Two Grandpas

I wonder what Grandpa Sjoquist's full name is? And who is Sarah below?? Don't you just love these old photos. They speak for themselves!!

Grandpa Sjoquist, Phillis, Dolly, Grandpa John E Vangsness

Olga and Sarah

They all went to America-Part 3

I can not take all this in. I have to go over it again! In the previous two entries, I detailed who went to America and who did not. But I want to combine it all into one post. It just boggles my mind that so many members of the family went to America all in the same 20 years or so from 1854 to 1874.

Endre Hansen Lee Nissestad and Kari Vikingsdatter Mörkve had 8 children.
They both died in 1850 in Norway.
They are our GGG Grandfather and GGG Grandmother.

I am listing their children here in order of birth....

•John Endreson born 1804, emigrated 1870 at age 65 to Kenyon MN, USA
I do not know if his second wife emigrated with him or not....
  •Kristen Jonson - emigrated 1861 age 27

    •Ingrid Endreson, wife of Kristen - emigrated 1861 age 22

    •Kari Kristenson - emigrated with parents 1861 age 2

    •Endre Kristenson - emigrated with parents 1861 age 1

  •Brita Jonson - emigrated 1861 age 26
  •Endre Jonson - emigrated 1870 age 19
  •Kars Jonson - emigrated 1870 age 16

  •Synneva Jonsdotter - emigrated 1870 age 13

•Hans Endreson, Nistad Dale born 1806 died 1878, emigrated 1869 at age 63.

Of his 7 children, 2 died as babies and ALL the rest emigrated to the USA!!!

  Endre Hanson Nese (died as a baby)

•Ingeborg Wilhelmsdotter Dale, wife of Hans - emigrated 1869 age 61

  •Vilhelm Hanson Nese - emigrated 1856 at age 21

  •Endre Hanson Nese aka Endre Dale - emigrated 1857 at age 20

  •Elling Hanson Nese - emigrated 1867 at age 27

  •Barbra Hansdatter Nese - emigrated 1866 at age 23

  Kari Hanson Nese (died as a baby)

  •Kari Hanson Nese - emigrated 1869 at age 21

I do not know what happened to Hans' children, I do not know where they went or where they settled. It seems they went to Idaho and Montana.

Synneve Endresdatter, born 1808, died 1861 at the age of 53 in Norway.

This is the information I have for her 6 children:

  •Kari Hermundsdotter emigrated 1861

  •Endre Hermundson emigrated 1867

  •Anna Hermundsdotter emigrated 1867

  •Elling Hermundson emigrated 1867

  •Brita Hermundsdotter emigrated 1874

  •Lussi Hermundsdotter emigrated 1874
I do not know where Synneve's children went. And I do not have birth dates, so I do not know at what age they emigrated.

Did Hans' and Synneve's children come to Goodhue County MN too? ...Because land was available? Or did they go to Wisconsin as so many did....?? Or did they travel on to Idaho or Montana like some did? Nor do I have any birth or death dates for Synneve's children. Also, it is possible that they came to America with their families or spouses and children, it is just unknown to me.

Wiking Endreson I died as a baby.

•Wiking Endreson emigrated in 1854 at age 41 with our Iver Vangsness.

Ole Endreson I died as a baby

•Iver Endreson Nistad (our Iver Vangsness) emigrated in 1854 at the age of 34.
He is our GG Grandfather.
•Unni Andersdatter, his wife and our GG Grandmother, emigrated in 1854 at the age of 30 with their 2 year old son,
  •John Endreson Vangsness, our Great Grandfather, came with Iver and Unni as a 2 year old. All of his brothers and sisters were born in America!

Ole Endreson did not emigrate. Nor did any of his children, as far as I know.

As far as I can make out, 26 members of the same close family (counting the wives) left Norway for America. In a 20 year period from 1854 to 1874!! It must have been a tough time, an exciting time, a time of opportunity. They must have seen little hope in Norway, more of the same old thing. They must have seen some hope for a better life in America. More land, their own land.

What is in a Name???

The Iver Vangsness group settled mostly in the Goodhue MN area and many of the Hans Endreson Dale group finally settled elsewhere, some in Montana....many taking the name "Dale". I wonder where the children of Synneve or Hans settled?? That is a lot of cousins that we know nothing about!! Also, it is important to remember that even though they do not have the Vangsness name, a name in not so important regarding Norwegian families. If brothers worked on different farms they would have most likely taken the farm name as their last name when and if they came to America.... Making them look like a different family, when they are in fact the same family. It makes looking for them much harder.

