Sina Marie Sørensdtr

GEDCOM Note

!BIRTH-MARRIAGE-DEATH: A genealogy compiled by Diane (Monson) Hayden, Wisconsin Rapids, WI and provided to Robert Anderson, Apple Valley, MN.

!MARRIAGE: Marriage Cert; 1904; Register of Deeds, Eau Claire, Eau Claire Co, WI; book 3, p 125; Vital Statistics Section; COMMENT: Lutheran ceremony.

Soren Ivarsen, Sina's father, offered to buy the Archie Wood place for them but Hans turned him down.

Have obit.

For now I'd like to tell you that one source of info that I have about Sina is her obit, which lists her birth as July 11, 1881. It doesn't name her father, but does say she came to the USA at age 22. This fits with verbal family history which indicated that Sina was raised by her Aunt & Uncle and her passage to the US was paid by someone already here - but not her father. One version is that she agreed to marry a young man she knew in Norway man if he paid her passage and then changed her mind when she got here. (According to John & Ruth Monson, the Norwegians in the area Sina came from still remember her as an exceptionally beautiful young girl with many suitors.) The obit just says Sina for someone in northern Wisconsin for a year after coming to the USA. Dad said she found work as a housekeeper/nanny in Augusta, WI to earn money to pay the young man who brought her over here. Perhaps you can find her on a passenger list around 1901-2. The obit goes on to say that "While living in Whitehall, WI she married Hans Monson on November 25, 1904." But your Eau Claire information might be more accurate - accuracy didn't seem important to earlier generations. My Dad & Mom always said that they shared the same marriage anniversary date as Hans & Sina (Nov 25) but I found discrepancies in some of Dad's memories. For example he was certain his Mom died on April 12, but the death record in Watford City, her tombstone in Alexander cemetery, and her obit indicate that she died on April 08, 1949. She was buried April 12. Dad had confused the dates - easy to do.

And even though Dad was positive that Soren died in 1929, not 1928, I could probably confirm it one way or the other by checking other sources. I know Hans & Sina bought the Timbercreek farm with money from her Dad's estate. I will check into that. Also Dad recalled severe flooding in the Williston river bottoms the year Soren died. I will see if I can find out more about that. The Whitehall records (1928) are probably accurate though. E-mail from Diane Hayden 4 May 1999

Original Message

Uncle Bill said that Sina did not like Aunt Connie. After marrying Thomas Dudgeon, Connie became used to fine things because Mr. Dudgeon was a wealthy man. Thomas was an Englishman who had racing horses and quite a few other businesses says Bill. Bill described Connie as "too swell" to have her sick, elderly parents in her home, and so that job fell to Sina - who had five small children toward the end. A. Connie had a sharp tongue and often criticized Sina for the way she cared for Halvor & Berthe. And Hans made it worse. Sometimes when he went to Eau Claire to visit, he would "cry to Aunt Connie" about Sina's care of the parents. Then Connie would come to scold Sina. But in the end only Sina could understand their mother. Sina & Berte spoke to each other only in Norwegian. (Sina would have been very fluent in the language having lived in Norway until adulthood, whereas Connie & Hans were born in the USA)

In later years, about 1957 - Bill remembers a trip to Wisconsin when he was doing the driving. He (& ??) had taken Aunt Connie to visit Melford & Edna in Pigeon Falls. On the way home Connie began making critical comments about Sina (now deceased). Bill quickly interrupted her and said that Sina was his mother and he loved her and if Connie didn't cease with the comments he was going to stop the car and she could walk back to Eau Claire.

In the stock market crash of 1929, Thomas Dudgeon lost his fortune and his mind, says Bill. Connie had to adjust to a more frugal lifestyle. Connie had to take care of Thomas. Thomas loved to smoke his pipe but one day started the curtains on fire, so Connie got rid of the pipe. To make ends meet Connie became a housekeeper for older wealthy people. And according to her obit, Connie became an employee of the Eau Claire County Court as the bailiff, a job she held for 37 years. She died in 1969 at age 96. Story Seven: Marianne, who is 3 years older than me, had just turned age 8 when Sina died (Apr 8, 1949). So Marianne does remember Sina. One of her memories is that Sina always wore two dresses. A pinafore over her dress I ask? No, two regular dresses - on sleeveless, Marianne said.

