American-Norwegian “Newcomer Girl” visits N-AGA - DIS

Avisen
November 2012
AVISEN
Norwegian-American Genealogical Association
Volume 20, Number 4
www.norwegianamerican.org
November 2012
American-Norwegian “Newcomer Girl” visits N-AGA
Dr. Beverly Stadum spoke and showed
She described how she had become
some of her photographs of Norwaybased on “seduced” by the beauty of this life on a
her experiences as a “newcomer girl” to Nor- mountainside above Oyer, near the beginning
way to N-AGA at the meeting on September of the Gudbrands Valley. She particularly
26.
loves the wildflowers of sumDr. Stadum had grown up
mer
–
she
in a “Norwegian” area of
counted more
North Dakota, all of her
than 32 variegrandparents were from Norties on their
way.
She graduated from
farm – and the
Augsburg, later got her Ph.D.
light in sumin history from the University
mer, showing
of Minnesota, and taught
photos of seamany years at St. Cloud State
sons on the
University. On a research trip
farm, besides of
to Norway exploring her topic
her wedding in
of social welfare in Norway,
the courthouse
she met and later married
in Oslo. She
Bjørn Stadum. She moved to
said she had
Norway in 2005, living on Dr. Beverly Stadum, photo by “Mike” Wick.
turned
from
Stadum farm, which her husbeing a “city girl” of many years to being now
band had inherited from his uncle.
a “country girl.”
Dr. Stadum also talked about how even as a
More visitors from Norway to N-AGA!
non-citizen of Norway, she had been given a
See inside for photos of the DIS-Norge
small pension, besides having a residency pertour stop researching with N-AGA mem- mit and a permit to work. She discussed how
bers at the Minnesota Genealogical Soci(Newcomer Girl continued on page 2)
ety Library.
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November 2012
(Newcomer Girl continued from page 1)
Seventh annual Norwegian
Lag Week in Salt Lake City
will be March 13-20, 2013
the impact of Norway’s new wealth from oil
had affected her new family over several generations. Her mother-in-law had been born on
a tiny farm, where her widowed father prayed
on his knees in the barn that he would be able
to support the seven children, and his daughter
early took a job as a dairy maid in the summer
pastures. While the mother-in-law was also
widowed after living on a small farm, and
worked several jobs to support her two sons,
by the end of her working career, the improved pay of her job did enable her to live
more comfortably. She lives in her own home
now as a pensioner, comfortably, and with
great appreciation for this life. Dr. Stadum’s
husband was able to attend technical school
for two years paid for by the government of
Norway, and became an engineer. And now
her nephew lives well in Oslo – with all the
material trappings of today’s youth, despite
some shuttling back and forth between his divorced parents.
by Marilyn Sorensen
N-AGA Research Coordinator
The seventh annual Norwegian Lag Week at
the Family History Library in Salt Lake City
will be held in two parts.
The first part of the week will be research
only days from March 13 to March 16. The
second part will begin with a meeting on Sunday evening, March 17 with research and special classes through Wednesday, March 20.
Norwegian Lag Week, sponsored by the
Bydeelagense Fellesraad, umbrella organization for the bygdelag, is for those interested in
Norwegian genealogy to meet together in Salt
Lake City at the Family History Library to research and learn together.
We work diligently to plan some special
classes about Norwegian research and new
developments to help with our research. The
division into two parts this year allows an informal time for research with several people
there to help. If we know who you are we will
make connections at the hotel and at the liDr. Stadum’s experiences in her new home, brary.
with photos, are included in her book, NewThis seventh annual Norwegian Lag Week
comer Girl, available at N-AGA meetings
follows two lag weeks that were both explorafrom Joy Sundrum, or contact Joy at
tory and a pilot for this event. We have been
<[email protected]>. Dr. Stadum had
fortunate to work with three organizations in
heard her mother use this term for someone
planning our week. Besides the Bygdelagenes
who was not originally from the area in North
Fellesraad, DIS-Norge, the Norwegian genealDakota when she was growing up; now she is
the newcomer girl in Oppland.
