Category: Roberg

Census Sunday: Ancestors in 1801 Norway

Posted on by spuddled

This week’s new theme (because I love alliteration) is Census Sunday. And while I could choose from a multitude of U.S. census records, for this one I’m going to travel to our Norwegian homeland and the 1801 census that took place there. The Digitalarkivet, available online from the National Archives of Norway, has proven to be invaluable in filling out some of our family tree branches. Here are two examples.

First up are my 5G-grandparents, Jacob Arnesen and Ingeborg (Eliasdatter) Rodberg. In 1801 they were living in Innvik, in the Sogn og Fjordane area of Norway.1 The household was on the Rodberg farm. What looks to us like a surname was in fact the name of the farm where the family lived, though often this name did become a family’s chosen surname after emigration to America. In 1801 that household consisted of:

  • Jacob Arnesen, 46
  • Ingebor Eliasdtr, 44
  • Pernille Jacobsdtr, 17
  • Dorthe Jacobsdtr, 9
  • Mari Jacobsdtr, 5
  • Arne Arnesen, 27
  • Dorthe Andersdtr, 72

My Norwegian skills are nonexistent, but the Digitalarkivet provides a handy transcription of the Norwegian text, and I can Google. There is also this useful Norwegian vocabulary list provided by FamilySearch. With these tools, we learn that Jacob was the “husbonde,” or head of household and a “bonde og gaardbeboer,” or farmer and farm dweller. He is marriage to Ingeborg was a first marriage for both. Pernille, Dorthe, and Mari were all children of Jacob and Ingeborg; all were single.

Arne Arnesen, as you might expect from the fact that both he and Jacob used the patronymic “Arnesen,” was Jacob’s brother. His occupation, abbreviated “Nat. soldat,” indicates he was part of the area’s militia. Last in the household was Dorthe Andersdatter. She is listed as Jacob’s mother, and her marital status description, “enke efter 2det ægteskab,” indicates she had been married twice but was now a widow. Her occupation is listed as “inderste,” which apparently means something like a roomer.

Interestingly, my direct ancestor, Arne Jacobson Rodberg, born between Pernille and Dorthe, was not living at home with his parents and siblings but with Andersen Pedersen and Kari Andersdatter. He was fourteen and working as a “tienere,” or servant. Arne would marry Martha Jonsdatter Stauri in 1816, and they would have a daughter named Synneve Arnesdatter. Synneve, who has been mentioned here before, would marry Svend Arnesen Røberg in 1851, and they would be the parents of our immigrant ancestor Anders Mathis (Svendsen), who would take on the surname Roberg in the new country.

Where were Svend Arnesen Røberg’s ancestors in 1801? His mother, Ingeborg Svensdatter, had been born in 1798. Her family was living in the same Innvik parish as Jacob; their household consisted of the following individuals:

  • Svend Larsen, 39
  • Mari Christensdatter, 43
  • Ingebor Svensdatter, 2
  • Siri Svensdatter, 1
  • Jon Olsen, 18
  • Ole Olsen, 13
  • Baarni Olsdatter, 22

Some more fancy Googling reveals additional details. Svend’s marriage to Mari was his second, though this was Mari’s first marriage. Mari appears to have children by a man named Ole, however, as Jon Olsen, Ole Olsen, and Baarni Olsdatter are listed as Svend’s stedbørn, or stepchildren. Like Jacob, Svend was listed as a farmer and farm-dweller. Ingeborg and Siri, ages 2 and 1, are obviously “ugivt,” or single. The farm name I have seen listed for Svend in some sources is Fjellkarstad, but daughter Ingeborg would marry Arne Andersen from the Aland farm in 1824, and their son Svend would take on the Røberg farm/surname. I think my head is starting to spin.

  1. https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/census/person/pf01058410000551 ↩︎

R Is for…Roomer

Posted on by spuddled

One thing I’ve noticed in my genealogical investigations is that there were all sorts of variable household configurations. Whether it was the presence of grown children living at home with their parents before they married, or parents living with their grown (and married) children and their families, the occasional niece or nephew living in a household, possibly helping with farm work or childcare, there were any number of ways in which family life could be arranged.

Another type of living arrangement which I’ve seen in various census and other records is that of the “roomer.” Again, roomers might actually be family members, or they could be individuals living in a boarding house or something similar. I’ve decided to highlight a few of these arrangements uncovered in our family tree; as we shall see, sometimes our relative is the roomer living with others, and in some cases our relative is the one taking in those roomers.

