Our Savior's Church and Cemetery, Norse, Bosque County, Texas, USA

In the summer of 2005 I made a round-trip to the central and Eastern part of Texas, USA. Due to my interest in Norwegian-American emigration history, I stayed a day and night in Clifton, Bosque County in order to visit places where Norwegian settlers made footprints. There was a large Norwegian settlement starting in the 1840s and 1850s in Bosque County.

Now, it has been a while since 2005, so I don't remember all the details of what I did. I am not sure why I have waited so long to write a blog article about the visit either. Up to now I have only published a couple photos of my visit for an article in Slektshistoriewiki, the Norwegian genealogy wiki. I remember, however, that I visited the Bosque Museum in Clifton, which among others houses a chair made by Cleng Peerson (1783–1865), who organised the first group of Norwegian to emigrate in 1825 and has thus been nicknamed «the Father of Norwegian Emigration to the US»). Peerson eventually settled in Norse, Texas. I made a stop near the farm where he died. I also visited three churches and cemeteries in the area – Our Savior's Lutheran Church, the Old Rock Church near Cranfills Gap and the Norse Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Based on the timing of the photos, it seems that I visited Our Savior's Church twice, maybe because I felt the photos of Cleng Peerson's grave were not good enough the first time around. It was also a very warm and sunny day, so it was not too easy to take photographs due to reflection problems. I wish I had taken more grave photos. Don't know remember why I didn't. Can I blame the weather? Or that I wanted to see more «Norwegian» places before I returned to Clifton?

The first group of settlers arrived in Bosque County in the 1840s, and in Norse in 1854. The church was organized in 1859 and the church building was erected in the period 1875–1885.

Text: «Our Savior's Lutheran Church. Mother Church Former Evangelical Lutheran Church in Texas. Organized June 14, 1859 by Norwegian settlers of Bosque County. Building erected 1875–1885.
Cleng Peerson. Pioneer of Norwegian emigration to U.S. (Landed 1821) is buried here. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 1965.» And beneath:

«Our Savior's Lutheran Church E.L.C. 1869 – 1876 – 1956 Soli Deo Gloria.»

Memorial of the 17 original Norwegian settlers in Bosque County, Texas, 1854. Hendrick [Henrik] Olsen Dahl & Christine Pedersdatter Furuseth, Ole Canuteson [Knudson/Knutsen] & Ellen Malene Gunderson, Jens Jensen & Tonje Knudsdatter, Jens Olsen Ringness & Kari Jensdatter, Ole Larsen Ween, Knut Canuteson & Berte Olson, Carl Engebretsen Questad & Sedsel [Sissel] Oldsdatter [Olsdatter] Ringness, Berger Tollefsen Rogstad & Anne Eriksdatter Furuseth Bronstad, Ole Pierson [Perssen/Pedersen] & Anne Helene Oldsdatter [Olsdatter].

Cleng Peerson's grave.

Text: «Cleng Peerson. / The Pioneer of Norse Emigration / to America. / Born in Norway, Europe / May 17, 1782. / Landed in America in 1821. / Died in Texas / December 16, 1865. / Grateful countrymen in Texas / erected this to his memory.» Most sources give 1783 as his birth year, though. A discussion about his birth year (in Norwegian) can be found here.

Backside of the headstone: «Cleng Peerson. / Den förste norske Indvandreren / i [til?] Amerika. / Födt i Norge Europa den / 17 Mai 1782 / Kom til Amerika in 1821. / Döde i Texas, / den 16 December , 1865. / Taknemmelige landsmænd i Texas reiste ham dette minde.»The claim that he was the first Norwegian immigrant is wrong, though. Many Norwegian settled before him, for instance the Norwegians arriving on Dutch ships in the 17th century.

King Olav V visited Our Savior's Lutheran Church in 1982 to commemorate the birth year of Cleng Peerson. Nils Olav Østrem settled on 1783 as birth year in an artice in Ætt og Heim in 1999. See also the NBL article (also in Norwegian).

War memorial of Nels Grimland (1839–1924).

I write «war memorial» above as here is the actual headstone at the grave of Nels Grimland and his wife Maria (1848–1925).

Pauline Rogstad (1863-1944).

The following are photos taken on my second visit later in the evening on 15 July 2005.

Cleng Peerson's headstone (again).

«Her hviler stövet / af / Even Qvæstad / Födt 17de October 1842 / paa Gaarden Öde / Qvæstad i Norge / Död 31 August 1862» («Here rests the dust of ...»)

All photos: © 2005 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth.

