Individual Details

My grandmother was one of those people that a family historian dreams of--full of details and interesting stories about her parents and others. Art and I spent many evenings with her before we were married, sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee and listening to her family stories--no small tape recorders then and sadly we didn't write any of them down.
Karine as born 23 Aug 1883, the middle child and only daughter, of Nils (Nels) Johan Jenson and Jensine Cathrine Petrusdatter, in Mo i Rana, Nordland, Norway. Mo is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Rana in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the Helgeland region of Nordland, just south of the Arctic Circle. 

REMINISCE
"On Petticoat Lane", Hudson Star Observer, 16 June 1966
A DAY TO REMEMBER...
Sunday, June 12 was a jubilee day for Mrs. John A. Stayberg, 1217 Twelfth St. It marked the 75th anniversary of her arrival in Hudson from Norway.
Although she was only seven years old at the time, Mrs. Stayberg remembers every detail. The journey started at her home in Mo, Raen, Norway, in early June 1891.
Mrs. Stayberg was with her mother, Mrs. Nels J. (Jensina) Jenson, her brothers, Axel, 5, and Nels, 4, and an uncle, Hans Jenson. Her father had been in Hudson for four years and was employed at the Chicago, St.Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha railroad car shops.
In fact, Mr. Jenson helped build the original buildings for the car shops in North Hudson. He had also found the time and money during his four year stay here to build a house for his family at 1221 Seventh st.
VOYAGE TO AMERICA
The three small children, their mother and uncle, sailed from their home port in northern Norway on a small ship to Oslo, where they boarded what the children called "the big ship". Mrs. Stayberg, at seven, wasn't interested in ship names but she does remember a pleasant journey and good food provided aboard.
There was a two-day layover in New York City that the children didn't like very much. The newcomers were divided into groups and detained for processing. To the youngsters it seemed like being penned up but they were soon on their way again, this time on the train bound for Chicago and then for Baldwin, where they were met by the steamship agent, Oluf Saugestad, who was also the town banker.
Mr. Saugestad took the new arrivals to his own home to wait for their father. After a happy reunion, the Jenson family left for Hudson aboard the CMStP&O. They got off at the old depot at the end of Second st., Mrs. Stayberg remembers.
By 1898 Mr. Jenson had saved up enough additional money to send for two older sons who had been left behind in Norway, Jens, who was just under 18, and Olaf, 16. A further complication which had prevented their coming earlier was Norway's conscription laws.
The boys had to have the permission of the Norwegian government to leave the country. They earned their living as herd boys on a large farm and oftendelighted their little sister with tales of their thrilling experiences.
Although the little sister has been known as "Karine" throughout most of her lifetime in Hudson, that's not really the name she was christened with in Norway. The true spelling is "Karen".
"When I went to school, my teacher told me that wasn't an American name," Mrs. Stayberg said, "and she couldn't pronounce it so we changed the spelling."
Karen must have been a wonderful little girl. Hundreds of Hudsonites will attest to the fact that she became a wonderful woman.
Her intelligence and ability have been an asset to half a dozen local organizations and to scores of drives, projects, and church activities. She has been secretary of Aid Society Norden for some 35 years, has held office in the Sons of Norway, Woman's Relief Corps, Rebekahs, American Legion Auxiliary, is a familiar figure at the blood bank or chest x-ray clinic.
But Mrs. Stayberg is more than a capable executive and willing worker. Her ability is combined with a warm mixture of optimism and sunny good nature that make the work a postive pleasure for herself and others.
I suspect she genuinely likes people. They certainly like her.

The school little Karen Jenson began attending in 1891 was the old Seventh Street school at the corner of Seventh and St. Croix. It is now the home of her son-in-law and daughter, Col. and Mrs. C. P. Erickson (Jeannette Stayberg).
Mrs. Stayberg's father bought the schoolhouse and remodeled it into a dwelling. The Erickson's added further remodeling and many improvements. The first grade room where Karen sat is the Ericksons' living and dining room.

