"An Adventure in Genealogy" researched in 1983 by Irwin B. Tiegen, Sr.
The word TIEGEN in Norwegian means a “strip of land running from the bottom of the fjord to the top of the mountain”.
Norway is the enchanted land of the Vikings. Centuries before Christianity the legendary gods – Oden, Thor and Frey ruled the destinies of the Vikings from Valhalla (heaven) - Oden, diety of wisdom, the patron of kings and poets; Bluff, mighty Thor, the storm god, whose hammer pounded out thunderbolts; Frey, the god of fertility, who gives mankind peace and sensuous pleasures. History goes back to 800-1000 A.D. when the Vikings ruled most of Europe and believed in these legendary figures (gods).
“From the fury of the Northmen, deliver us O Lord”, the western Christians prayed, during more than 250 years of Viking terror. The bewildered Arabs and Moslems described the Vikings as “tall as date palms, blond and rugged”. These mighty seamen poured out from the Norwegian fjords and mountains and ravaged the then known civilization. Invading France, they colonized Normandy – then sent the conquerors to Sicily and beyond – eventually to all of England. Others followed rivers as far East as the Caspian Sea, then westward to Iceland, Greenland and about 1000 reached the coast of America, about 500 years before Christopher Columbus.
In 1958, I stood at the top of the mountain from whence the Tiegens originated. I traced our ancestry back 200 years. Today many people in Normandy have traced their ancestry back to the Vikings. Sogndalen in Sogn is located 100 miles or so up the Sognafjord where ocean salt water is still a mile deep and the mountains are a mile high. Ocean going ships navigate these waters as far as 100 miles inland.
I stayed in a hotel across the bay from the beautiful summer home of the Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. I was told that he was living there when he was summoned back to Berlin at the start of World War I.
To say that the Tiegens were descendants of the Vikings may not be true. There is a matter of 700 years for some future descendent to discover, nor perhaps would anyone wish to know. But the mountains and fjords are still there and it is not difficult to envision this remote area as being one of the many Viking strongholds.
Since I was a lad of 10 - living on a farm near Adams, Minn. - I always seemed to have a lively interest in my Scandinavian ancestry. I was born Dec. 11, 1900, the youngest of five children. My parents, Iver and Bertha Tiegen, although born and raised near Adams, spoke the Norwegian language fluently - as did all our relatives and friends.
It was a Scandinavian community, comprised of emigrants from Norway shortly after the Civil War. My parents went to public schools and spoke English as well as Norwegian, but the language spoken at home, at church and to the neighbors was Norwegian. So as a young fellow I grew up knowing two languages. When I was twelve our Lutheran minister insisted that I be confirmed in the Norwegian language – so every Saturday morning for two years we learned our lessons in that language.
Although the big migration from Norway had come 70 years before, there were still a number of young men who came from there to our community seeking their fortune in America. Coming from the (Gamle Lande) old country, they found their way to our farm. Father and Mother took them in until they could speak some English and acquaint themselves with the rudiments of agriculture in America. This was my opportunity to teach them their first lessons in English and the customs of their new land. Then too I had a chance to test my Norse and listen to tales of life in the old country. These contacts increased my desire to see the land of my origins. This dream was realized in the year 1958.
Before leaving Austin, Minn., I had made arrangements with the A.A.A. in the purchase of a Renault car to be delivered to us at Le Havre upon arrival there by boat. Mrs. Tiegen (Nanna) and I had compiled a schedule of places in Europe to visit. Leaving Austin in our Ford station wagon, we drove to Pittsburgh, Pa. and left our car with Nanna’s niece, Mr. and Mrs. Don Karcher. From there we proceeded to New York by train where we boarded the French Line “Liberte” for Le Havre, France.
Our little French car was waiting a Le Havre and we proceeded to Brussels, Belgium. That was the time of the World’s Fair and we enjoyed a week’s stay there before going to Alberg, Denmark, where we boarded a ferry to Oslo, Norway. In Norway we would drive to the end of a road then put the car on a ferry. In our travels we counted 22 ferries we were required to take. Mountain roads were treacherous and dangerous but we prevailed, finally arriving at Sognafjord and ferried up to Sogn. At Sogn I inquired about any Tiegens living in the vicinity.
The man said “yes, my name used to be Tiegen but I had to change it to Vatlestad”. In Norway when you buy a farm you have to take the name of the farm. I was talking with a distant cousin and he informed me the Tiegen farm was straight up the mountainside. Negotiating that one way trail was a nightmare but we made it. We met a man at the end of the trail and asked him about the Tiegen farm. He pointed still further up.
In order to reach that old stone house I had to walk. There I found a Tiegen who resembled my father. He was a cousin of my father and being the oldest son of his father, inherited the farm. He verified his identity by showing me pictures of his brother, Mike Tiegen of Ambrose North Dakota, whom I had once met. That is perhaps one good reason our Grandfather Elling had moved to America. I shudder at the thought of my grandfather being the eldest son and my being a native of that bleak mountainside. This was a place, where perhaps generations ago, the Vikings may have come down the mountainside. The old stone house where Jens Tiegen lived had stood there for many generations. It was an experience and I had learned such of my ancestry.
