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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7765 Posts |
 Posted - 10/02/2014 : 16:45:01
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quote:
Originally posted by JaneC
Thanks. So it's likely all the sisters stayed in Norway. Were you all satisfied Gust Johnson identity was solidly established? (I did reread thread but I will again to get a fix on what you said)
Well it's interesting but not really certain, there are dozens and dozens of Gust / Gustave / Gustaf / August /Johnson in just North Dakota.
Some of the questions in North Dakota could be explored in the church records, particularly Ox Creek since that's the earliest record for the correct Borre. It's a bit strange that the pastoral acts for the church don't seem to begin until 1897 but maybe there will be some interesting folks in the faddernes of the Borre's and Alma H.'s children. I haven't succeeded in finding any mentions of the family at the ELCA databases yet, not sure why not
Perhaps there would be something in local newspapers from Rolette, you know in the columns mentioning so and so visiting siblings at such and such place. But that is a long and grueling slog. As far as I know no newspaper from Rolette is yet digitized and searchable on the major newspaper sites.
The original information was that Borre Johnson came from Oslo and Hurum is fairly close to Oslo so I was hoping that perhaps there was some connection there but really Børre is not that common a name in Norway and so far have not seen many with connection to that general area.
Part of the situation with the different birth dates for Borre is that it is unknown where some of the online databases have generated their dates. Matching one or another might be a self fulfilling prophecy if the date is something the person has generated through undisclosed research & sources and we happen to stumble onto the same records and think its a match.
Then the homestead situation is also a bit peculiar. Sometimes people are recorded as "homesteading" with a small h rather than having gotten an actual Federal Homestead, homestead with a capital H. I'll look forward to the research at the courthouse for the land records.
Since Børge / Børre from Eid came to Barnesville, he would have been close in the area to Norwegian Grove in Otter Tail county and could have been familiar with the family. Perhaps he shows up in the faddernes records of some of Alma's younger siblings?
Usually the most intractable US mysteries are solved in US records.
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 10/02/2014 : 21:36:43
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quote:
Originally posted by JaneC
quote:
Originally posted by brejohns
The Lutheran minister listed on the marriage certificate is Ole P. Svingen from Bottineau County. Sorry there were no parents listed on the marriage certificate. It gave 2 witnesses and said the bride's parents consented. Nothing else listing their birth places or birth dates. It just gave their ages as 30 for Bore and 16 for Helena.
Who were the witnesses? BTW brejohns - it's impressive, all the data you've collected and brought to the forum! 
yeah I hear you Jackie. brejohns wrote to Ox Creek church and posted about that....Perhaps pastoral acts for Ox Creek were recorded at Ole P. Svingen's Bottineau county church during those early years. Seemingly more than one small scattered congregation was sharing him as a pastor and he may have kept records at one main church office.
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Edited by - JaneC on 10/02/2014 21:38:28 |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7765 Posts |
Posted - 11/02/2014 : 00:32:19
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| Sharing a pastor often happened on the frontier amongst nearby churches. |
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brejohns
Medium member
USA
176 Posts |
Posted - 19/02/2014 : 05:06:37
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You have kept digging in the records and I feel I am so far behind. I went to the Rolette County Courthouse and researched the records of land deeds from 1888 to 1906. I looked for both Borre Johnson and a Barry Samson since the 1910 Rolette County atlas shows Barry Samson as the landowner for the correct farm in Willow Lake Township. However, I did not find any land deeds in either name. I also tried to locate Carl Hanson's land in 1910 but I did not find anything. I'll need to spend more time looking for this because I don't have a specific township for sure - just the area.
You brought up some good points about Borre's grave stone marker. I think I better go take a picture of it myself as maybe someone has listed it incorrectly. However, since this is a small cemetery and we have lots of snow this year my husband says I won't be able to access it and I'll need to wait until some of our snow is melted.
The Ox Creek history pages that were sent to me only list 1 Hanson family (Hans Hanson 1897-1949) and it does not match with any of the information or siblings for Alma Helena Hanson. However, I have not looked at the book myself and the pages were sent from an assistant at the ND Historical Society. I'm not sure I would gain anything by driving to Bismarck and checking the book.
I also had a lady at NDSU check the Dakota Territory Census for 1885 and she did not find a listing for Borre (or Barry) Johnson.
It appears I'm running into a lot of dead ends. Do you have any other suggestions for me to check out? |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7765 Posts |
Posted - 19/02/2014 : 05:45:54
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You could search the pastoral acts of Ox Creek church yourself. The ELCA archives has microfilm of and will lend for a fee of about $15 / film for one month + postage. Then you can be certain that nothing was missed.
The cemetery where he is buried is also a church cemetery and perhaps he's a member is why he was buried there. Sometimes the exact origin in Norway is included in funeral records--not always, just sometimes.
