Breta Peterson HOVLAND

1844 -

• Name	Breta Peterson HOVLAND
  Birth	1844	Årdal, Sogn Og Fjordane   [1]
  Gender	Female
  Emigration	21 Apr 1854	USA
  Residence	Choice, Fillmore County, MN USA
  Death	Glen Ellen, IL USA
  Notes	I have been searching far and wide to learn something about Bretta (AuntBetsy, as our relatives know her). She was 10 years old when her father and mother, younger sister and brother decided to emigrate to Amerika. She was born in 1844 and the y came in 1855. She grew up in the mountains, and fjords, and lived in an area where her family and theirf amilies before her lived for generations. They packed everything they could take with them, left everything else behind, boarded a smal l boat,went to a port, (probably Bergen) and boarded a big ship and started across the big ocean to lands unknown. The ships at that time were sailing ships, it was before steam ships, and the voyage took about 9 to12 weeks. They arrived in Ne w York, carried all their possessions to find transportation inland. They probably took a train (if they had money) to a barge on the Erie Canal, took boat to Milwaukee, . and then probably walked to Dane County, Father, Mother, sister Guri, ba bybrother Peter, and herself. They were probably very short of money, and very short of food. She was a little girl and she did not understand the language, the weather was different, and the scenery was different and the familiar mountains an d fjords were gone forever. After more research I will learn more about the family. But today we can only suppose, they meet a relative in Dane County. In two months Bretta's mother died of Cholera (the story that I heard from a historianat the Spring Prairie Lutheran Chu rch). By the time Breta was 11 years old, her father married a woman with an 11year old son and they lived together as a family. She had been the head of the household, taking care of her sister, Guri, and her little brother, Peter. In the next 6 or 7 years or so, she had 2 more brothers and a new babysister. About the time Breta was 17 or 18 years old, the family decided to move furthur west to a wild and unsettled land, Faribault County Minnesota. I do not know if Breta moved with her family to Faribault County or not. I only know that she married a Peter Johnson from Huska farm Norway andt hat they had a farm in Choice, Minnesota. It is in Norway Township, Fillmore County. Joe Kallesta d said she had 16 children. At this time I only have the names of some of the children. I do think that one daughter spent some time visiting in Frost area because Joe talked about Dina Derling and her children. He also talked about Bell an d Charley Bleed and the fact that her husband was a Minnepolis Policeman and so was one of her sons. Breta spent her elderly years with her daughter Emma (Forsberg). I talkedt o Emma's daughter, Lorraine Davis and she said that her mother and grandmother (Breta) talked Norwegian and she could not understand what they said so she knew very littl e about her grandmother. She did not know that her grandmother had all this family that us Hovlands turned outto be. I have been told that Ener, Ole, Anne, and Martin thought of Breta and Guri as their aunts, I suppose because they were so much older.
  Person ID	I46258	Valdres Slekt
  Last Modified	20 Nov 2007

  
  

  Father	Ola Persen HOVLAND,   b. 26 Jul 1817, Hovland, Hagen 2, Årdal d. 1 Feb 1908, Bush Creek, Fairbault MN, USA (Age 90 years)
  Mother	Anna Olsdtr HATLEBERG,   b. 1824, Hatleberg 57/1, Borgund d. 7 Jul 1854, Spring Prairie, Columbia Co., WI., USA (Age 30 years)
  Marriage	1844	Årdal Kirke, Sogn Og Fjordane   [2]
  Family ID	F11332	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S208] Gayle og Marlys Baldwins gedfile 2001. [S144] Gayle Struska.