Vyron Leslie Northup was born on September 3rd, 1910, the first son to Archie and Myrtle Northup in Maine Township, Ottertail COunty, Minnesota. The original house they lived in was a mile west of Grandpa Charles' homeplace on the east side of West Lost Lake. There is still a dimple on the ground where the celler hole was. The family moved a lot in the early days. There were two houses that burned. The one Vyron remembers best was built of Balm of Gilead logs and was where they originally started farming, growing sugar cane and squeezing cane for themselves and some of the neighbors. Then cooking it down into sorghum. That is the house Margie was born in. In 1920, his Dad bought a new car, a "Model 83 Overland" and the family went to Canada for a visit with Myrtle (Northup) Johnson's family. They stayed a year and the kids went to school in Biggar, Saskatchewan. Partly, so Dean could be born a United States citizen the family returned to Sauk Center to live with Aunt Bertha Gillette til after Dean was born. Then they returned to the Lost Lake area, and they went to school in the Claypool school for a year before moving to Star Lake. This was where Vyron got his first experience working in the woods cutting Maple and Oak cordwood and bolts. Vyron's first car was a 1921 model T Ford, which him and brother Wesley drove to the Red River Valley to pick potatoes each Fall for five years. In the Fall of 1929, the second house burned and they built the new house with the rock basement that we all remember growing up and visiting through the years and where Grandpa Archie died. The house was built first, as they needed a place to live and when the basement was done, they moved the house on to it using a pair of long bars and rollers cut from 1 1/4" iron pipe. The 12 X 16 kitchen was added to the east side with a cistern under it. In 1930, Vyron began selling firewood in Fergus Falls. In 1933, he joined the CCC's and was stationed at Cass Lake. This was his first experience with the Pine country and he fell in love, much as his father had fallen in love with the wooded country in Ottertail County. Then in 1934, Vyron headed North once again in his 1925 Chevrolet roadster. He ended up in Pleasant Valley, 8 miles North of Puposky.He went to work with Carl Jones and stayed with the Claypools and Joneses and eventually moved into their log house at the Pine Tree corner. In 1936, on September 20th, he married their neice, Helen Ruth Knox in the Knox living room by Rev. J.T. Stolee.

The first three children were born there, but the following spring he built the main part of a new house a mile North on the new 40 acres he bought for $4.00 an acre. The rest of the family was born here, and in fact they lived there until his death on 4 November 1999, at the age of 89. Much of the information on this WEBsite was gathered by his memories and records. This page is under continual construction. Check back often for details.

Children of Vyron and Helen Northup

Pictures of Vyron Northup Family