to her home on the weekends. Family lore states that Orlynn would go shopping at the Big Store in order to visit with Vivian. His mother and sisters would find food, such as lettuce and bread, in his bedroom closet. For the record, Orlynn denied hiding food from his special shopping trips!

Orlynn Mankell and Vivian Jordin were married on November 19, 1954 at Vivian's home church of Zion Irving Lutheran Church in Irving Township, east of New London.

They lived their first few months of their marriage in a cottage at the Larimer Resort on the south shore of Norway Lake, while Orlynn built their home on the Mankell homestead. This home was small, with a kitchen, living room, bath, and two bedrooms. In a later addition Orlynn added a living room, 2 bedrooms, a basement and an enlarged kitchen. This house was located next to the township road, just west of the farmhouse. Orlynn and Vivian had three children: Susan Muellner, Carolyn Sowinski, and Kurt Mankell. Kurt owns the farm following the deaths of our parents.

Vivian Jordin Mankell

Vivian's father was Walter Jordin, son of Swedish immigrants August and Mary (Mortenson) Jordin . Vivian's mother was Inge Johnson, daughter of Norwegian immigrants Andrew and Ragnhild (Olsen) Johnson.

Vivian and her siblings (older brother Noel, and younger sister Mary Ann) grew up on a farm about 8 miles north of Atwater, Minnesota. They attended a country school only a mile or so north of the farm. There are now no buldings at either the location of the farm or the school. When Vivian was 5 years old and her sister Mary Ann was a toddler, their mother died from heart failure. Grandmother Mary Mortenson then helped Walter raise the children. For more informatin about Vivan's childhood, see the Jordin and Johnson page.

Daughter Susan Mankell Muellner writes this about our mother, Vivian:

Her typical week began with laundry on Monday morning. However, "laundry" meant different things over the years. At first it meant going to grandpa's house. Then it meant rolling the large wringer washer from the little utility room to the corner of the kitchen. Later, she used a mini-washer/wringer that she used by the kitchen sink. This process meant piles of washed clothes on the kitchen table. Clothes dried on the line, a drying rack, or in the dryer at grandpa's.

Tuesday was bread day. This also meant early mornings for mom. And "bread" meant not only white loaves, but also buns and sometimes brown (rye) bread. Some weeks she'd also make sweet dough for cinnamon rolls.

And of course she sewed clothes for herself, Carolyn and me. Her sewing machine was set up by the picture window in the living room in the early years. For Easter, she sometimes sewed three matching dresses for us. And during all of this, she taught Carolyn and me how to cook, bake, and sew. What a gift this was.

And then there was her love of gardening: peonies, tiger lillies, phlox, irises, tulips, lilies of the valley, poppies, vegetables and sweet corn. Mom was also good at canning: peach sauce, pear sauce, applesauce, crab apple pickes, gooseberries, chokecherry jelly, rhubarb sauce, cucumber pickles and more.

An important ingredient for canning and desserts was often an outing to pick fruit. We kids groaned when Mom announced a visit to Stene's yard and pasture to pick gooseberries. The outing began with a visit with Ella and Clara Stene. We wore long sleeves because the bushes were prickly and carried tin lard pails for the gooseberries. This was an opportunity for Mom to teach us how everyone's help is needed, the importance of neighbors helping each other, and for her to have time with her kids while also getting a task completed. We picked crab apples at Gerhard Swenson's. We drove to the field roads along the edges of the farm for chokecherries. We had rhubarb patches and apple trees in our yard.

Mom devoted a lot of time to church activities. She always went to ladies Aid and circle and sang soprano in the choir. She sang many solos, in trios, and in triple trios. She taught Sunday School and helped with cradle roll. She was never too busy for church. A big annual event for Mom was hosting circle. The house was cleaned from top to bottom for this occation. We kids loved it--such good things to eat and lots of leftovers.: ham salad buns, lemon/macaroni ring salad, dessert, nuts and mints, and coffee. And the table always looked so nice.

