Four Flatens: Four Men. Four Generations. A Family History.

Christopher Aslesen, son of a Norwegian cotter, immigrated to the U.S. to homestead in Minnesota. His son Gunerius was a photographer in North Dakota and a Depression-era farmer in South Dakota. Gunerius's son Clarence was soldier in WWII who laid down arms to build a new life in academia at Indiana University. Clarence's son Christopher Flaten was a physicist with an academic career in California.

Born in different eras, each began life with the challenge of little wealth, although each man built modestly upon that of the last generation. They were all strongly propelled by individual aspirations once they came of age. Each left his boyhood home to seek promising opportunities and adventure. All were shaped by the large events of their own times, including wars and the aftermath, climate catastrophes, and economic downturns, all of which they met with mettle.

This work began, like so many other personal histories do, after I discovered an old birth certificate in a box of family papers. After gathering many additional facts of birth, childhood, marriage, children, work, education, and military service and careers, and putting them into sequence, a long narration and an extremely satisfying order to their stories lay before me. In the process, to my surprise, I discovered facts that had never been known in my family, tales of tragedy that had become vague, and marriages and children that had been forgotten. The whole process of reconstructing their times and environment meant that these eras became exciting and alive as I pictured my forefathers making their way.

I could see the impact of world events on their opportunities and decisions, the shattering effect of unlucky obstacles on their individual hopes and dreams. I also now see that the decisions and crossroads in their individual lives are common to all men and women. While the Flatens' particular ups and downs and their time periods are what make this book an interesting tale, I hope that you, too, will be inspired by their determination to succeed in spite of the odds. In the end, we are all only partially in control of our own fate. The ability to rise up requires more than luck. It takes guts, courage, and bravery, but also music, humor, and much support from family and community.

All photographs, unless noted otherwise, were taken by my grandfather and father, who were professional photographers. Most are now the property of Indiana University Photographic Archives. I have researched the histories of towns, cities, and locations in the relevant eras in order to convey an accurate setting. I have located property plats and deeds, certificates of birth, marriage, and death, as well as original letters, obituaries, newspaper notices, and family lore to verify facts. From this, I constructed the narrative. However, when supporting documents were unable to be discovered, I tell their story as I understand it most likely happened.