Women of Courage
Stories of exceptional women:
Becky Petersen Moore: My Great Grandmother Kjersti Olsdatter Almasoyen Hugaas Stenerson came over from Singsas. She was married to Kristoffer K. Hugaas and had 3 children by him (She had 4 children all in total. Her oldest, Martin and my Great Grandfather, was born out of wedlock) The family came over in 1904. Kristoffer supposedly killed himself (having difficulty locating his death record) between 1905-1910. She raised her children alone in Sioux Falls, SD until abt 1916 when she remarried Charlie Stenerson.
Jim Winsness: This story is true - names are omitted as the family wishes it kept private.
Men behaving badly
Women of Courage
A woman born mid 1800's in Singsås has her husband die leaving her with 3 small children. About 2 years later, she becomes pregnant with her fourth child, but the father emigrates to America when she is about 2 months pregnant. He might not have even known he had fathered a child. The woman raises all 4 children until the 4th is 17 years old, and then she emigrates to America - trip probably paid for by her brother who had emigrated earlier. The next year, she brings her 2 daughters (one by the man who left 18 years earlier) to America and 2 years after that, she brings one son over leaving one son at the Norway farm. Where did they all settle - the woman, 2 daughters, and the biological father of one of the daughters all were in the area around Hendricks. The biological father married when he came to America and had a large family by the time the woman, 2 daughters, and son emigrated.
No one knows if the biological daughter of the man knew he was her father but she was walking around Hendricks with a lot of half-siblings!
The heroine of this story is the woman who was left in Norway with 4 small children from two men to raise with no male in the home. Her strength enabled 3 of the 4 children to become Americans. She was the strongest women I've ever researched.
And in an interesting twist, another Hendricks immigrant fathered out of marriage, a daughter in Norway with the sister of the man above who got that woman pregnant (yes - the guy who left the country before the daughter is born!) OH - this Hendricks immigrant ALSO left the woman and biological daughter in Norway - does anyone see a pattern there???
All these people, step siblings, previous lovers, brothers and sisters.... all are at one time walking the streets of Hendricks - did they know of these relationships??? We will never know but it is an absolutely amazing family WEB (as differentiated from TREE :o)
Add including the siblings of the major players in this, there were FIVE family lines with about 50 people all in the weave of family fabric in Hendricks at the same time! They are buried in all the cemeteries of the area. Three of the family groups are in the Singsaas Church Cemetery including the main heroine.
Don't ask - I promised not to name them.
(names omitted to protect ME more than them!)
If you know who these are, keep it private please.
Jim Winsness: My great grandfather Kristian Bjugstad from Gjovik Norway, met and fell in love with a Swedish woman, Augusta Eriksdatter, in Oslo and they emigrated in 1880 to Red Wing MN. They always joked that since a Norwegian man wanted to marry a Swedish woman, they had to leave the country.
After their November 6 marriage in Red Wing, Augusta gave birth to a daughter on Feb. 20, 1881. They named the child Gertrude or Guri, also known as Gertie (d. November, 1946). Meanwhile, Kristian had heard of land in Dakota available for homesteading and set out by train for the Dakota Territory. Once he reached Fargo, he walked to Owego Township, a distance of 55 miles. There on May 13, 1881, he filed a claim on SE ¼-22 Owego and proceeded to dig a shelter in the side of a hill, adding a roof to tree limbs and sod to make a simple prairie dwelling.
Some months later, Augusta transported their baby daughter and their meager belongings from Red Wing to Kristian’s claim in the Dakota Territory by means of a covered wagon pulled by a team of oxen. The distance Augusta traveled, most likely with a wagon train of other migrants, was approximately 350 miles. Can you imagine the strength of a woman driving a team of oxen, with infant on her lap, those 350 miles? She is our family heroine!
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