Helgje Bleie was born in Norway in 1832. Since he was the son of Per, his name was Helgje Person Bleie. He immigrated from the old country in 1855 along with sister, Elsa, and brother Jakob.
Guri Jonsdatter, (daughter of Jon) Seksae, was born in Norway in 1832, and came to America in 1856. She married Helgje Bleie, and lived near Lee, where they raised their family of four sons and three daughters: Guri, Peter, John, Brita, Helge, Carrie, and Martin.
Helge was a blacksmith as well as a farmer. At one time he had a blacksmith shop in the “Village of Chicago”, on the present site of the Marshall Fields Store, which he later traded for the farm at Lee, Located 2 1/2 miles northwest of Lee.
Of the seven children, all migrated to other states, except the youngest, Martin Bly, who farmed the home place at Lee. The farm remained in the family until it was sold in 1945.
In 1900, Martin Bly was married to Hattie Johnson, daughter of Hans and Anna Fyndingsland Johnson. They had four children: Gertie (Mrs. Iver Edwards), Harold, Orville, and Violet (Mrs. Clifford Knutson).
Mrs. Helgje (Guri) Bleie, contracted pneumonia and died in the fall of 1907 during a visit at the home of her daughter, Guri Edmundson, in Garretson, S. Dak. Her body was shipped back to Lee for burial at the First Lutheran Church Cemetery, beside her husband, who passed away in 1897.
Martin Bly died March 4, 1931, and his wife Hattie, on October 12, 1943. They are also buried in the First Lutheran Cemetery.
