A Mother and a Father Remembered

Recently, two of our classmates, Joe Ulmer and David Berge, lost their only living parent.  Joe's mother was active in a number of organizations, and "was named SD Mother of the Year in 1989 and represented the state at the National Convention in Seattle that year."  Her obituary can be found at http://eidsnessfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/Eidsne1/obit.cgi?user=56705526_JRothUlmer

David's father was featured in a story in the Brookings Register about five years ago (http://www.brookingsregister.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=8459&page=76).  About 30 years ago, a Brookings County History Book was compiled in honor of South Dakota's centennial.  A number of people in Brookings County wrote brief histories of their family's roots.  The Berge family was among them.  David's great-great-grandfather(I hope that's right) Andreas, his wife Lucie, and five sons left Bergen, Norway and arrived in Quebec in the summer of 1867.  Unfortunately, Lucie died on the voyage and was buried at sea.  The family eventually settled in Fillmore County, Minnesota for a few years.  When the fourth son Johannes married Synneva Hatleli, the daughter of another Norwegian family, homestead land was no longer available, so the the young couple went west to Dakota Territory, settling in Medary township around 1878.  The father Andreas also homesteaded in the area, settling on the northwest shores of Lake Sinai in March of 1889. 

The rest of the article describes early life on the prairie for the Johannes Berge family.  Their home for about three years was a sod hut.  A frame house, the first one in the area, was built in 1881, with additions made in 1889 and and 1901.  Wells were dug by hand to a depth of 16 to 25 feet.  Wheat and oats were the first crops.  Later, they raised flax and corn.  It is very evident that life back then was no walk in the park.  Life was difficult, but the people had a deep faith in God, which allowed them to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Johannes and Synneva had six children.  Oscar, the only boy, married Ruth Havrevold.  They had four children, Joe, Ruby, Ruth, and David, the father of David of our class.  Two of Oscar's sisters married into the Vick and Bortnem families.  David's father also married into the Bortnem family, thus making those families related to each other.  Mr. Berge's obituary can be found here:  http://eidsnessfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/Eidsne1/obit.cgi?user=74130988_DBerge

Numerous local families also made their contributions to this magnificent book.  Some names that may be familiar to us are Jeannette Abbey (many of us likely had our senior pictures taken by her), Richard Adee (well-known honey producer from Bruce), Oscar Ahnberg (anyone remember Loren Ahnberg from elementary/jr. hi; there was even a town named Ahnberg), Earl Bartling (Bartling's Furniture), Bauman, Beatty, Behrend, Bibby, Biggar, Bishman, Cheever, Chittick, Corlett, Crosser, Darnall, Derscheid, Duff, Dybdahl (Dybdahl Motors), Egeberg, Erickson, Fishback, Foreman, Fuller, Gilbertson, Gile, Gilkerson, Grommersch (Rich Helsper's mother was a Grommersch), Halvorson, Hanson (Brad Rufer's mother was a Hanson), Hegg, Hendricks (Bernie's family), Hoy, Johnson, Juel, Kendall, Kinch, Knutson, Larson (Arne B.'s family), Linn, Lund, Maher (relatives to Tangen and Wilber), Martinson, Matson (the drug store), May (Zesto), McCann, McCarty, McKeown, McKnight (3M), Minier (postmaster before Tom Lyons), Moberg, Moe, Moriarty, Moxon, Nelson, Ness, Norton, Odegaard, Olson, Ostroot, Osvog, Perso, Peterson, Pike, Quail, Ribstein, Rude, Sanderson, Schroeder, Sexauer, Simmons, Skordahl, Steen, Sterud, Sundet, Svenners, Telkamp, Tofte, Trautman, Trudell, Trygstad, VanderWal, Vick, Wheeler (our 9th gade English teacher married into this family), Wiese, Wilber, and Workman.

It is a fascinating book , and includes a little history and interesting facts about the towns in Brookings County.   It may be worth your while to browse through it if you are in the area and have a keen interest in this sort of thing.