A Massachusetts Yankee in King Hakon’s Court
Copyright 2004 by Debra J. Richardson. All rights reserved.
Dispersed wide out an ancestral center point of St. Albans, an expansive parcel of English ancestry wends westward away from emerald-hued Hertfordshire towards azure Atlantic shores. The earth of several surrounding English counties cradles the dust of many-times-great grandparents who lie resting in peace awaiting the awakening of a coming morn: Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, Warwickshire, Kent, Wiltshire, Sussex, and Devonshire. As grandchild of these fathers, I may rightly say, paraphrasing William Bradford: my fathers were Englishmen.
On June 15, 1567, before the high altar of Abbey Church, Thomas RICHARDSON my 10th great grandfather, married Margaret SILVERSIDE . Their marriage was the union, and Old England the soil, from whence issued my RICHARDSON ancestry. The RICHARDSON family hailed from Westmill and Standon, both small parish towns. Samuel, their son, arrived in America previous to the year 1636. He, along with brothers, Ezekiel and Thomas, settled the village of Woburn, Massachusetts, near Boston, in 1642. Puritans, the RICHARDSONS had been members of a devout group of believers whose desire it was to purify, or reform, the Anglican Church of England of all trappings yet remaining of Roman Catholicism since the Reformation. Their desire was to worship in the manner they believed congregations had in the early days of Christianity. They’d hoped that such reforms could be achieved while remaining in communion with the Church of England. Fervor unrealized, they cast their bodies, as well as souls, upon an ocean, embarking on a divine mission to establish “a Citty upon a Hill” in a new England.
Samuel RICHARDSON’S son, Stephen, the first RICHARDSON of my line to be born on soil of a new world, married Abigail WYMAN . Their child, first-born Stephen, married Susannah WILSON , daughter of John WILSON . The couple’s fourth child, Ebenezer, my 5th great grandfather, born in Billerica, appears to have been a religious renegade of sorts. My Puritan heritage diverges with his embrace of the Baptist faith. In 1763, he petitioned the selectmen of the village to which had had removed, Pelham, New Hampshire, “that he might not be taxed for the support of the Gospel, as he was a Baptist, and in full communion with a Baptist Church in Boston.” Mandatory support of the local ministry, a core system established and adhered to since the first Puritan footfalls turned voluntary with time. Not merely did Ebenezer alone embrace newfound sectarian beliefs, his son, Zebediah, assumed the mantle of Baptist faith, by studying to become a minister. No easy life did Elder RICHARDSON adopt by seeking to establish early Baptist churches in Maine and New Hampshire. By all accounts he owned an unflappable cool, keeping his wits, and a dry sense of humor, in all circumstances. His wife, Rebekah SNOW , matched her husband in spirit, as well as in spirituality. When at the mercy of an indecisive Society, Mrs. RICHARDSON, with several children and no permanent abiding place, remarked that if a location for a parsonage could not be agreed upon, they best set the house on wheels to move it about easily while her husband preached from place to place. The Revolutionary War aroused Elder RICHARDSON to his patriotic duty. He enlisted in 1775, serving in Capt. James OSGOOD’S Company of Rangers, which joined the northern Continental Army.
The OSGOOD family line commences with the marriage of Zebediah’s son, Caleb, to Mehitable OSGOOD in 1809. Third great grandparents RICHARDSON removed to northwestern Pennsylvania from Fryeburg, Maine. They arrived in Danville, Venango, Pennsylvania about 1815. A pioneer settler of Forest County, Caleb improved land in Deerfield Township, near Tidioute, when Warren County was organized. When the first school opened circa 1818 , Caleb RICHARDSON taught classes in a log house. Shortly following the organization of the first Methodist Society in 1823, my spiritual inheritance altered again. The founding members, under the jurisdiction of the Genesee Conference, consisted of six persons including Caleb and Mehitable, and Anthony and Elizabeth COURSON.. A Methodist meetinghouse was built in 1836. Caleb’s son David, a blacksmith, grew to know, and love, Anthony’s daughter, Margaret.
