The First Enger Immigrant
Elling Pedersen Enger, born 1836 immgrated 1854
Elling Pedersen Enger was the passage to America for my particular Enger clan. If not for his adventurous soul leaving Norway for the New World in 1854 I wouldn't be where I am and who I am today. Elling was my great-grandfather and the first immigrant of my direct Enger ancestors to leave the homeland, where his forefathers had been deeply ensconced in the Eggedal Valley for hundreds of years. Elling Enger was born in September 1836 in Eggedal. At the time his parents, Peder Ellingsen Enger and Åse (Aase) Ellevsdatter Tveiten were living on a section of the Engar-Søre farm called Øygarden Nedre. Aase had acquired it from her parents, Ellev Olsen Tveiten and Siri Pedersdatter Velstad, after her mother was widowed and remarried to Peder's brother Palme Ellingsen Enger.
Peder Enger family in America
Front: Ellev, Peder, Aase, Elling
Rear: Gunhild, Mari, Palmer, Aase, Sigrid
Peder and Åse were sixth cousins once removed to begin with, and then became further related through the marriage of Peder's brother with Åse's mother. Their children were Elling Pedersen, 1836; followed by Ingeborg 1839; Sigrid 1841; Ellev (1) 1844; Joran 1846; Åse 1849; Ellev (2) 1852; Palme 1855; Mari 1857; all born on Øygarden, and Gunhild, born 1861 in Drammen, Norway while the family was awaiting passage to America. Peder and Åse actually sold Øygarden to Knud Kundsen Juvet in 1849 but continued living there until they left for America in 1861. The year 1854 was a time in Norway when "America Fever" was spreading throughout the land. Those were lean years for Norway which had always been an agrarian society of farming, fishing and timber, where residents were born, lived and died in the same community. In a country with a small percentage of arable land and an increasing population, it was becoming more and more difficult for families to live off the land. Young people were forced to look for other sources of income rather than taking over the family farm, and many of them were tenant farmers, or "cotters", with even less chance of ever making a good life for their families.
The first immigrant ship "The Restauration" had left Norway for America in 1825 and by 1854 the prospect of millions of acres of land available for the taking was becoming increasingly attractive. Also, the ship companies which were transporting the emigrants were advertising with enticing stories of success and riches for those that had gone before. I don't know the reasons Elling Pedersen Enger opted to leave his home and family for the "land of opportunity" but I can only imagine that as a single man of 18 he was eager for adventure. He left behind his parents and younger siblings, including three who were yet to be born.
I haven't been able to find for certain the ship that Elling Enger came on, but written in his Bible in his own handwriting, he stated that he left for America on April 18, 1854 and arrived in America on June 20. On the awesome website norwayheritage.com those dates are a close match with the brig "Urda" which departed from Stavanger, Norway on April 20 and arrived in Quebec on June 22. Borge Solem writes: "When he (Elling) writes that he came to America on June 20 you should keep in mind that the ship probably called at the Quarantine station on Grosse Isle a few days before arriving in Quebec." Since there are no surviving passenger lists for Quebec before 1865 it is not possible to confirm his passage.
Family lore states that Elling Enger came to America with a cousin named "Rustan" and thereafter they traveled to the gold fields of California and carved their initials on Independence Rock in Wyoming. So far I have not been able to verify this story but I do know that by 1857 Elling had settled in Houston County, Minnesota near Spring Grove. He built a pioneer cabin there, and in 1861 helped to pay for the passage of his parents, Peder and Aase, and seven younger siblings to join him in America. Three of the siblings had been born after Elling emigrated: Palme 1855, Mari 1857, and Gunhild 1861. The other children were Sigrid 1841; Joran 1846; Aase 1849; and Ellev 1852. Their eldest daughter Ingeborg, born 1839, was already married to Ole Jokstad in 1861 and remained in Eggedal although some of her descendants later came to America also.
This is an example of a Svartebok. Peder did not bring his to America
but reportedly buried it on the Enger farm before he left Norway.