Re Rev Ole P. Swingen the Norsk Lutherske Prester i Amerika book (Norwegian Lutheran Pastors in America) says he was pastor in Bottineau county from 1888 to 1891. No specific churches are mentioned but he did return to Bottineau (the town) in service from 1904-1912. Perhaps his records are lodged with a church in Bottineau or Bottineau county rather than with Ox Creek?
Does Rollette county not have a grantee / grantor index list for the land transactions at the courthouse? Those are not usually broken out into townships but are indexed county wide, alphabetically by surname. You know roughly where their land was due to the census transcriptions and images.
The public library have any old plat map books for Rolette? And there is a wordy non-indexed old county history of Rolette by someone whose last name was Law. Have you ever looked in it?
You could get the death certificates of each of the children to see if there is any restatement of Borre's name & info which might contain a helpful clue. I'd start with the eldest daughter's since she would have been an adult at the time he died and may have known and passed on information to her family for them to record on her d.c.
Have you canvassed all surviving grandchildren, great grandchildren of Borre? Maybe they know something and haven't spoken up because they think everyone else already knows what they know.
Are there any old family photo albums with pictures that have photo studio names & locations on them or better yet identifications on the back? Even unidentified pictures with studio names and places on them can be helpful. |
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brejohns
Medium member
USA
176 Posts |
Posted - 19/02/2014 : 06:16:53
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I can check out the ELCA archives and see if they will send the microfilm to the Bottineau Public Library. The Ox Creek Church (wedding) as well as the Rendahl Church (buried) have both been destroyed by fire. Hopefully some of their records were preserved, but I'm not sure. I will also contact the Lutheran Church in Bottineau since Swingen served there to see if they would know of any other records.
When I was checking the land transaction for Rolette County I was looking in an indexed grantee binders. I search for both Johnson and Samson - however I believe I only searched the grantee and not the grantor. When I have more time off I'll go back to see about the other binder.
The courthouse does have old plat maps but they only went back to 1910. The book you're referring to was written by Laura Thompson Law and I will see if I can locate it.
I didn't think of getting death certificates for their children, but I can also check that out too. |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7765 Posts |
Posted - 19/02/2014 : 06:47:34
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The ELCA films are usually sent direct to you and then you take them to your library of choice. Of course if you want to have a lick at it yourself, you can take a free week long use of the ELCA databases at www.archives.com. I have used them myself but so far not found anything I felt was useful to your mission. ELCA archivist Joel Thoreson could help you to get the correct films and maybe have some idea about which church might have Ole Swingen's records particularly the 1888-1891 time.
www.elca.org
I know it seems like a lot of cost to get the d.c. but the documents are ones you should have anyway to do a thorough genealogy so done over time the $ investment might seem less drastic, $5 here, $5 bucks there.
I did check the Pioneer Biography Files index abstract but Alma didn't have a file. (At least not as Alma Johnson--she didn't remarry or did she?) The Files could still be useful in the event that Borre was mentioned in someone else's file but that again is a long bit of looking and maybe not finding anything of value. |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7765 Posts |
Posted - 19/02/2014 : 22:48:54
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From History of Rolette County, North Dakota and Yarns of the Pioneers by Laura Thompson Law published 1953 The Lund Press, Inc. Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rice Township, pg 164-165:
"Carl Hanson, his son Henry Hanson and daughter Alma came in a covered wagon from Otter Tail County, Minnesota in October, 1887, and settled on land in Rice Township. The two children assisted the father on the journey. They brought horses, seed, feed, and a herd of cattle consisting of eight milk cows. The weather was getting cold and the trip was a hard one. Twice a day they had to stop and milk the cows. After more than a week of traveling they came to the tiny sod shack that was to be their home. The rest of the family, consisting of three daughters and a son, came to Rugby with their mother, and was met there by Marsh Ingebretson and his fast team of horses. These children are Mary (Mrs. Henry Olson), Clara (Mrs. Bert Rees), Julia (Mrs. Harry Plymate) and Bob. Alma, the other daughter, disliked the North Dakota prairie country. In 1888, she was married to Berry Johnson, who had filed on land in Rice, but gave up his right and filed on land in the Turtle Mountains in section 19 of Willow Lake. Mrs. Johnson, now a widow for many years, reared a large family there and today lives with her son in a fine home on the homestead in the mountains. Henry and Bob Hanson also homesteaded in the community. Henry served as sheriff of Rolette County."
Earlier in the Rice Township section it is explained that the township was first called Ox Creek and later named Rice after a very early (1882) settler Louis Rice.
