Many Versions of Bertha
My great-grandmother, Tillie Anderson Morud, was the child of John Henry Anderson and Bertha Olson. Tillie told me that her mother came to the US alone from Norway and didn't speak the same dialect as her spouse and had no family in the area. Unable to communicate, living on a rural homestead, she birthed 6 children, enduring what must have been a very difficult South Dakotan farm life.
For decades, I've tried to research her and trace her roots. Likely due to her lack of English skills and limited ability to read and write, each confirmed record told different versions of the same facts. The 1925 South Dakota census shows her as "Betsey" while the 1935 South Dakota census lists her as "Bertha". Other spellings are "Bertina", "Brita", and "Betsy". The U.S. Census records from 1900 to 1940 indicate that she was born sometime between 1858 and 1865. And then, there's when she immigrated to the U.S.; the 1920 US Census said 1879, whereas the other census records generally used 1888 or 1889. Her first child was born in 1890, and the next children quickly followed.
And finally, the challenge of a surname of "Olson". Norwegian surnames often are derived from either a location a person lived or from their father's first name. But standardized names that carried forward to future generations started for the common man in the 1800s, so a patronymic name could actually be a grandfather's or great-grandparent's. And so, for decades, I've futilely checked the various genealogical resources for the numerous versions of this woman who I wanted to find.
For simplicity, let's call her Bertha Olson, born around 1860, coming to the US around 1889.
A Clue - not Olson
At some point in my research, I pulled the 1925 South Dakota Census records for John & Bertha Anderson (see below). Notice that "Betsey"'s card has a surname that is not Olson. It's not very legible, but it's definitely not "Olson". The first time I saw this, I believe I just ignored it, thinking "well that's wrong". I also doubted if these were the correct records for my Andersons. After more research, I couldn't find another John & Bertha/Betsey Anderson in Toronto, Deuel county, South Dakota at the same time with the right ages or marital data. So I eventually concluded it was them and attached the 1925 Census records to my family tree.
So what to do about the name that wasn't "Olson"? Well, I had two chances to try and read it, as it was also listed on John "J.H."' Anderson's census card. Some guesses were that it said "Otterfeld", "Otterfell", or "Otterjeld".
Eventually, I rechecked the 1935 South Dakota Census records. No maiden name listed on Bertha's card.
But, John Anderson's card had his wife's maiden name as something that looked like "Bertha Otterdohl".
So I set out to find out about the surname "Otterdohl" or "Otterfeld" or "Otterfell" or "Otterjeld".
Ot??r?el?
So where do you look when you don't know exactly what you are looking for?
Other family members? I asked for any surname hints through our Anderson Family History Facebook Group: I was hoping that this
Post might trigger some deep memory in the mind of one of the cousins. But, no. No luck.
Google? My google searches suggested that I might be looking for the Norway town of Otternes, in Vestland County. But I didn't have anything else to connect Bertha to that town, so it didn't seem right.
Farm names? A site I use often is a
database of farm names. Since surnames often came from where people lived, looking for a "O*" farm seemed like it could yield something. But, no.
Surname search? Another site I often use for family history research is a
surname database. This site tells how many people exist in the world with each given surname. Turns out there are no Otterfells or Otterjelds or other versions of something similar.
DNA? I was very fortunate that my great-uncle, Maynard Morud, grandson of Bertha Olson, shared his DNA with me through Ancestry DNA. I've been slowly working through his matches and slicing out which ones could belong to the Olson lineage. Unni Alickson's descendants, Judy & Karen, held a lot of promise, but ultimately, I couldn't connect Unni and Bertha.
Random cemetery search? I can't remember what research question I was working on when I found myself once again on the
Find A Grave, Leganger Cemetery site. It's the site that leads one to the gravesites of my great-grandparents, Tillie & Berger Morud: records I processed years ago.
It was very late at night. I couldn't sleep. And I thought, "Leganger". I've seen that word so many times. What does it mean, and is there a reason my great-grandparents chose that cemetery over the other ones in Deuel county, South Dakota?'
And bloody heck, I found that "Leganger" is the Americanized name for the
Leikanger parish in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. "Sogn" is the place in Norway that was listed as John Anderson's (Bertha's husband) place of birth in his obituary. And scrolling the link, it lists as places in Leikanger parish, Otrehjell.