A note of interest, Peder Enger is chronicled in several history books as having the gift of healing and owned a "Svartebok" (Black Book) which was a book of remedies only possessed by a select few. In the translation of his story in "Sigdalslaget 1932" it states:
"It is told about Peder Enger he was supposed to know a little more than his 'Our Father.' It was supposed that he knew how to stop blood when someone had cut or chopped off an artery and was in danger of bleeding to death. Enger only had to know that the person in question was bleeding. The stream of blood stopped without the need to go to him. He could also heal several other complaints by just reading over brandy and salt and giving it to the invalid, it is told. These remedies no doubt helped when one believed in it, but they must believe, otherwise it did not work. It was told about him that he had the 'black book' and could cure this and that malady. But Peder Enger did only good towards his fellow man, in any case, he could not do the devil's work;" or in another publication, "his work was not of the devil."
Elling Enger family circa 1890
Front: Elling P., Lina, Elling E., Anna, Ingri (Anna's mother)
Back: Helmer, Peter, Edward, Sophie
Elling Enger took up farming in Houston County and was married to Anna Ellingsdatter on June 2, 1865, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Anna was born May 26, 1845 at Aadalen Parish in Ringerike, Norway and immigrated to America in 1861 with her widowed mother Ingri and sister Berit.
Elling and Anna's first child, Peder Ellingsen, was born on May 31, 1866, followed by daughter Jorand Elise on July 18, 1868, but tragedy was soon to strike. Young Peder died on October 15, 1869 and Joran a few days later on October 19, 1869. The cause of the children's death is unknown to me, but I have heard two versions, one being a fire and the second being a diphtheria epidemic. One of those mysterious SUI's of genealogy; (Still Under Investigation.)
A second son was born to the Elling Enger's on August 4, 1870, and in the Norwegian tradition of giving the same name as a deceased child, was also called Peder with the middle name of Julius. My grandfather Edvard Ellingsen was born March 12, 1873, followed by Aase Sofie, March 16, 1876; Helmer E., April of 1878; Elling E. April 12, 1881 and the last, Lina Otelia, January 7, 1884. Two more of the sons were to meet untimely deaths; young Elling in 1891 of diphtheria at age 10, and Helmer at age 20 after freezing his legs while hunting in 1898. That left four of the eight children of Elling and Anna Enger who survived to marry and have families of their own, not an unusual scenario for those hard pioneer times.
As an aside, my father told me that Helmer contracted gangrene in one leg after the freezing episode which required amputation to try to save his life. The operation was performed by laying him on the kitchen table and giving him large doses of alcohol as an anesthetic! A desperate measure that was tragically unsuccessful. His death certificate cites cause of death as "blood poison."
All of their children were born in Spring Grove, but sometime circa 1885 Elling and Anna left for a new start in Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota. They first settled at Wood Lake near Hanley Falls and on October 27, 1886 Elling took out a lumberman's lien to build a house on the "NW quarter of the NW quarter of Section 6 in the Town of Wood Lake in said County." The lien further states that "said Elling P. Enger was at the time said contract was entered into and said material was furnished, the owner of said land on which the building was to be erected." The balance due was $96.79 and an additional $27.68 had been previously paid. This lien was marked "Paid in Full" on Nov. 21, 1890.
A deed dated on October 17, 1890 shows that Elling P. Enger purchased from John A. Willard for $772.00 an 80 acre parcel which I am assuming is when the family moved from Wood Lake to the township of Lorne. (I wonder what that 80 acres would sell for today?!) This deed was recorded on Nov. 21, 1890, the same date that the above lien was satisfied.
Elling Pedersen Enger died on May 31, 1900 of cancer. The death certificate gives the cause of death as "chronic inflammation of the bladder." He is buried in Hanley Falls West Cemetery as is Anna's mother Ingri while sons young Elling and Helmer are buried in Hanley Falls East Cemetery.
Anna lived on for another 28 years and passed away on August 1928 in Granite Falls, Minnesota where she lived with her youngest daughter Lina and her husband James O'Connor. To make things more complicated in the family history department, Anna is not buried with her husband but is in the O'Connor family plot in Granite Falls. (More about my 2011 grave-hopping experiences in Minnesota later!)
That's enough for this time. I have told everything I know about Elling Enger the man, but I will have more to say about Anna in a later blog session.
Pioneer plaque for Elling Enger - Minnesota Sesquicentennial 2008
Enger cousins Dianne Snell, Shirley Augustine and Irene Navarre
by the gravestone of Elling and Anna's first two children,
Peder E. and Jorand in the Spring Grove cemetery.
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