Anthony, as one of the earliest pioneers of the Tidioute area, purchased land and built in Upper Tidioute, or as it was for many years called “Coursonville”. He improved four hundred acres of land fronting the Allegheny River, built the first gristmill, and established the first tavern. Fatigued raftsmen, having taken their rafts of logs down river to sell in Pittsburgh, returned home on foot, securing good food and accommodations at the COURSON Tavern. Later when the stagecoach line ran through the lumber town of Tidioute, the tavern became a stopping place. Anthony arrived from Centre County, Pennsylvania in 1806, settling initially on Tionesta Creek, with his father-in-law, Henry GATES (GOETZ). Henry [Heinrich], along with wife, [Maria] Catherine BUCHER, brought fresh European lines into my ancestry. Maria Catherine’s father, Caspar, hailed from Neukirch, Canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, sailing from Rotterdam on the ship “Royal Union” to arrive at Philadelphia in 1750. Her mother, Catherine WANNEMACHER’S family, from Asbach, Baden, Germany, also arrived in Philadelphia aboard ship, the “Elizabeth”, in 1738. They settled in New Hanover Township of Montgomery County. The COURSON Islands within the Allegheny honor Anthony’s contribution as a prominent Forest and Warren County pioneer. In 1833, daughter Margaret COURSON became the beloved bride of David, with uncle Rev. Joshua RICHARDSON performing the marriage ceremony.
Parents of eight children, David and Margaret welcomed the birth of their last child by naming him after his father. David junior was a mere toddler when his family left Warren County, Pennsylvania for the “west”. They arrived in Clayton County, Iowa in 1853. Many extended COURSON family members, including father Anthony, resettled near the village of Postville as well. In a short period of weeks following the Richardson’s relocation, David senior fell deathly ill. Eldest son, Caleb, stepped into his father’s shoes. Widowed Margaret was supported also by two married daughters, Marillla MILLER in Waukon, Iowa and Mehitable WRAY , whose family removed to Concord, Dodge County, Minnesota in 1858. When Caleb enlisted in the Civil War, most family members temporarily resided near Concord with the WRAYS . Sgt. Caleb S. RICHARDSON offered the ultimate sacrifice to his country, dying at the age of twenty. The younger RICHARDSON sons, David junior and Luther, came of age and headed to Benton County in central Minnesota to homestead, with their mother as housekeeper. Both young men returned southward once time came to marry. David chose for his wife, Mary STEELE of Waukon. The STEELES , of Scots-Irish ancestry, arrived in Allamakee County, Iowa in 1864. The family settled first on what was known as the old Daily place in Union Prairie township, later at a farm near the stone schoolhouse on West Ridge. Mary’s father, David STEELE , born in Orange County, New York, removed with his parents to Philadelphia, and later to Adamsville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania. He was married to Elizabeth RALSTON , whose great grandfather, John RALSTON , a resident of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, served during the American Revolution as sergeant in the Pennsylvania militia. The RALSTON family’s ancestral roots being in Paisley, Renfrew shire, Scotland.
David, graduated from teacher’s training college in Minnesota, returned to northeast Iowa in 1874 to wed his Mary. Shortly afterwards, they left for Brookings County, South Dakota where Mary’s sister and husband homesteaded. Establishing South Dakota roots for thirty-five years, when time came to consider retirement, they began purchasing property in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, near the area David had known as a bachelor homesteader. Three of their grown children followed their parents to Minnesota. The youngest son, Everest, my grandfather, worked for a time at the Farmer’s Cooperative Creamery in Milaca before enlisting in the Navy during WWI. In 1925 he went to work for the North Star Garage, being employed there for five years. In 1929 he leased a garage near the business district, and after thirteen months joined his brother, Ray RICHARDSON , in renting the Lynch auto garage. The brothers’ business venture ceased in the autumn of 1932. Everest built the Texaco station at the north end of Milaca along Highway 169, and operated it until the summer of 1937. Everest then leased a Texaco station near the center of town. A bachelor for 37 years, romance in the form of one henna-haired Miss Florence ANDERSON of -naturally enough- Red Top, Minnesota, conspired to make a groom of him on the 3rd of March 1935.
