Today is my grandma’s cousin’s birthday. I tried calling Adeline to wish her a happy birthday, but our phone line is down for some reason so I couldn’t get through to Seattle. She’s 100% Norwegian and it is through her that I met Kory (he’s friends with her son-in-laws).
In the 1860s Adeline’s grandfather, Nils Johnson, left the Hengesteg farm, (a beautiful place on the shores of the Sogn fjord in Luster) east of Bergen. He grew up the son of a “husman” (basically a slave - the poorest of the poor). Norway had been a very poor country for centuries with a high child mortality rate, mostly due to small pox. Often a couple would have 13-14 children and only a few would survive to adulthood. Handing the farm off to the oldest surviving son was tradition and the other children usually ended up as laborers on bigger farms. In the 1840s the small pox vaccine came to Norway and the government required all children be immunized. Nils was among the first generation to get the injection so most of the children his age grew to adulthood (I actually have a copy of his immunization record dated 1842). This survival rate posed a huge problem for Norway because now, instead of just two or three children growing up and needing to find work and food, there were 13 or 14. This is why so many Norwegians ended up moving to America after 1850 – because they were hungry. There wasn’t enough farm land to feed the population explosion that happened as a result of the effectiveness of the small pox vaccine. Many children became indentured servants (husman) to farmers where all their labor went just to pay the rent on the tiny house they were allowed to live in while they worked the farm. There was never any hope for them to improve their lot in life or to save any money to get out of their predicament – until America started offering free land to homesteaders. Nils was in his 20s when he moved to America. He first landed in Minnesota where he met his wife, Ingrid Bale, who had left Norway with her family when she was just five years old. Nils would have sailed right past the Tjue farm in Balestrand where she was born, on his way down the fjord as he traveled to Bergen to catch the boat to America. They had ten children together, but life in America wasn’t easy either - five of their children died from different causes before 1880. Around 1882 the family moved to North Dakota to become homesteaders there and in 1883 the diphtheria epidemic swept the mid-west, taking the lives of their last five children all within a two week time span. (Two of their children died the same day.) America must have seemed like anything but the Promised Land to them, when once they had ten children and then they had none. Ingrid was pregnant at the time of the epidemic and she soon had a new baby boy and eventually had two more sons, all of whom lived long lives. Adeline’s father was one of those boys, and my grandma’s dad was one of the other. Those two brothers grew up the best of friends and even had a double wedding ceremony just months before their father Nils died on Christmas Eve 1918. So this is one strand of my own Norwegian roots. I’ve visited both the farms where Nils and Ingrid came from, as well as the farm they homesteaded in North Dakota, just to complete the picture. It was almost surreal to be where they had been. There are so many dramas that play out in the statistics and facts that can be found when searching family history, that I just become completely addicted to it. Someday I hope to write up profiles for each one of my ancestors as I just love this stuff. And I love Adeline, and I so wish I could be with her today. She’s a class act. I told her before we left that I’d throw her a 100th birthday party as I’m sure she’ll outlive us all. I think her husband turned 95 last year and their social calendar is as FULL as it could be as they are always going somewhere with someone. So Happy Birthday Adeline! (Gratulere med dagen.)
And there was another birthday I found out about today. Eric Price, one of our beloved “Powerline Kids” (old neighbors) became a daddy today. His wife Lindsay had a boy. I just got the e-mail saying Koda Ryan Price was born this morning. Hallelujah, all are doing well. But once again, I wish I were home for this. I’m not feeling homesick, just sick I’m not home right now for such important events.
On the homefront, Kory busied himself today making signs for Saturday’s car wash. I worked on my “talk” for Christian radio after I got home from school and Kaleb sat and read the history of the world until Tobias came over. He went over to Tobias’ house and didn’t come back until 8:20 tonight – well after his bedtime, so he missed dinner. I wasn’t too happy with him being out so late but hopefully he learned his lesson as he went to bed hungry. Odd was here for a while talking to Kory about how things went in Trondheim. I think he’s feeling a bit less stressed now that he knows he’s done all he can do to help. He insists though that we must stay here one more year. He even called his mom to ask her if she would go ask Aunt Ruth to move into an old folks home so we could live in our condo. He’s a funny guy.
