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Tore Vassdal
Starting member
Norway
5 Posts |
 Posted - 31/05/2010 : 01:24:50
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My greatgrandfather's brother left Norway from Bergen Harbour on March 3. 1890 for USA. He was then a 21 years old joiner and a bachelor. I have one reason to believe that he may have lived in North Dakota, perhaps in Nelson County. Gathering informations about people who lived on the farm where he was born, I ask: Do anyone who happens to read this, know anything about this Karl (Charles?) Andreas (Andrew?) Nilsen (Nelson?) Vasdal (Watsdahl?)?
There are a few farms now called Vassdal in Norway, and this one is situated some miles north of the town Bergen on the western coast.
I don't know anything more than this about Karl Andreas, not even if he ever reached USA. My only reason to believe that he did, and there settled down in ND, is the fact that his brother Haldor's three daughters Madli, Anna Marie and Olina emigrated to USA in 1903, 1909 and 1911. All of them said that they planned to meet family in ND. Grand Forks and Oneta (Aneta?) was mentioned.
I shall be grateful for any information about my emigrated relative. In contact with descendants I'll be glad to give informations in return.
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Tore Vassdal |
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AntonH
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
9301 Posts |
Posted - 31/05/2010 : 03:01:09
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Here is an option for arrival into the US.
Name: Karl A Nilsen
Gender: Male
Age: 21
Estimated birth year: abt 1869
Date of Arrival: 6 Apr 1890
Vessel: Parisian
Search Ship Database: View the 'Parisian' in the 'Passenger Ships and Images' database
Port of Arrival: Halifax, Nova Scotia and Portland, Maine
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England
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AntonH
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
9301 Posts |
Posted - 31/05/2010 : 03:14:33
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Here is an option for Karl living in North Dakota. From the 1900 US Census on Ancestry.com
Name: Andrew Nilsen
[Andrew Nilson]
Home in 1900: Township 151, Pierce, North Dakota
Age: 29
Birth Date: Sep 1870
Birthplace: Norway
Race: White
Gender: Male
Immigration Year: 1890
Relationship to Head of House: Head
Father's Birthplace: Norway
Mother's Birthplace: Norway
Spouse's name: Sina
Marriage Year: 1897
Marital Status: Married
Years Married: 3
Occupation: View on Image
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Andrew Nilsen 29
Sina Nilsen 22
Constance Nilsen 1
Inga L Nilsen 6/12
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AntonH
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
9301 Posts |
Posted - 31/05/2010 : 05:49:51
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This is likely the daughter Oline arriving in the US. The orginal manifest lists her father as Haldor Nielsen and she is travelling to Mcville, North Dakota, which is in Nelsen County.
Name: Oline Nilsen
Arrival Date: 10 Oct 1911
Age: 28 Years
Estimated birth year: abt 1883
Gender: Female
Ethnic Background: Scandinavian
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England
Ship Name: Franconia
Port of Arrival: Boston, Massachusetts
Friend's Name: Occ K Prestbo
Last Residence: Norway
Birthplace: Bindoik Vasdall, Norway
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Edited by - AntonH on 31/05/2010 06:04:59 |
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AntonH
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
9301 Posts |
Posted - 31/05/2010 : 05:54:21
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This is likely the person that Oline listed as the Friend's name on the ships manifest.
Name: Ale K Prestoo
[Ole K Prestbo]
Age in 1910: 37
Estimated birth year: abt 1873
Birthplace: Norway
Relation to Head of House: Head
Father's Birth Place: Norway
Mother's Birth Place: Norway
Spouse's name: Anna
Home in 1910: Aneta, Nelson, North Dakota
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Gender: Male
Year of Immigration: 1890
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Ale K Prestoo 37
Anna Prestoo 36
Clara Prestoo 3
Ingre Prestoo 2
Alf Prestoo 11/12
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Tore Vassdal
Starting member
Norway
5 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2010 : 03:09:02
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To lyndal40
Thank you very much for your fast and good help! I'm quite sure that you've found the right man in your first message. It may be so for your second as well. At least it contains information that gives me good keys for further research on net.