Our great grandfather, Erick Tiegen, was a celebrated violinist in Norway - he was born between 1789 and 1790.One of Erick Tiegen’s sons was Elling Tiegen, my grandfather. It was up in the rugged mountainside in Norway that Elling Tiegen and Sigre Ulvisaker were married. To this union was born: Sarah, Mary, Hannah, Lars, Erick and Iver. All the children were born in Norway except my father, Iver, who was born in Stoughton, Wisconsin while en route from Norway to Adams, Minn.
So in 1865 Elling and Sigre and their family had left the rugged Norwegian mountainside and set forth for America. In those days it was usually a horror adventure in traveling – in a sailboat for weeks with the endless trials, privation and sickness to be endured.
It must be remembered that Norway was a small country, with a population of about three million (about the size of Chicago). Having seen the mountains from which our forebears came, one can understand that a family of six could not survive there. The Norwegians immigrated to America shortly after the Civil War by the thousands. The first came, then provided passage for friends and relatives. The government helped them to acquire 80 to 150 acres of land with rich, black soil. Elling and Sigre Tiegen set about clearing land and provided shelter for themselves and livestock. The settlers prospered and their sons and daughters prospered – soon there was an entire community of Scandinavians. They attended public school but their native tongue was most always spoken.
Sarah Tiegen, the oldest girl, married Askel Knutson and they had 10 children: Sever, Elling, Mary, Sophie, Carl, Albert, Clara, Lawrence, Selmer, Nora.
Mary Tiegen married John Rogne and they had eight children: Edward, Amanda, Celia, Lewis, Segurd, Mabel, William and Harlan.
Lars Tiegen Ellingson (Norewegian custom of taking father’s first name and adding son) had five children: Edling, Louis, Mary, Carl and Elling.
Susan Tiegen married James Olson and they had two children: Ed Olson and Isabella (Ingeborg) Amble.
Hannah married a Mr. Iverson (wife’s name unknown) and moved to the West Coast. A granddaughter of Mr. Iverson is Mrs. Merle Sawyer of Austin Minn. and perhaps could recall the names of the children.
Eric Tiegen remained unmarried – no children. He lived and died in the Adams Community.
Iver married Bertha Borgard Jenson and they had five children: Celia, Carrie, Alma, Earl and Irwin.
FOOTNOTE: This is my contribution to establish our branch of the family tree for the past 200 years. I am happy to say that I have not found a scoundrel in any of the descendants of Elling and Sigre Tiegen. I trust some enterprising descendant will carry on.
Irwin Tiegen Sr.
Punta Gorda, Florida
Norway is the enchanted land of the Vikings. Centuries before Christianity the legendary gods – Oden, Thor and Frey ruled the destinies of the Vikings from Valhalla (heaven) - Oden, diety of wisdom, the patron of kings and poets; Bluff, mighty Thor, the storm god, whose hammer pounded out thunderbolts; Frey, the god of fertility, who gives mankind peace and sensuous pleasures. History goes back to 800-1000 A.D. when the Vikings ruled most of Europe and believed in these legendary figures (gods).
“From the fury of the Northmen, deliver us O Lord”, the western Christians prayed, during more than 250 years of Viking terror. The bewildered Arabs and Moslems described the Vikings as “tall as date palms, blond and rugged”. These mighty seamen poured out from the Norwegian fjords and mountains and ravaged the then known civilization. Invading France, they colonized Normandy – then sent the conquerors to Sicily and beyond – eventually to all of England. Others followed rivers as far East as the Caspian Sea, then westward to Iceland, Greenland and about 1000 reached the coast of America, about 500 years before Christopher Columbus.
In 1958, I stood at the top of the mountain from whence the Tiegens originated. I traced our ancestry back 200 years. Today many people in Normandy have traced their ancestry back to the Vikings. Sogndalen in Sogn is located 100 miles or so up the Sognafjord where ocean salt water is still a mile deep and the mountains are a mile high. Ocean going ships navigate these waters as far as 100 miles inland.
I stayed in a hotel across the bay from the beautiful summer home of the Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. I was told that he was living there when he was summoned back to Berlin at the start of World War I.
To say that the Tiegens were descendants of the Vikings may not be true. There is a matter of 700 years for some future descendent to discover, nor perhaps would anyone wish to know. But the mountains and fjords are still there and it is not difficult to envision this remote area as being one of the many Viking strongholds.
Since I was a lad of 10 - living on a farm near Adams, Minn. - I always seemed to have a lively interest in my Scandinavian ancestry. I was born Dec. 11, 1900, the youngest of five children. My parents, Iver and Bertha Tiegen, although born and raised near Adams, spoke the Norwegian language fluently - as did all our relatives and friends.
It was a Scandinavian community, comprised of emigrants from Norway shortly after the Civil War. My parents went to public schools and spoke English as well as Norwegian, but the language spoken at home, at church and to the neighbors was Norwegian. So as a young fellow I grew up knowing two languages. When I was twelve our Lutheran minister insisted that I be confirmed in the Norwegian language – so every Saturday morning for two years we learned our lessons in that language.
