Background

The below information was gathered by Monte Wilson at the State Archives in Bergan, Norway during a summer visit in 1988. It starts over four hundred years ago with what was the four times great-grandfather of Lars Tveit and represents the male line. The direct ancestor in each family is highlighted.

Background

When Janice Wilson and her son Monte visited Norway in 1988, they attempted to locate their Tveit relatives. Bea Tveit (Nielsen) recalled that her grandfather Lars Tveit had corresponded with someone in Norway, but that was many, many years before and the contact had been lost.

Using the Tveit family information they brought as a starting point, Janice and Monte visited the Bergan State Archives. The family had split in Lars’s generation when he left for America, so it was necessary to start there and try to trace the Norway branch of the Tveits down to a living person. Unfortunately, that proved rather difficult. They did, however, get the address of the Tveit farm.

The next step then was to rent a car and drive out to the Hardanger Fjord, which had been mentioned by Bea Tveit as having been the area Lars came from. Once there they visited a pastor, the old Tveit farm, and a Tveit Family Reunion. The general idea was to let as many people as possible find out about the strange Americans who were looking for their relatives!

Alas, no relations were found. A few people named Tveit were located, but it was not possible to connect them with Lars’s family.  So, Janice and Monte went home with plenty of Tveit archive data, but no contacts. However, they did leave their U.S. address in case anyone wanted to get in touch. This proved to be the best thing they could have done.

Within the next 18 months, Janice received two letters from people in Norway who thought they might be related to Lars Tveit. They are described below.

Hjordis Sharning  Runarveien 2D, 3200 Haukerod, Sandefjord, Norway

This woman wrote in November of 1988. She had an uncle named Lars Tveit who emigrated to America. Unfortunately, the brothers and sisters mentioned for this Lars did not match, and the dates were one generation later (1870s instead of 1850s). However, according to a letter from an Arne Urheim in 1989 (see below), Hjordis actually is related, just further back in the family tree than she thought. Her great-grandmother, Marita, was an older sister to Lars Tveit’s father Arne. The line goes like this:  Marita > Brita > Marita > Hjordis. This makes Hjordis a third cousin to the generation of Bea Nielsen, Mildred Campbell and Leslie Tveit (children of Arne and Anna Tveit).

Arne Urheim  5774 Lofthus, Norway

In his four page letter written in November of 1989, Mr. Urheim recalled his father talking about an “Uncle Lars” who went to the U.S. The date of birth and wife’s name (Martha Busteheim) of this uncle matched Janice’s information exactly, proving that Arne Urheim was a relative. Arne was also kind enough to show how Hjordis Sharing (above) is related.

Arne’s paternal grandfather was Arne Tveit, Lars Tveit’s older brother by three years. Mr. Urheim is therefore a second cousin to Bea, Mildred and Leslie Tveit. A picture he sent shows a pleasant man in his early seventies with a prominent nose.

Arne Urheim was born in 1920. He’s the youngest, and only son, of three children. His father was Jakob Arneson Urheim who worked in Madison, Wisconsin from 1904 – 1909. Jakob returned to Norway to take over the farm when his father Arne Tveit (Lars Tveit’s older brother) passed away.

Mr. Urheim’s wife died in 1988. He has one daughter, Audhild, who at the time of writing was married and living in Bergan with two young children, Veronica (b. 1984) and Andreas (b. 1985).

Regrettably, neither Monte or Janice replied to Mr. Urheim’s letter until 1997. Having visited Norway with no plans to return, perhaps the excitement of hunting for relatives had worn off. However, almost a decade later, a three year correspondence was begun, and all of the letters from him (1997, 1999, 2000) have been kept.

Arne Urheim’s branch of the Tveit family tree is listed below, starting with the oldest generation. His direct ancestors are highlighted.

