The Bergans--A New Branch on my Family Tree

One of the "mystery photos" in my collection, from Tacoma, Washington.

Which one is Peder O. Bergan?  I now know he is the one on the left!!

Update on December 29, 2012

EUREKA! I FOUND IT!!

After all these months I have located an identified photo of P. O. Bergan (see below)

This photo, possibly a wedding photo, is identified as P. O. Bergan and his wife Anne Hadland on the left,

and N. Hadland (brother of Anne) and his wife Gina on the right, therefore the top photo

is an older version of P. O. Bergan on the left, in Tacoma.

           

The title of this Blog may be a little misleading.  The Bergan family is not exactly “new,” they have been there all the time, but I have just recently pieced a part of the puzzle together to connect our relationship. 

            This mystery has been plaguing me since 1993 when there was an Enger family reunion in Kindred, North Dakota, and a family member from Spring Grove brought some unidentified vintage photos.  She knew they were family and showed them around to all that were there, but no one knew who the people were.  Then she offered them to anyone who wanted to take them and do some research to find out the identities.  I volunteered, of course, because one thing you need to know about me is that I hate old photographs without names;--what good are they to anyone if they are unknown?  I get almost nauseous when I see vintage photos for sale in antique shops of marriages, and babies, and grandparents, with  no names.

            I took the photos with perfectly good intentions of finding out who these people were.  Most of the photos had photographer logos from Spring Grove, one or two from Moorhead, Minnesota and then one very intriguing one of two dapper looking gentlemen, taken in Tacoma, Washington.  The Spring Grove and Moorhead photos were understandable since our Enger ancestors had settled in both of those places, but Tacoma??  No one knew of anyone in our family who had gone to Tacoma!

            Well, these photos have rattled around in the depths of my genealogy materials since 1993—(Someday I will probably be found in my office suffocated under a mountain of paper).  From time to time the photos would surface when I was looking for something else, and then I would vow once again to put names to the people who were staring back at me—all with vaguely familiar “family-looking” faces.  Each time I would work on it for a few days,  hit a dead end and then put them back in the box for another time.

            Fast forward to 2012 when I was working on this blog—I went back and re-read the Enger family history that had been written by Ida Enger Berg back in the 1960’s and had been distributed to us at the aforementioned family reunion by her nephew Keith “Skip” Enger.  I guess I read a little farther and a little deeper than I ever had before, and all of a sudden when I came to the section on the Bergan family, this sentence jumped out at me: 

            “Peder (Bergan) had an urge to write so after locating in Tacoma, Washington, he published a paper called “The Budtikken.”  This rang a bell loud and clear, those mystery photos were more than likely the Bergan family.  So now I will start from the beginning and tell where the Bergan branch fits in the Enger family tree.  Again, I will quote Ida Enger Berg:

            “Ingeborg, the eldest daughter of Peder and Aase Enger, was born near Eggedal, Norway in 1838.  In 1860 she was married to Ole Kristiansen Jokstad.  A son Kristen was born to them in 1861 and shortly after that Ingeborg’s parents emigrated to America.  Peder Enger sold them the Elling-Engar gaard (farm) and the newlyweds chose to remain in Norway.  They were the parents of eight children. Kristen 1861; Peder 1862, died 1864; Peder (2) 1865, went to America in 1882; Martin 1867; Aase 1869, died 1874; Ole born 1873, came to America in 1890; Jorgine 1875, died 1884; Anne Marie born 1880, died 1900.

            Ole Kristensen Jokstad died in 1898 and his wife Ingeborg in 1893 and son Martin took over the farm.  Kristen, the eldest son, married Berte Asle Saastad of Bergan and three of Ingeborg and Ole Jokstad’s sons adopted the last name of Bergan since they lived on the Bergan farm with Kristen.

            Peder Bergan came to America in 1882 (changed to Peter) at the age of 17 years. He went directly to Spring Grove, Minnesota to live with his grandparents, Peder and Aase Enger, and later he went to Moorhead where his Aunt Sigri (Enger) lived.

            Peter Bergan married Anne Hadland Bakkos who was about 14 years his senior.  She had saved her earnings so they decided to go west.  Peder had an urge to write so after locating in Tacoma, Washington, he published a paper called Buttiken (The shop).

