Norman BERGE

Notes:

Must be the newborn called Elmer in the 1900 census.

Notes:

Anton O. Berge, 94, of rural Valders, died Tuesday evening at Manitowoc Memorial Hospital after an illness of 10 days.
Mr. Berge was born in the Town of Liberty, Manitowoc County, on April 10, 1864, a son of Ole and Berit Weblin Berge, and was married to Olena Gistad at Valders Evangelical Lutheran Church Oct. 5, 1887. She passed away Feb. 7, 1954. He farmed in the Town of Liberty all his life and served as clerk of Sunnycrest School. He was a charter member of the Valders church.

Mr. Berge leaves seven sons, Oscar, of Addison, Ill., Albert, of Rt. 2, Reedsville, Norman, of Manitowoc, Orrin, of Cleveland, Harold, of Milwaukee, Walter, of Valders, and Oley, on the homestead farm; six daughters, Mrs. Belinda Klann and Mrs. Ruth Bleck, both of Valders, Mrs. John Reinertson, Riverside, Ill., Mrs. Kenneth Johnston, Manitowoc, Mrs. Marvin Berge, Dekalb, Ill., and Mrs. Harold Gram, Chicago; 33 grandchildren; 40 great-grandchildren; a brother, Andrew, Valders; and a sister, Mrs. Mollie Finkelson, Manitowoc. Funeral services will be held at Valders Evangelical Lutheran Church at 1:30 p.m. Friday. The Rev. Jerry Moe will conduct the services, and burial will be in the church cemetery.

Friends may call at the Berge Funeral Home in Valders from 4 p.m. Thursday until noon Friday.

In the 1900 census, the family had a 20 year-old house servant named Emma Severson and an 18 year-old farm laborer named Frank Wagner.

Anton married Oline GIGSTAD about 1887. Oline (daughter of Ole Knudsen GIGSTAD and Ragnild Olsdatter RANUM) was born on 4 May 1867 in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin; died on 7 Feb 1954 in Wisconsin. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 7 Jul 1867, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin

Notes:

Or Gigstadt.

In the 1900 census, she had had 8 children, all still living. In the 1910 census, she had had 12 children, all still living.

Mrs. Anton O. Berge, 86, of Rt. 1, Valders, mother of 13 children, died Sunday following a lingering illness.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Valders Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Rev. A. B. Holland will officiate and burial will be in the church cemetery.

She was born Olena Gigstadt in the town of Liberty in 1867 and in 1887 was married to Anton Berge. They located on the homestead farm, a mile and a half south of Valders. In October, 1952, the couple observed their 65th wedding anniversary. In 1935 her husband was honored at the University of Wisconsin, with four others in the state, in recognition of leadership given to agriculture and homemaking.

In recent years the couple lived in retirement on the homestead farm now operated by a son, Oley. Mrs. Berge was a member of the Ladies Aid Society of the Lutheran congregation. Surviving are her husband; seven sons, Oscar of Elmhurst, Ill., Albert of Rt. 1., Valders, Walter of Valders, Norman of Manitowoc, Orrin of Sheboygan, Harold of Milwaukee and Oley on the home farm; six daughters, Mrs. Belinda Klann of Liberty, Mrs. J. B. Reinertson of Riverside, Ill., Mrs. Ruth Bleck of Valders, Mrs. Kenneth Johnston of Manitowoc, Mrs. M. L. Berge of Elgin, Ill., and Mrs. Harold Gramm of Chicago; 34 grand-children and 29 great grandchildren.

Friends may call at the Berge Funeral home, Valders, after Wednesday noon. The casket will be moved to the church at 11 a.

Baptism:
Valders and Jerpen

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 21 Jul 1832, Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway

Notes:

He is I9633 in Jim’s VS. Jim’s notes: Han dro sammen med flere søsken til "Valdres" i Wisconsin. Iver and Gulbrand probably described their many trials in letters home, but 18 year-old Ole Olsen was undaunted, following them to America the very next hear, 1850. Ole bought land that adjoined Gulbrand's, making it possible for them to live together on Gulbrand's farmstead.

Ole arrived in New York, aboard the Omen, which had sailed from Bergen, on 15 Jul 1850.

He served in the Civil War as a private in the E Company of the 19th Wisconsin Infantry mustered in Green Bay on 30 Sep 1864. His grandson Albert requested a military upright marble headstone for Ole in 1941.

In the 1880 census, he and his family lived in the Town of Liberty. His household was O.O., 48, Berete, 49, Antone, 16, Malla, 13, Anna, 11, Emma, 9, Andrew, 6, and Gustaff, 1.

There were several other Berges born in Norway listed on the same 1880 census page:

Ivar (and Sarah), 56
O.S. (and Mary), 64
Gulbran (and Mary), 52
Iver G., unmarried, uncle of Gulbran, 85

In the 1900 census, Ole and Beret and Emma and Gustan lived on their farm in Liberty.