Even our Vangsness name was "iffy". I understand from John G. Vangsness' research that Iver had used the name Anderson for a while.... What is more important is the blood relation!!

What about the relatives who stayed in Norway?

John Endreson emigrated to America, but none of his children by his first wife did - at least that I know of. That would be Johannes Johnson, born 1831. He had 3 children - Gjert, Jakob and Joh. But 5 of John Endreson's children with his second wife and two grandchildren did. Also, Ole Endreson did not emigrate, nor did any of his children. He had 6 children - Johanna, Ender, Kari, Gunhild, Lars, and DF Jente. These decedents are our closest relatives in Norway. It would be interesting to try to find these people and to see what they are doing today.

Note: 
I still want to find out why Endre Hansen Lee Nissestad and Kari Vikingsdatter Mörkve died in 1850... Was there some kind of sickness that killed them ... some kind of accident?? It seems to me that the death of their parents made leaving Norway more possible than it otherwise might have been....

The Great Grandfathers

If you go to the Family Tree site, A Beginning - The Vangsness Family,  HERE you will see Kristoffer Kristenson born in 1610. But where do you go from there?

It is hard to know who to click to see the next link. I can not control the color of the names nor can I add some indication of who is next in our line, because this site is produced automatically by the software I use. So I want to add a Grandfather List, like the one that Shelley did when we first started out studying the Family Tree made by John G. Vangsness.

• Kristoffer Kristenson, 1610 - 1701 Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather
• Hans Kristofferson, Le  1665 - 1745 Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather
• Kristoffer Hansson, Le  1711 - 1762 Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather
• Hans Kristofferson, Le  1744 - 1823 Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather
• Endre Hansen, Le, Nissestad  1783-1850 Great, Great, Great Grandfather
• Ivar Enderson, Nistad (Ivar Vangsness)  1819-1905 Great, Great Grandfather

Now, depending on which of the sons your line is from here on (John E., Anders, Carl, Andrew or Cornelius), the names will be a little different.

• John Endereson Vangsness  1852-1938 Great Grandfather
• Paul Connor Sylvester  1895-1963 Grandfather

John E. Vangsness' Birth Records

Sogn og Fjordane county, Balestrand, Parish register (official) nr. 

A 2 (1844-1866), Birth and baptism records 1852, page 21.

The actual Parish register, p 21, Arkivverket Risksarkivet Og Statsarkivene

Detail

Our ancestor, John E. Vangsness' birth record in Norway.
Click on the image to see a larger version. Most browsers will allow you to zoom in at least one level or enlargement. Use the back arrow in your browser to get back here.
He is No. 39.
--Or click here for a PDF version which can be enlarged.

1. Birth date: 13 July
2. Baptism date: 18 July
3. Name: John
4. Whether Legitimate or not: He is not. But, underneath it mentions that his parents married in 1853.
5. Parent's names: Ungkari / bachelor- Iver Endreson, Pige / unmarried woman or girl - Unni Andersd. Vangsneas
6. Sponsors:  Viking Endresen Nissestad (obviously his father's brother listed as Wiking on John G.'s family tree records) and his other 4 sponsors all live at Vangsnes.
7. Note about being illegitimate: It has Erik (something like Pe) derson Vangsneaes. It could be that Erik Anderson Vangsnaes could be the babies grandfather. He may be vouching for the couple. (The ae in that name looks like an o.)

About Baptismal Records

-For baptismal records the year usually will be written at the top of the page.

-The left hand column is the chronological number of that baptism for that year, starting with #1. 

-Usually the next column will be the birth date, and the next column is the baptism date, then the child's name, next whether it is a legitimate birth, next the parents' names and residence. 

-Next, usually on the second page, are the baptism sponsors, often 5 in number, with the oldest or most important man listed first, then the other men, and then the women. 

-There may be a column for stating if there was a home baptism and by whom. 

-There may be a last column for remarks, such as explaining why the parents aren't married. 

-Some baptism records separate the boys from the girls, either with the boys on the left page and the girls on the right, or with the boys at the top of the page and girls at the bottom.

If you can't tell by the name the sex of the child; a boy usually has 3 male sponsors and 2 female, while a girl has 3 female sponsors and 2 males. Almost always the male sponsors are listed first, oldest or more important first, and then the youngest, often the last is newly confirmed = circa age 16.)

Thank you to Wilda Obey for finding this material and sharing it with us AND translating the Norwegian. AND for her detailed instructions on how to find the correct page in the Parish Records so that I could download it.

