Atlas of Benson County, 1910 Plat Map
Taken from Leeds/York Seventy-five Years Diamond Jubilee 1886-1961 book
The Lake itself was named for a Norwegian dramatist. In 1858, the Sioux and Chippewa Indians met on the shores and made a peace treaty which was observed by both tribes. They also used the Petites Isles Aux Martes in the Lake as a burial ground for their dead who perished in a small pox epidemic. The bodies were placed on scaffolds according to tribal custom and could be seen from the shores.
The township was officially organized in March 1906. Its first meeting was held in the school house near Gustav Moe's residence on March 20, 1906. The first township officers were: Annon Targeson, John Anderson, Gunner Hefta, Bill Anderson and John C. O'Neil.
The earliest homesteaders to settle Lake Ibsen township arrived around 1883-1884; they seemed to be attracted to the Lake in the township and settled on its shores, and as it is true of the other surrounding communities of Leeds were primarily of Scandinavian decent. One of the first settlers of the township was L.P. Havrevold who first came to North Dakota in 1880 and settled in Fargo where he clerked in a store. In 1883 he moved to Ramsey County, where he took a squatter's right. In June of that year, he and three companions started from Devils Lake and at the end of the day's journey reached Lake Ibsen. His companions were Ole Goldberg, Gunder Torgerson and John Lunde. They found an abundance of fish in the lake, wild geese nesting on its banks, and innumerable wild birds in the trees along the shore. They liked what they found, and eventually all except John Lunde set their stakes there. Havrevold later helped to organize the Republican party in North Dakota and in 1890 was elected to the State Legislature and was re-elected for a second term. While in the Legislature he introduced House Bill 60 which was an act requiring that the Scandinavian language be taught in the University at Grand Forks.
Gunder Torgerson had come to visit North Dakota in the spring of 1881 going as far as Fort Totten. He first filed a claim south of Churchs Ferry, where he lived a year. In 1884 he took a homestead claim on the shores of Lake Ibsen. Pete Vesvig arrived in the area in 1884, from Buxton, North Dakota, with a team of plodding oxen. He first homesteaded in Big Coulee and then later purchased Gunder Torgerson's farm on the shores of Lake Ibsen. Other homesteaders in the township were: Sven Torgerson, Annon Targeson, Jerry Conway, John C. O'Neil, J.M. Anderson, Bill Anderson, Erick Anderson, John Tarang, N.T. Lien, Ole Haugen, John Maristuen, Gunner Hefta, John Holm and G.P. Moe.
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Colleen Goltz
Benson County Coordinator
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