On a humid, rainy Minnesota evening in August 1935, at mid point of the Great Depression, two hundred and ninety-nine years of colonial family history took a decided twist. My early American heritage, begun through my direct line in 1636, (peripherally in 1620, through 9th great grand uncle Samuel FULLER , the Mayflower pilgrim’s own physician), had consisted of English, Scotch Irish, Swiss-German, and Dutch families. The birth of the first child of Everest and Florence RICHARDSON introduced Scandinavian blood into my long line of American ancestry. Until 1853, when my RICHARDSONS removed from the eastern states, my family roots had been firmly ensconced in the colonies for 217 years. Even after crossing the Mississippi, the RICHARDSON marital ties were amongst earliest settled families. The STEELES , great-great grandfather David STEELE’S family, had been the tardy comers to American shores, arriving in New York from Ireland circa 1800.Florence ANDERSON’S father was the son of Swedish immigrants, while her mother was the child of a Norwegian immigrant father and a first generation Norwegian-American mother. Several weeks before the birth of the eldest ANDERSON-RICHARDSON offspring, grandparents Everest and Florence set out to the rural back roads of Mille Lacs County to re-visit the ANDERSON homestead. My favorite family photograph is my mother’s “first” portrait. Grandmother stands on the porch of her temporarily abandoned childhood home in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, sheltered in the gray shadows of the past, arms folded self-consciously across her burgeoning middle. Everest captured a ghostly image of little girl Florence now grown up, poised on the verge of impending motherhood- matriarch of the merging of my colonial American and Scandinavian immigrant lines.
Andrew ANDERSON , Florence’s grandfather, was born in Hogsater, Sweden. He arrived in Eastside Township of Mille Lacs County in the spring of 1893, after several years of residing in Stillwater, Washington County, Minnesota. He emigrated from Sweden in November of 1873, initially settling in Winona County in southeast Minnesota. His wife, Maria LARSDOTTER , died in Stillwater of tuberculosis at the age of 52. Maria’s Swedish lineage issued from Hogsater, Alvsborgs Ian, as well as Hogetakan and Bollungen, Sundals-Ryr , Dahsland. Andrew and Maria emigrated to Minnesota in 1873. Following her death, widower Andrew and young son, Oscar, moved northward, settling on 40 acres of land in Section 12 of Eastside Township near Mille Lacs Lake. Andrew, a builder by trade, soon upon arriving contracted to construct the Opstead schoolhouse that was to be completed by autumn that same year. He also built the family home that still stands today, albeit altered as result of modern renovations. His parents, Lars ANDERSON (SAHL) and Anna OLESDOTTER had emigrated from Sweden, having been married in Elfdalen, Kopparberg, Sweden in 1853. They eventually settled in Aitkin County, Minnesota, and are buried in Saron Cemetery in Glen Township. Another son, Lars, Jr., was postmaster to the Thor community, before removing to Canada.
