Picnic at Clearwater Lake

As my mother grew up on her grandparents' farm in rural Minnesota, she looked forward to the picnics held, typically twice each summer at Clearwater Lake (in Clearwater County). Grandpa Ole Johnson owned a cedar strip boat and kept it at the lake in order to go fishing.

Picnic at Clearwater Lake, Minnesota, ca. 1923.  L to R: Elmer Rinde's sister-in-law; Mabel Johnson (2nd from left); Malla Johnson (in background, seated on steps wearing a dark sweater and light skirt); Mrs. Rinde; Cora Johnson (with coffee cup); Mabel Rinde; Thea Johnson (seated at right), and (Marie Rinde?-standing at right).

Marie Rinde, a family friend (pickle in mouth)

 

Cora Johnson Moen

Thea Johnson Humberstad

Malla Larson Johnson and Stina Rinde



(L to R): Emma (Moen) Johnson, Esther Rinde's sister (white hat), Mabel Rinde's daughter, Esther Rinde (above the little girl), Mabel Johnson, Mabel Moen, Agnes Johnson (face not visible), Thea (Johnson) Humberstad, Marie Rinde, Phyllis Johnson, Doris Johnson, and Mabel Rinde. Clearwater Lake, Minnesota, 1930.



The 1920 census for Sinclair Township, Clearwater County, Minnestoa, Sup Distr 9, Enum Dist 49, Sheet 1B:

L A O Rinde, 45
Stina Rinde, 48
Elmer A., 21
Clara L., 20
Albert J., 17
Mabel P., 15
Oliver S., 14
Mary E. (Marie), 12
Henry O., 8

Both parents in the Rinde family were of Norwegian descent. The father, L.A.O. Rinde, was a farmer from Wisconsin, and the mother, Stina Rinde, was from Norway. When the Rinde family moved from the Leonard area in Clearwater County to Bemidji in the 1930s, the Johnson family continued to visit them and keep the tradition of multiple family picnics going.

Mom's aunts, Cora (Johnson) Moen and Thea (Johnson) Humberstad, were newly married, but still lived in the area. The young ladies in the Johnson and Rinde families were about the same age, and they enjoyed each other's company. The men are conspicuously absent from these photos, but they may have been out fishing, something that increased pollution in the lake in later years prevented. But in the 1920s, the simple joys of friendship and togetherness were cherished and planned for, between the endless round of household and farming chores, and the fishing was still good!