(Norwegian Lag Week continued on page 3)
Dr. Stadum also commented on how there
is so much free art available to the public, as
in the courthouse and Frogner Park. At the
same time, however, Oslo is one of the most
expensive cities in the world for tourism – yet
people still come.
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November 2012
(Norwegian Lag Week continued from page 2)
and special rate are available until January 13,
2013. If rooms are available after that they
will honor our rate for the days relating to the
Norwegian Lag Week March 13-19, 2013.
Cost for the week will be your transportation,
hotel room and food. There is no charge for
the Lag Week itself; it is all-volunteer. The
Family History Library and Family Search
Center are open to the public at no charge.
ogy organization primarily connecting with
members via Internet, and Family Search as
part of the Family History Library in Salt
Lake City) were essential. Our event could not
be planned without them.
Information about our event is posted on the
Fellesraad website <www.fellesraad.org>.
Various bygdelag publish information in their
For information about the Roots Tech Connewsletters.
ference which is from March 21 to March 23,
2013,
please go to
Family Search provides key
their web
help in organpage for
izing the acfurther
tivities
in
inforSalt
Lake
mation.
City.
It has a
separate
The official
registradays of the
tion fee.
Norwegian
There
Lag
Week
are
Sunday thru
many
Wednesday
hotels
March 17 to
in the
March 20 are
area
and
just before a maMembers of the 2012 Norwegian Lag Week
they have
jor
genealogy/
special Roots Tech conference rates. It is a
technology conference called Roots Tech.
huge conference so the hotels fill up fast.
Roots Tech is a very popular conference so
If you are planning to attend the Norwegian
Norwegian Lag Week check-out time will be
in the morning on March 20, 2013. The hotel Lag Week, please let us know as it helps with
we are staying at is the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel planning our events. Last year we had an enwhich is next door to the library. A block of thusiastic group and several are returning this
rooms is available by contacting Rich Wil- year. Direct questions and whether you will be
liams at 800-366-3674 X3007. You must attending the Salt Lake City, Norwegian Lag
work directly with him. Room rates for the Week to Marilyn Sorensen, 651-633-1329 or e
Norwegian Lag week are $82 plus tax for a -mail to <[email protected]>.
single or double room. This block of rooms
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November 2012
DIS-Norge’s genealogy tour in U.S. stops at MGS Library—
with assistance from N-AGA members
Left, N-AGA member Joel Watne assists a
Norwegian DIS-Norge genealogist; below,
N-AGA Research Coordinator Marilyn
Sorensen and John Schade, MGS Librarian, await the arrival of the bus of DISNorge members.
N-AGA members assisted with research at the MGS
Library September 16. 32 members of DIS-Norge, a genealocy association in Norway, made a weeks–long trip
to N-AGA; the Norwegian American Historical Society
(NAHA) in Northfield; Sioux Falls, South Dakota;
Billings, Montana and Salt Lake City.
N-AGA Historian Barb
Horn assists.
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November 2012
Upper left, Marilyn Sorensen, with DIS-Norge
members hard at work; President of DIS-Norge
Torill Johnsen sits a little farther back. Above, Torill and another from DIS-Norge in the library.
Left, Trond Overby and another DIS-Norge member at work on American census. Bottom, Avisen
Editor Linda Tollefson Therkelsen with DIS-Norge
member working on a Minneapolis problem.
All photos by Sigbjørn Elvebakken, editor of Slekt og Data, newsletter of DISNorge. Special thanks to him for sharing these!
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November 2012
Two routes to same destination
by Joy Sundrum
N-AGA Library Cataloguer
Edward Andreas and Sina Hartzell lived only blocks away from each in Montevideo, Chippewa County, Minnesota, in the early 1950s, but they didn’t know they were second cousins.