In the early 1970s Vivian began working in New London again, at the Walnut Chalet cafe and then Berge Hardware Store. And in 1988 she returned to The Big Store as a cashier, and worked again with some of the same people as before she married. Vivian died in Janary 1994.

Orlynn Mankell

My father, Orlynn Mankell was born and grew up on the Mankell homestead, the son of Herman and Cora Mankell. He spent 3 years (1952-1954) in the U.S. Army, with the rank of Corporal. He serving in Korea and Japan, as a communications officer. One of his more interesting days in the army was when, in his duties of setting up the sound system on stage, he spoke to Marilyn Monroe who was on tour with the USO.

While Orlynn was a farmer, his passion was learning. His daughter Susan writes:

It seemed that Dad knew something about almost everything. His specialties were local history and genealogy. he also knew much about astonomy, geology and military history, especially WWI and WWII. He spent so much time at the public library in Willmar, MN, that the staff asked him to serve on the library board, which he did for many years.

Dad had vast genelogical knowledge. He somtimes knew more about other families' histories than they did. He was the unofficial repository of local history and others often contacted him with family research questions, assuming this job after Archie Stene died. Much of Dad's background knowledge came from articles titled "Norway Lake Reminiscences" submitted by Gabriel Stene (Archie's uncle), known as "the Pioneer Kid" for the Willmar Tribune in the 1920s. Dad's particular local history interest was Norway Lake frontier history from the mid to late 1800s. He wrote historical articles for local newspapers about life in the area before and after the Sioux uprising (Dakota War) of 1982. And he often wrote of the experiences of his great-great-grandfather Sven Borgen and great-grandfather Gunder Swenson.

• Why the Dakota loved Kandiyohi County
• Gunder Swenson, Norwegian Settler
• Thomas and Bergit Osmundson
• Pioneer Woman: Anne Christopherson Olson Holter
• Lonely Gravestone Tells of Pioneer's Fate: Johannes Iverson
• 1863 Drought in Kandiyohi County
• Threshing Machine
• Lake Florida Church

Dad held a few other jobs over the years--some for pay and some not. He was president of the Arctander/Lake Andrew Insurance Company, which provides property and casualty coverage to area farmers. (His father Herman Mankell had held this job for several years.) Orlynn also measured croplands and certified sealed bins of crops for federal programs. He later served on a committee that heard cases of farmers who violated terms of these agreements (and he often know the people involved). Dad was president of the Lake Florida Church Cemetery Association and also planned the annual homecoming service each August. His last task before he died in 1999 was arranging for a grave to be dug at the Lake Florida Mission Church.

Like Vivian, Dad was active in church. He grew up as member of the Lake Florida Mission Church and was confirmed there (with his sister Marjorie) on December 7, 1941. The family heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor on the radio after getting home from church that Sunday. After their marriage Orlynn and Vivian attended Zion Irving Lutheran (Vivian's home congregation). Then in about 1959 they transferred membership to First Lutheran Church of Norway Lake which was much closer to the farm. Orlynn taught the high school Sunday School class for many years. He also sang bass and was a longtime member of the choir of First Lutheran Church of Norway Lake. Orlynn's final local history project was the development of the Norway Lake Lutheran Historical Association with members of the Norway Lake Parish. This group of women and men from the area built a replica of the original log church from 1868 at its original location west of First Lutheran Church. As Dad wrote:

Until 1868 the rapidly growing Norway Lake settlement had no regular place of worship. In the fall of that year a church of logs was hastily constructed. It would serve as the Norway Lake church until 1875 with the Rev. L.J.Markjus of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church as the pastor. It can be considered as the "Mother Church" of six present day Lutheran congregations in the area: East Norway Lake, First, Hope, South Lake Johanna, Monson Lake, and West Lake.

Orlynn died in September, 1999, one month after this log church was dedicated.

Norway Lake Lutheran Historical Association

Mankell Homestead

Family Stories

---