The answer to that question was awaiting on our answering machine when we got back from our trip, and we immediately contacted one of the few remaining Nybergs in the area who knew that answer and much more about Bergman. First of all, it would be futile to look for Bergmans in Sweden, because they adopted that name only when coming to America. In fact, the same is true of Nybergs, who were Olesons in the old country. Confusing, isn't it?

Soon we found ourselves looking at an old family picture of a wedding party, on the front of the Nyberg homestead. Like many immigrant families, this was a big one with fellow members of the Pleasant Home Mission church and even Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bergman, though we had to guess which ones they were. Nels Nyberg was the father of the bride, as I recall, and Mrs. Nyberg was none other than Peter Bergman's sister! The mystery was solved! Oh, and the Pleasant Home Mission church was just next door on land donated by Nyberg, one of its founders.

This explains why Nels Nyberg was the executor of Peter Bergman's estate and many other things as well. We even learned that the Greenwalls and Nybergs are related through marriage two different ways. This is the kind of thing that is so interesting to me, though others sometimes shake their heads or roll their eyes at such things. Some even do both at the same time, though that takes special skill.

We also learned that there was the rumor that Bergman had amassed his fortune by installing wells for area farmers, and when they could not pay him, he became the owner of their farms. At first that theory might satisfy the ill will of the envious, but more likely it is just "sour grapes." As one of my professors used to say, "nothing fails like success."

-Dalakarl

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The first is from Rostock, Germany, and a cathedral which our guide called "our treasure." It had survived the fierce bombing though most of its stained glass windows were destroyed. There was a clock in this cathedral which is one of only four of its kind in all of Europe. In addition to the usual clock functions, this one contained the signs of the zodiac, seasons, holidays and much more all indicated by a small statue of a man pointing with a stick to the current information as the dials turn.

The clock had been programmed in the middle ages with such expertise that only in the year 2018 would it be necessary to reprogram it! On the hour, a door opens and the twelve apostles make a circuit at the top. As Judas comes to the door, it closes and does not let him in. In order to save it from destruction, the clock was enclosed in a brick wall to hide it from the advancing Russian troops in World War Two.

In St. Petersburg, Russia, we visited Orthodox cathedrals which were threatened by the seige of that same war. At Katharine II's summer palace, statuary was buried to prevent its destructions by the Nazis. Both these treasures and the clock survived and may be seen today. It was a lesson in how terrible those days were for the people of Europe, something they still have not completely forgotten.

-Dalakarl

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Long before any of our European ancestors arrived in Polk county, there were people along the Platte, the river they called the Pani-maha (flat water). Pani is the same as Pawnee in pronounciation. It was that tribe which had a village near Clarks called by historians the Grand Pawnee village. O-maha, as I recall, means "running water"...the Missouri, from which Omaha took its name. Neb-thaska also means flat water in the language of the Sioux. Isn't it interesting where some of our words came from?

Dark Island Trail bridge

We got to learn some more about the Pawnee in a recent hike down the Dark Island trail south of Central City. We had heard about this former railroad line converted into a trail and were eager to share the experience with our grandsons. It passes over the former railroad bridge over the Platte which provides wonderful river views. What we did not expect, was a lesson on the religion of the Pawnee which the trail's builders had thoughtfully provided in a trailside brochure. It went as follows:

"The Pawnee believed that animals would bestow the secrets of the spiritual world to a few chosen humans. This training was said to take place in underwater lodges, the largest of which was on Dark Island, believed to be on the Platte River."

"The Pawnee believed a person, usually a poor young man, would be taken to an underground lodge where the animals were organized like doctors in a medicine lodge. The animals would 'bless him' and each animal wouild teach the young man their specific powers (i.e. the buffalo would bestow unusual power, the deer fleetness, the wolf craftiness, etc.)."

"This underground lodge referred to as 'Dark Island' or 'Lone Tree' and is believed to be on an island within one mile of where the trail crosses the Platte."

While we are awestruck by the Creator's provision of instincts for such animals as Sandhills Cranes, for example, the beliefs of the Pawnee may be as strange to us as our beliefs would have been to the Pawnee. Perhaps this spiritual vision lodge should be added to our list of Polk County religious sites.

-Dalakarl

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The other item was a towel, embellished with an bright and intricate pattern of sequins which sparkled against the white background. This item came from the country of Turkey.