Personal Info_____________________________________________
Father: Jens Larsen
Born: June 10, 1847         Norway
Died: January 4, 1892      Near Thor, Iowa   Age  44
Parents: Unknown

Mother: Bertha Hansen
Born: October 6, 1852     Lete Kvinnherad  Norway
Died: October 2, 1933     Eagle Grove, Iowa   Age  80
Parents: Unknown

Married: October 31, 1878 for 13 years

Buried:
Jens Larsen: East Ullensvang Cemetery southeast of Thor, Iowa.
Single plot in the very back row, next to the fence.
Bertha Hansen: Rose Hill Cemetery, Eagle Grove, Iowa.
In the Homer & Julia Spangler plot.
The name on the tombstone is “Bertha Larson”.
________________________________________________________

Next to nothing is know about Jens Larsen. He most likely came to America as a young man, settling near Story City, Iowa. It was there that he met Bertha.

Bertha left Norway in 1876 through the seaport of Bergen on her way to the U.S. Since she had several cousins in the Story City area, she moved there and two years later was married to Jens.

In 1884 the couple bought eighty acres of land near Eagle Grove. At the time, the family consisted of two sons and two daughters. Another boy and girl came along later. Since farming in those days required a large amount of manual labor, the children were kept busy.

Seven years after purchasing the farm, Jens became ill and finally passed away in early 1892 after being sick for about a year. Since the family could not afford a coffin, the neighbors built one for them while Jens’s body was left outside in a shed to freeze. A bobsled was used to transport the remains to the cemetery for burial. Heated stones were taken on the journey to keep warm in the frigid January cold.

Jen’s death left Bertha with six children to raise, the oldest being around twelve and the youngest barely a year. In addition, there was the farm to attend to. It must have been tempting to simply sell the acreage and/or quickly find another husband. It is a tribute to Bertha’s determination that she chose to continue the farming and family raising and that she did it almost entirely on her own.

While farming, Bertha received assistance from the neighbors in return for the work the Larsen children did for them. The boys would help out in the fields while the girls would earn money by babysitting, milking cows and feeding the pigs. All of this no doubt promoted a tighter community amongst these transplanted Scandinavians.

But there could be challenges. At one time Bertha had to take a neighbor to court because his tiled ditch was draining onto the Larsen land. This was not easy. Money was tight, and laws in those days were often stacked against a single working mother, a fact the neighbor was probably well aware of. Imagine his surprise when the judge ruled in Bertha’s favor!

In 1910, after the children were all raised, Bertha sold the farm, married Lars Tveit and the two moved to the tiny town of Thor, Iowa. It must have been a close knit family since Bertha’s daughter had three years earlier married Lars’s son. Bertha in fact had been living with the young couple and had delighted in spoiling her grandchildren.

Even though she was no longer involved with farming, Bertha continued her hard working ways by raising a garden. Vegetables were kept in the cellar under the house. A stern woman, Bertha would use the Norwegian phrase “chus cotton” when things went awry. In English this means “kiss the cat”.

The two moved again, to Eagle Grove in 1920, to be closer to the children. Later in the decade Bertha began to experience “heart spells” which would trouble her at times for the remainder of her life.

Almost all of the couple’s money was lost when their bank failed during the Depression. Ironically, Bertha’s son-in-law Homer Spangler sat on the bank’s board of directors and could hardly have been unaware of the institution’s distress. His failure to warn Bertha did not endear him to the rest of the family.

After experiencing increasing problems with her “spells”, Bertha finally died a few days short of her eight-first birthday. A better example of immigrant persistence and resolve would be hard to find.

Children of Jens & Bertha Larsen

Chris Larsen – Farmer
Born: ??Died: ??

Hans Larsen – Farmer
Born: 1881Died: 1965

Julia Larsen (Spangler) – Housewife
Born: January 5, 1883Died: March 6, 1953

Martha Larsen (Spangler) – Housewife
Born: 1884Died: 1967
Martha & Julia married the Spangler brothers Elias & Homer.

Nels Larsen – Farmer
Born: ??Died: ??

Anna Christine Larsen (Tveit) – Housewife
Born: October 27, 1890Died: July 9, 1936