Trafford Publishing: Nerison and Bergene Roots and Branches

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Nerison and Bergene Roots and Branches

by Laurence Edward Nerison

401 pages; spiral coil; catalogue #02-1149; ISBN 1-55395-434-3; US$33.00, C$44.70, EUR29.10, £20.20

This book contains an extensive genealogy network touching over 8400 people. In addition to the genealogy, there are biographies, annecdotes and photographs.

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about the book about the author sample excerpts catalogue info

About the Book

Between Larry and Ethel Nerison, they trace back to over thirty prime ancestors. This book follows lineages down from each of these ancestors to the present generations. Connections have been found to B.C. dates of Scandinavian Kings, the Mayflower, Laura Ingalls Wilder, U.S. Grant and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Photographs include present generation, ancestors, and ancestral homes and farmsteads on both sides of the Atlantic.
A code number system has been developed to identify each family member which allows the reader to trace ancestral lines. These code numbers enable the reader to instantly calculate the number of generations between family members.

About the Author

Larry Nerison is a retired public school music teacher. He was born in Goodhue County, Minnesota, where his Nerison ancestors first settled. Most of his youth was spent in Jackson, Minnesota. He graduated from St.Olaf College, taught one year in Balaton, MN, spent two years in the army, and taught 32 years in Adams, Minnesota, where he and his wife Ethel reside.

Sample Excerpt
The story of Håkon Næs Støle as taken from Faith is the Substance by Haakon Stolee.

During the late 1700's, Norway and the rest of Europe went through an era of warfare and depression, as we have mentioned. Norway was pressed by Sweden on one side and England on the other. This led to a blockcade of all imports of food, especially grain, from Denmark. Add to this the poor crops for several years, and total crop failure in 1807-08, and we have the background for such legends (or history) as Terje Viken, who lost his scow and his "two barrels of barley" when captured by the English "lord" and "imprisoned five years in England."
Such was the condition in Norway when Håkon Thorson Mølstavågsnes was in his best years. (Please note here that this is one and the same as Håkon Næs Støle. The name Støle was added when Håkon settled on the Støle gård.) He was engaged in running through the English blockade and bringing grain from Denmark. For his valor in thus serving his country he was given a "red silk coat and knee britches" by the king. That suit, or uniform, was his treasured garb as long as he lived.
Håkon Næset was an upstanding, distinctive-looking man, a versatile adventurer, hunter, and fisherman, as well as guerilla soldier. His ordinary leather breeches were said to have pockets large enough to hold flint and steel and tinder for making a fire. Matches were unknown at that time. He was a lover of books, being one of the few who could read and write. After his death, the books were sold for "one silver mark." Some of his heirs evidently valued the silver more than the books.
It is interesting to see how our great-grandfather (of Haakon Stolee) got his wife. She was a Danish woman, Anna Katrine Rosenberg. Håkon did not meet her on any of his travels to Denmark. The romance, which is established as being entirely factual, runs this way, though some legend may have crept into the details:
Anna Katrine's home was on one of the many islands aat the north end of Denmark. One day she and a neighbor girl went over to a smaller islet to care for the dairy cows that were kept grazing there. While the two women were doing the chores, a heavy fog came up, and when they started to row back to their home, they lost their way. Their boat drifted all night - north and west to the south coast of Norway. Some Norwegian seamen rescued them. They were brought ashore and never returned to Denmark, probably because of the constant warfare. Anna Katrine Rosenberg and her friend (or perhaps sister) were married to the young men who saved them in the North Sea. At least, so the story goes. One of the men was the brave Håkon Næset. They had three children, Tor, Mikkel, and Katrine. Mikkel is our grandfather (of Haakon Stolee). This is how the name Rosenberg got into our family tree. It is a common Danish surname. There is also a castle, Rosenberg Slot, a short distance from København. The name has also been used as given name for both men and women in our family. Now it is fading out.
Both Håkon and Katrine lived to be very old people. He was 98 and she 99. Father (Jakob Johannes Ståle) remembered visiting these grandparents at Mølstavågsnes, Sveio parish. His grandmother used to call him Johannes, named for one of Katrine's family. She was nearly blind in old age and wanted to "feel" how much her grandson was growing. One of her descendants, Mrs. Jewel Goldberg, has the sold gold ring, a family heirloom, which Håkon gave to his bride, Anna Katrine. The ring is a plain gold band, with scrolls engraved on it. Jewel Goldberg, the wife of Rev. Ronald Goldberg, is a granddaughter of our sister, Kathrina Olson.
Children:
1. Anna Katrina, born 1818, died 1875.
2. Tåren Olina, born 1822.
3. Ingeborg Elisabet, born 1828, died 1840.
4. Mette Asselina, born 1831.