I count as my lineage’s inaugural Minnesota territorial pioneers, Norwegian immigrants, my BENDICKSON (Nordstrond) family, who arrived in Fillmore County from Wisconsin in 1853. The BENDICKSON brothers, Knud and Bendick, fell for Fillmore in no small way. Having emigrated from Nord-Aurdal, Oppland, Valders, Norway, in 1848 aboard the ship Augusta, Knud arrived at the Norwegian settlement of Koshkonong in Dane County, Wisconsin, with Bendick shortly at his heels, meeting up with Knud at Preston Township in Minnesota. Both brothers lived the remainder of their lives in the county and are buried in Lutheran churchyard cemeteries. Bendick’s wife, Martha BASOL OLSDATTER had been a Norwegian emigrant as well, born in Ringsaker, Hedmark, Norway, arriving in Fillmore as of 1859. Their daughter, Ellen BENDICKSON , married Jon RASMUSSEN OPSTAD SKETTING , who arrived from Stavanger, Norway in 1881, having birthplace of Skretting farm, Naerbo, Ha, Rogaland. Wed at the Greenfield Norwegian settlement in Harmony, John and Ellen left Minnesota to briefly homestead in South Dakota, removing afterward to Mille Lacs and Aitkin counties in east central Minnesota. They later returned to Fillmore for a time to operate a general store. In Martin Ulvestad’s Nordmaendene i Amerika [1907], the author’s source contact for early Norwegian settlement of Mille Lacs County, was great-great grandfather SKRETTING . Jon, [having emigrated from Opstad farm, Jaederen] reckoned himself the second Norwegian to settle in that county, giving his name to Opstad post office.
It was their daughter, headstrong Mary SKRETTING , who, against her parents’ express wishes, eloped, from domestic service -at the Lutheran church parsonage, no less- with a gentleman ten years her senior, said gentleman being, to further inflame matters, a Swede! Their great granddaughter grins as she relates this romance, for all ended happily. The love story abided nearly half a century until Oscar ANDERSON’S death in 1951. Mary and Oscar had, in fact, even prior to meeting, one thing common- for both their families began life in America in southeastern Minnesota. Oscar’s father lived in Winona County prior to settling north in Stillwater, Washington County. After marriage, Oscar ANDERSON took over his father-in-law’s mail carrier route from Redtop to Malmo. Oscar owned three teams of horses, which enabled him to stop at home midway on his route to put on a fresh team, then finish his journey. He held the office of Township Clerk for 21 years, sold various kinds of insurance, and clerked at the Holm and Kaber store several years. In 1928, he and Mary moved to Redtop where they operated a general store and gas station.
My mother grew up to follow in her father’s matrimonial footsteps, marrying a Swedish-Norwegian sweetheart, thereby doubling my Scandinavian lineage. My paternal grandfather Ludvig JOHANSSON had immigrated from Sundsvall, Vasternorrlands, Sweden in 1903. His marriage to a Norwegian immigrant girl brought in royal and nobility lines. I’m indebted to Norwegian genealogist, Odd Ottensen, author of “Familien Botner i Holand” [1982], who informed me that my great grandmother, Anne Kristine JOHANSDATTER, mother of Constance Toje (TAIET), as a descendant of the BOTNER family of Holand, Norway, was a 15th great granddaughter of King Hakon V Longlegs MAGNUSSON . Constance’s fifth great grandparents, Rev. Peder Evensen LEUTEN and Susanne Pedersdatter KRAFT, brought in extended 17th century European Lutheran clergy lines. In total, there are six grandfather parsons in this line of the family. The tenth great grandfather, Rev. Hans KRAFT , was German parson in Helsingor 1592, in Kobenhavn (Denmark) 1593, and headmaster at the University in Kobenhavn 1606-1612. He married Sofie KNOPH,, daughter of Kristoffer KNOPH , parson at Court in Denmark.
Somewhere in southeastern Minnesota, there’s a Yankee living in King Hakon’s court. (The author’s apologies to CLEMENTS cousin, Mark Twain.) By birthright, albeit removed about thirty generations, she’s an illegitimate Norwegian princess, confessing to a lot of tongue and cheek, retracing the trails of her American ancestors who told old England to take their tea and shove it. Smitten royally by family history, she traffics in tales of yore, spending an inordinate amount of hours walking cemeteries, reeling microfilm in history libraries, and sighing over cyphered script in dusty courthouse ledgers. [Sigh.]
This is her ancestral story, and proudly she’s sticking to it.
