Parents:
Marriage:
Olene Gurine "Gurine" Tormesen
Christian O. Bakken
June 24, 1892
Willmar, Kandiyohi, Minnesota
At the home of her brother, G. E. Qvale
Rev. E. E. Gynild officiating
|
Parents: Marriage: |
Ola Gauthsen Qvale
Olene Gurine "Gurine" Tormesen Christian O. Bakken June 24, 1892 Willmar, Kandiyohi, Minnesota At the home of her brother, G. E. Qvale Rev. E. E. Gynild officiating |
|
| Children: | Christian Berger | Nov. 16, 1893 | † Aug. 11, 1956 |
| 2nd Marriage: | Tinus Olsen |
| 1899 |
| Children: | Thelma E. | Jan. 16, 1900 | † Aug. 12, 1968 |
| Victor S. | Jan. 9, 1902 | † May 30, 1975 | |
| Adolph Ferdinand | Apr. 10, 1904 | † Dec. 18, 1952 | |
| Tinus | June 23, 1906 | † June 23, 1906 | |
| Norman S. | June 17, 1910 | † Feb. 19, 1974 |
| Notes: | Kaja's father owned a fishing business in Norway and went down with one of his ships in May of 1875. When |
| she was 11 years old, she, her mother Gurine, and her four elder brothers immigrated
to the United States from Norway in October of 1878 on one of the ships of the White Star Steamship line.
In April 1879, Kaja was living on a farm owned by her cousin Sigvald A. Qvale in Ettrick Township, Trempealeau, Wisconsin. On June 24, 1892 when she was 25 years old, Kaja was married to Christian O. Baaken at the home of her brother, G. E. Qvale in Willmar, Kandiyohi, Minnesota with only relatives present. Both her brother, S.B., and her double first cousin, Mrs. Birgitte Sophia Swann (née Qvale), travelled from Madison, Minnesota for the celebration. (S.B. and Birgitte's husband John R. Swann were in business together on the Qvale block in Madison with their dry goods store, Swann & Qvale.) Also attending from afar were Mrs. F. Heining from Fargo, South Dakota and Mrs. N. Waller from Atwater, Minnesota. The ceremony was officiated in Norwegian by Rev. E. E. Gynild. After their marriage, the Bakkens made their home in Dover, where Christian "... had one of the choicest farms in Kandiyohi County." However, within months of their new life together, tragedy struck. In the spring of 1893 her husband became seriously ill and was diagnosed with cancer of the stomach. At the same time Kaja found herself pregnant. The previously rugged young man wasted away, spending the last four weeks of his life in bed where he died at 3 a.m. Thursday, August 31, 1893. His funeral services were held at the Eagle Lake Church, where the Bakkens were members of the congregation, and were conducted by the Revs. Hegge and Gynild, the former in English and the latter in Norwegian. Interment was in the church cemetery. A scant two months after burying her husband, Kaya gave birth to their only child, son Christian. At the time of the July 6, 1895 Minnesota State Census, Kaja Bakken was 27 years old, a widowed farmer living with her one-year-old son Christian and a 58-year-old servant-girl from Norway, Inger Hendrickson, in Dovre, Kandiyohi, Minnesota, located on the western shores of Long Lake, about 9-1/2 miles away from her brothers in central Willmar. In 1899, when she was 32, Kaja married Tinus Olsen, a naturalized citizen originally from Norway. Tinus's brother-in-law, the Hon. Gauthe Emil Qvale, described him as "a somewhat wandering or roving individual." Tinus's mother, Ingeborg, was Judge Qvale's paternal aunt. Tinus and his sisters (two of his sisters, if not all three) immigrated to the United States after the demise of their parents. At the time of the June 4, 1900 U. S. Federal Census, Bertha K. was 33 years old and living in Dovre, Kandiyohi, Minnesota with her 40-year-old husband Tinus Olsen, her 6-year-old son Christian, 4-month old daughter Thelma Olsen, a 57-year-old servant, Inger Henrickson, and 12-year-old Orville Qvale, a farm laborer born in Wisconsin (probably a cousin). Tinus was working as a farmer. At the time of the Apr. 18, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Bertha was 43 years old and living with her husband Tinus, their three children, Thelma, Victor and Adolph, and roomer couple James (a lawyer in general practice, age 28) and Mathilda Baker (a telephone operator, age 22) in Bird Island, Renville, Minnesota. Tinus was working as a restaurant keeper in a restaurant. At the time of the 1920 U.S. Census, Bertha K. was again a widow, age 53, and living with four children ranging in age from 19 to 9 years in Northfield, Rice, Minnesota. Her 17-year-old son Victor was working as a laborer on a farm. At the time of the Apr. 28, 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Bertha K. was 64 years old and living in her own home at 619 E. 3rd in Northfield City, Rice, Minnesota with her 26-year-old son, Adolph F. who worked as a laborer doing odd jobs. They owned a radio. Bertha died Feb. 26, 1941 in Northfield, Rice, Minnesota at the age of 73. She was buried in Oaklawn Cemetery in Northfield. |
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