Jordmor Anne Martha Ligaard, Stjørdal

Jeg fikk et avisutklipp av en kollega av meg i dag. Hun hadde funnnet det klemt inne i en bok, og trodde i utgangspunktet at artikkelen om Stortinget ville interessere meg, ettersom jeg jo lenge har vært opptatt av Grunnloven og dens historie. I artikkelen kan man lese at Stortinget for 1914 ennå ikke var formelt oppløst, og førstkommende fredag skulle man behandle et forslag om endring i Grunnloven § 75.

Men det var faktisk den andre siden av avisutklippet som interesserte meg mer. Artikkelen omhandler Anne Martha Ligaard, som den 10. samme måned kunne feire 25 års ansettelse som jordmor i Stjørdal. Det har vært flere jordmødre i min familie. De hadde en sentral og viktig funksjon i deres nærmiljø. Og slektshistorie og personbiografier fenger jo nesten alltid for min del, selv om jeg ikke nødvendigvis har noen kobling til personen som omtales.

Den som klippet ut artikkelen i sin tid var nok mer opptatt jordmoren enn på Stortinget. Om min kollega er i slekt med jordmoren er ikke klarlagt ennå.

Noen har skrevet «1914» på avisutklippet. Det tror jeg er feil, for det nevnes i forbindelse med 25-årsjubileet at hun tiltrådte stillingen 10. januar 1890. Så da snakker vi om 1915. Jeg antar at avisutklippet er hentet fra Stjørdalens Blad, som ble grunnlagt i 1892. Konkurrenten Stjørdalingen kom først i 1924. En annen mulighet er Stjørdalens Avis, som gikk inn i 1915, men jeg vet ikke nøyaktig når det året.

For søkehensyn lyder artikkelen som følger:

Anne Martha Ligaard

Søndag den 10de ds. er det 25 aar siden Anne Martha Ligaard blev ansat som jordmor i Stjørdalen. Hun er født i Orkedalen, hvor hendes far var lærer og gaardbruker. 19 aar gammel gik hun ind paa jordmorskolen i Bergen. Hun dimittertes i april 1888, efter at ha gjennemgaat det 1 1/2-aarige kursus med bedste karakter. Hun var en tid ansat som underjordmor paa fødselsstiftelsen i Bergen, hvor hun av daværende overlæge N. Vogt fik den bedste attest for duelighet. Hun søkte høsten 1889 den ledige stilling som jordmor i Stjørdalen og blev av 15 ansøkere den foretrukne. Stillingen tiltraadte hun den 10de januar 1890. Her traf hun ogsaa sammen med sin skoleveninde fra Bergen, Marta Normann, som var blit ansat som jordmor et aars tid tidligere. Og det gode venskap som i skoledagene skaptes har siden holdt ved. De har behhe været flittig benyttet og de har med glæde ofret sig for den vigtige opgave som er dem betrodd.

Anne Martha Ligaard blev gift med garver John Ligaard i 1894 og har hat 6 barn.

Vi finner Anne Martha i folketellingen 1900 med navnet Anemarta Ingebr.dtr Ligaard, født i Ørkedalen i 1868 og bosatt på gården Ligaard (Ligård) i Stjørdal med ektemannen, garver John Johnsen Ligaard, og 3 barn – John Marius, Marie og Ivar. Hennes oppførte yrke var «Husstel og jordemoder».

Ti år senere er hun bosatt samme sted, da er 5 barn registrert bosatt sammen med Anne Martha og John. Man får flere treff på Digitalarkivet, blant annet som «heimedøypar» da Peder Eilert Olsen Voldsæt kom til verden i 1900. Merk at dåpsdatoen er transkribert til 1868-11-01, dvs. 1. november 1868. Det sjette barnet, Odd, ble for øvrig født i 1911.

Blar man litt i kirkebøkene, finner man ikke «vår» Anne Martha født 1. november 1868, men derimot 1. januar 1868, og døpt nøyaktig 2 måneder senere. Foreldre var Ingebrigt Erichsen Tronvaald (så langt jeg kan tyde skriften) og Martha Andersdatter. Skriften er litt enklere ved konfirmasjonen i 1882. Det var da også konfirmasjonsoppføringen som oppga korrekt fødselsdato 1. januar, slik at jeg til slutt fant dåpsoppføringen. Gårdsnavnet ser ut til å bli stavet Tronvoll i dag, etternavnet som oftest Tronvold. Videre finner man vielsen til Anne Martha og John Johnsen Ligaard i Værnes kirke i Nedre Stjørdal sogn 4. januar 1894. Førstefødte Jon Marius, som navnet da ble stavet, kom til verden 9. mai og ble døpt 3. juni samme år.