First issue of the Tacoma Budstikke, December 25, 1889

            I have now learned that the paper published by Peter Bergan with partner Peter Julseth,was actually called “The Tacoma Budstikke” and I was excited to locate copies of three editions of this newspaper at the Tacoma Public Library.  (Note:  I was nearly as excited about the fact that they were in Tacoma as I was in finding out who they were.  Finally, a chance for me to do family research in my neck of the woods.  The Tacoma library is about ten miles from my house!)

The Budstikke was only published for a short time, from December 1889 to 1891 when Peter left Tacoma for other adventures.  Two of  Peter and Anne’s daughters, Ilma and Olga, were born in Tacoma.

                 Ida Berg quoted from a granddaughter, Adell Swanson:  “The venture (Budstikke) was not too successful, not because of Peter’s lack of ability (he loved journalism) but because he and his fine friends would party and forget to get the money-making part of the paper--namely the ads--into their publication.  The subscribers soon lost faith and he was forced out of that business.” 

Tacoma City Director of 1890

Peter T. Julseth, solicitor of Tacoma news, and Peter O. Bergan, publisher, Tacoma Budstikke

            In 1891, with his family, Peter Bergan and his cousin Ole Rustan moved to Britton, South Dakota where they bought a section of land and started farming.  A third daughter, Nora, was born there. Their living quarters in Britton was a sod house with the inside plastered over the exposed roots.  There was no floor but the ground inside the house was covered with mint as a protection against sand fleas. 

The Indians and cattle barons resented the farmers who interfered with their hunting grounds or pasture lands and would retaliate by setting fires to force the settlers out.  One day the fire came and the Bergan family was forced to take refuge on a square of plowed land that had been prepared for just such an emergency.  Everything was completely burned and after that the family moved to Felton, Minnesota where they lived for twelve years.  While there Peter was assessor for 9 years.  As quoted by Ida:  “He was a true frontiersman, he loved to break the first furrow in the sod but when it became everyday he was ready to move on.”

            Politics and local or national issues were always Peter Bergan’s big interest and he constantly contributed articles to local and national publications.  After his death clippings from the San Francisco Examiner and Hearst Publications were found among his possessions, all bearing his trademark signature “P.O.B.”  He was a strong advocate of Free Trade and most of his writings were on this subject.  One of the reasons he contributed to so many publications was to get free subscriptions and reading material.  “Not only did he read the newspapers from headlines to ads, but also all the magazines available,” his granddaughter stated.

            In 1906 the Peter Bergan family moved on again, this time to homestead in Saskatchewan, Canada. On the way they stopped off in Moorhead, Minnesota where daughter number 4, Anne, was born.  Saskatchewan was wild and unsettled when the region was acquired by the Dominion of Canada, but when the Canadian Pacific Railroad was completed in 1886 the settlers started moving in.

            Peter’s claim was at Invermay, Saskatchewan, and because of a chain of sloughs in the area the land needed drainage before it could be cultivated, so Peter the entrepreneur, preceded his family to Canada and went into the dredging business.  His family at Felton were left behind to do the harvesting and the moving.  Daughter Olga remembered helping to drive the cattle to Kragnes station and loading them into cattle cars.

            Meanwhile Peter, in Canada, had built a log cabin at Invermay where the family lived for nine years.  The farm prospered, Peter continued the dredging business and became the sales representative for an imported Swedish cream separator.  During the time in Invermay, two Bergan daughters, Olga and Nora, married brothers Ole and Nels Espeland. 

            In 1915 the Bergans moved to St. Joseph’s Island, Ontario, a beautiful wooded island abounding in wild flowers and fruit.  Daughter Nora and her husband, Nels Espeland, joined Peter Bergan there in buying abandoned property and they had quite a profitable little real estate business for a while.  For three summers they went to Flint, Michigan where their daughters Ilma and Annie lived and worked.  Mother Anne did practical nursing and Peter was foreman on a road construction project.

            Later they raised sheep and sold wool and lambs and Peter cut cord wood and sold it.  They only received mail two  or three days a week, and the day after they received the mail Peter was so busy reading he hardly took time to eat.  He became active in local government and wrote stirring articles in local newspapers trying to get a law passed forbidding hunters to shoot deer on the island when they were swimming.  On November 16, 1927, the day after hunting season opened, Peter was informed that hunters were in the area, he took his gun and posted himself where the deer usually came into view.  He died there of a heart attack at the age of 62.