Edward, his parents and five siblings had come to a farm north of Montevideo in 1901 and
1904. Sina left Norway in 1896, and five of her siblings left in 1900, 1901, 1915, and 1927.
Edward and his family left the island of Herøy in Nordland and sailed from Trondheim. Sina
Pedersdatter and her siblings left Ringebu, Gudbrandsdal, Oppland, and sailed from Oslo. They
lived 480 miles apart and left from cities 305 miles apart.
They never knew each other and never knew they were related.
How did these two families come to live so far apart and then so near each other; how were
they related and how was this relationship figured out?
As with every family search, information from the family is the place to start. I knew that my
grandfather, Edward Andreas, had been born in Nordland and came to Minnesota in 1901.
(From Emigrants from Trondheim on Digitalarkivet.)
Since he left in 1901, he would be on the 1900 census for Norway, and he was listed with his
parents on Tenden, Herøy, Nordland:
Andreas Olson, farmer and fisherman, born 1849 in Flatanger
Nikoline Hansen, housewife, born 1849 in Alstahaug, Nordland
Edvart Andreasen, single, fisherman’s son, born 1881
(Plus three of his siblings.)
(Two routes continued on page 7)
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November 2012
(Two routes continued from page 6)
up on Herøy, Nordland; his second cousins
grew up in Ringebu, Oppland.
I never found Andreas on the 1865 census,
but on the 1875 census, Andreas and Nikoline
had one daughter and were living with Nikoline’s older married sister on Herøy, and the
census showed that Andreas was born in/on
“Bjørnør.”
Then the searching began for descendants of
these four siblings of Ole Hansen. At this
point I did not know there were second cousins who lived in Montevideo. I set out only to
find descendants of Ole’s siblings, his three
brothers and one sister.
Fortunately there is a bygdebøk for Flatanger, Nord-Trøndelag, which proved to be very
useful although some of the information was
incorrect. However, it did list his father -- Ole
Hansen, born in 1820 in Ringebu! “Ah-ha,”
the connection to Ringebu, Gudbrandsdal, Oppland.
To further my search, I entered
“Gudbrandsdal slekt” into Google. “Slekt”
means relatives and can be used to search any
area of Norway. Of the hits that came up, one
looked very interesting--”Ringebuslekter.”
This led to the website of Tor Onshus which is
an online genealogy of families in
the Ringebu area.
He uses Norwegian churchbook
records, census for
Norway, local histories and information given to
him from families.
This is an individual’s work so it
needs to be verified with primary
sources. I was able
to tell him about
my
greatgrandfather, Andreas Olsen, going
to Nordland and
then America; and I learned from him about
Norwegian churchbook records on Digitalar- descendants of the group that returned to
kivet and extractions of the ministerial records Ringebu.
at Gudbandsdalslaget showed that Ole Hansen
had left Ringebu in 1832 with his parents and
Three brothers and one sister of Ole Hansen
siblings. His father died in 1837 and his moth- d.e. (the elder) had returned to Ringebu.:
er returned to Ringebu with her four youngest Christian, Hans, Anne and Ole d.y. (the
children about 1838: Christian, Hans, Anne, younger). Yes, there were two Oles. The
Ole. Another “ah-ha” moment. Edward grew
(Two routes continued on page 8)
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November 2012
(Two routes continued from page 7)
Although I didn’t personally know the people I “found,” I was familiar with many of the
last names. Norwegian and U.S. census records, Norwegian church books and emigration
records, contact with descendants, county histories, obituaries, bygdeboker, and persistence
paid off.
younger one did not marry or have children,
but Christian, Hans and Anne did. Christian’s
daughter, Marit, had seven children; five of
them settled in Minnesota and one went to
British Columbia. The oldest was a daughter,
Sina, who married Olaf Hartzell and lived in
Montevideo blocks away from her second
cousin, Edward Andreas. This was a big “ahha” moment!
If you have relatives with those names, especially grandparents or great-grandparents who
lived in Chippewa or Lac Qui Parle Counties,
According to the Tor Onshus
website
<http://onshus.no/>,
one son and one grandson of
Hans emigrated as did two sons
of Anne. Their immigration and
residences haven’t been verified.
