My "English" Ancestor...

This is Herman Hamborg.

He was born on April 7, 1837 in Toten, Norway.

He was baptized on June 11, 1837

and confirmed in 1851.

It's hard to believe that I have a great uncle

born in 1837 and that his sister, my great grandmother

was born in 1823!

But when my dad was born in 1900,

Herman was "only" 63 at that time.

This is the only photo we have of Herman.

It was copied from the "Royal Oak Magazine"

published in England in 1906.

There was a lot of information about him in

this article, some of which I am sharing:

Herman's father - my great-great grandfather,

was a farmer in Norway.

Herman was the 7th of 13 children

Herman started working at a very young age,

and developed independence and self-support.

Although there were six children older than him in the family,

Herman was the first to leave home at the age of 15.

He went to Christiana (Oslo, Norway) and became attached

to the British Consulate, and at the age of 18

he went to London with Sir John Rice Crowe [who was the

Consul], who had been recalled by the British government

in connection with the ending of the Crimean War.

On January 1, 1856 they left Christiana.

They traveled to England by first going to Sweden

by sledge - a distance of 400 miles.

There, they were entertained at the palace by

King Oscar.

The voyage across the North Sea was very rough.

The main mast was smashed, the cabin

doors burst in, and the decks were

swept clean by the waves.

They arrived in London on February 5, 1856.

Herman did return to Norway for a time

but in 1860 decided to leave and make

Westminster, England his home.

In England, he eventually started a business as

a wholesale tobacconist.

In 1906, he was said to have been the

oldest wholesale tobacconist in London.

For 28 years, Herman served on the old

Westminster Vestry, and was a church warden,

overseer and guardian; he was also chairman of the

Free Libraries and Baths Commissionioners.

He was a member of the school board in London,

and was active in many other organizations.

He must have been a busy, busy man!

Herman had the pleasure of meeting

the Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind,

and he knew Charles Dickens.

He served as a constable in the

Fenian Riots and also at the

Trafalgar Square Riots.

Herman did find time to get married.

He had two children with his first wife,

whom he married in 1862.
After the death of his first wife,

Herman married Fannie Cox, age 36

at St. Peter's Church in London

On October 2, 1884.

Herman was 47 years old.

The marriage license states that

Fannie's father was a "gentleman."

Herman became a natural citizen of England

and remained there for the rest of his life.

So that is how I come to have an "English Ancestor"

Now this is one relative that probably would have

been real interesting to visit with!

Note:  For any relatives who are wondering:
Herman was the brother of great-grandma Berte Gaarder,
Berte was the mother of Mina Melby
Mina was the mother of Ralph/

50 Per cent Improved

I have suffered from hearing loss

since I was a small child.

It has worsened some as

I have gotten older.

Whether it is caused by

genetics

or from having measles

has not been determined.

I didn't have problems hearing

my teachers in school;

I don't have problems hearing

the Sunday sermon.

I usually don't have problems on

the phone.

Some one-on-one conversations

go pretty well,

but some don't go well at all.

I can hear birds singing,

and babies crying.

I can tell when someone is

singing off-tune.

Whispering?  Forget it!

Meetings?  Very difficult.

Voices from another room?   It's just noise.

So ...(drum roll) I have invested in a hearing aid.

Just for one ear, mind you.

The cost of one was more than $1,500,

so for now, I will have to be

50 per cent improved.

With the hearing aid,

I practically have to learn to listen.
A person with hearing loss

often avoids talking to people,

sometimes just tuning them out

rather than asking someone to repeat.

A person with hearing loss hates

having to ask "what?" too many times,

and will finally just give up,

since that is easier.

The first day I wore my  hearing aid:

I wondered if there was something

wrong with my car - I could hear all kinds

of rumbles and rattles!

I walked downtown and could hear
someone arguing in their home.
(No, I don't know what they were arguing about)

I noticed that I could hear someone

talking to me from across the yard.

and I could understand what was being said.

