Louise (Richards) and Ole Thoreson, 1914

Ole Samuel Thoreson, third child and first son of John and Ingaborg (and Leonard’s father), bought the Thoreson Farm from his father and worked it all his life.  He married Louise Alice Richards, who came from a large French family in Provemont (Lake Leelanau).  In addition to building up and running the farm, Ole sold McNess products (salves, medicines, etc.) out of his Model T.   “He took the back seat out and loaded it up…He’d sell anything that wasn’t fastened down”—butchered beef and pork from the farm, produce from Louise’s garden, butter from her churn, and insurance.