First up is sixth cousin once removed, Paul Frank Bryan. A descendant of our Slatten/Sweeney line, he was born in 1903 in Oklahoma Territory. By 1930 Paul had married Gladys Virginia Bailey, and he and Gladys were living in Chicago. Paul was working as a welder for a bookbinding company, and Gladys as a “sample paster” for (I’m guessing the same) bookbinding company. Also in their household was 17-year-old Gilbert Petty, roomer, who worked as a laborer on car radiators. By 1940 Paul and Gladys had moved to Ligonier, Indiana, where they lived with their two young sons and no random roomer.1

Henry Langworthy Burdick, fifth cousin 4 times removed, was born in Rhode Island in December 1879 and at various times played both roomer and…roomee (?). In the 1900 census, Henry was enumerated with the family of Henry B. and Nancy H. Edwards at 8 Lessee Street in Amherst, Massachusetts. Henry was listed as a student and a “lodger” (close enough). Henry would graduate from Amherst College in 1903.2 In 1910, Henry and his wife Ethel were living with Henry’s parents in Westerly, Rhode Island; Henry was a lawyer.3 In 1920 Henry and Ethel were still living in the same house in Westerly (at 37 Elm Street), though Henry’s parents appear to have passed away in the intervening years. But with the couple were Elizabeth Burdick, 29 and listed as a servant, and a 29-year-old man named Guy with an illegible surname, a house carpenter listed as being a roomer in the household.4

Also born in 1879 was second cousin 4 times removed, Irvin S. Cain. In 1930 he was living in Bloomington, Illinois. In his household with Irvin at 619 W Olive were his wife, Grace; children Dorothy (20), Russell (17), Mary (14), Hazel (12), Darrel (9), John (5); as well as 5 roomers. Irvin was listed as a general laborer doing odd jobs and paying monthly rent of $25; Irvin’s wife, Grace, was explicitly described as the proprietor of a rooming house.5

In 1920 in Rockford, Illinois, fourth cousin 5 times removed, Sarah L. Chaney, was listed as a 70-year-old roomer in the household of Ella E. Wilbur. Ella was a 64-year-old dressmaker living at 402 N Fourth Street.6 In earlier years Sarah, who never married, had worked as a bookkeeper; in 1910 she was living on her own with no occupation but with her “own income.”7

Arthur R. Schlegel, first cousin 3 times removed, was born in Banks, Oregon, in 1877. In 1900, he was a farm laborer in the household of Charles and Mary Taylor, though he was listed as “servant” and not roomer.8 Ten years later he, like Henry Langworthy Burdick, was on the other side of the roomer situation. He was now living in Portland with his wife Henrietta Mae Hunter. Arthur was working as the foreman of a box factory, and in the household with him and Henrietta was a roomer named Austin Durdin, who worked in the box factory as well, as a laborer.9

There are a few even closer relations who played a roomer role. My great-great-grandfather, Anders Roberg, was widowed in 1919. By 1930 he was living in Newman Grove, Nebraska, a roomer in the household of Fred and Letta Brown. Fred was a dry goods merchant.10 Ten years later, still in Newman Grove and now listed as a “lodger,” Anders was living in the household of George and Maude Smith.11 Within our Montgomery branch, great-grandfather Charles William Montgomery was listed as a roomer in Fort Collins, Colorado, in 1920, working as a farm laborer.12 In 1930 Charles was working as a watchman at the G. W. Sugar Company and was a lodger in the household of Charles and Minnie Reingold. Charles Reingold was the proprietor of a junk store, which sounds amazing.13 Charles’s youngest child (and my paternal grandfather), Lawrence Theodore Montgomery, was a widower enumerated in Winner, South Dakota, in 1930. Grandpa was listed as the driver of an oil truck and the solitary inhabitant at a home on Second Street. However, the next household enumerated, on Third Street, consisted of a furniture repairman named Henry Krugman; his wife Bertha, a laundress; their six daughters; and Grandpa’s two daughters, aunts Flo and Irene. Listed as aged 2 4/12 and 4/12 respectively, both motherless girls were listed as roomers of the Krugmans. Grandpa would marry Grandma later that year, and by 1940 he had moved Grandma, Flo, Irene, and 5 more children to Scottsbluff, Nebraska.14 I imagine their household (which would eventually include a total of 12 children) was too crowded to allow for any roomers.

Irene, Lawrence, and Flo Montgomery
  1. 1930 census; www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  2. 1900 census; www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  3. 1910 Census (n.p: 1910, n.d). ↩︎
  4. 1920 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  5. 1930 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  6. 1920 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  7. 1910 Census (n.p: 1910, n.d). ↩︎
  8. 1900 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  9. 1910 Census (n.p: 1910, n.d). ↩︎
  10. 1930 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  11. Ancestry.com, 1940 Census. ↩︎
  12. 1920 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  13. 1930 census. www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  14. 1930 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎

N Is for…Namesake

Posted on by spuddled

In some countries and time periods, there are specific naming conventions that determine namesakes: the first son named after the paternal grandfather, the second son after the maternal grandfather, the first daughter after the maternal grandmother, the second daughter after the paternal grandmother, etc.1 At other times, the process of selecting namesakes was less structured. Today I’m taking a look at Dad’s family to identify all the namesakes I can find there.

