Return to USA
The desire to return to the USA was strong. Johan was
confident that work opportunities were much better than in Norway, so Johan and
Hanna began to make plans to move their family to Wisconsin, USA.
In the spring of 1881, Johan left Norway, for the last time.
He boarded the SS Katie which sailed from Kristiania (Oslo) to Gothenburg,
Sweden to New York City. The ship sailed on the 14th of April, 1881,
arriving in NYC on April 30th. The ship’s captain signed the
manifest on May 1st where we see Johan’s name, third on the page.
He continued on to Wisconsin to prepare for Hanna and
the children to arrive. Hanna was pregnant with their third child and the
children were two and almost four years old. Their great-grandchildren remember
being told the story:
Johan went to the US to find
work and a place to live. Hanna and the toddlers followed. They arrived in
Wisconsin and surprised their husband and father when he got off work.
The mother with her two little ones in tow, made the journey
to meet Johan in time for Mina to be born on 27 September 1881, in Menomonie. Wisconsin.
Menomonie, situated on the Red
Cedar River in western Wisconsin, was once the home to the largest lumber
industry in the US. Millions of acres of land was being cleared in the Midwest
for farming and settlements as the massive emigration from Europe was underway.
Johan found
work in one of the several sawmills in the area. The family soon moved south of
Menomonie along the river, to the tiny village of Downsville where they lived
for about ten years.
The Pedersens were now known as the Bergs. Pedersen proved
to be a common name in this immigrant community, so Johan chose the name John
P. Berg – John, the anglicized version of Johan, P. for Pedersen, and Berg for
Akeberg, his Norwegian homestead. Other family names were also adjusted to fit
in. Gustav was called Gust, Palmine became Pauline and Mina was nicknamed
Minnie.
While John had begun to learn English during his previous
time the US, for his whole life he spoke a blend of Norwegian and English. His
granddaughter, Sylvia, remembered him saying, with a smile, “Yew yust mix it opp halv og
halv.” John helped Hanna and the
children adjust to their new life. Little did they know, the challenges that were
to come.
The family grows, not without difficulty
By 1886, just five years after arriving in the US, John and
Hanna’s family had grown to six: Gust, Pauline, Minnie, Alma, Hannah, and
Antone. John was content with his work, he loved being a father, but his life
was not as he had expected. Hanna was suffering from mental illness. The family
line, as told by my mother (Sylvia) was “she got up too soon after Aunt
Hannah was born.”
In January 1887, the situation was bad enough that Hanna was admitted to the Mendota State Mental Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. She was expecting their seventh child. At home, the children ranged in age from Gustav eight years to Antone 9 months. John was tasked with caring for their growing family. Gust and Pauline assumed chores well beyond their years. One could imagine that the small immigrant community would have helped with meals or childcare. Hanna gave birth to baby Johan in the hospital. He was taken home where he died a few months later.
Hanna was hospitalized for three years.
By 1890, the family was living together in the Town of Easton in central Wisconsin, about 20 miles east of Wausau. At this point the timing of the move is not
known. There was one reference to arriving in the Town of Easton in 1888, but there
is no verification for this that has been found. Hanna’s sister Maren, married
to Ole Jensen, was living in the area. Perhaps John
moved the family to be closer to a support network while Hanna was hospitalized.
Hanna was released and joined the family in 1890. The last
child, Jennie, was born on 24 April 1892. A year later Hanna was admitted to
the State Mental Asylum at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Today, the diagnosis would be
post-partum depression, or perhaps even post-partum psychosis, as medical
records mention her violent episodes.
John took Hanna home after one year. Jennie, at age two,
became reacquainted with her mother. Ten years passed before Hanna again had to
be admitted. This time, the diagnosis was “the change.”
John worked at the Norwegian Sawmill which was located on
the River Road in the Town of Easton. He also farmed and did butchering. He and
four other Norwegian immigrants started a church, first meeting in homes. Bethany
Lutheran Church continues to serve the community to this day.
The family grew up, moved away, married, and had families of their own. Hanna passed away on the 24th of April, 1924. John lived with one or more of his children for the rest of his life. He smoked his pipe under the large maple trees outside his log home in rural Wisconsin, cared for by his daughters Hannah and Jennie. He wintered in Oak Park, Illinois, sharing the home of daughter Alma and her family.
Family, including his eight grandchildren, were the center of John's life until he died in Chicago in 1940 at the age of 90. His
funeral and burial was at Bethany Lutheran Church in the Town of Easton.