In the 1910 census, Ole is still head of household and Beret is still alive with him but their son Andrew and his wife live with them on the home farm.

Birth:
Berge 22/4. Jim’s VS incorrectly has his birth year as 1822.

Ola married Berit Andersdatter VEFLEN about 1857. Berit (daughter of Andris Knutson VEFLEN (KVIE) and Marit Torsteinsdatter RØYNE) was born on 7 Sep 1831 in Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway; died in 1921 in Wisconsin. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 6 Nov 1831, Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway

Notes:

Her birth year was shown incorrectly as 1830 in the 1900 census. That census showed her as having had 10 children, 6 still living. Those numbers were 9 and 6 in the 1910 census.

The 1900 and 1910 censuses also show her having come to the U.S. in 1855.

In the 1920 census, she is living with her son Andrew and family in Liberty.

Birth:
Veflen 98/2 Nørre, Høre

Notes:

dwfrench1

Birth:
Gigstad i Skrautvaal

Ole married Ragnild Olsdatter RANUM. Ragnild was born on 4 Jan 1822 in Nord-Aurdal i Valdres, Oppland, Norway; died on 20 Apr 1907 in Liberty Twp, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

dwfrench1

Notes:

He is I5267 in Jim’s VS. Jim’s notes:

Ola og Anne hadde barna: Marit (1821-), Ivar (1824-) til USA i 1849 sammen med broren Gudbrand (1826-), Torstein (1829- ) Anne (1835- ) til USA i 1854 og Berit (1837- ), Gullik (1817-) og Ambjørg (1819-) Våren 1825 var det utpanting hos Ola for gjeld til madam Hansen i Lærdal, med renter og kostnad 302 rd, og høsten 1833 ga han pantebrev til frk Susanne Hansen i Lærdal for gjeld på 279 sps. Dette er forfedrene til Hougen-Berge slekta i USA som Harvey Richard haougen har skrevet to bøker om. Den andre boka er skrevet sammen med Janie Hougen Peak. I den første boka finnes det et bilde av Ola og Anne:

"The majority of Norwegian emigrants left home with adequate funds, enough to enable them to gain to toehold in the new land. Passage alone was expensive, about 35 specie dollars to New York, the equivalent of about three years wages for a hired farm laborer. The persons who are subjects of this study paid for their passage and the trip inland, and bought land soon after arriving in America. Departures continued at several hundred per year after 1836, before jumping to 1600 in 1843. During the depression years of 1849-50 departures leaped to 4,000 a year. Then, during the 1850s, ranged between 1,600 and 6,000, reaching a new high of 8,000 in 1861, before the Civil War imposes a moratorium.

Most of the emigrants came from rural areas, especially the interior valleys. Many welcomed emigration as an alternative to leaving the gård and submitting to urbanization. During the years 1846-1861, two-thirds of all emigrants came from the districts of Valdres, Land, and Gudbrandsdal.

The first member of Anne Olsdatter's family to emigrate was an uncle, a halfbrother of Ole Gulliksen called Gulbrand Gulbrandsen. He took passage with his wife Marit and an infant daughter in 1848; the child died during the voyage and was buried at sea. The Gulbrandesn family bought choice land in the present town of Liberty, but had too little money to establish their farm. So Gulbrand took a job near Port Washington, on Lake Michigan, a short distance north of Milwaukee. He would save some money, then return to start his farm.

It is likely that Ole Gulliksen helped his children financially, for six of the eight chose emigration. Only Gullik, the eldest son, who inherited the farm and daughter Ambjor, who married a husmann, stayed in Valdres. A brother and two more half-brothers of Ole Gulliksen would also find their way to Manitowoc County.

Birth:
Berge 22/4

Ola married Anne Ivarsdatter TUNE. Anne (daughter of Ivar Andrisson TUNE and Ambjørg Olsdatter KVIEN) was born in 1795 in Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway; died in 1880. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She is I3439 in Jim’s VS. Jim’s notes: Gullicksen's wife, Anne Iversdatter, came from a bonde family who owned for many generations a nearby gård called Thune. Ole Gullicksen and Anne Iversdatter had eight children, the seventh being Anne Olsdatter, probably named for her mother. Anne had been preceded by Gullik, Ambjor, Marit, Iver, Gulbrand,and Ole; followed by Berit.

Birth:
Tune 36/2 Nørre, Nordigarden

Notes:

Vang C, p. 215.

Birth:
Veflen 98/2 Nørre Høre

Andris married Marit Torsteinsdatter RØYNE. Marit (daughter of Torstein Knutson RØYNE and Marit Rønjusdatter NORDTORP) was born in 1793 in Øystre Slidre i Valdres, Oppland, Norway; died in 1885. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In the 1865 census, she was Føderaadskone on Torsten Torstensen’s Veflen nedre farm. Torsten was her son Knut’s son-in-law.

Birth:
Røyne 14/3 Uppigarden