My mother’s oldest sister, Mildred Ingeborg Hovick Monge (1907-2003), whom we called Aunt Mimi, was talented, funny, smart, and loving. She was a pianist, organist, teacher, and our family historian. The stories she shared of our ancestors ignited my own passion for genealogy. I owe it all to her.
What began in 1928 as an assignment while a student at St. Olaf College became a life-long obsession. Here is the original family tree that she began that year, now discolored and fragile with age:
To celebrate her 40th wedding anniversary with my Uncle Harold Monge (1909–1984), she created Remember, a collection of family histories of both the Hovick and Monge families.
This collection of oral history is a family treasure, telling the stories of generations of our family. Here it is, available online.
Remember
by Mildred Hovick Monge
Self-published 1974
Download here:
Cover, Dedication, Table of Contents, Preface
PART ONE
Chapter One: From the Mountains to the Prairies (Monge)
Chapter Two: An Evening Visiting Around the Oil Heater (Monge)
Chapter Three: Papa Charley’s Centennial 1873-1973 (Hovick)
Chapter Four: Recollections with Pauline (Hovick)
PART TWO
Chapter One: The Helmer and Ida Burthus Monge Family (Monge)
Chapter Two: The Charles and Pauline Brotten Hovick Family (Hovick)
Chapter Three: The Harold and Mildred Hovick Monge Family
Chapter Four: Autobiographies of the Sons of Harold and Mildred
PART THREE
Chapter One: Memories of the Madison, Minnesota Farm (Hovick)
Chapter Two: Treasures from the Old Family Trunk – The Baptism Dress (Hovick)
Chapter Three: Family Trees
Niblits and Bits
Ten years later, over the course of 1984-1990, she wrote what was to become Niblits and Bits, published when she was 83 years old. Unlike the epic scope of her earlier work, this was a collection of intimate stories. These are the tales of her childhood, growing up in and outside of the small town of Madison, Minnesota.
It gives a remarkable view of daily life in the early 1900’s. Detailed descriptions of their homes and furnishings.
Sneaking off with a friend to investigate a nearby house under construction where she fell from the second floor to the cement slab of the basement – and walked away unscathed.
1918 was a big year. The dam at Big Stone Lake broke, flooding farm lands for miles. Mim, age eleven, had her first piano recital in a matter of days, but the farm was separated from town by a mile of open water. So my grandfather and his brothers fashioned a raft to ferry the budding pianist to her auspicious debut.
It was also that year that she and her sister Signe survived the Spanish Flu pandemic.
And there’s one particular story about an old oil lamp. She was told that she could have a keepsake from the old family farm house, and she chose the oil lamp. And that lamp is now with me.
Download here: Niblets and Bits
Life on Board the Twentieth Century Express, Ltd.
At the age of 95, Mildred released her final memoir.
Download here: Life on Board the Twentieth Century Express, Ltd.
Hovick Lohman History 
[…] of our late family historian, my beloved Aunt Mildred (Hovick) Monge (1907–2003). Her 1974 book, Remember, is a wealth of collected oral history. However, most of what we knew about them was after they […]
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