OTREHJELL
Was this the mysterious word that appeared on the 1925 & 1935 South Dakota Census records? My gut was screaming that it was. I spent a lot of time staring at the records and trying to determine if it was possible I had found the place where Bertha descended from.
When I looked at google images of Sogn og Fjordane, I thought, who would ever leave there? It's breathtaking. How to prove it?
More research
I found an 1865 Norway census record that shows a 4-year old, Brithe Olsdatter attached to the location "Otrehjell". Could that be my Bertha? Were her parents the Ole Andersen and Magrethe Andersdatter listed in this record? The names are all so common. The record alone wasn't enough evidence to convince me to add it to my tree.
Back to the drawing board, I started once again working through DNA matches. Which ones could be Olsons? What could I find out about those matches? Which matches were also matches to each other? Clustering, investigating, building floating trees, trying to find a connection.
I ended up with 10 different lines, each with multiple paths with the Alickson and Blume-Olson paths yielding the highest amount of shared centimorgans (DNA) but with the Skaug line having the highest number of matches. Building, researching, trying again.
Lining up each path wasn't yielding the secrets I needed to unlock this mystery.
I started searching for any DNA matches that had "Otrehjell" in their trees. This gave me some more matches, but with so little DNA shared with my closer relatives, it wasn't yielding the answer. So I decided to just keep researching, building out trees, and hoping eventually I'd build Bertha in to my tree, or connect some of the 10 paths.
Ignored sources
I'm big about using primary sources to support family trees. Just because someone puts a person in their family tree that doesn't mean they are correct. They could have grabbed the wrong "John Anderson", or the wrong parents of John Anderson, or been given incorrect data from another family member. I've found many errors in other people's work and then seen that copied from one tree to another. It can make a big mess. So I use trees only as a last resort, as a carefully-guarded hint, clearly marked to ensure I don't make the mistake of perpetuating any potential errors or don't use an unproven fact to justify another false fact.
So when I was searching for more information to build out the tree for "Unni Eiriksdatter Flete", I was very skeptical when I was directed to a link for a site, Norwayancestors.com. Definitely looked like someone's personal website housing a personal tree. Denied. Ignored. Moving on.
Then later I tried Unni's husband, "Anders Hansson Ylmheim". My primary genealogy application had only one recommended record, someone's personal tree. Grrr. So I clicked on it. It took me back to the Norwayancestors.com as it's only source.
And so, while I intended to ignore the site once again, I thought I might as well take a minute and see why I keep crossing paths with this site. Well, I was wrong. The site is a
database compiling together several primary sources, or bygdeboks, from the Sogn og Fjordane. When I searched for the surname "Otrehjell", it turns out that he had 72 of them on the site. What? That's more than I've found anywhere.
And there's a Brita born in 1861. I had to click on her.
Brita Olasdtr Otrehjell
Below is NorwayAncestors.com record of Brita Olasdtr Otrehjell. Emigrated to the USA in 1889. Yep. Daughter of an "Ola", which is common for "Ole". Yep. Mother and father died in 1887 & 1888. Makes sense why she was alone and came to the US alone.
Parents' surnames' include Flete and Breili, both names I'd seen in my 10 DNA paths. And so, I then selected to view Brita's Family Chart. And there it was: the Anders Ylmheim and Unni Flete who I was trying to find for the Skaug path. They are Brita's grandparents. Under them, is listed the Hans Skaug that is a DNA match to my great-uncle Maynard and the path with the most DNA matches. A paper trail that aligns with the DNA path.
Breaking down the wall
So many small little trivial clues, things that mostly I ignored, which ultimately opened up the wall and broke it down. Now I haven't jumped ship and added all of the above to the tree yet.
One, I wanted to write this and re-check the process, since this has been a long journey. Did I get to this conclusion correctly?
Second, now that I have a theory that Brita is Bertha, I can connect some of the DNA matches and see if the number of centimorgans (amount of DNA) lines up with their newly determined relationships.
And so, if generations from now you are wondering how did Brita's ancestors get added to our tree, you will understand my journey in to learning about hers.
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