Grandpa Montgomery‘s name itself is something of a mystery, as I’ve covered here before. That’s the confusion over his middle name. It only just occurred to that his first name (Lawrence) may have been a tribute to his mother, Laura. Grandpa had a second cousin named Lawrence Extol Montgomery who was six years his senior, but that seems less likely to be a real namesake situation.

Charles William and Laura Maud (Walker) Montgomery and daughters (and dog)

Grandpa and his first wife, Antonia Marie Jelinek, had two daughters, Flo and Irene. Aunt Flo (Florence Marie), shared her mother’s middle name. I’m not immediately aware of anyone named Florence, Dorothy, or Irene in the family. After Grandpa’s first wife died, he married Grandma (Blanche Agnes Wilson), and they went on to have 10 children together. Grandma’s middle name, Agnes, is an anglicization of the name of her grandmother, Agnette, and in fact, Grandma’s baptismal record lists her as “Agneta Blanche.”2

The eldest child born to Grandma and Grandpa was Myrtle Charlotte. These are both family names (or variations thereof). Grandpa’s eldest sister was named Myrtle Pearl Montgomery, and his father, Charles William Montgomery, was the inspiration for Aunt Myrtle’s middle name. In later years she chose to go by Charlotte instead of Myrtle, and I remember her saying she wished her two names had been reversed.

After Myrtle came the oldest son, Morris Walter. I don’t know of any ancestral Morrises, though “our” Morris had a first cousin, Morris Frenier, who was five years his junior. Walter, though, was the name of Grandpa’s oldest brother, Walter Dewey Montgomery. After Morris came Marvin Lawrence. Similarly to Morris, I’m not aware of any namesake connections for Marvin’s first name, but Lawrence is obviously a callback to Grandpa’s first name. The third son in a row was William Clarence. Uncle Bill, unlike Morris and Marvin, had namesakes for both his names. Grandpa’s father, Charles William, we have of course already mentioned, and he, presumably, was named after his own grandfather, William Montgomery. And Grandma Montgomery had two Clarences in her immediate family: her older brother Anders Clarence died when he was two years old, and then eight years later another son born to the family was named Clarence Salmer.

The next daughter born to the family was Deanna Esther. Though Aunt Deanna had a first cousin once removed named Esther Myrtle Montgomery, I suspect that was just a coincidence, and I’m not aware of any other Esther connections in the family. Family lore (or at least the story Dad heard) was that Deanna was named not after a relative but after singer and actress Deanna Durbin. Deanna Durbin was only seventeen years old in 1939 when our Deanna was born, but her career had begun in a 1936 short with Judy Garland, so the timing is not out of the question.3

After Deanna came two more boys, Alwin Eugene and Theodore Richard. I haven’t been able to find any namesakes in our family tree for Uncle Gene or for Ted’s (aka Dad) middle name, Richard. The “Theodore,” however, shows up a couple of times. First, of course, as Grandpa’s maybe-middle-name, and then with Grandpa’s uncle, Joseph Theodore Montgomery.

Next after Dad came Gloria Blanche, who died at age five. This is another case in which the first name appears to have no precedent, but the middle name has clear family connections, with Gloria being given her middle name in honor of Grandma. After Gloria came Linda Lea; as with Uncle Gene, I’m not aware of any family links to either of Aunt Linda’s names, though when Dad started dating, and then married, Mom, also a Linda, the two Lindas became accidental namesakes, differentiated sometimes in conversation as “Linda Lea” and “Linda Jo.” Last in the family came Aunt Laura, and with her names (Laura Christine) she made up for Aunt Linda’s lack of family names, as she was named after both of her grandmothers, Laura Maud Walker and Sophie Christine Roberg.

Twelve children later, and we’ve reached the end of this look into one collection of family names and namesakes. Of course there are many more namesakes on both sides of the family tree, as well as other reasons for selecting names that don’t have anything to do with family history…at least not until the stories get told or written for posterity.

  1. https://englishancestors.blog/2020/04/01/english-naming-traditions/#:~:text=To%20recap:,after%20father’s%20eldest%20sister%20(patS) ↩︎
  2. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Archives; Elk Grove Village, Illinois; Congregational Records ↩︎
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deanna_Durbin ↩︎

M Is for…Marriage Records

Posted on by spuddled

I’m going to trust the idiom about pictures and thousands of words and focus on the former for this blog post regarding marriage records. Here are the records I have (or of which I have copies) for the first few generations of my direct ancestors.