Although the big migration from Norway had come 70 years before, there were still a number of young men who came from there to our community seeking their fortune in America. Coming from the (Gamle Lande) old country, they found their way to our farm. Father and Mother took them in until they could speak some English and acquaint themselves with the rudiments of agriculture in America. This was my opportunity to teach them their first lessons in English and the customs of their new land. Then too I had a chance to test my Norse and listen to tales of life in the old country. These contacts increased my desire to see the land of my origins. This dream was realized in the year 1958.
Before leaving Austin, Minn., I had made arrangements with the A.A.A. in the purchase of a Renault car to be delivered to us at Le Havre upon arrival there by boat. Mrs. Tiegen (Nanna) and I had compiled a schedule of places in Europe to visit. Leaving Austin in our Ford station wagon, we drove to Pittsburgh, Pa. and left our car with Nanna’s niece, Mr. and Mrs. Don Karcher. From there we proceeded to New York by train where we boarded the French Line “Liberte” for Le Havre, France.
Our little French car was waiting a Le Havre and we proceeded to Brussels, Belgium. That was the time of the World’s Fair and we enjoyed a week’s stay there before going to Alberg, Denmark, where we boarded a ferry to Oslo, Norway. In Norway we would drive to the end of a road then put the car on a ferry. In our travels we counted 22 ferries we were required to take. Mountain roads were treacherous and dangerous but we prevailed, finally arriving at Sognafjord and ferried up to Sogn. At Sogn I inquired about any Tiegens living in the vicinity.
The man said “yes, my name used to be Tiegen but I had to change it to Vatlestad”. In Norway when you buy a farm you have to take the name of the farm. I was talking with a distant cousin and he informed me the Tiegen farm was straight up the mountainside. Negotiating that one way trail was a nightmare but we made it. We met a man at the end of the trail and asked him about the Tiegen farm. He pointed still further up.
In order to reach that old stone house I had to walk. There I found a Tiegen who resembled my father. He was a cousin of my father and being the oldest son of his father, inherited the farm. He verified his identity by showing me pictures of his brother, Mike Tiegen of Ambrose North Dakota, whom I had once met. That is perhaps one good reason our Grandfather Elling had moved to America. I shudder at the thought of my grandfather being the eldest son and my being a native of that bleak mountainside. This was a place, where perhaps generations ago, the Vikings may have come down the mountainside. The old stone house where Jens Tiegen lived had stood there for many generations. It was an experience and I had learned such of my ancestry.
Our great grandfather, Erick Tiegen, was a celebrated violinist in Norway - he was born between 1789 and 1790.One of Erick Tiegen’s sons was Elling Tiegen, my grandfather. It was up in the rugged mountainside in Norway that Elling Tiegen and Sigre Ulvisaker were married. To this union was born: Sarah, Mary, Hannah, Lars, Erick and Iver. All the children were born in Norway except my father, Iver, who was born in Stoughton, Wisconsin while en route from Norway to Adams, Minn.
So in 1865 Elling and Sigre and their family had left the rugged Norwegian mountainside and set forth for America. In those days it was usually a horror adventure in traveling – in a sailboat for weeks with the endless trials, privation and sickness to be endured.
It must be remembered that Norway was a small country, with a population of about three million (about the size of Chicago). Having seen the mountains from which our forebears came, one can understand that a family of six could not survive there. The Norwegians immigrated to America shortly after the Civil War by the thousands. The first came, then provided passage for friends and relatives. The government helped them to acquire 80 to 150 acres of land with rich, black soil. Elling and Sigre Tiegen set about clearing land and provided shelter for themselves and livestock. The settlers prospered and their sons and daughters prospered – soon there was an entire community of Scandinavians. They attended public school but their native tongue was most always spoken.
Sarah Tiegen, the oldest girl, married Askel Knutson and they had 10 children: Sever, Elling, Mary, Sophie, Carl, Albert, Clara, Lawrence, Selmer, Nora.
Mary Tiegen married John Rogne and they had eight children: Edward, Amanda, Celia, Lewis, Segurd, Mabel, William and Harlan.
Lars Tiegen Ellingson (Norewegian custom of taking father’s first name and adding son) had five children: Edling, Louis, Mary, Carl and Elling.
Susan Tiegen married James Olson and they had two children: Ed Olson and Isabella (Ingeborg) Amble.
Hannah married a Mr. Iverson (wife’s name unknown) and moved to the West Coast. A granddaughter of Mr. Iverson is Mrs. Merle Sawyer of Austin Minn. and perhaps could recall the names of the children.
Eric Tiegen remained unmarried – no children. He lived and died in the Adams Community.
Iver married Bertha Borgard Jenson and they had five children: Celia, Carrie, Alma, Earl and Irwin.
FOOTNOTE: This is my contribution to establish our branch of the family tree for the past 200 years. I am happy to say that I have not found a scoundrel in any of the descendants of Elling and Sigre Tiegen. I trust some enterprising descendant will carry on.
Irwin Tiegen Sr.
Punta Gorda, Florida