How did she come into possession of these things? They were gifts to her from grateful students who were studying for their citizenship examinations. The gifts represented their countries of origin. I could tell she was most pleased, and commented that these gifts may have been more valuable to her than her wages as teacher. She replied that the most gratifying thing of all was to see these eager folks become bona fide U.S. citizens.

This set me to thinking about our immigrant ancestors and what steps they might have taken on their road to citizenship. We wrote earlier about the documents which we have seen in which immigrants formally renounced their allegiance to their king. We know from our family tradition that great uncle Eric Dahl and grandfather John Greenwall attended classes at Bega school in rural Madison county, many miles from their homes in Wausa, Knox county, to prepare themselves for citizenship.

I recall seeing nothing in our local newspapers from the era about Polk county immigrants attending such a school. Can any readers help me with this question? Perhaps counties varied in their requirements. Was there a "fast track" to citizenship here?

-Dalakarl

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We were recently asked about the ornate altar that is part of the chapel at Covenant Home in Stromsburg. Perhaps it was to seek that visual effect that we installed it so many years ago. Unfortunately, part of the losses of aging involve diminished hearing and grasp of rational subtleties. For that reason, a visual cue for worship gains value and especially so for those whose worship tradition included high altars. The builders of early Nebraska churches were of European origin and familiar with the cathedrals.

It also preserved an artifact from just across the Platte at St. Lawrence church at Silver Creek which was made surplus when their new church was built. I am very pleased that Covenant Home has continued to maintain and preserve it through the years. It stands along with the restored St. John's Lutheran church at the Polk County Historical Society grounds in Osceola, and the pictorial display of the fourteen town and fourteen country churches in the county, also being freshened up for display again, as a tribute to the faith of our forebears.

-Dalakarl

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Captain Mattias Anderson of the cruise ship, the one who greeted us over the loudspeaker each morning with "good morning ladies and yentlemen!," had a tongue-in-cheek warning for us as we disembarked at Helsinki, Finland. The Finns, he said, will look at their shoes when talking to you. But do not be fooled, they are shrewd and calculating and cannot be taken advantage of. His way of saying it was "they know how to count."

Our tour guide in Helsinki did not look at his shoes, but his name, Vasili, suggested he might have been Russian born, as were our guides in Sweden and, of course, Russia. He and I were early and nearly alone at the outset of the tour when I had occasion to offer him a bit of help. I asked if he were familiar in English, and he said he hoped so. I said "here is a test phrase for you: your barn door is open" (which embarrassingly was the case). He immediately rectified the situation, saying he had dressed in a hurry that morning...

I had never heard of the fish-oil based dressing called "garum" before. Apparently it was a popular condiment traded throughout Europe in the past. Inside the city hall of Helsinki was an extensive display of their Bonk Company factory featuring the evolution of devices used in the production of "garum," including breeding of larger garum-bearing fish species, first steam powered processing and eventually electric powered machines. All were present and on display in the lobby. Garum contained some chemicals that were addictive. It was reported that Soviet Premier Vladimir Lenin was so badly addicted that it eventually took his life; on his deathbed he was heard pleading for more garum.

Having never heard of any of this, I made a note to look it up when returning home, and did so. The entire story is a hoax cooked up by a mischievous Finn and perpetrated with straight faces by the city hall. I had been fooled in Finland...were you?

-Dalakarl

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These were in no way of secondary value, even though the original bonanza of Wiggle books received over a year ago numbered fifty-four. The first one I want to tell you about came from 1890 and included a report on the fifth annual meeting of the Mission Forbundet, or Mission Covenant of America. What struck me most was the number of delegates and guests attending this Minneapolis meeting from our part of the country.

Henry Blom from Enterprise, Kansas, and Pastors Erikson and Thorell from Phelps Center, Nebraska: two places that no longer exist as such. F.O. Hultman, then of Sioux City, Iowa, but who also served both Stromsburg and Wausa in Nebraska (he officiated at my Grandpa John and Elisabeth's wedding at the Morrill homestead). Swenson and Youngren of Fridhem (Swedeburg), Nebraska, Josephson of Mead, John Peterson of Oakland and Andrew Hallner of Chicago, earlier Swedeburg (Norm Kronberg's great-grandfather).

F.O. standing and J.A. seated (not related to Napoleon)
What better place to show this great shot of "Uncle Frank and Uncle Alfred?"