Generation 1:

26 August 1961
Caldwell, Canyon, Idaho
Theodore Richard Montgomery and Linda Jo Hoffmann
(parents)

Generation 2:

17 September 1930
Winner, Tripp, South Dakota
Lawrence Theodore Montgomery and Blanche Agnes Wilson
(paternal grandparents)
Not a marriage record, exactly, but an article from the Bloomington, Illinois Pantagraph (which makes me wonder…do I actually have the official document somewhere in all my piles?)
12 March 1938
Peoria, Peoria, Illinois
Joseph Benjamin Hoffmann
and Velma Marie Swing
(maternal grandparents)

Generation 3:

The marriage of paternal great-grandparents Charles William Montgomery and Laura Blanche Walker on 22 February 1883 in Richland County, Illinois appears in Ancestry.com’s Illinois, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1800-1940, but this database doesn’t include images, unfortunately. So moving along…

13 March 1907
Boone County, Nebraska
Carl Ozro Wilson and Sophie Christine Roberg
(paternal great-grandparents)
7 December 1902
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Paul Hoffmann and Emma Alice Slagel
(maternal great-grandparents)

Another one that’s missing (why have I not written away for these??):
18 June 1913; Peoria, Peoria, Illinois; Albert Carl Swing and Lena Agnes Hunkler (maternal great-grandparents)

Generation 4:

25 December 1858
Hamilton County, Ohio
John Montgomery and Belinda Simmons
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
15 February 1857
Noble, Richland, Illinois
Marcus Walker and Mary Ann Conklin
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
Another not-quite-document, but an excerpt
31 August 1879
Brush Creek, Fayette, Iowa
Wellington David Wilson and Lucinda Blanche Davis
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
Another one that’s more of an excerpt…
3 December 1878
Rushford, Fillmore, Minnesota
Anders Mathis Roberg and Agnette Evensdatter Lien
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
17 January 1875
Renaucourt, France
Jacob Hoffmann and Christine Schmidt
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
30 November 1875
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Samuel Slagel and Mary Demler
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
17 February 1884
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Albert Carl Swing and Catherine Marie Hoffmann
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
14 December 1886
Peoria, Peoria, Illinois
George John Hunkler and Maria Elizabeth Rusch
(maternal great-great-grandparents)

These are not all the marriage records I have, though they do become more sparse from here on out. I would keep adding more here, but I figure this blog post is already 13,000 words long, so that will do for now.

D Is for…Divorce

Posted on by spuddled

In this blog I’ve written a couple of times about my great-grandaunt, Sena Roberg, who lost her first husband in a gruesome train accident and then disappeared after a visit to Omaha, leaving behind two young daughters. Sena is one of our family’s enduring mysteries. I knew she had been married again after her first husband’s death, but I have uncovered some of the details about her second husband, and that will be the focus of today’s post.

Sena’s first husband, Charles Johnson, died in October 1908. About a year later Sena sued the saloon keepers at the establishment in Oakdale, Nebraska, where Charles had been drinking to excess, leading to his falling to his death beneath train cars later that night. In March 1910 a jury awarded Sena $2000 after finding the saloon keepers responsible for Charles’s death.1

Three months later the Albion [Nebraska] News reported that a marriage license had been issued to Sena Johnson of Newman Grove and Harry Fisher of St. Louis.2 The couple were married 15 June 1910 in Albion, according to an article in the 3 August 1910 Omaha Daily Bee. According to the same article, Edward Harry Fisher was a barber and, after he and Sena had been married for four days, he left for Omaha to purchase a barber shop. He called Sena from Omaha on 20 June asking for money to help fund the new purchase. Sena wired him $1025, and he then promptly left the state, taking her money with him. Sena then sued for divorce from Harry.3

An article from the next day in the Norfolk [Nebraska] Weekly News-Journal added the fact that Sena believed that her husband had been married before marrying her, and that he had never divorced his first wife.4 Sena’s divorce was eventually finalized in March 1912. She would marry again, to a George Louis Evans, a Louisiana-born “showman,” in March 1914.5 Exactly when Sena “disappeared” remains a mystery.