Willow Lake Township, pg 187-188 in a listing of homesteaders and settlers are these:
Adam Sien section 14
Barry Samson section 19
John Siem section 35 (so called in the fraction)
Here is the land claimed by Barny Samson at glorecords.blm.gov:
View Patent Image TC-0175-457 PatenteeSAMSON, BARNY 4/2/1897 780 ND 5th PM 159N - 071W S½SW¼ 1 Rolette
159N - 071W S½SE¼ 1 Rolette
View Patent Image MV-0656-079 PatenteeSAMSON, BARNY 9/18/1907 13358 ND 5th PM 163N - 073W S½NE¼ 19 Rolette
163N - 073W NW¼SE¼ 19 Rolette
163N - 073W Lot/Trct 6 19 Rolette
--- NDMTAA 015101 PatenteeSAMSON, BARNY 4/2/1897 780 ND 5th PM 159N - 071W S½S½ 1 Rolette
--- NDMTAA 021685 PatenteeSAMSON, BARNY 9/18/1907 13358 ND 5th PM 163N - 073W S½NE¼ 19 Rolette
163N - 073W NW¼SE¼ 19 Rolette
163N - 073W Lot/Trct 6 19 Rolette
Barney Samson was from Norway and here are his first papers filed in 1888:
Samson Barney Norway 1st May 23, 1888 Ramsey D-2 285
Its a bit peculiar but Rice township is 159 N 71 W and it appears that Barny Samson gave up a homestead in that location --just as Borre Johnson did and Barny Samson took another homestead in section 19 of Willow Lake Township --just as Borre Johnson did. Could Barny Samson = Borre Johnson? |
Edited by - jkmarler on 19/02/2014 23:55:58 |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 20/02/2014 : 01:45:38
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Could Barny Samson = Borre Johnson? One begins to think so!
Comment by lyndal40: "The orginal 1910 US Census shows his name as Berry Johnson, with the Johnson lined out and Sampson written over the last name.... [After Borre died] the surviving members used the Sampson name in 1915 and 1925 in the North Dakota State Census. In the 1930 US Census, the mother Alma used Sampson and the children used Johnson."
1910 US census
Willow Lake, Rolette, North Dakota
Berry Sompson 49, b Norway, parents b Norway, to USA 1880
Alma Sampson 37
Bennie A Sampson 16
Minnie J Sampson 14
Henry M Sampson 12
Norman A Sampson 10
Arla A Sampson 8
Julia S Sampson 5
Myrtle A Sampson 3
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Edited by - JaneC on 20/02/2014 02:31:40 |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7765 Posts |
Posted - 20/02/2014 : 02:20:46
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This is from the Homestead National Monument web page re relinquishing a homestead:
"What happened to claims that were abandoned?
Of the approximately two million claims made under the Homestead Act, about sixty (60) percent were unsuccessful. Claims not “proved up” (meaning that the homesteaders on them did not complete the ownership requirements and receive title to the property) were known as relinquishments. When a homesteader relinquished his or her claim, it reverted back to the active control of the U.S. government. Most relinquishments were opened back up to homesteading, and many new settlers moved onto relinquished claims in hopes of finding homes already built, trees cleared, wells dug, or crops planted."
So OMG what's his real name?
It would probably be worthwhile to get the homestead packet of the Wilow Lake homestead. It is an original homestead and so should have the full monty of documents, his declaration of intention, list of improvements to the property, it might even have discussion of details about his family. The declaration would be valuable if it gives his date of arrival as 1882. The packets are expensive, about $40 and take 6-8 weeks to get from the National Archives.
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7765 Posts |
Posted - 20/02/2014 : 02:23:31
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| A lot of the Norwegians, mentioned in the Rice and Willow Lake sections in Law's book, and espcially those who came to Rolette in 1887 came from Pelican Rapids area of Minnesota--that's Otter Tail County! |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 20/02/2014 : 02:36:35
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Post from brejohns:
Death Notice – Rolette Record, February 6, 1914
"Barney Johnson, a son-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Hanson, of this city, died at this home north of Dunseith on Tuesday, January 27... He leaves a wife and ten children to morn his loss. The children are Clara, John, Bennie, Minnie, Norman, Henry, Arla, Myrtle, Julia and Lela."
If family is Sampson in 1910 census and Sampson in 1915 census why is he Johnson in 1914? |
Edited by - JaneC on 20/02/2014 02:46:23 |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7765 Posts |
Posted - 20/02/2014 : 02:48:25
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Well okay.
From the 1865 Norwegian census transcription, here are all those whose last names started with Samson, born 1860 + / - 1 year, with a first name that contains the letter "b".:
Berendt Samsonson age 5 b Kinn
http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/WebCens.exe?slag=visbase&sidenr=13&filnamn=f61437&gardpostnr=381&personpostnr=2616&merk=2616#ovre
Bernt Olai Samsonson #193 born 14 Sept 1861:
Source information: Sogn og Fjordane county, Kinn, Parish register (official) nr. A 6 (1857-1885), Birth and baptism records 1861, page 84.
