John Edwin EVERSON

John wrote this on September 21, 1977:

This is a vague history or record of my father, Andrew Everson. My father was born at Kristiansund, Norway, February 15, 1856. When Pa was growing up at Kristiansund, he had to go to school (which was skimpy) and he had to help with the cattle and sheep (sort of a collective, I think). But when spring came, they had to take a big bunch of cattle and sheep (everybody's, I guess) and chase or drive them up a steep mountain, where it was fairly flat and good pasture, and then they stayed there all summer. Of course, there were buildings there. And there they lived and milked cows, and made butter and cheese and took care of the sheep. But there were women with these young boys to make butter and cheese and cook meals. When fall came, it was back down the mountains and back home to their home by the sea. And so on it went.

When Pa was maybe 12 or 13 years old, he had to go to sea and go fishing by nets. Pa's pa, or my granddad, was a fisherman. One time it was a terrible storm when grandpa and his partner lowered their small boat from the mother ship and rowed out to tend their nets. The waves were large and a big wave tipped them over and both drowned. Pa made up his mind not to go fishing anymore so he found other work to do so he could make a living and also save some money too. By this time, Pa was growing up and he was also thinking strongly about going to America, the land of milk and honey. So Pa worked at anything he could get and do so he could earn a few Norwegian pennies or money. Of course, his partner, Sam Christiansen, and Pa were very close and true friends. (They came to the U.S. together.) They planned and schemed many ways so they could earn money to make their trip to the land of milk and honey. Through all this fracas when Pa grew up, Pa's mother got married to a man by the name of Gustad but Pa did not get along very good with his new step father and that helped Pa to get out of Norway although Pa loved Norway. Another thing that was looking Pa in the face was that he had to go in the army. So he had to get out before age 18 or 20 years. Pa made that and also Sam Christiansen. They had made enough money for a one way fare to the U.S. That was a happy moment for both. Now in the land of milk and honey, they landed in Milwaukee so they could get a job with the Milwaukee railroad to help build the railroad to St. Paul. There was a big hill close by and they started with a wheelbarrow and pick and shovel each and they had to haul the dirt in the wheel barrow to the fill for the railroad bed. Then they got so much per foot of fill so maybe they got as much as 75 cents or a dollar per day. Most railroads in those days were built mostly by man-power, wheelbarrows, picks and shovels, and lots of hard work. But they were happy; what they earned was their own.

They stayed at that work for about a year, then they tried woods work. They were in the woods in Wisconsin and also in northern Minnesota for a couple winters. Then they went to Duluth. That's when they started to do carpentry work although they knew nothing about building. They worked for others and they soon were working for themselves, taking contracts building houses. They made good but about 1893 the so-called Panic came. Panic is the same as very hard times and they had a big contract building the Lyceum Building. It was a big business building. They ran out of money, could not continue their work no longer, and went broke. Pa moved to Aitkin and found very little work for some time and then came to Cedar Lake and moved there and was there until he passed away.

Now I will have to go back a few years. Somewhere around 1886 or so he met my mother and they got married in Duluth. Ever was born in Duluth, so was Astrid, but Harold and George were born on the place Pa had on the east end of Cedar Lake and Albin, myself, and Lil were born on the last home on the west end of Cedar Lake. After Pa left Duluth, the mining started at Cuyuna and then Crosby-Ironton. So there was lots of carpenter work there and that's where he worked for many years.

Now for my Mother's sparse history. Mother had one sister and one half-sister born in the U.S. They came here, the U.S., from Stavanger, Norway, some time in the 1880s. Ma had a sister Mary, or Marie (Mrs. Orfald), and two brothers Hans and John Bye. And of course Grandpa Martin Bye and Grandma Bye. Grandma died after arriving here shortly and when my mother and her sister Mary got grown, they went to Duluth and found work. So they worked there and met Pa. The Byes moved to Fergus Falls, Minnesota, from Norway. There are still a few relatives in Fergus Falls and Margaret Bye Ellingboe is in Arizona.