So who was this Harry Fisher? Edward Harry Fisher was born 17 November 1876 in O’Fallon, Missouri.6 His first marriage was to a woman named Hilda, whom he married 23 September 1901. One week later the newlyweds separated, and they were divorced 16 March 1903. Exactly one month later Harry married Adeline “Addie” Dingledine. Harry and Addie separated in August 1904 and divorced in September 1906. So, unless there was yet another wife I’m not aware of, Sena’s belief that her marriage to Harry was a bigamous one was incorrect. Strangely, though, Harry and Addie remarried on 23 January 1913 and separated on 3 February 1913 before filing for divorce on 14 February 1921. Harry then applied for a license to marry Anna “Annie” Winter on 6 September 1921.7 Anna died in St. Louise in 1950, aged 49. Harry died in St. Louis on 20 January 1962, one month and five days after Addie Dingledine died in Phoenix.8

  1. Newman Grove Reporter, March 17, 1910, Page 1. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/newman-grove-reporter-sena-johnson-award/150160493/ : accessed July 26, 2025), clip page for Sena Johnson Awarded $2000 by user pruesarn ↩︎
  2. Albion News, June 22, 1911, Page 1. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/albion-news-sena-johnsonharry-fisher-ma/150160474/ : accessed July 26, 2025), clip page for Sena Johnson/Harry Fisher Marriage License by user pruesarn ↩︎
  3. Omaha Daily Bee, August 3, 1911, Page 3. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/omaha-daily-bee-sena-divorce-request/150160249/ : accessed July 26, 2025), clip page for Sena Divorce Request by user pruesarn ↩︎
  4. The Norfolk Weekly News-Journal, August 4, 1911, Page 8. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-norfolk-weekly-news-journal-sena-div/1489135/ : accessed July 26, 2025), clip page for Sena Divorce by user pruesarn ↩︎
  5. Ancestry, Iowa, Marriage Records, 1880-1951, License No. 16694. ↩︎
  6. www.findagrave.com, www.findagrave.com. ↩︎
  7. “Public Member Tree,” database, Ancestry.com (http:/www.ancestry.com: accessed 24 December 2019), “Fischer/Fisher of Saint Charles Heritage” family tree by 2in1_1 (Chuck Fisher), profile for Edward Harry Fisher. ↩︎
  8. www.findagrave.com, www.findagrave.com. ↩︎
S Is for…Sympathy

S Is for…Sympathy

Posted on by spuddled

On 27 October 1949, the Albion (Nebraska) News published a “Card of Thanks” from Mrs. Sophie Wilson and family and Mr. and Mrs. S. A. Roberg and family, expressing their gratitude for the sympathy extended to them at the death of their “beloved brother and uncle.” These Cards of Thanks were not uncommon; I’ve come across them fairly often in my research. One article I found suggests the tradition began in the late nineteenth century1 (and it continues into the present as well).

The “brother and uncle” in the Albion News article was Emil Martin, my half-great-granduncle. He was born 12 January 1871 in Biri, Oppland, Norway, and was baptized on 7 May of that year in Ostre Toten, Oppland, Norway2. His mother was my great-great-grandmother Agnette Lien, and his father was Marthinus Juliussen. Marthinus is something of a mystery I need to investigate further. Were he and Agnette actually married? What happened to him? I’m not sure yet. What we do know is that in 1878 Agnette and Emil left Norway for America.

On 3 December 1878 Agnette married Anders Roberg, 11 years her junior, in Rushford, Minnesota3. By the 1880 census enumeration the family was living in Shell Creek, Boone County, Nebraska, and Anders’s and Agnette’s first child, their son Severin Andrew Roberg (the “S. A. Roberg” mentioned in the Card of Thanks article) was two months old. In 1900 Emil was still living with his mother and stepfather in Boone County. Emil was listed as a farm laborer.

Sophie, Anders, and Severin Roberg; Emil Martin; Agnette and Sena Roberg

By 1910 Emil had moved out on his own. He was living in Manchester (still Boone County), Nebraska, and was a lodger and hired man in the household of Max and Hattie Wolf.4 Ten years later Emil was still in Manchester but now lived on his own in a home he owned. The census notes that he had started the naturalization process.5 In 1930 Emil was still living alone in Manchester, but was now listed as a naturalized U.S. citizen.6 By 1940 Emil had moved into Albion, Boone’s county seat. He was 69 years old and a roomer in a boarding house managed by the Farley family. Shortly thereafter Emil must have moved from this boarding house to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Nichols in Albion, as his 1949 obituary noted that he had lived with this couple for the past nine years.

Emil died on 17 October 1949 in Boone County.7 Oddly enough, Hugh Nichols died in the same house only six hours later. An article regarding this coincidence noted that Emil died of a heart attack, and Mr. Nichols of “natural causes incident to old age.” He was 81. Emil had never married and is listed as being survived by a half brother and a sister [sic]; Mr. Nichols was survived by his wife, four sons, and four daughters.8 Emil is now buried in the South Branch Cemetery in Newman Grove, Nebraska.

