artin and Mattie Leckwold were two of the first homesteaders in the Matanuska Valley in 19l3. Martin was born in Selbu, Norway in 1872 and came to America with his parents at the age of four. The family settled in Minnesota, and Martin lived there until he got the urge to travel on his own.

Martin went west to Washington, where he was employed in the Bremerton Navy Yard. He served in the Spanish-American War in 1898, and when the war ended he went to Alaska in 1909. The following year, he returned to Minnesota, where he married Mattie Gilbertson, who was born in Clarissa, Minnesota in 1892. In 1913, he returned to Alaska alone and homesteaded in the Matanuska Valley. Mattie joined him on the homestead in 1914 and became the first postmistress in the Matanuska area. Martin was employed as a blacksmith with the Alaska Railroad until they moved to Anchorage in 1920.

Mattie and Martin had three children. Their daughter, Marcella, born in 1920, died in 1936. Son Harry was born in 1924 and son Weldon was born in 1928.

Martin continued to work for the railroad until his sudden death in 1935. He passed away in the Marine Veterans Hospital in Seattle and is buried in the Veterans Cemetery near Bremerton, Washington. His sudden passing left Mattie as sole support of the family. She was employed in various capacities with the railroad until her retirement to the Pioneers’ Home in Palmer in 1969, where she passed away in 1978.

The Leckwolds’ four grandchildren, Brian, David, Sandra and Laurie, were sons and daughters of Harry and his wife Barbara.