            There ends the saga of Peter Oleson Bergan, a colorful character and a truly adventurous pioneer.  His wife Anne died of a ruptured appendix just six months after her husband’s death, so as quoted by Ida from the granddaughter Adell Swanson, “This was the beginning of the end of a fun time at Sterling Bay (St. Joe’s Island).”
              From Barbara Davies of the St. Joseph Island Historical Society I have learned the following about the Peder Bergan family:

• Peter Bergan died Nov. 16, 1926 and is buried in the Tenby Bay Cemetery. His cause of death was “chronic myocarditis.” 
• His wife Annie, nee Hadland, Bergan died on May 12, 1927 at the Red Cross Hospital, Richards’ Landing, St. Joseph Island. The cause of death was appendicitis.  She is also buried in the Tenby Bay Cemetery.
• Their daughter Anne married Einer Gilbertson on April 3, 1920 and she is buried at Tenby Bay Cemetery, death date unknown.
• Nora’s husband Nels Espeland died October 14, 1937, “Death by hanging--suicide.” His birth date was May 12, 1873, born in Norway and is buried in Tenby Bay.  His parents were Osten Espeland and Asloug Boen, both born Norway. His brother Ole Espeland was the informant.
• The sawmill purchased by Peter Bergan was Peter Chesterfield’s Mill located at Sterling Bay.  After the mill closed it was the site of a summer boy’s camp in the 1930’s.

Family members who visited St. Joseph Island at a later time placed stones on both the Bergans’ and Espelands’ burial sites.  Daughter Anne’s was unmarked, and when the Tenby Bay Cemetery Board raised enough money through bake sales etc. simple stones were placed on all the known unmarked grave sites, including Anne’s.



Postscript to P. O. Bergan Story: (Dec. 29, 2012)

          An article found on the Genealogy Bank website under Historical Newspapers, comes from the Grand Forks Herald dated 9-16-1892, and intimates that P. O. Bergan and associates  may have been involved in some questionable real estate activity in Washington State. 

           The article states that the following advertisement appeared in Normanden of February 25, 1892.

    

       "The Bergan City Real Estate Building Association, with a capital of $25,000, and with one-third of the original townsite under its control, will next spring, as soon as the rainy season is over, commence the erection of several business and residence houses and a shingle mill in Bergan City.  For that purpose this association has issued under the laws of Washington 500 shares of stock at $30 per share, that can now be obtained from officers in the association or its authorized agents.  A similar organization commenced business about five years ago with a capital of $30,000 and have today a taxed evaluation of $2,000,000.

     Friend, wherever you might be, whoever you may be, young or old, rich or poor, man or woman, "go thou and do likewise."  Here you are offered a rare opportunity to invest your savings in an enterprise that cannot but bring you 100 and probably 1,000 fold in return. You run no risk as the shares are backed by real estate that will enhance in value every day that passes.  "He who don't risk don't win." the proverb says. By securing shares in the Bergan City Real Estate and Building Association you have no risk, but everything to win. A half dozen shares may secure your financial independence and become the foundation for a fortune.

For further particulars address any of the trustees and directors of the association.

M. O. TEIGEN, President; P. O. BERGAN, Treasurer; H. A. FOSS, Secretary."

         

       The author of the article goes on to say " Now the spring is gone and the fall has come and there has not been erected a single business house, nor a single residence, nor a shingle mill.  Excepting P. O. Bergan's claim shanty there is not a single house in the "city." The writer intimates that the enterprise is a swindle, plain and simple, and that "the company with a capital of $20,000 has as yet been unable to pay for their advertising they had done in our paper." 

        I guess my next research will be to try and find out where "Bergan City, Washington" was located. I remember that when I accessed  the available copies of the "Tacoma Budstikke" (P. O.  Bergan's newspaper) at the Tacoma Public Library last summer there were some advertisements for property for sale on the Olympic Peninsula which involved P. O. Bergan.  Now--back to the library at the first opportunity!

  OLE BERGAN

            Another of the Bergan brothers, Ole, born in Norway in 1873, came to America in 1890 at age 17.  He wrote Peter Bergan of his plans to come to America, and asked advice of his older brother.  Ole asked Peter how the men shaved in America.  Peter responded by saying that American men shaved off their eyebrows, so Ole, in good faith did just that.  When he arrived in America and discovered that his brother had fooled him he was much embarrassed and justifiably angry!  But, as Ida noted, this type of humor seems to be typical of the Enger men—a bunch of practical jokesters!

