Taryn Children real

Peter Bergstrom had four children who survived past childhood with his first wife, Annie. His descendants followed different paths in their life journeys.

Florence

Florence The twins Florence Elvira Hildegard Bergstrom and Fridolf E. Bergstrom were born to Peter and Annie Bergstrom on the 23 July 1903 in Christine, ND.¹Fridolf died in Moorhead, MN on the 15 July 1905, just weeks short of his second birthday, and was buried 17 July 1905 in the Riverside Cemetary.² We thus know that in 1905, Peter and his family resided in Moorhead, where Florence and the other Bergstrom children attended school. Although the Bergstrom family followed Peter's varying jobs west across North Dakota from 1917 to 1921, they returned to Moorhead following the 1921 death of Annie Bergstrom.³ Florence graduated from Moorhead High School in 1921 where she was the valedictorian of her class and a member of the debate team.⁴ Her commitment to educational endeavors is exemplified by the following quote, found beneath her name in the 1921 edition of the yearbook, which reads: "Thou living ray of intellectual fire."⁵

Florence continued her education at the Christian and Missionary Alliance of St. Paul, MN, which she attended for two years until her graduation in 1923. She then traveled to Nyack, NY, which was and remains the home of the Missionary Training Institute of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. She discontinued school there in 1924.⁶ That same year, she was ordained as a missionary by the Scandinavian Mission Society in Buffalo Lake, MN. Florence then went into the mission field in South Africa.

Florence married (Helge) Ephraim Anderson on 9 July 1927 in Natal, South Africa. Her husband, who went by his middle name Ephraim, was born 4 June 1902 in Stanger, Natal, South Africa to Swedish missionary parents. Since South Africa was under British control, he was a British citizen by birth. His parents were naturalized as British citizens of South Africa in 1924. Ephraim was educated first in London, England at the All Nations Bible college in 1924 and 1925. In 1950, he received more education by correspondence to Pike's Peak Seminary in Manitou, CO. Like Florence, Ephraim was ordained as a missionary in Buffalo Lake, MN.⁷ Both Florence and Ephraim were ordained as Assembly of God missionaries in 1952.⁸

Together Florence and Ephraim raised five children, who were all active laymen in South African churches. The couple continued their missionary work for the remainder of their lives, overseeing the Salem Mission in South Natal. After a missionary career of fifty-one years, Florence died in South Africa 14 January 1975. Ephraim died in 1988.

By Belinda Hauger

Endnote citations:

¹General Council of the Assemblies of God, "Application for Appointment as Missionary by the Foreign Missions Department for Florence Anderson," photocopies obtained from Darrin J. Rodgers, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, 2004.

²Funeral/Death Register, 1905, Wright Funeral Home, Moorhead, Minnesota, 15 July 1905.

³Letters 9, 10, 11

⁴Chokio: Moorhead High School Yearbook, 1921, accessed at Clay County Historical Society.

⁵Steve Young of Alumni Relations at Nyack College, letter to author, 27 February 2004..

⁶General Council of the Assemblies of God, "Application for Appointment as Missionary by the Foreign Missions Department for Florence Anderson," photocopies obtained from Darrin J. Rodgers, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, 2004.

⁷General Council of the Assemblies of God, "Application for Appointment as Missionary by the Foreign Missions Department for Helge Ephraim Anderson," photocopies obtained from Darrin J. Rodgers, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, 2004.

⁸Darrin Rodgers of Fuller Theological Seminary, letter to author, 25 March 2004.

Mabel

Mabel E. Bergstrom was the second child born to Peter and Annie. She was born in Moorhead, MN on 1 October 1904.¹ Mabel was intelligent and graduated from high school a year after her older sister Florence. In the Moorhead High School 1922 yearbook, Mabel’s nickname was “Mibs.” In the Senior Class Alphabet poem, her stanza proclaimed, “Mabel Bergstrom tall and sweet, / She will labor in Tropical Heat.”² Why the author chose to describe Mabel using tropical heat is odd because the year before Florence had gone to NY to become a Missionary and she eventually settled in Africa. But Mabel did not labor in exotic tropical heat, instead she stayed in Moorhead after graduating in 1922 and started working. In 1924 she is first recorded in the City Directories as a stenographer for the Fairmont Creamery, where she worked for the next eight years. Then in 1932 she is listed as a stenographer for the National Life Insurance Company. She stayed with the National Life Insurance Company for at least the next 12 years until she is no longer listed in the City Directories after 1940.³

Throughout her time in Moorhead, Mabel moved almost every two years. She usually lived with her younger sister Helen but sometimes the sisters are listed as living with their father as well. Mabel eventually married and took the name Mabel Johnson.⁴

^{By Taryn O'Connell}

Endnote citations:

¹United States, Bureau of the Census. "Minnesota State Census: 1910," manuscript census on microfilm, located at the Carl B. Ylvisaker Library at Concordia College, Moorhead, MN.