Anne Martha ble ikke gammel. Hun døde allerede 16. august 1917 av en hjertefeil og ble gravlagt en uke senere. Dødsannonse ble første gang publisert i Stjørdalens Blad 17. august 1917:

«Det blev vor tunge lod at meddele slegt og venner at min høit elskede hustru og vor snille mor jordmor Anne Martha Ligaard døde fra os idag i troen paa sin frelser, 49 1/2 aar gammel. Stjørdal den 16/8 1917.»

Annonsen var signert John J. Ligaard, John, Marie, Ivar, Gudbjørn, Arna og Odd. En kort omtale av dødsfallet ble publisert på foregående side («[…] er efter nogen tids sykelighet igaar avgaat ved døden», kan man lese), med det samme bildet som ble brukt i avisutklippet gjengitt over. Samme annonse ble publisert i Stjørdalens Blad 21. august, da med tillagt informasjon om begravelsen. Ifølge Disnorge.no/gravminner døde enkemannen først i 1944. Man kan finne et bilde av graven på Værnes kirkegård her (muligens du må dobbeltklikke for å få frem bildet). På gravstenen er etternavnet stavet Ligård, mens flere av barna brukte den opprinnelige stavemåten Ligaard.

Oppdatert onsdag 29. august 2018 kl. 08:15 (ortografisk feil rettet opp).

From the archives: John Frisvold, d. Canada 1931. Any heirs?

John Frisvold er avgått ved døden i Canada i februar 1931, ca. 63 år gammel. Han antas å være født i Romsdalen. Han efterlater sig midler i Canada. Mulige arvinger bedes melde sig til Utenriksdepartementets arve- og rettskontor.

While looking for something completely different, I came over a paragraph in Aftenposten 13 September 1934, by which the readers were informed that a John Frisvold had died in Canada in February 1931, around 63 years old. He was assumed to have been born in Romsdalen (i.e. Møre and Romsdal county). According to the short article, he left behind capital in Canada. Possible heirs were asked to contact the Inheritance and Law Office of the Foreign Ministry of Norway.

I hope the inheritance case was solved in the end. Maybe someone searching for genealogical information about the Frisvold family will sooner or later find the newspaper paragraph useful. I searched for the name of John Frisvold at Ancestry.com and found that he died in Milestone, Saskatchewan in 1931. According to Findagrave.com, he is buried at the Bethesda Lutheran Cemetery in Milestone, which is a town in the southeast of the province of Saskatchewan.

If the information in Aftenposten is correct, John Frisvold was born around 1868. So far I haven't found anyone who fits the picture when searching for variations of the name at the Norwegian Digital Archives, but I must admit that I haven't put my heart and soul in this little project. There are, however, Frisvold farms in Nesset in Romsdal. Another possibility could be Lom, which of couse is in Oppland county, but not that far from Romsdal.

Countess Aagot von Ostheim, née Midling

A few days ago when I was reorganising some folders on my PC, I rediscovered a file about the Norwegian-born Aagot (Susanne) Midling, who in 1918 married Count Herman von Ostheim, a former Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. The file contained copies of two entries I had made in the genealogy newsgroup no.fritid.slektsforsking.etterlysning as far back as 2003. My intention had been to go to the National Archives (Riksarkivet) at Kringsjå in Oslo in order to check out Aagot Midling's birth records - the scanned versions of the churchbooks (digitised parish registers) were not yet available at the time - but obviously I forgot all about it and moved on to other projects instead.

The starting point for my newsgroup entry in 2003 was an article I had found in Aftenposten 15 August 1918 No. 407, which covered the marriage between the said Count Herman von Ostheim and Aagot Susanne Midling. Ms. Midling lived in Stgockholm at the time, but was born in Norway. The article said - here in my English translation - that "Miss Midling is the daughter of a former Drammensian, Director Midling, who for many years ago moved from Norway and by his outstanding ability had captured a leading position in the Swedish wood pulp industry. He had in his time the highest salary in Sweden, as his total annual salary was as much as 150.000 (Swedish) kroner, which in those days was a "fenomenal amount" considering a salary".

