Submitted Photo LaVonne Wibbens of Rochester, Minn., provided this photo of David and Ingeborg Hoven’s 10 children. The Hovens’ son, Albert, back row, far right, and his family were murdered in McKenzie County in 1930 and Charles Bannon was lynched for the murders. The story of the incident has been passed down in Hoven family history, relatives say. At some time Albert’s last name was changed from Hoven to Haven.

When Toni Holland of Houston, Texas, came across an online story by The Minot Daily News a few weeks ago about a movie to be made on the last lynching in North Dakota, it caught her interest.

Holland sent an email to The Minot Daily News explaining she is related to the family that Charles Bannon murdered and was hanged for in the 1930s.

Albert and Lulia Haven and their children lived on a farm near Schafer in McKenzie County and Bannon, who was arrested for their murders, worked on their farm.

“This (the story) has been passed down as family history,” she said in her email. Albert Haven was Holland’s great-great uncle – her father David Hoven’s great uncle.

The story of the Bannon lynching, the last lynching in North Dakota, is scheduled to become a movie.

Daniel Bielinski, Bismarck, founder of Canticle Productions, a theater, film and TV production company and also director of Theater Programs at the University of Mary, is in charge of the project.

Dennis Johnson, an attorney in Watford City who has spent 40-some years learning and researching the story of North Dakota’s last lynching, wrote the book, “End of the Rope. The True Story of North Dakota’s Last Lynching.” He is helping with the movie script.

Casting for the movie will be this spring in Watford City and Bismarck and also virtually, Johnson said. He pointed out it is a movie and not a documentary.

Here’s a link to the website for auditions: https://www.endoftheropefilm.com/ or check EndoftheRopeFilmND on Facebook.

Holland questioned why the family name in North Dakota was Haven and not Hoven as her family’s name.

Johnson said he had heard the family in Minnesota went by Hoven and not Haven. “But they were always referred to here and known as Haven. In fact, deeds to, from, and even signed by Albert and Lulia Haven are in the name of Haven as well as the permits for removal of bodies and burial are in the name Haven,” he said.

Before moving to McKenzie County, the Haven family had farmed in Canada.

Holland’s email led to LaVonne Wibbens, a Hoven family member from Rochester, Minn. Wibbens’ sister, Linda White, also lives in Rochester. Albert Haven was their great uncle. He was their grandfather, Martin Hoven’s brother.

Albert Haven was one of 10 children of David and Ingeborg Hoven of southeastern Minnesota. Both David and Ingeborg came to the United States from Norway.

Holland said she knows that at one point in her life her father told her about the murder of the family and the lynching.

“I think I was in elementary school and the story is horrifying,” she said.

Wibbens said she has few memories of the incident being spoken about. “I am sure it must have been talked about by my grandparents and other relatives.” As she got older, she learned more about it.

Wibbens also contacted Hans Olav Lokken of Stjordal, Norway. Lokken, a prolific author of regional historical books in Norway, who has made a number of trips to the United States including attending Norsk Hostfest and visiting relatives, James and Gail Lein, in Minot. He has also spent time researching the story about the murdered Haven family. He said he knows the whole Hoven/Haven family who live in Norway.

Lokken, who contacted The Minot Daily News, said Albert Haven and Lulia Lane, who came from Salem, Indiana, were married in 1911 in Lansford. They went to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where they had a small farm until moving to Schafer in McKenzie County in October 1918.

Lokken said on a trip to North Dakota he met with Dennis Johnson in Minot and also visited the farm where the murders took place. He said his other sources were Jan Dodge, museum director in Watford City, and attorney Michael Hagburg. Hagburg wrote an account of the story while he was an attorney for the North Dakota Supreme Court.

Kaare Olav Skolmli, a Hoven family member in Norway, also accompanied Lokken on a 2011 trip McKenzie County to research the story.

Lokken wrote a chapter in one of his books entitled “1931 North Dakota’s last lynching – a link to Stjordal.” He said when letters were absent from their son, Albert, in North Dakota, David Hoven hired a local lawyer, A.J. Rockne, of Zumbrota, Minnesota, to find out what had happened. When bodies of the Haven family members were found in November 1930 Albert’s brother, William Hoven, and Albert’s sister Emma’s husband, Adolph Syverson, went to Watford City and arranged the funeral for the family that took place Dec. 13, 1930.

Lokken wrote in the chapter that Charles Bannon’s case was to begin in January 1931. Albert’s sister, Emma, and her daughter, Elsie, went to Watford City to represent the family at the trial. They arrived there on Jan. 29 and when they woke up at the hotel the morning of Jan. 30, they learned the news that Bannon was lynched that night.

He said in November 1932 a court hearing was held in Watford City to determine the inheritance settlement after Albert and Lulia Haven’s deaths. Lokken said Albert’s father, David Hoven, had to face the court to a new Charles, Lulia Haven’s brother, Charles Lane, who unsuccessfully claimed the legacy.

Lokken also noted that Sheriff C.A. Jacobsen, who solved the case, was a Norwegian from Stavanger. Jacobsen’s grandson, Bruce Hetland of Bismarck, was one of Lokken’s sources for his research in North Dakota.

The filming for the movie is expected to start in August, with release in 2022.