Belle Creek Pioneer Passes Away ..... 1938

John E. Vangsness, born 1852 in Norway, came to the United States with his parents when he was two and died 1938 on the farm his father worked first and then he worked for 76 years.

John E and wife, Sennova Berge's head stones

John E.'s head stone, born 1852, died 1938

Synneve's head stone, born 1855, died 1891

John E.'s wife, Synneve, had passed away in 1891, some 47 years before him.

The above photos from Dave Vangsness's Find a Grave entry.

John E. Vangsness's Obituary

In the second to last paragraph at the very bottom, it says that "Three brothers have preceded him in death, Anders, Carl and one having died in infancy." If this is true, his mother and father must have had 6 children, one which died in infancy, his name unknown to us, his birth and death dates unknown to us. It would be interesting to try and investigate this.

It seems that John E. was fairly healthy until just nine days before his death when he caught a cold. Read his obituary....

John E. & Synneve's Life in Belle Creek

According to several sources, a newspaper obituary and David Vangsness's article on Find a Grave, John E. Vangsness was born July 12th, 1852 in Sogngo Fjordane County, Norway. He was the oldest son of Iver E. Vangsness and wife Unni Andersdatter.

John E. Vangsness

Read the entry, Where they came From, with a photo showing their home in Norway, which, I believe is still standing.

They all immigrated to the United States in 1854.  As far as I know now, we DO NOT know why Iver and his wife decided to move to America except perhaps the classic reasons of bettering yourself, having your own land, that sort of thing. The whole family ended up in Madison, Dane county, Wisconsin on July 4th, 1854 for the start of their new life. Iver worked as a laborer, I guess saving money to buy some land.

After eight years in Wisconsin, the family moved to Belle Creek, Goodhue county, Minnesota in 1862. The Civil War was still in its early stages. In a letter to Paul John Sylvester in 1996, John G. Vangsness says that John Vangsness II remember his grandfather telling him stories about that trip. They traveled in an ox-drawn wagon. And they saw Union soldiers in stage coaches, I suppose heading off to the front lines.

In Belle Creek, Iver purchased 130 acres of land in section 31. In about 1866, their first log cabin house was build. Read the entry, Where they Ended Up, which has photos of the log cabin and barn.

John E.'s mother, Unni Andersdatter, died in 1868, when John E. was 16 years old. John G. Vangsness remembers that his father and grandfather, Alfred, talked about Unni being killed by a sheep ram - which shows she was a hard working farmer's wife. She died 47 years before her husband having lived in America just 14 years. His father died in 1905, at the age of 86. I suppose that John E. helped with the care of his four younger brothers: Anders, Carl, Andrew & Cornelius after his mother died. There is mention of a sixth brother that died in infancy, we have no name or dates for this child.

In 1876, John E., 24, married Synneve Berge, 22, from Norway. John G. remembers that her family lived just north of John E.'s farm, now Goodhue County Road 8. So she possibly came from Norway shortly before meeting John E. Perhaps for a few years, they lived somewhere else, because the newspaper obituary notes that in 1885 they moved back to the Belle Creek log house and stayed there till his death in 1938. The couple had ten  children, three dying in infancy and two as young adults. The surviving children were: Unni, Adolph, Olga, Alfred & Nellie. (Ida died as a young adult.) Lydia was raised as John E.'s daughter.

The Family Tree shows Ten Children.... 

....the last child dying the same year as Synneve. I think this period of time must have been very hard on mothers.

Synneve was married in 1876 at the age of 22.

1. First child, Unni was born in 1877
2. Second child, Severine born 1879* See 1895 Census
3. Third child, Ida born 1880
4. Fourth child, Adolph born 1882 & died 1884
5. Fifth child, Olga, born 1885
6. Sixth child, Alfred, born 1886
7. Seventh child, Nellie, born 1888
8. Eighth child, Adolph, born 1890 See Christening Doc. 1890
9. Ninth child, (baby) Vangsness, born & died 1890
10. Tenth child, Synneve, born & died 1891 See Christening Doc. 1891

Synneve died 1891, at the age of 35.

In 15 short years, Synneve had 10 babies and then died.
At her death in 1891, her surviving children's ages were:
Unni - 14, Severine - 12, Ida - 11, Olga - 6, Alfred - 5, Nellie - 3, Adolph - 1

I can only assume that from 1889, Synneve was caring for 3 children of tender years, no doubt getting help from her three older daughters, Unni, Severine and Ida, who were 14, 12 and 11 at the time. But, then from 1890 to her death in 1891 (month unknown), she was pregnant 3 times! Only Adolph, born first of the last 3 in 1890,  survived. She lost her last two babies, and I feel certain, she died with the last baby.