Permanent pagelink: http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:kb_read?idx_kildeid=6890&idx_id=6890&uid=ny&idx_side=-86
Bertel Samsonson age 5 b. Skaanevig
http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/WebCens.exe?slag=visbase&sidenr=17&filnamn=f61212&gardpostnr=120&personpostnr=703&merk=703#ovre
#39 b. 2 May 1861:
Source information: Hordaland county, Skånevik, Parish register (official) nr. A 5I (1848-1869), Birth and baptism records 1861, page 88.
Permanent pagelink: http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:kb_read?idx_kildeid=8301&idx_id=8301&uid=ny&idx_side=-93
Bernt Olai Samsonson age 5 b Kvinnherad
http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/WebCens.exe?slag=visbase&sidenr=20&filnamn=f61224&gardpostnr=580&personpostnr=3610&merk=3610#ovre
#70 b. 6 May 1860:
Source information: Hordaland county, Kvinnherad, Parish register (official) nr. A 8 (1854-1872), Birth and baptism records 1860, page 51.
Permanent pagelink: http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:kb_read?idx_kildeid=8287&idx_id=8287&uid=ny&idx_side=-53
Thorbjørn Samsonson age 5 b. Strandebarm
http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/WebCens.exe?slag=visbase&sidenr=23&filnamn=f61226&gardpostnr=211&personpostnr=1382&merk=1382#ovre
#41 b. 27 April 1861:
Source information: Hordaland county, Strandebarm, Parish register (official) nr. A 8 (1858-1872), Birth and baptism records 1861, page 41.
Permanent pagelink: http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:kb_read?idx_kildeid=8306&idx_id=8306&uid=ny&idx_side=-40
None of these have a July birthdate.
So was Barney Samson just an assumed name with no real meaning except to the Federal government?
Yes to Jane's comment about the use of the names in 1914 also reflected in 1888 as Barney Samson and 1889 Borre Johnson...why, why, why? |
Edited by - jkmarler on 20/02/2014 03:25:57 |
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brejohns
Medium member
USA
176 Posts |
Posted - 20/02/2014 : 03:24:50
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You guys are definitely fast. I found the Laura Thompson Law book late last night and was planning to type it in this evening, but I see you've already done that for Rice Township - pages 164-165. It appears we are getting closer.
In the Law book on pages 187-188 (Willow Lake Township) it says:
"One of the early homesteaders was Andrew Bergan, who came to the county in 1887 and settled in section 30. Others were Anton Gunville, 1888; John Cote, 1890; Joe Boguslowski, 1898; Henry Haagenson, 1902; H. Solomson, 1896; John Lagerquist in 1900 in section 4; J.M. Anderson, 1905, section 35; John H. Rogneby, 7; O. Melang, 2; John Myer and William Striker, 1; John Holstad, 12 and 23; George Fee, 11; S.W. Watkins, C.E. Burgess, 8; John Hagen, Hans Windon, 18; Osmund E. Bruhjell 14; Adam Sien, 14; Thomas and Oscar Krook, 13; Barry Samson, 19......" Last paragraph on page 188 "A good many of the settlers were of Norwegian nationality and came from Minnesota. In 1905 the first Fourth of July celebration was held in the township at the home of John Lagerquist, which was also a reunion of the families."
I will have to go to the Rolette County Courthouse to check the land records for Barry Samson - as I did not find anything listed for Borre Johnson. |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 20/02/2014 : 03:35:27
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back in an edit - Oh, hi brejohns, didn't see you when I threw this up.
again, from the Law book:
"Carl Hanson, his son Henry Hanson and daughter Alma came in a covered wagon from Otter Tail County, Minnesota in October, 1887, and settled on land in Rice Township.... In 1888, [Alma] was married to Berry Johnson, who had filed on land in Rice, but gave up his right and filed on land in the Turtle Mountains in section 19 of Willow Lake."
Yes BJ and Alma could have moved intentionally along the same path at the same time. Where did the Hanson's live in Otter Tail?
Here a "child of Carl Hanson" died 1887 in Pelican Rapids:
http://otchs.org/ot_search_results.php?NameLast=Hanson&NameFirst=Carl&BusinessName=&LocationTownshipFullName=&PublicationYear=&DocumentType=&search_submit=Search
from brejohns:
I do have [what]..appears to be school census... dated June 6, 1900 for Dunseith, ND. ...Bernoa Jonson b July 1860 and ...emigration ...1887 (I think). "
[emigration to North Dakota maybe]
1900 US census in Dunseith, Rolette, North Dakota
Bernoa Jonson 39, to USA 1882
Another nickname was "Berry." Do we even know BJ's first name?
A list of Rolette County cemeteries has Adam Sien, who filed in section 14, buried in 14. |
Edited by - JaneC on 20/02/2014 03:50:40 |
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Borre Johnson