Herman, the Count von Ostheim was born as Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1886-1964), as the oldest son of Prince Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1853-1924) and Princess Gerta, née Princess of Isenburg-Büdingen (1863-1945), but renounced his succession rights on 2 August 1909 - and got the title Count von Ostheim instead - in connection with his first marriage to the actress Wanda Paola Lottero. Herman and Wanda got divorced already in 1911. In An Online Gotha. Saxony one could read at the time I wrote the newsgroup article that Aagot Midling was born in "Louvig, Norway 3 Mar 1886" ("Louvig" later corrected to Larvik) and died in Paris on 16 October 1931. The couple, who married in Heidelberg, Germany on 4 August 1918, had one son, Count Alexander-Kyrill (1922-1943), which means that the Ostheim line has died out.

The birth record of Aagot Midling can easily be found in the the churchbook of Larvik, 1886 (Langestrand in Larvik, Parish register (official) no. II 4 (1884-1902) and Langestrand in Larvik, Parish register copy no. II 3 (1867-1899) - see the first image). The birth record tells that Aagot was born in Larvik on 3 March 1886 and christened on 1 May the same year. Her parents were kontorsjef ("office manager" or "head clerk") Anton Oscar Ring Midling, b. 1846, and Anna Christine Knudsen, b. 1856.


Sponsors at the christening were Mrs. Bernhardine Christine Knudsen, Miss Anne Josefine Midling, Miss Anne Sophie Kjøsterud, overretssagfører (a historical title that could be translated into appeal court attorney) Zacharias Backer, kjøbmand (shopkeeper) Nils Rosenberg, kjøbmand Axel William Knudsen and kjøbmand L. Kippax Newall. The first-mentioned parish register (see the second image) tells that the family moved to Sundsvall in Sweden in 1891.


It is possibly a little mystery that the future Countess von Ostheim is only listed with the given name Aagot, while several online genealogies present her with the name Suzanne/Susanne Aagot (see examples 1, 2 or 3). Normally I would in such circumstances have checked other genealogical resources in Norway, for instance the census of 1900, the confirmation entry or marriage records, but as the family moved to Sweden in 1891, that possibility is ruled out. I wonder if there are any primary sources in Sweden that could tell more about the name Susanne?

Anyway, Aagot's father Anton Oscar can easily be found in the census of 1865, when he was registered as living at the farm Gravdahl in Askøy outside Bergen, working as an assistant clerk for Consul Konow. His birth entry (Bergen county, Domkirken, Parish register (official) no. B 2 (1841-1851)) tells that he was born in Bergen on 14 October 1846 as the son of Wilhelm Christian Midling and Gustava Dorthea, née Forsberg. According to one reply I got in 2003, Wilhelm Christian was the son of Claus Miedling and Inga Catrina Andreasdatter Lind, and the Midling family seems to come from Bremen in Germany originally).

After Countess Aagot's death in 1931, Count Herman married for the third time the New York-born Isabel Nielson (1895-1981). I am not sure where Herman and Isabel are buried - in London, perhaps? I have found Aagot's last resting place, though. Afther her death in 1931, her body was transported back to Stockholm where she was interred on 29 January 1932 at Norra begravningsplatsen (cemetery). She was later joined by her son Alexander-Kyrill, cf. the Stockholm burial records, Hittagraven.stockholm.se. A woman named Anna Charlotta Midling - perhaps a sister of Aagot - is also buried at the same place. Interestingly enough, Aagot is listed in the cemetery register as "Suzanne von Ostheim".

Updated on Wednesday 22 September 2010 at 23.30 (concerning Aagot's cemetery record).

Postscript 5 October 2010 at 21.00: After having read the most relevant parts of Margit Rogne's genealogical work Slekten Hübert fra Kristiansand med opplysninger om flere inngiftede slekter (Kristiansand, 1974) as well as having skimmed through Anna Midling's autobiography Från två fosterland 1856-1931 (Stockholm, 1931), it appears that the Aftenposten article quoted from above contains a funny error. The newspaper referred to Aagot Midling as "frøken" ("miss"), which is stretching the truth a bit too far, as she was married from 1905 to 1915 Lieutenant Seve Axell and had two children by him!

The above-mentioned "Anna Charlotte Midling", who was interred at Norra begravningsplatsen in 1939, is most likely identical with Anna Christine Midling, née Knudsen, who died in 1937. Oscar Midling on the other hand was buried at Hudiksvall kyrkogård in 1910, where also their son Einar (1888-1892) and Anna's brother Axel Wilhelm are interred. In the family grave at Norra cemetery in Stockholm also Anna's mother Bernhardine Christine Knudsen, née Hübert, d. 1919, has found her last resting place.

I will come back with more details on Countess Aagot von Ostheim and her family in a later blog article.

Postscript updated on Thursday 5 October 2010 at 21.40 (typo corrected!).