* We have conflicting information about Severina. We have found 1895 Census Report, showing Severina to be alive and 16 years old in 1895. Subsequently, we have also found that she most likely died at the age of 29 in 1908 as the wife of Andrew Anderson.

My mother, Virginia (daughter of Nellie) tells me that Unni raised the last surviving baby, Adolph. In fact, he called her mother and always felt that she was his mother. Unni was instrumental in raising all of the younger children. She felt a real obligation towards her younger siblings, John G. recalls. Unni evidently had a chance to marry, but she let it pass by because she felt strongly that she had to take care of the children left by her mother. She stayed with the family helping to raise all of the children.

John G. remembers Unni and Adolph very well. They came to the farm often to visit. They all played dominos with great enthusiasm and loud conversation in Norwegian. In fact, he grew up on farm homesteaded by our great grandfather. His father rented the farm from Alfred, his father from 1855 to 1967.

Photo of Synneve

I have not been able to find a photo of Synneve Berge, but I would love to have one of this hard working mother and Great grandmother of us all. My mother tells me that she thinks there was a photo of John and Synneve on the wall of their living room when she visited them. Perhaps some other relatives have a photo of Synneve.

Descendants of Iver Endreson & Unni Vangsness

Iver E. was born 1819 and died 1905 at the age of 86. Unni was born 1823 and died 1868 at the age of 45. She died almost 40 years before her husband. While in Norway, they lived in or around the town of Vik, perhaps on the fjord called Sognafjorden. That has to be checked. But they worked on a farm called the Lee Farm. Generations of their for bearers had worked on that farm.

Iver and Unni's Five, possibly six Children

Iver Endreson and his wife Unni Andersdatter, had five children.
There may have been a 6th child that died in infancy which is mentioned in John E.'s obituary dated 1938. We have no name or dates for this child.

1. John E. Vangsness -born in Norway and came with them to United States in 1854 when he was two. Born 1852 Died 1938
2. Anders Vangsness - Born 1858 Died Possibly 1923
3. Carl E. Vangsness -Born 1860 Died 1928
4. Andrew Vangsness -Born 1863 Died 1945
5. Cornelias A. Vangsness -Born 1864 Died 1945

There is a very interesting site called Find A Grave. There we have found many of the graves of our relatives. Here are some of the earliest ones.:

The father

    Iver Endreson Vangsness 

Two of his sons:

    John E. Vangsness
    Carl E. Vangsness
You can find other relatives linked to these people.

John E. Vangsness's surviving children

In earlier entries I have shown photos of John E. Vangsness's surviving children: Alfred, Adolph, Unni, Nellie, Olga, Ida and Lydia.

Anders Vangsness

Little is known about Anders at this time.

Carl E. Vangsness's children

I hope to get some photos of Carl's children. Carl and his wife, Elizabeth Iverson, had 13 children. Ingmar U., Iver B., Bella, Henery A., Rudulph J., George L., Ida Louise, Clarence J., Luella, Snella C., Florence E., Chester G., Celia G.

Elizabeth must have been a busy Mom!

Andrew Vangsness's children

Andrew and his wife, Anna Johnson, had three children: Unni A., Ingvald, Baby Vangsness who lived less than a year and Julius.

Cornelias A. Vangsness

Cornelias had no children as far as we know, nor did he get married according to the Family Tree. In a 1920 US Census report, Cornelias is listed as living with Carl, his brother, at the age of 56.

Where they came From

Iver E. Vangsness and his wife Unni left Vik, Sogning Norway (Sognafjorden) in 1854.

John Vangsness II and his wife Jerry in the early 1990's visited Norway looking for information about their relatives. They originally looked for a town named Vangsness or people named Vangsness. But they were having no luck.

In Vik they met a woman named, Anna Nummedal, who gave them information where to find their relatives who are mostly called "Lee" in Norway as their relatives came from the Lee farm. We have many second cousins named Lee in Norway.

John and Jerry found the original Lee farm house and other old structures that stood on the steep banks of a fjord. They found the actual house where Iver E. Vangsness was born.

Vik, Sogning, Norway - Vangsness Home

Their guide said that the closest building was 200 years old and that the Vangsness home was even older.