Emily Martin Headstone
Photo by the Author
  1. https://blog.genealogybank.com/genealogy-tip-look-for-card-of-thanks-in-old-newspapers.html ↩︎
  2. FamilySearch, “Norway, Select Baptisms, 1634-1927,” online database, AmericanAncestors.org (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/60092/ : online 29 August 2020), Emil Marthinus Martinusen. ↩︎
  3. State of Minnesota, Marriage License of Anders Roberg and Agnette Lien (n.p: dec 3 1878, n.d). ↩︎
  4. Year: 1910; Census Place: Manchester, Boone, Nebraska; Roll: T624_838; Page: 22b; Enumeration District: 0019; FHL microfilm: 1374851 ↩︎
  5. Year: 1920; Census Place: Manchester, Boone, Nebraska; Roll: T625_980; Page: 14A; Enumeration District: 20 ↩︎
  6. Year: 1930; Census Place: Manchester, Boone, Nebraska; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0011; FHL microfilm: 2341001 ↩︎
  7. Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services; Lincoln, Nebraska; Nebraska Death Index, 1956-1968 ↩︎
  8. Albion (Nebraska) News, 20 October 1949. “Two Die In Same House in Six Hours.” ↩︎

N Is for…Naturalization

N Is for…Naturalization

Posted on by spuddled

Today’s post will take a look at two naturalization records, one from each side of the family tree. First, the paternal branch. Anders Roberg, my great-great-grandfather, was born in Innvik, Norway on 11 October 1855. On 2 June 1875, Anders and his brother Arne emigrated to the United States. Both moved to Wisconsin, where Arne would stay for most of his life, while Anders would move to Minnesota and then Nebraska. On 3 December 1878, Anders married Agnette Evensdatter Lien in Rushford, Minnesota. By 1880 they were living in Boone County, Nebraska.

Arkivverket: The National Archives of Norway; Norge; Emigrasjonsprotokoll

Anders’s naturalization documents of 1884 detail the process required for him to become a citizen. They note that on 7 May 1884 Anders appeared in court in Albion, Boone County, to apply for citizenship. They further indicate that it had been at least two years since he made his original intention known; this was done through the Crawford County, Wisconsin, court system. Anders now renounced his allegiance to any foreign leader or government, particularly King Carl XV of Norway. He was required to have been a resident of the United States for at least five years without leaving its territories, and a resident of Nebraska for at least one year. Satisfied with Anders’s compliance with these various regulations, the Albion County Clerk approved his application on 7 July 1884.

On the other side of the family, also a great-great-grandfather, we have George John Hunkler. He was born in Saint Gallen, Switzerland, on 20 September 1862. Unlike Anders, George already knew his future wife in Switzerland. He emigrated in 1883, according to the 1900 census, and took up residence in Illinois. Two years later he paid for Maria Elizabeth Rusch’s passage to America, and they were married on 14 December in either 1885 in Washington, Illinois, or 1886 in Peoria.

On 22 August 1892 George Hunkler appeared in court in Peoria. Similar to Anders Roberg’s documents, George’s note that two years previously, on 28 September 1890, he had appeared in court to apply to become a naturalized citizen. Two witnesses had testified at that time that he had lived in the U.S. for at least five years and at least one year in Illinois and affirmed his good character. George also renounced his loyalty to The Republic of Switzerland, and was permitted to become a naturalized citizen.

Anders Mathis Roberg
George John Hunkler
Elusive Homeland: the Wedding of Anders and Ragnilde

Elusive Homeland: the Wedding of Anders and Ragnilde

Posted on by spuddled

I have nothing gruesome to report today. Instead I am commemorating the wedding of my 5G-grandparents, Anders Torgjersen Aaland and Ragnilde Christensdatter, who were married 7 July 1786. Anders (a name which would repeat itself through our Norwegian ancestry) was born 13 February 1760 in Innvik, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. Ragnilde was also born in Innvik, in about 1766.

They had at least 9 children: Christiana, Torger, Anna, Kristen, Giertrud, Arne (my 4G-grandfather), Anders, Rasmus, and Christian. Arne’s grandson, known in Norway as Anders (see?) Svendsen, was my great-great-grandfather who emigrated to the U.S. in 1875. As sometimes happened in America, he dropped the patronymic “Svendsen” and used the farm name (Roberg) as his surname, which is why the only great-grandparent I was able to meet was known as Sophie Christine Roberg. The “Aaland” in Anders Torgjersen’s name is also a farm name.

