Aagot Raaen (AH-gut RAHN) died on this date in 1957, at Fergus Falls, MN. She was born in Iowa in 1873, but before she turned one, her Norwegian immigrant parents moved to Dakota Territory to homestead near present day Hatton. Raaen would later document the ups and downs of her family’s challenging existence in her well-known book, "Grass of the Earth."

Although Raaen grew up barefoot and isolated, she completed her rural school education and then went on to study at Mayville Normal School, also the Universities of Minnesota, Berlin, and Hawaii. She taught at Oak Grove Seminary in Fargo, served as Superintendent of Schools in Steele County, and later worked at the Honolulu Teachers College in Hawaii. She documented her life and travels to Germany, Canada, Japan, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Russia in her autobiographical "Measure of My Days."

Aagot was laid to rest near where she began her adventurous life…in the Goose River Cemetery at Hatton, North Dakota.

Sources:
www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndirs/collections/manuscripts/women/Raaen/biography.html
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ndfahtml/ngp_biblio.html

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