Other guests included P.F. Mostrom, then of Red River Valley, Minnesota, but later at Ceresco; M.E. Peterson, pastor at Stromsburg and later professor at Chicago Seminary; Blomstrand of Waverly and Lindell of Malmo, Nebraska. Waldenström was there from Sweden, but perhaps of greater interest to us were more locals: C.A. Falk of Stromsburg and P.J. Falk (no relation) from the Mission Church in York.

Today we have difficulty in finding people willing to go to annual meetings. Apparently it was not so back in 1890, well before cars or airplanes...

-Dalakarl

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"Nordic countries all claim to have the real Santa Claus" was the headline of the article I clipped some time ago. The article originated in Finland, a place where I have been fooled before, but in spite of that, here it is.

Finnish children are told that Santa hails from a mythical place "in the northern wilderness of the Finnish part of Lapland." Laplanders may have their own story, but they are so remote that no one seems to care. They were encountered herding their reindeer to southern pastures in winter by the Finns and Swedes, and maybe the Norwegians, too, but no one thought to ask them about Santa.

According to the article, Swedish children were told that Santa came from the town of Mora. I wonder if Mora, Minnesota, has picked up on that one. Myself, I've never heard the Mora story. "Norwegians claim he was born hundreds of years ago under a stone in Drobak on the Oslo fjord," the article goes on. Scandinavians are sensitive about "coming out from under a rock" and this story won't help.

"Danes, who enjoy milder and mostly snowless winters, teach their children that Santa's home is on the distant Arctic island of Greenland, a sparsely populated Danish territory." Were you to draw a straight line from Stromsburg to Stockholm on a globe, it would pass over Greenland and indeed our flight there this past summer did just that. No sign of Santa, though.

Further south, the Dutch are having their own controversey about their Santa's companion, "Black Pete." He is a sinister character who threatens children who have been bad. This is not helpful for racial harmony. We need to send all of these people copies of the true doctrine; the one that goes "Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..." etc.

-Dalakarl

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Before the Victor Anderson Company operated in the present restored building it was located where the Legion club is now. In the panoramic picture of downtown Stromsburg, that place is visible on the far right. The window sign reads "furniture and undertaking," a common combination in those days.

But it was the person for whom the little book was prepared that was of greatest significance. She was the wife of the writer's great-great grandfather, Gustaf Rodine. Great-grandparents Charles and Amanda Rodine are listed as giving flowers, as are others including Miss Augusta Rodine who was to become Mrs. Rev. Oscar Palmberg. Christina was the name of the deceased, and before she married Rodine she was the widow of Gust Waller, senior. He had lost his wife while still in Sweden. The couple is buried at Calvary, Swede Home, cemetery but without a marker.

It was in the Waller family that this little treasure was preserved, linking our families in one of those amazing ways we continue to discover. In 1915 another passing took place. Elisabeth Carlson Greenwall's life ended in middle age leaving John and two young sons. He later married Edna Rodine and this wide circle was completed.

It is common to refer to siblings in mixed families as "half" brothers or sisters. Also "step" mothers and fathers are so described. But it is not usual to hear "step grandmother" or "step great-great grandmother." I'm just inclined to say Grandma Greenwall #1 or Great-great Grandma Rodine #2 .

-Dalakarl

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I was struck by the carreer of Nebraska Swedish Mission Pastor E.R. Beckman. Wait till you hear of the things he did. His was one of the dozens of sermons collected in the book "Ekon från Helgedomen" (Echoes from the Sanctuary) which my friend Teegerstrom shared with me.

Another Nebraskan, Rev. Fredrik Franson of the Mead area, founded the Scandinavian Alliance Mission, and Beckman attended his training session at First Covenant in Omaha in 1891. Franson was trying to recruit a thousand missionaries for China. The brief biography states that Beckman "took medical training" as part of this couple of weeks...we know this consisted of a day or two of lectures by an Augustana doctor. Thereupon he was "ordained" though it would have been a rather hasty affair.

He had the traumatic experience of the martyrdom of his wife in China in 1911, having met and married her on that mission field in 1896. These were times in which rebellion in China fostered anti-foreign violence and closed many mission fields.

Between two terms of mission work in China, Beckman returned to Nebraska to serve Pleasant Home (the Nyberg church), Westmark (Eleanor's home church, where we were married), Phelps Center (near Moses Hill, where the Christian Homes orphanage was located) and Emmaus, a rural church near Funk. Of these, the Westmark and Emmaus churches still exist, Phelps Center became Trinity of Holdrege and Pleasant Home became Polk Free Church. He remarried and raised eight children.