²Cho Kio," [Moorhead High School Yearbook], located at the Clay County Historical Society Moorhead, MN, 1922, np.

³This information was drawn from a collection of Polk's Moorhead (Clay County, Minn.) and Fargo (Cass County, ND) City Directory R.L. Polk & Co., Publishers St. Paul, MN, located at Clay County Historical Society Moorhead, MN, compiled by Jamie Fors.

⁴"Leroy Bergstrom's Obituary," The Star Tribune, 4 Dec. 1994, 6B.

Gustav Leroy

The only son of Peter and Annie Bergstrom to survive to adulthood was Gustav Leroy Bergstrom, born on 13 June 1908.¹ We were unable to locate records of Leroy in the Moorhead school yearbooks. It may be that Leroy, like many children of the time, did not finish high school. He may have graduated in another community, or he may have left school to work and make money.² In 1927, Leroy is first seen in the Moorhead City Directories as a Driver for the Fairmont Creamery. He continued as a Driver until 1932 when he was described as a Helper at the Creamery.³ Two years later, in 1934, Leroy returned to his profession as a Driver, first for The Royal Cab Line then two years later for the Checker Cab Company. Leroy left the driving business and in 1938 was a Warehouseman for DeCamp Mercantile in Moorhead. Leroy was promoted to Foreman of DeCamp Mercantile by 1940 but by 1945 he had moved on and was the Warehouse Foreman for the Moorhead Nash-Finch Company. In 1933, Leroy married Elouise M. Miller. They were married on 23 December by Reverend John Thompson of Fargo, ND.⁴ Leroy finally settled in the Twin Cities near the end of his life; he died in St. Paul at the age of 86 on 3 December 1994.⁵

¹United States, Bureau of the Census. "Minnesota State Census: 1910," on microfilm, located at the Carl B. Ylvisaker Library at Concordia College, Moorhead, MN.

²"Cho Kio," [Moorhead High School Yearbook], located at the Clay County Historical Society Moorhead, MN, 1925, np.

⁴Rev. John Thompson, Minister of The Gospel. "Marriage License," 23 Dec. 1933, Clay County Records Department, Clay County Courthouse. ID 29 222.

⁵"Leroy Bergstrom's Obituary," The Star Tribune, 4 Dec. 1994, 6B.

Helen

Leroy’s younger sister Helen was the youngest member of the Bergstrom family. Helen D. Bergstrom was born 10 February 1910.¹ Based on examinations of the Moorhead High School yearbooks, it appears she ended high school after her sophomore year.² In 1928, she was first listed in the Directories as a Bookkeeper.³ In 1930, she is listed as a Comptometer Operator for Armour and Company.⁴ A Comptometer, pictured here, was the technical foundation for the modern day calculator. It was an adding machine invented by Dorr Eugene Felt in 1885.⁵ This Model H was introduced in 1920 and may have been similar to one used by Helen. Helen worked for Armour and Co. for six years until 1936 when she is listed as a Comptometer Operator for NW Bell Telephone Company.⁶ Four years later, still with the same company, Helen was listed as a Clerk, but then disappears from the directories.

Helen eventually married Arne Borgersen and moved to Santa Clara, California. Her marriage and departure may have been the cause of her disappearance from the directories. Helen stayed in California until her death on 2 October 1997 in Santa Clara at the age of 87.⁷

^{By Taryn O'Connell}

Link to Bergstrom's Family Tree

Endnote citations:

¹United States, Bureau of the Census. "Minnesota State Census: 1910," on microfilm, located at the Carl B. Ylvisaker Library at Concordia College, Moorhead, MN.

²"Cho Kio," [Moorhead High School Yearbook], located at the Clay County Historical Society Moorhead, MN, n.p.

⁴Polk's City Directory.

⁵Christofer Noering, "The Swedish Typewriter Page: Comptometer," n.d., http://w1.131.telia.com/~u13101111/comp.html> (April 4 2004).

⁶Polk's City Directory.

⁷"California Death Records," n.d., <http://vitals.rootsweb.com/ca/death/search.cgi> (18 April 2004).