THE FAMILY OF MICHAEL STOLEE
Much of what I write here has been taken from the memories recalled by Alice Stolee, wife of Jacob Stolee. She was kind enough to write several letters, which I somehow thought to save.
Michael and Martha served in Madagascar from 1900 until 1909. They were among the first four or five Lutheran missionaires from America to serve the Madagascar mission field. When home on their first furlough in nine years, they spent a year speaking in churches throughout the mid-west raising funds for the Madagascar missions. The normal mode of transportation was by train and then, after being met at the depot, to be driven by horse and buggy to country churches or to small town churches where the mission festivals were held. I quote here from Alice's account of one incident in 1909.
"At one such time he was met by a man who drove a very balky Ford car that stopped regularly and had to be coaxed and cranked all to often for the driver's liking, and his temper flared more each time this happened. Since with a preacher aboard, he could not swear and finally again, the car stopped, he got out, went to the front of the car and kicked out both headlights. He had had it!"
When the family was rounding the Cape of South Africa on their return to Madagascar, they received a cablegram instructing them to return to the U.S.A. as the church convention had elected M.J. to the Chair of Missions at Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. This they did with mixed emotions as they had been looking forward to another nine years at Fort Dauphin, Madagascar. He served in this capacity at the seminary for 34 years, living at 1419 Grantham Street on the seminary campus. Most of the family memories and anecdotes recorded here are from that residence.
Michael was sent abroad for a time after World War I to check on the post war situation in Poland as well as other countries. Again I quote from Alice's account.
"He stayed for a while with President Paderewski in his Poland home and used his private train. There is a picture in the album of M.J.S. and Paderewski." I have included this picture in the book.
Alice continues. "There were many interesting episodes connected with that trip. I'm not sure of the number of months he spent overseas. I do recall an incident allowed for me because he was in uniform in France at the Vatican when the guards meeting him in uniform and speaking excellent French (long time training before and while working in the French owned island of Madagascar), the guards mistook him for a Catholic official and took him through the Vatican to places not for the public. He saw the great collection of jewels, gold, and great valuables stored there and lots of nooks and crannies not on display.
"This assignment was of valuable education to M.J.S. in all the war torn countries. But we know how anxious he was to return to 1419 Grantham Street to see his dear family. Instead of the happy and anticipated reunion at the door, he was met with the very sad news that little Erik had died of spinal meningitis very suddenly and the joy of returning home was dampened."
We know from the date of Erik's death in 1912 and from newspaper accounts that this did not happen during M.J's. post WWI trip as Alice suggests, but rather during his study trip to Norway.
The family vacation spot was a cottage on Lake Wapagasset near Amery and Deronda, Wisconsin. I remember being there at least once during World War II. I may have been there more than once but if so, my memory from age 4or 5 had blended it into one trip. I remember Grampa Stolee rowing us out to a favorite fishing spot and catching sunfish on came poles with cork bobbers. I remember getting a fish bone caught in my throat. Grampa knew just what to do. He quickly fashioned a tweezers out of two toothpicks and a rubber band and removed the bone from my throat. Alice's memories of those vacations are more complete. Again I quote from her account.
"Before Jake and I were married, our first invite after school ended in June was to accompany the family to Lake Wapagasset in Wis. - near Amery. Jake drove the car (M.J. S. never drove a car) and we had to leave at 5 a.m. (orders from M.J.S.). The first miles held the questions 'What did we forget?' but after crossing the border into Wis., the vacation had arrived, and we'd sing lustily and relax. The family urged Martha to sing the turn-of-the-century songs like 'The Bird in the Gilded Cage' and the tear jerker, 'In the Baggage Coach Ahead' and songs of that vintage. We'd all sing as we headed for that little cabin. It meant hard work for Martha as the cabin had no modern equipment - a wood stove to cook on. Canutta sacked up the laundry and took it home on the train for attention every now and then. But the family had togetherness and simple pleasures. M.J.S. fished daily to keep fish on the menu. The cottages were close together and people seemed to know each other well, so there was much visiting. M.J.S. loved to play cards and Parcheesi. I recall I had to leave from Deronda on one occasion when the games were so intense that he kept changing my leaving hour and finally had to take me to a depot quite a distance away to catch a train. He loved wearing old clothes after having to be dressed always - and to the point of looking like a bum! He thoroughly enjoyed that. The last time we were at Deronda, Wis. he was suffering such cancer pain that Jake took him back to St. Paul where he died in November. How hard it was to set the Thanksgiving table the day after the funeral and arrange the seating! So terribly missed! Erling took very good care of his mother thereafter and postponed his marriage because of her. He married soon after her death."....

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