GEDCOM Note

(Research):Tuesday, September 12, 2006: Called Uncle Bill and asked about his mother, Sina, and how she came to the United States. Bill confirmed that Sina's passage was paid by a man in northern Wisconsin - not her father - and that when Sina met the man she didn't like him and didn't want to marry him so she found a job (as a housekeeper - maybe even for that man) and paid the man back. (This type of arrangement was common back then.) This story matches what my Dad told me in the 1990s. Harvey also said Sina met Hans while living with her Dad in Whitehall; Hans & Sina got married in Nov 1904 according to her obit (Nov 25, 1904) and marriage record (Nov 30, 1904). So when did Sina come to the US? U. Bill says she came when she was age 17 (abt 1898) but on the 1910 census it says 1902 (age 21) and on the next two censuses (1920 and 1930) it says 1903. The latter matches the age of immigration stated in her obituary - age 22. Because the ages given for Sina on all the censuses is congruent with her b-date it seems like Sina was not confused - though as Bill pointed out there was a language barrier in the early years. Further proof for 1903 comes from Bob Anderson who says "I checked the Sogn database and she did not move from Gaular except in 1903. The church was very strict on signing out, probably so your church records followed you." Whatever year it was Bill is certain Sina's father did not bring her over or finance the passage. But Bill did say that Soren returned to Norway - at least once. The story Bill recalls hearing is that Soren booked passage on the Titanic but two weeks before change his mind. This would have been in 1912 and it would have been a return voyage for Soren because the Titanic sank on her maiden voyage after leaving England head for NYC. The following record from Bob indicates an even earlier trip: Passenger List leaving Bergen: Year 1891 113 4/3 Søren Iversen Hougsbø, age 39, birth 1852, male, born in Indre Holmedal, lived in I. Holmedal and Amerik. citizen for 9 years in America. This record seems to indicate that Søren immigrated to the USA in about 1882. This fits with oral history saying Sina did not know her father growing up; that he left Norway when she was very young. Sina was born on 11 Jul 1881 in Yndestad, Sunnfjord; her mother, Oleanna Hansdtr Yndestad, would have been age 27. Sina's mother and father were not married, said Bill. Sina's mother died when she was young - oral history says age nine but when Oleanna died in Jun 1896, Sina would have been coming up on her 15th birthday. Bill said Oleanna drowned while swimming in a fjord; Harvey was told she had an epileptic fit and drowned. Bill said Sina was raised by two unmarried aunts; Harvey said by an uncle and aunt. What seems certain is that she grew up on the Yndestad farm because that is the name she used on many records; that farm seems to have passed to her Uncle Ola and Aunt Maria Hansen Yndestad. (It seems that all the sisters of Ola married except for Sina's mother.) Bill said his mother could speak English but could not read and write in English and that is why he Dad had to do the letter writing to them when they were in the service in WWII. My notes from Harvey confirm that Sina did not learn to write in English but Harvey said Sina taught herself to read in English, that she preferred current events to novels (naturally! - if her reading skills were limited) and that she was often seen "reading" the Saturday Evening Post. Harvey thought it a shame his mother couldn't write in English because he would have loved receiving letters in her beautiful handwriting. Even though Sina didn't know her father growing up she did get to know him well as an adult because Soren also lived in Whitehall. According to Harvey Soren lived only ½ mile from the last place they lived in Whitehall before moving to ND; Soren had moved there to be closer to Hans & Sina; this was before 1921. Harvey & Bill tell similar stories about Soren's efforts to keep the family from moving to ND. In 1920 Soren would have been age 68 and he offered to give the family a farm (or his farm?) if they would stay (says Harvey) or buy some land adjacent where they could build a house (says Bill.) But Hans was "tired of milking cows" and decided to try ranching on the North Dakota prairie. His brother Matt in North Dakota is instrumental in persuading Hans to move there. So in August 1921 the family moved to Charbonneau, North Dakota. Diane Hayden Wis Rapids, Wisconsin