            Ole Bergan was evidently not an entrepreneur like his brother Peter.  Ole came directly to Washington State and spent his entire time at Issaquah, (then called Gilman) King County, Washington (about 20 miles from my home.) He worked in the coal mines for Kaiser Coal.  According to Ida Berg he continued to work in the mines until he was in injured in an explosion accident which put him in the hospital for three years and reportedly his face was almost blown off.  Later he was crippled by arthritis and remained in a wheel chair for the remainder of his life. He died in 1944 and he never married. (See postscript for an updated version).

            Since learning about this relative who lived near my present home, I went to Issaquah to try and find  more information about him.  From the New York Passenger Lists on Ancestry.com I found that he arrived in America on July 5, 1890 in New York on the ship Island, which departed from Copenhagen, Denmark.

In the 1900 Federal Census he is living in Gilman, King, Washington, age 26, single.  In 1910 he is living in Newcastle, (another coal mining town) King, Washington in a boarding house of William and Marguerite Gill. In 1920 he is living alone in Gilman again, and in 1930 he is still in Gilman with Herman and William Hagland and he is not working, so that was apparently after he was disabled.  My research on Ole is ongoing.

           

I still don’t know the individuals names in the photos in my possession, but at least I know what family they belong to.  I guess that’s progress!  I will publish some of the photos on this site in the hope that a family member will see them and be able to identify the people.

Here are some of the unidentified photos. Can anyone help?

                      Caledonia, MN                   No location, could be Norway

      

Both photos from Spring Grove

Both by C. Engell, Spring Grove

Moorhead, Minnesota

Possibly the youngest Bergan daughter, Anne, who was born in Moorhead Circa 1905 (?)

Postscript to Ole Bergan story: 

         Since publishing this blog initially, I was delighted to receive some new information about Ole Bergan from the Issaquah Historical Society in the form of an obituary,  published January 20, 1938, in the Issaquah Press.

             "Suffering from a heart attack, Ole Bergan died at the Alfred (Boss) Anderson home Friday afternoon (Jan. 14) of last week. He was sitting talking with friends, got up and walked around the floor to get a drink of water and fell over, dying immediately."

           "He was born in Norway 65 years ago.  He came to Issaquah in 1892 and worked in the old mine and Grand Ridge until he became too badly crippled to work.  He owned a small home and a lot on the hill immediately under the water tanks.  Ole was a cousin of the late Gilbert Weston.  (Should be Rustan).  Buried at Hillside (cemetery)."

              It is interesting to note that Ole Bergan died in the same manner as his older brother Peter, from a sudden heart attack. 

           After receiving this obituary I visited the Flintoft's Funeral Home in Issaquah and the director kindly did a quick search of Hillside Cemetery records for me.  Ole Bergan is not on the cemetery maps, and I learned that there are many unmarked graves in the old lower part of the cemetery.  Apparently the previous funeral home did not keep accurate cemetery records, but I did go there and take a photo.

          A peaceful resting place for Ole Bergan in Hillside Cemetery, Issaquah, Washington

Additional information was that his house was located east of town in the plat Issaquah Park.   He bought the house on March 26, 1920. The house was later moved to Fall City in about 1956.  It was located in Block 5, Lots 8, 9, & 10 lying southerly of Sunset Highway, less mineral rights.   I am in the process of obtaining a picture of the house from the King County archives.

Ole Bergan cabin as it was on March 14, 1940;

It even shows smoke coming from the chimney!

Postscript #2 to Ole Bergan story:   I received a scan of the Ole Bergan property and cabin in  Issaquah, as part of a project to photograph all King county properties with improvements done by the WPA in 1938, the same year Ole Bergan died. The information states that Ole bought the property March 26, 1920, and the cabin was built in 1915 so the cabin was in place when he bought it. The building is only 12x20 (240 sq. ft.) with a 4x12 shed. The type of construction says "cheap"(!), condition poor. It had a stove for heat, a spring for water,  and a dugout basement.  The property was sold to the state of Washington in 1952 and the cabin was moved off to make way for the new Sunset Highway.  So ends the story of Ole Bergan, bachelor coal-miner, who came to America for a better life but apparently didn't find it!  Although, his obituary states that he died in the company of friends, so maybe he was happy anyway.  Rest in Peace, Ole!

Scan from the King County archives