I don’t have a lot of detail about the lives of the earlier Anders and Ragnilde, so I’ll round out this entry with more information about Innvik. Innvik is a village of about 430 inhabitants and is located in western Norway along the shores of the Nordfjorden, which Wikipedia tells me is the sixth-longest fjord in Norway. In 1997 I had every intention of trekking to Innvik, and I came very close. My friend Abbey and I made it to Norway from England where we were studying at the time. We made it to the Nordfjorden. We made it to the village of Sandane, where there was (and apparently still is) a folk museum. But…the last bus that would have taken us to Innvik had just left, and we weren’t able to stay another night there as we needed to start making our way back. At least I think those are the details; it’s been a while. And if they are accurate and Sandane was where we missed the last bus, we were 22 1/2 miles from Innvik. So close. I have yet to make it back to Norway, but I’m not giving up hope. One of these days I’m determined to make it to the stomping grounds of Ragnilde and Anders…and Arne and Ingeborg…and Svend and Synneve…and Anders…

Norway and the Folk Museum, 1997
Her Demise Was Not Entirely Unexpected: The Death of Agnette Roberg

Her Demise Was Not Entirely Unexpected: The Death of Agnette Roberg

Posted on by spuddled

On this day 105 years ago, my great-great-grandmother Agnette (Lien) Roberg died in Boone County, Nebraska. Hers was in many ways the quintessential immigrant story. Born 30 November 1844 in Biri, Oppland, Norway, she was the daughter of Evan Olsen Lien and his wife Karen Larsdatter Onsrud. According to sources at the University of Tromsø, in 1865 both she and her sister Oline were employed as maids.

On 12 January 1871 Agnette gave birth to a son, listed on the record of his 7 May 1871 baptism in Ostre Toten, Oppland as Emil Marthinus, son of Marthinus Juliussen. He would later go by the name Emil Martin. I need to further investigate the relationship between Agnette and Marthinus, as it appears Marthinus was still alive and living in Oppland long after Agnette and Emil emigrated to America.

Agnette and 7-year-old Emil emigrated in 1878 on the S. S. Angelo. On 3 December of that year, Agnette, then 34, married a 23-year-old bachelor, Anders Mathis Roberg, in Rushford, Minnesota. In May of the following year, the family of three left Minnesota for Nebraska in a covered wagon. Less than a year after their move, on 17 February 1880, Agnette would give birth to her second child, Severin Andrew. Severin was followed on 5 November 1881 by Sophie Christine (the only great-grandparent I ever met, and only because she lived to be 97), and on 2 June 1884 by Sena.

The family appears in the 1880 census in Shell Creek, Boone County, Nebraska, and in the 1900 and 1910 censuses in Midland Precinct, Boone County. Tragedy had struck the family in 1908 with the gruesome death of Sena’s husband, Charlie Johnson, which was followed by various legal entanglements and Sena’s eventual mysterious disappearance. In addition, Sophie and her husband Carl Ozro Wilson had lost two small children: Anders Clarence Wilson died on his 2nd birthday, 13 August 1909, and Woodrow Wilson died at two days old on 23 July 1917.

These events must have made the later years of Agnette’s life sad ones. Sometime around 1917 Agnette was diagnosed with liver cancer, and on 18 February 1919 she succumbed to the disease at the age of 74 years, 2 months, and 19 days. According to her death certificate, she was buried two days later in the South Branch Cemetery in Newman Grove, Nebraska. I have visited this beautiful windswept cemetery and seen where Agnette was buried that day, and where Anders was buried following his death 24 years later. Grandson Anders Clarence is buried near them; baby Woodrow Wilson is buried near his own parents in the Winner, South Dakota, cemetery.

Agnette’s obituary appeared in the Newman Grove Reporter of 19 February 1919. It mentions her failing health and not unexpected demise. Enumerating Agnette’s survivors, the writer refers to Emil “Roeberg” living near Bradish, “Severn” northwest of Newman Grove, “Mrs. Sina Johnson, whose place of residence we did not learn,” and “Mrs. Carl Wilson,” living in Dakota. The writer notes that Agnette was survived by thirteen of her fifteen grandchildren.

Finally, the writer captures much of Agnette’s life in one succinct paragraph: “Mr. and Mrs. Roeberg [sic] were among the oldest settlers in this county coming here forty years ago they bravely endured the hardships incident to pioneer life. They are well and favorably known throughout the entire community.” A fitting epitaph.

Sophie, Anders, Severin, Emil, Agnette, Sena

Amanuensis Monday – Poor Harold Bridgman

Posted on by agnette

Two months before my father was born in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, his grandmother, Sophie (Roberg) Wilson wrote to Grandma (Blanche) Montgomery from Winner, South Dakota, some 275 miles away. She also forwarded on a letter from another daughter, Maude Lucille, then 18 years old. Both Sophie and Maud express their concerns about the ongoing war, employment and financial difficulties, and, on a lighter note, basketball.

Postmarked February 11, 1942, Winner, South Dakota; Addressed Mrs. L. C. Montgomery, Box 675, Scottsbluff, Nebr; Return address Mrs. Wilson, Winner, S.D.

2-10-1942 Winner, S.D. Lomero [?] St.