In the 1860s Adeline’s grandfather, Nils Johnson, left the Hengesteg farm, (a beautiful place on the shores of the Sogn fjord in Luster) east of Bergen. He grew up the son of a “husman” (basically a slave - the poorest of the poor). Norway had been a very poor country for centuries with a high child mortality rate, mostly due to small pox. Often a couple would have 13-14 children and only a few would survive to adulthood. Handing the farm off to the oldest surviving son was tradition and the other children usually ended up as laborers on bigger farms. In the 1840s the small pox vaccine came to Norway and the government required all children be immunized. Nils was among the first generation to get the injection so most of the children his age grew to adulthood (I actually have a copy of his immunization record dated 1842). This survival rate posed a huge problem for Norway because now, instead of just two or three children growing up and needing to find work and food, there were 13 or 14. This is why so many Norwegians ended up moving to America after 1850 – because they were hungry. There wasn’t enough farm land to feed the population explosion that happened as a result of the effectiveness of the small pox vaccine. Many children became indentured servants (husman) to farmers where all their labor went just to pay the rent on the tiny house they were allowed to live in while they worked the farm. There was never any hope for them to improve their lot in life or to save any money to get out of their predicament – until America started offering free land to homesteaders. Nils was in his 20s when he moved to America. He first landed in Minnesota where he met his wife, Ingrid Bale, who had left Norway with her family when she was just five years old. Nils would have sailed right past the Tjue farm in Balestrand where she was born, on his way down the fjord as he traveled to Bergen to catch the boat to America. They had ten children together, but life in America wasn’t easy either - five of their children died from different causes before 1880. Around 1882 the family moved to North Dakota to become homesteaders there and in 1883 the diphtheria epidemic swept the mid-west, taking the lives of their last five children all within a two week time span. (Two of their children died the same day.) America must have seemed like anything but the Promised Land to them, when once they had ten children and then they had none. Ingrid was pregnant at the time of the epidemic and she soon had a new baby boy and eventually had two more sons, all of whom lived long lives. Adeline’s father was one of those boys, and my grandma’s dad was one of the other. Those two brothers grew up the best of friends and even had a double wedding ceremony just months before their father Nils died on Christmas Eve 1918. So this is one strand of my own Norwegian roots. I’ve visited both the farms where Nils and Ingrid came from, as well as the farm they homesteaded in North Dakota, just to complete the picture. It was almost surreal to be where they had been. There are so many dramas that play out in the statistics and facts that can be found when searching family history, that I just become completely addicted to it. Someday I hope to write up profiles for each one of my ancestors as I just love this stuff. And I love Adeline, and I so wish I could be with her today. She’s a class act. I told her before we left that I’d throw her a 100th birthday party as I’m sure she’ll outlive us all. I think her husband turned 95 last year and their social calendar is as FULL as it could be as they are always going somewhere with someone. So Happy Birthday Adeline! (Gratulere med dagen.)
And there was another birthday I found out about today. Eric Price, one of our beloved “Powerline Kids” (old neighbors) became a daddy today. His wife Lindsay had a boy. I just got the e-mail saying Koda Ryan Price was born this morning. Hallelujah, all are doing well. But once again, I wish I were home for this. I’m not feeling homesick, just sick I’m not home right now for such important events.
On the homefront, Kory busied himself today making signs for Saturday’s car wash. I worked on my “talk” for Christian radio after I got home from school and Kaleb sat and read the history of the world until Tobias came over. He went over to Tobias’ house and didn’t come back until 8:20 tonight – well after his bedtime, so he missed dinner. I wasn’t too happy with him being out so late but hopefully he learned his lesson as he went to bed hungry. Odd was here for a while talking to Kory about how things went in Trondheim. I think he’s feeling a bit less stressed now that he knows he’s done all he can do to help. He insists though that we must stay here one more year. He even called his mom to ask her if she would go ask Aunt Ruth to move into an old folks home so we could live in our condo. He’s a funny guy.