And there's no dobt that you've found Karl Andreas' niece Olina just a few miles from Aneta. Her birthplace mentioned as "Bindoik" can well be misread from a handwritten "Brudvik" - which is the right name, the way it was written at that time. (Now it is "Bruvik", and no longer a municipality.)
I suppose that the "Prestoos" must have been friends of one of Olinas sisters, who probably settled down in the same area some years befor her. May be they had work for her?
Again: Thanks to you! |
Tore Vassdal |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2010 : 03:29:30
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Hi
Many years ago I'd heard from a family in Norway who were searching for Madli Haldorsdatter. They had only a few clues that Madli had married a Swedish man named Svenson and that he and Madli had two children born in the late 19 oughts named Phillip and Margaret. They had a picture of the family taken at a "Hollander" photography studio in Grand Forks, North Dakota. They thought that Madli had died on the youngish side 1915-1940 ish.
The sister Oline took nurses training in the area (probably at one of the "Deaconess" type facilities in the Grand Forks area. She eventually went back to Norway, married and had a family in Norway. I'm not sure I remember now their names but I think the surname was Stendal. It was thought that the Prestbo family came the same area of Norway as Madli.
The family was really hoping to find out about Madli but unfortunately I was unable to find much to help them. I'm not sure if this will be of interest to you but include it anyway.
Lykke til
Hilsen,
Jackie M. |
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Tore Vassdal
Starting member
Norway
5 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2010 : 00:53:51
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To jkmarler
Thank you for interesting morsels to my puzzle.
The third sister Anna Maria was back on a visit to Norway in 1915, 6 years after she emigrated. I've been thinking that she was here just to see to her father, but may be she came to her sister Olina's wedding? I'll try to find out.
Anna Maria was a nurse before she left for USA, and she was stil a nurse - and unmarried - in 1915. I suppose that she has contributed to her sister Olina's nurse-training over there.
I gather all informations I find and get about these sisters, trying to combine them to a "picture", but I'm most interested in what happened to their uncle Karl Andreas. Because none of my generation in the family have ever heard anything about him, I wander if he perhaps was one of those who did not succeed in his new country.
Vennlig hilsen |
Tore Vassdal |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2010 : 18:47:10
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Hi Tore,
No Karl Andreas (Andrew) Nilsen (Nelson) Wasdal (Vatsdal, etc,) in the interment records of Memorial Park Cemetery in Grand Forks, N.D.
No Karl Andreas Nilsen (etc as above) in the Rowberg Biographical File.
But in Rowberg, there was an obituary for Ole K. Prestbo who was mentioned earlier. I include this so you may determine the likelihood of a family connection. On fiche 1160, taken from the Aneta (N.D.) Panorama dated 17 Feb 1916:
"The Angel of death has again visited our midst and removed therefrom a father and neighbor. This time he called at the Prestbo home and removed therefrom, the father, Ole Prestbo last Friday night a little before midnight.
Ole Prestbo was born on the 30th [20th?] day of August 1872 at Prestbo Fetjar prestegjeld, Norway. He came to America in 1891, was married to Miss Anna Iverson at Butte, Mont., on the 5th day of January 1906. This union was blessed with six children, one is dead and 3 girls and 2 boys remain to mourn with their mother the loss of a most loving and devoted father and husband. He also leaves three brothers, A.K. Prestbo, of Northwood, N.D., Louis Prestbo, of Spokane, Wash, and Otis Prestbo, of Minnesota and an aged mother in the old country.
Deceased has been ailing for about ten months with cancer of the stomach from which cause he passed away. The funeral was held from the Norwegian Lutheran church Wednesday February 16th [?}, Rev Ovrebo officiating. Interment at the Aneta Cemetery.
The removal of Mr. Prestbo records the departure of one more of Aneta's oldest residents. He was employed here as action forman for the G.N.R.R. up til the time he was taken ill.
A large concourse of friends gathered at the church to witness the last sad rites, and on account of the bad roads there were only a few who accompanied the remains to it's last resting place. The pall bearers were: A.O. Raaen, John Forberg, T.J. Skjei, Ole Holm, Peder Vig, and A.P. Knudtson."
If there is some family connection, perhaps Ole came to Karl?