I know this is the norm for most of you,

but for those of us with hearing loss,

this is big.

Some days I forget to put in my

new hearing aid...

I don't wear it when I am home alone.

I haven't been wearing it to church on Sunday.

I also don't like to wear it in noisy stores,

such as Wal-Mart.

I have lived in a quiet world for a long time!

If I am in a restaurant, I turn it off - too noisy.

Paper rustling drives me crazy.

There will still be times I may have

to say, "what?"

But hopefully, not nearly as often.

So for right now, I'm only 50 percent improved,

but it is a nice improvement!

Yesterday. . .and Today...Dalton, Minnesota

Here is a view of Dalton, Minnesota in 1895.

You are looking northeast towards the

back of Main Street.

Click on the photo to enlarge,

and you will see people,

laundry on the line, a dog and

many other little details.

It is possible this picture was taken from

on top of the elevator.

Some of these buildings are no longer standing,

but the two on the left are still there.

The darker building on the left is now the Dalton Cafe.

The one next to it is part of JC's Grocery Store.

A long time ago the building  was added on at the back

and has a different lean-to.

If you were to go to the back room of the store,

you would find that there are 2 back rooms.

At one point, the owner of the store lived there.

Another interesting tidbit--in 1906

There were burglars in the store.

A couple of passers-by happened to see them

and fired shots.

The bullet lodged into the back wall.

I wonder if one can still see where this bullet was?

We have been trying to figure out what the

tall building on the upper right is.

The old hardware store?

On another old photo, taken a little later,

this same building is visible.

Here is the same view (sort of).

I couldn't go on top of any building

to take the picture!

The Dalton Cafe is the tan building on the left.

JC's Store is the longer, white building.

If you compare photos, you will

note that JC's store is longer than

the original building.

And in between these two stores

is the brick building that used

to be the bank.

It is now a beauty shop.

If anyone has any old photos of Dalton,

I would really like to borrow them

to scan.

Threshing 2011

 Parade of Giants

 Windmill

 Here, they are threshing!

 More threshing!

The smokestack of a mighty steam engine

Great Grandma Dahlager

This is my great grandpa & grandma Dahlager

Their names are Chistopher and Sigrid.

Sigrid was born on August 19, 1853

at Slidre, Vang Valdres, Norway.

Sigri was about 16
when the family immigrated to America.

(See "The Journey to America")

The family settled in Worth County, Iowa.

On March 25, 1874, Sigri Leikvold

married Christopher Dahlager

at Silver Lake Lutheran Church

near Northwood, Iowa.

In 1884, they decided to move to Minnesota.

They settled in Tumuli Township,

just south of Dalton,

very close to Clear Lake.

The cost of the home & acreage was

$1,625.00.

It seems like that was a lot of money in 1884!?

The house was very small, and Great Grandpa

built an addition to it in order to

accomodate the  growing family.

(They eventually had 10 children)

Great Grandma loved flowers

and planted many flowers around the house.

She even planted flowers along the trail

to the outhouse.

She placed rocks along the flower bed,

and  in 2000, when I visited the farm,

there were still rocks from the back door

leading to the now non-existent outhouse.

Great Grandma Sigrid did not speak much English,

She most certainly did not read and write it.

My mom, Sigri's grand-daughter,

remembered what fun it was to go to her grandmother's house.

She told about going there for Christmas,

with the table set with fancy dishes and

delicious food.

She also remembered what fun it was "hiding out" on

the winding stairway.

Great-grandma's house is no longer standing,

but I do have pictures of the home

with the family sitting in front of it.

The lilac bushes are still standing,

and some years ago, my cousin was given

a sign that said "Dahlager" that was

found in the barn.

Great-grandma died in 1942.

Again, this is a relative that I never met.
 Regretfully, there are many things that

I now wish I knew about her.

But still, it sometimes seems like I knew her.
There seems to be a connection....
after all, she was my Great-Grandmother!