At the time of the biography he was retired in Rockford, Illinois. I wonder if he knew any of the Carlson inlaws of grandpa John? They had moved there from Stromsburg during the depression.

-Dalakarl

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At a holiday concert at Our Savior's Lutheran in Lincoln, we had the following delightful encounter:

A dramatic timeline stretching many yards down an entrance hall outlined the history of that congregation. At one time it was known as the "Danish Lutheran Church" and worshiped in that language until the 1920s. Even the division into the "pious Danes" and "happy Danes" was duly recorded (Our Savior's were of the pious variety).

I asked an usher if there were still members of Danish background in the congregation. He became quite elusive, saying they do not distinguish people by ethnic background. "We don't have the Danes all sit together and others elsewhere," he said. I suggested that might be an interesting thing to do one Sunday (tongue in cheek). Now as a member of the ELCA, he followed the "non-ethnic" line.

After a bit more probing, I insisted "you must have some Nielsens, or Rassmussens or Jensens among your members."

Then his answer revealed the truth:

"I'm a Jensen; ...that's with the 'sen' ending."

Bingo! (The explanation about the spelling was redundant to a Swede, whose patronymics always end with "son").

-Dalakarl

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From out of another Stromsburg attic came a rather fragile newspaper: the December 30, 1914, issue of Goteborgs Veckotidning (Goteborg's Weekly News). It was the New Year's edition and so filled with greetings and notices and this novel little piece by American evangelist, Billy Sunday.

He was a former baseball player turned evangelist who was known for his unconventional antics at the pulpit which were part of the reason for the large crowds he drew. The Headlight reported those local residents who traveled to Omaha to hear him. But this little piece is fascinating and warranted someone's translating it into Swedish for the Goteborg readers. Here are a few highlights:

"Med den Helige Ande såsom min ledare" (with the Holy Spirit as my guide), Sunday writes, I visited the Old Testament gallery with portraits of Enoch, Noah, Jakob, Abraham, Elias, David, Daniel, "och andra gamla profeter" (and other old prophets). From there he entered the concert hall of the Psalms, hearing the melodious harp of David, the singer of Israel.

He proceeded to the prophets' telescopes, which focused on stars far away and near, always featuring the "klara morgonstjärnan" (bright morning star) shining over the Judean hills where shepherds watched their flocks. He listened to "den gråtande profeten Jeremias klagosånger" (the crying prophet Jeremiah's Lamentations).

Then he entered the halls where the four evangelists related their accounts of the King; and the pathway continued into the Acts of the Apostles as they "första kristna församlingens bildande" (built the first Christian congregations). Beyond was the "skrivrummet" (place of writing) where John, Peter and Paul were writing their letters to the churches.

At last he entered the glittering, bejeweled hall of the book of Revelation, where the King sat upon his throne, full of praise and glory. So we have a rather clever message from an American preacher translated for a Swedish audience. (In the same vein, it has often surprized me how many hymns which were sung by our Swedish ancestors were actually translations of American gospel songs.)

-Dalakarl

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It was then extended through to Central City, at which time Polk and Hordville came into existence. The man on my right remembered as a country school student visiting the Stromsburg railyard, the kids lining up at the manually operated turntable to ride what my other friend called "the county's largest merry-go-round." When Stromsburg was at the end of the rail line, it was necessary to turn the steam engines around and this was done with a turntable. As heavy as they were, the turntables were balanced about a pivot point that allowed them to be manually operated.

A model turntable

In another vein, it was recalled that the Chicago and Northwestern tracks that ran from Hastings to Linwood and crossed the extreme southeast corner of Polk county, were taken up as part of the war effort to supply tracks for the ammunition depot at Hastings. The September 3, 1942 issue of the Headlight reported that this action left the following towns without rail service: Octavia, Millerton, Thayer, Surprise, Houston, Gresham, Charleston, Henderson, Stockham, Eldorado and Flickville. That could not have been good news. Does anyone remember Flickville?

Now another question was posed: did anyone know why the right-of-way along highway 66 (through Polk and Hordville) is so much wider than other similar roads? Answer: there was another wartime plan to make a four lane road from the armament factories at Grand Island (and, I suppose, possibly Hastings also) straight through to Omaha. The war ended before this plan could be put into effect. One might wonder if it had been built, would it have affected the route of Interstate 80?

