Antone Berg
5 May 1886 - 25 July 1963
Born in May of 1886, Antone was the sixth child born to John
and Hanna Berg. He joined five siblings aged eight to two years: Gustave (Gust),
Palmine (Pauline), Mina (Minnie), Alma, and Hannah.
In January 1887, Antone was just nine months old when his
mother left to be admitted to the insane asylum in Madison, Wisconsin. In her
absence he was well cared for by his father and siblings. Antone would be four
years old when his mother returned home. She would be committed, by court
order, two more times before he was an adult.
It speaks to the love in that Berg household that enveloped
this small boy during those difficult years, as Antone grew up with a calm,
friendly, yet mischievous temperament. He was easy to be around and gathered
friends easily. Laughter was never far away. He wasn’t a loud or jovial man,
but quiet and calm. He wore a hint of a smile with a twinkle in his blue eyes,
as if there was something funny bubbling just under the surface. Antone became
a man of medium build, sports-loving, a musical storyteller, a carpenter who
farmed and who loved to go fishing.
Jennie, his younger sister, was an easy target of his pranks
when they were growing up. She told how he would grab the last piece of cake or
pie, cutting it in two, not quite equal parts, and “graciously” offer the first
choice to her. He was well-aware of what he was doing. Can’t you just see the
smirk on his face? She, of course, bound by the manners she had been taught,
had to take the smaller of the two pieces, knowingly falling into his trap.*
By 1910, Alma, Antone and Jennie were the only siblings
living at home with their parents, John, and Hanna, in the rural Wisconsin community
of the Town of Easton. Gust, Pauline, and Minnie were married and living away. Hannah
was also living away from home at this time, working as a cook and seamstress to
help support the family.
In this US 1910 census record we see that a boarder had come to live with the Bergs, a young Norwegian
immigrant woman named Ragnhild Erichsen. Ragnhild was barely five feet tall in
stocking feet, with a fun sense of humor and a little bit mischievous. A good
match for the Berg’s son.
On the 31st of October 1912, Antone and Ragnhild were married, a marriage lasting over fifty years.
Questions come to mind: Why was Ragnhild living with the
Bergs in the Town of Easton? Why not be married in Bethany Lutheran Church? I thought they were married in Milwaukee, but the photo was taken in Chicago. Where did they live as newlyweds?
*Jennie
Berg told this reminiscence to the author.