Dear Blanche & rest must write a few words

I was so glad to hear from you suppose you got my letter about the same time as I got yours. I’m so sorry that Slim hasen’t got steady work. I know how hard it is to get long & I haven’t lost any time. And I’m always broke from one time to the next check course have Helped Maude quite a little. But must do what I can because can’t leave it all to June: I’m so sorry. I guess Clarence is gone to Rapid City for Examination hope he won’t half to go right away. Wish he would have had time to come down—haven’t saw him since Christmas hope he is feeling better all thise Poor boys that has to go to war—this war is Terrible. We are sure that Hareld Brigeman is Killed. Grandma has not herd since Wake Iland was attacked Oh its so Sad. I will send the last letter Maude wrote. Her letters are so much easier to understand. And I must answer Pearls letter its so long since I got her letter. Poor Pearl won’t be long until she will be going to the Hospetil—if I could only be with you girls for a few days when you need me the most—I would be so glad— but know it’s impossible but sure wish you could go to the Hospital—wouldn’t the county help on the Docter bill. The county sure helps People up here—Pay Docter bills: Pearl will go to the Hospital. Percy Mother will half to keep the children so that is not so Easy Eather. You said you diden’t see how Florence could be confermed. Oh I sure will do all I can for Florence. I have a cream collard dress that could be made over for her. I will see Mrs. Iver Week You send her size and tell me what coller would be allright if it was died [?] and what coller think Mrs. Week will be Kind and do that don’t suppose there would be any boudy down there that would make it over for Florence. I just love to see Florence have chance now because when she geats In to high school it’s much harder. In school Takes all the time for studying will you leat me know what you think about the dress course I relize it takes more than just the dress but will do all I can I sure love to it will be so earley that I don’t amigene they will have white dresses. Well dearest folks hope you can read this scribbling. Must close and get this up to the Post office. Would like to write a lot more but ime won’t permit so best love and good wishes to all and God Bless and Keep you well until we meat again Good by from Mother Lester and Grandma

Write when you find time

[enclosed in same envelope:]

[written at top:] I’m sending Maude’s letter I know you like to read it so by by

Sioux Falls, S.D. Feb. 3, 1942

Dear Mother & all,

Rec’d your letter & money order last nite. Also a letter from Irene and $1, and a letter from Clarence. He was very sorry that he couldn’t help me out, but has to go to Rapid City to be examined the 16th. I’ll send his letter with this, I answered him right back so he would get it. I told him that was O.K. as I knew he had a hard time of it and to be sure and go down and see you before he had to leave. I’ll pay part of what you sent me on my rent but I’ll have to use that dollar Irene sent me for groceries and I thought perhaps I’d better not give her all of that as I’ll need groceries again next week. Don’t worry tho it will come out somehow. Clarence was only getting $25 a month and had to buy license and also that permit to drive which was $2. But if he has to go to the Army I think he’s foolish if he doesn’t sell that car. I sure hope he gets a good location if he has to go. I haven’t heard from Lawrence for over 2 wks. He must be in New Jersey yet tho as he hasn’t sent me his radio and as soon as they go over he’s going to send it to me. I sure wish he’d write. They tell them when they can write now. It’s sure terrible about Harold Bridgman. I’m afraid they torture the boys and starve them to death. A family down here in Sioux Falls got a message from Wake Island, “You may be interested to know your son was taken prisoner at Wake Island.” Wouldn’t that be terrible to get that message and not be able to do anything about it.

It’s about 2:30 and I would be in school today but I guess I’ve got the flu. I’ve such a bad cold and it affects my eyes and neck. It’s so hard to get rid of a cold down here. I feel sort of dizzy when I get up. Mrs. Mellenbrendt called up Roberts & told him I was sick in bed, she also invited me down to dinner and gave me some cough medicine & Listerine. I think I’ll be able to go to school tomorrow so don’t worry, everyone seems to be having bad colds. Lorraine Hight from White River is going to Nettleton College down here she called up the Beauty School and wanted to talk to me so they had her call here. She is coming down at 4:30 to see me. I ran into her one day in Kusge’s [?] store.

I fixed Mrs. Small’s daughter’s hair and her sisters in-law’s hair also awhile back & they wrote up to Witten & told Pearl I did a very nice job. Pearl, I guess told the Long girls, as Romane wrote it to Dorothy McManigal. I fixed Gweny’s [?] hair last Sun. nite.

I sure wish I could see Clarence before he has to leave. They’re really drafting the boys fast around here.

Gee, it’s hot up here in this room but I’ve just got to keep covered up.

Hasn’t the weather been nice. We haven’t had such a bad winter yet but it still takes plenty of fuel tho.

Tell Lester I guess Winner’s B.B. team isn’t doing quite so bad now, I saw in the Argus-Leader where they beat Gregory.

I wonder what the Witten B.B. team is this year.

Excuse the writing I can’t do very good when I’m laying donw.

Write when you can Mother & thanks so much.

Lots of Love

Maude

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