-Dalakarl

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If there were such a thing as "The Friends of Stromsburg's Immigrant Archives" (and I wish there were), the lady who showed me an old note written in the Swedish language would be a charter member. The very unusual thing about it was that it was not shown on a fragile piece of paper, yellow with age, but as pictured on a smartphone!

What did it say? Conditioned by experience, the opening words "älskade", "Gud" and "son" seemed to suggest a death notice...so very common to these early letters. Further down, "evigt lif" (eternal life) also fit that notion. But at the bottom was the reference to John 3:16. Then it dawned on us that the note consisted of that very verse!

"Ti så älskade Gud världen" (For God so loved the world) "att han utgaf sin enfödde Son" (that He gave his only-begotten Son) "På det att hvar och en som tror på honom" (so that whosoever believes in Him) "Icke må förgås, utan hafva evigt lif" (should not perish, but have everlasting life).

What better lesson could one have in Swedish than a review of this verse? It merited a special mark in Eleanor's grandfather's Bible, which supplied the reference for the above spelling and markings. Many have learned both English and Swedish by comparing Bible readings, and it is a good method.

-Dalakarl

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Do you remember this feature of the grade school "Weekly Reader?" At about the fifth or sixth grade it changed to "Working With Words." The newspaper format for these little school aides was clever and engaging. Let's keep doing it.

A recent issue of a Scandinavian travel magazine, one of those items coming my way from friends which seem to provide a never-ending source of enjoyment and columns, had articles about Iceland and Greenland. These are the sometimes forgotten parts of Scandinavia, which we were reminded of when flying over them en route to the Netherlands last year.

Greenland and the North Sea

In Swedish, Iceland is spelled "Island." This is where the fun begins. English speakers cannot use this spelling, because it already has the meaning for a body of land surrounded by water. The "s" is silent. Now if the Swedes spell Iceland, "Island", what do they call the body of land surrounded by water?

They have a word which consists of only one letter, and that letter does not exist in English, to make matters even more complicated. That word/letter is "ö." I have not found a way to describe how to pronounce it, and our late friend and teacher, Earl Byleen, would concur though he tried valiantly.

In their discoveries, the Scandinavians first found and named Iceland, but then came to an even bigger ö which deserved the name even more since it has the largest ice sheet in the world. Since the name was already taken, they came up with Greenland...a bit of wishful thinking. Greenland advocates tell us that beneath all that ice there may be rich mineral deposits, but unless global warming really heats up soon, none of us will ever live to see them.

We should all be thankful to have learned English as children, because to encounter it as a second language would be daunting. Phonetically, that silent "s" in island would seem to indicate the pronunciation "izland." And even worse, our Iceland might come out "Ikky-land." No wonder great-grandma Greenwall just stuck with Swedish.

-Dalakarl

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A more recent news item than ususal, but of interest none the less in light of the announced strategic plan at the home, listed the many volunteers who came forward to implement the fund drive back in those days. Fred Guggenmos was the chairman of the fund drive committee, directing 37 people in town and Roger Sundberg in charge of the country areas.

They were: Berneice Anderson, Vera Anderson, Jan Randell, Helen Werth, Betty Johnson, Margaret Berggren, Rose Peetzke, Dorothy Youngquist, Lola Naslund, Avis Sundberg, Carol Schlesinger, Mabel Carpenter, Josephine Olson, Dora Anderson, Vesta Stromberg, Ensie Hanson, Ruth Hanson, Goldie Swanson, Ruth Erickson, Ansel Fredrickson, Jim Hatfield, Kurth DeLand, Delbert Winkler, Harry Younglund, Marvin Wadell, Ernest Collison, Myron Johnson, Enoch Ekstrand, Loren Carlson, Kenneth Olson, Allen H. Anderson, Wesley Fredrickson, Philip Erickson, Carleton Anderson, Wilmer Anderson and Deane Peterson.

Out in the country were Verlin Johnson, Ted Gleim, Mrs. Elton W. Peterson, Richard Johnson, Doyle Frazier and Brooke Berggren. A "thermometer" was erected on the south side of the square, and the goal of $250,000 was reached. But remember, the organizational meeting had revealed the strength of the dollar at the time. In round figures, the daily payroll was $1,000, utilities $100, food costs $100 and interest payment $100.

I welcome this chance to express deep gratitude to those who rallied to the cause, and thankfulness to have known the ones who are no longer with us.

-Dalakarl

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Index