Farms in the Ringebu area
from which the emigrants left
included: Onshusviken (Viken
in
Minnesota),
Randklevsbakken, Rønningsbakken
(Bakken in Minnesota), Sjølien
(Sjonnes in Minnesota).
Grandpa Edward Andreas never knew he had a second cousin living blocks
The last names in Minnesota away in Montevideo!
of Edward’s second cousins and
second cousins once removed included both feel free to contact me so we can see if there’s
patronymic and farm names as well as hus- a
connection.
My
email
is
bands’ surnames: Hartzell, Viken, Pedersen, <[email protected]>. Please indicate
Engberg, Cressy, Lindh, Bakken, Sjonnes, in the subject line “Possible Ringebu ConnecHansen and Jonson. Olaf Viken, who was tion.”
president of Gudbrandsdalslaget in the 1950s
and 1960s, was Sina’s brother. He farmed near
The “ah-ha” moments were worth all the
Montevideo and moved to Dawson, Minnesota seaching. The result was the satisfaction of
when he retired. In 1920 Olaf was living with finding information that was a complete surhis older brother, John (Johannes), his wife prise, and now I might know more about
Thea and their infant son Palmer in Baxter Grandpa Edward’s American relatives than he
Township, Lac Qui Parle County, Minnesota:
did!
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November 2012
Plans for Norway House underway
serving the local, regional, and national Norwegian-American community.
by Elizabeth Plaetz Lori
Director of Operations, Norway House
Building plans are proceeding for a project
called Norway House located on a block
shared with Mindekirken, the Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church, on Franklin Avenue
in Minneapolis.
Award-winning architect Dewey Thorbeck
has been asked to design a professional and
cultural center that integrates the existing
structures along with construction of new
space on the Mindekirken-Norway House
At this year’s Midtsommer celebration, it campus that will serve as a bridge between the
United States and Norway.
Elevation from south (21st Street) of the Norway House project, blending historic (Mindekirken on right) with more
contemporary structures (center) and new construction on the left, an events and conference center plus glass atrium
lobby and outdoor reception and events plaza/walkway. The plaza/walkway, according to the architects’ web site, is
intended to be a bridge between Norway and the U.S. It represents both old Norway and new Norway, immigrant
America and the modern world. The project is planned in phases; the new construction is the second phase.
was announced that the Norway House organization has embarked on purchasing property
on that block. Norway House and Mindekirken together will function as Norway
Center sharing not only facilities, but also program spaces, parking, and personnel.
Thorbeck is the recipient of a number of
architectural design awards, a Fellow of the
American Academy in Rome, Fellow of the
American Institute of Architects and past president of AIA Minnesota. Thorbeck Architects
focus on “the making of places” more than a
This arrangement will allow each entity building, and that “a beautiful building can
more effectively to accomplish its mission in
(Norway House continued on page 10)
9
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November 2012
(Norway House continued from page 9)
The project is an evolving design that will be
carried out in phases. The first phase will be
office headquarters for Norway
House and affiliated organizations.
This is an existing building currently owned by Wings Financial on
which the Norway House organization will close in January.
View from inside the glass atrium lobby of second phase building;
building on the left is the first phase of the Norway House project, an
existing building converted to office space for Norway House and partner organizations. At the right rear is Mindekirken, the Norwegian
Memorial Church.
The next phase planned is an
events and conference building. A
glass atrium lobby will have space
for exhibits and reception area. The
building will include space for banquet seating for 325. The plan is to
develop a green building.
The Norway House organization
was started in 2004 when Royal Norwegian Consul General Thor Johan-
evoke an emotional response but a
beautiful building that is part of
nature is poetic.”
Thorbeck Architects has done
many integrated public spaces including Fort Snelling State Park
Visitor Center, Springbrook Nature Center in Fridley, the International Wolf Center in ly and
Kansas City Music Hall. The firm
was part of the team working on
Minnesota Zoological Garden in
Apple Valley, and is the design
architect for a new Bell Museum
of Natural History at the University of Minnesota on the St. Paul
Campus and the Anderson Center
at Tower View, Red Wing, among
many other projects.