Hilsen,
Jackie M. |
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AntonH
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
9301 Posts |
Posted - 02/06/2010 : 23:34:18
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It is unlikely that your Karl Andreas Nilsen lived in Nelson County in 1900. Searching the 1900 US Census with the criteria of born in Norway in 1867-1871, living in Nelson County and having immigrated in 1890 turns up only three males. They are Christ Fevold, Simond Reigestad and John Stramdal. Even broadening the search to immigration 1890 +/- one year does not turn up any good candidates. He may have been in North Dakota in 1900, but not likely to have been in Nelson County where Aneta is located.
And even when I make the search cover the whole state of North Dakota, I only turn up 455 candidates. Of those 455 candidates the only one close to your Karl Andreas Nilsen is the Andrew Nilsen, I listed above. |
Edited by - AntonH on 02/06/2010 23:39:04 |
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Tore Vassdal
Starting member
Norway
5 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2010 : 16:42:06
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To lyndal40
I've just made the same conclution about Karl Andreas. After all that you and jkmarler have given me of information, I now understand that the Prestbo family most likely was the important connection for the three sisters in USA and the Grand Forks area. Ole Prestbo's wife, born Anna Iversdotter, was a close neighbour to them in childhood, later on with a family-connection as well.
Now I think it's quite an open question where Karl Andreas settled down, and what became of him at all. Nobody in my generation of the family have heard anything about him, and there are no letters. May be he became a sailor, or travelled on to Canada or to Alaska. May be he failed with everything.
Karl Andreas is not a very important person in what I'm writing, and I dobt that it is worth while making further efforts on finding him. It would be like "searching for a needle in a hey-stack", as we would say it in Norway. One more attempt will i do: Now that I know about Oina having returned to Norway and married here, I will try to find her descendants. Perhaps any of them know anything about Olina's uncle in America.
As a small response to your helpfullness, I send you and jkmarler two old photoes with an e-mail, one showing the farm Vassdal about 1950, the other - twice as old - showing Karl Andreas' four elder brothers. It was taken by a photographer in Bergen the very day that Karl Andreas left for USA. I wander why he is not among them on the picture. Front left is my grandfather Johannes, who inherited the farm, managed it well, and became an early politician in his municipality. Front right is Haldor, the father of the three sisters. He got much trouble in life until he settled down in Bergen, was employed by his yonger brother, and became an active member of a new Lutheran Church. Haldor's wife died with lepra.
Behind left is Nils, who was a shoemaker in Bergen and married the sister of Anna Iversdotter (Prestbo). Right left is Thomas, wo was a successfull bricklayer-master, and a helping and central person among his brothers in Bergen.
I think I'll never find out what made Karl Andreas leave this brotherhood.
(If I manage the technique well enogh to get the pictures sent, you may use them as you like.)
Vennlig hilsen |
Tore Vassdal |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2010 : 22:22:28
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Hi Tore,
Since you have determined the family connection was to Anna Prestbo, here is her obit found in the Rowberg File, fiche 1160, published in Decorah Posten 7 Feb 1957:
"Dødfald. Mrs. Anna Prestbo, som bodde hus en Datter, Mrs. N.A. Graves, Jr. Carrington, døde nylig i et Hospital i Carrington. Hun var født i Bergen, Norge, dn 6te December 1873 og kom i ganske ung Alder til Amerika. Den 15de Januar 1906 ble hun gift med Ole Prestbo i Missoula, Mont. De drev farming ved Aneta, N.Dak., i mange Aar. Mr. Prestbo døde i 1916. Hun overleves av tre Døtre, Mrs. Graves in Carrington; Mrs. W.G. Pockert, Spokane, Wash.; Mrs. Idar Rinestad, Washington, D.C.; to sønner, Alf i Spokane og Bert i Fairbanks, Alaska."
Anna's entry in the North Dakota Public Death Index gives her birthdate as 16 Dec 1873, she died as a resident of Nelson County, but died in Foster County on 15 Jan 1957.
Anyway, if you have any further interest in Anna's descendants you have a few other names and places to look. Good Luck to you with Karl.
Hilsen,
Jackie M. |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
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Karl Andreas Nilsen Vasdal