John and Jerry purchased a wooden bowl painted by Anna and a book of statistics about people who had moved to the States from the Vik area. Many, many people in Vik had moved to Kenyon and Goodhue County and other places close by.

They stayed an extra day in Vik and found out many interesting things about the Vangsness family. "That will be the next chapter in the story of the Vangsness trip to Norway,...." said the newspaper article.  Sad to say, the article ends there. I do not have the next chapter, even if there was one.

(From information provided by John G. Vangseness in 1996.)

Iver Endreson Vangsness - First in the US

Our First Relative - Mother's Side

In 1854, most likely April, Iver Endreson Vangsness with his wife, Unni, left Sogning, Norway (also sited as Vik, Sogning, Norway - I am not sure if these are the same place = we also have this name: Sognafjorden as the name of the fjord) and emigrated to the United States. They came with their first son, John E. Vangsness, who was just two years old at the time. He was the first of five children*. John E. Vangsness is our Great Grandfather!

Iver Endreson Vangsness is our Great, great grandfather! And he is the first member of our family on our mother's (Virginia Sylvester Anderson) side to come to the United States.

Names of Norwegians

Endreson? ... Anderson? ... Vangsness? ... Nisstad? ... Lee?
Names are complicated when it comes to people from Norway. Often they took their village and/or farm name as their last name when they came to the United States. And that is the case with our family. It seems that our relatives on our mother's side of the family lived/worked on a farm named Lee. They also went by the name of Anderson and in early records which possible misspellings occurred by immigration officials, they were entered into records as Enderson. But, there seems to be a relative in Norway, with the name Endreson, so perhaps it is a correct spelling. It seems we have cousins in Vik, Norway by the name of Lee.

• Lee - farm name
• Vangsness - place name in Norway (?) OR farm name in US
• Anderson - old name from Norway
• Endreson - old name from Norway

Iver's Names
It is important to remember that in Norway, Iver E. Vangsness had a different name! In Norwegian documents he was called Iver Endreson, Nisstad. It was not until about 1870 that all Norwegians had last names. In Iver's day, his name would have meant "Iver, son of Endre, living/working on the Nisstad Farm". If, on other documents as seen in the following letter, his name was listed as Iver Endreson, Lee, it means that he changed his place of employment or changed the farm he was working on. I am going to call Iver by the name he used in America, Iver E. Vangness, but when we start talking about documents in Norway, I will have to use his Norwegian name. I will try to keep all the names straight.

 Letter from John G. Vangsness 

To quote from a letter from John G. Vangsness, who did most of the research for the family tree along with his father:

Dad got me interested in this after he & mom returned from Norway. When they went they had no idea of where Iver came from. All they knew was that there was a town by the name of Vangsness close to Vik in Sogenfjoird. It didn't take them long  to discover that they were not related to anyone with the name of Vangsness in Norway. Iver came from the Lee farm. His ancestors lived there as far back as 1666.

Ivar's name in Norway was, "Ivar Enderson, Lee". I have done some research & found that they didn't change their name to Vangsness until after 1870. I have some census info that shows Iver going by the name Anderson on July 2, 1870. In the June 17, 1880 census Iver is calling himself Vangsness. But your Grandfather, John, is still going by Anderson. Why Anderson? My guess is that some Englishman couldn't understand Endreson with an accent and mistook it for Anderson. Just a guess of course. 

I'd like to find out why they took Vangsness for a name. Stanley Vangsness thinks they kept getting their mail mixed up with all the other Andersons in the neighborhood. Probably as good an explanation as any. I have read that Iver & Unni got married and left for America from the town of Vangsness. I also found in searching land transaction documents that a man by the name of Vangsness owned the farm Iver bought in 1863 in Goodhue country. The custom in Norway was taking the farm name you lived on as part of your name. Maybe this farm was referred to as the old "Vangsness" farm, so they took that name.

Please note that spelling is not consistent sometimes. I have seen Iver spelt "Ivar" and "Iver". Also, Enderson is spelt "Endreson" and "Enderson".

--------------
*There were possibly 6 children, one having died in infancy according to the 1938 obituary of John E. Vangsness. We do not have direct proof of this child except the above mentioned obituary nor do we have a name or any dates. If anyone has any information about this child, I would appreciate hearing about it.

Great Grandfather John Vangsness

He had 6 children that lived and perhaps two others that died young.

Here we see Great Grandfather John E. Vangsness with Lydia, Olga, Adolph, Nellie, Alfred and Unni. Nellie is our Grandmother.