Partial view of outdoor reception/events plaza/walkway and second phase
events building with glass “gathering place” atrium lobby reception area.
This building will have banquet seating for 325. The architectural idea is to
link the best of the American-Norwegian community with the best of Norway — past, present and future. The two buildings are planned to be connected with a tunnel on the lower level.
(Norway House continued on page 11)
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November 2012
(Norway House continued from page 10)
Norwegian-American
Genealogical Association
sen proposed the idea of establishing such a
facility in Minneapolis to enhance the many
business, educational, social and cultural
interchanges between Norway and the Upper Midwest. He called together key leaders
in the Norwegian-American community to
consider the idea and begin planning for a
facility.
The mission of Norway House is to serve
as a convener, collaborator and platform for
the Norwegian-American community. The
Edvard Grieg Society and the Norway
House Peace Initiative are two programs
that were developed to serve this mission.
Both of these programs have contributed
significantly to the community through the
international musicians and world leaders
who have been involved with the organization.
Former Prime Minister Kjell Magne
Bondevik has been featured at a number of
the Peace Initiative events, and Rolf Willy
Hansen, Norwegian Ambassador to Syria,
will be the featured speaker at the upcoming Dialogue for Peace event on November
14.
For more information and details about
upcoming events, visit the Norway House
website at <www.norwayhouse.net>.
Mindekirken (historic)
meets at
Minnesota Genealogical Society Library
1185 Concord St., Suite 218
South St. Paul MN
last Wednesday of month at 7 p.m. for evening
meetings — all-day meetings quarterly
N-AGA Program Calendar
Oct. 31—Nancy Olson, on Norway House. Nancy, a
N-AGA member and member of the Board of Directors for Norway House, will present a slide show on
planning and capital campaign for this conference center building that will link American Norwegian heritage with contemporary Norway. See preceding article
in newsletter for more about Norway House.
Nov. 3—Family History Fair at Minneapolis Central
Library, 300 Nicollet Mall, Pohlad Hall, 9:30 a.m. to 2
p.m. N-AGA will have a resource table at this event.
Sponsored by Friends of the Minneapolis Central Library and Minnesota Genealogical Society.
Nov. 28—The Scandinavian Christmas, a DVD,
provided by N-AGA member Sharon Arends. Sharon
says, “It's an amusing but insightful look at a family's
attempt to continue their Norwegian Christmas traditions, complete with dancing around the Christmas
tree” that was produced by Pioneer Public TV in Morris, Minnesota.
Dec. 26—Christmas Goodies Night—Bring leftover
cookies and goodies to share!
Jan. 30, 2013—Karen Weiberg on Norwegian
Sweaters. Karen, former owner of Three Kittens Yarn
Shoppe, will tell how knitting Norwegian sweaters
started in 1814, the traditional patterns, techniques and
colors. It is N-AGA’s traditional Norwegian Sweater
Night, so be sure to wear yours so Karen can comment
on the regional variety of patterns and colors.
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November 2012
AVISEN
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Association of the Minnesota Genealogical Society
1185 Concord St., Suite 218
South St. Paul, MN 55075-1150
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NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN
GENEALOGICAL ASSOCIATION
OFFICERS 2012
President:
Vice President:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Membership:
Avisen Editor:
Bob O’Neil
Dixie Hansen
Jack Bergerson
Betty Strand
Linda Therkelsen
[email protected]
Historian:
Barb Horn
Program:
Dick Lundgren
Research Coordinator:
Marilyn Sorensen
Library Cataloger:
Joy Sundrum
Webmaster:
Bob Rowe
AVISEN Newspaper of the NorwegianAmerican Genealogical Association. Copyright
2012 by Norwegian-American Genealogical
Association.
All rights reserved.
No article or portion thereof may be reproduced
without prior written permission of the Norwegian-American Genealogical Association.