Guest column written by Karine for "On Petticoat Lane"on 28 Sept 1967
Hudson has changed drastically since Mother, my youngest brothers and I, accompanied by my uncle Hans Jensen came here on June 11, 1891. My father Nels J. Jenson Sr., had come to America four years before we came.
Father urged his brother to come with us. He had been a fisherman for years, way into the north Norway waters for nearly a quarter century. Hammerfest and Lofoten are two of the places I'd heard them name. Uncle came with us.
Father, too, had been a sailor but on a ship transporting the goods sold by Lars Meyer of Mo, who owned dozens of ships. Lars Meyer was known all over Norway, had been a Representative to the King for some years.
So many were going to America, "better chance to earn a living," they were told and so Mother and Father laid plans. He was to go ahead, earn enough to send us tickets to come, and have a home to come to. When he began talking about tickets from Norway, the steamship agents informed him that my two oldest brothers would not be allowed to leave Norway. They had to be confirmed, and go to school until they would be called into military training. The two youngest sons were too young to leave behind.
The two older boys had been each on a big farm across a little river from each other-- 5 miles from Mo equals 35 American miles--since Papa had been gone.They were to be herd boys. Meanwhile each big farm had a school teacher in their home where the youngsters would attend regular school classes. So my father and mother, with these two land-owners, agreed that the boys would be as their own until Father had obtained government approval or permission for them to leave Norway to come to their parents. On July 5, 1898, my two older brothers, Jens and Olaf, arrived in Hudson. Imagine the joy of real tears of happiness in our home! Father had not seem them for more than eleven years, and Mother for over seven years.
Back to the time before he had sent tickets for us. George Zahler Sr., Ole Blegen and my father had each purchased a lot of land, from Miss Fulton, on 7th st. This had really been railroad property and most of it was a long ditch, 10 to 15 feet deep in places and all had to be filled in, but where the homes were placed was the only fill to begin with. My father made a big full cellar under his house... south of Zahler's was empty, and rented out to my father for cows he had bought.
The block between Sixth and Seventh street was rented to the circus for years and years. They surely filled the block and streets adjoining. Folks who have not experienced the thrill that such an event can mean in small town can't realize what their visit meant.
The circus folks had parades, yes, but their animals, horses, elephants, poines and donkeys were taken out daily, they explained, to excercise them, but the kids thought every day was a parade and tagged along. Many were allowed to ride the elephants and ponies especially.
The main outdoor entertainment for both summer and winter was Lake Mallalieu, in our part of town. "The Sanatorium Grounds" as they were called were always open for picnics, school parties and bigger picnics further west. The grounds were all open, unfenced down to First Point, as far as 5th st.
I said unfenced, but they had to be fenced, running alongside the railroad tracks. Lake Mallalieu lay all the way on the north side with special swimming holes, but the most popular was the one off 7th st., with its 93 step stairway leading down to the big raft, tied to shore.
Our home on Seventh st., that father had built, was enlarged later, and the folks lived there until 1914-15. Ole Blegans had then moved to California for Mrs. Belgan's health.
At the little Red School House, with Miss Nash as teacher, I didn't seem to have a hard time learning. For one thing, my father having been in the U.S. four years, could help us a great deal, and as he studied with me, he used to say he was learning also. Besides, at school, where we sat in double seats, I was placed with a little half-Negro girl, daughter of Jim Hilyard, a very popular barber, who lived on Fourth and River. His first wife had been Norwegian and his little girl Abbie was about a year older than I. She couldn't talk much Norwegian, but she understood it, and helped me a great deal.
Kids always notice what others do, and I saw children doing their arithmetic counting on their fingers. One day Abbie noticed I was doing that and she really gave me a look, and at recess said "don't you ever let me see you do that again. You've got to learn." I always remembered that lesson from Abbie.
Seems as if school came easy except for not trying to speak unless I was quite certain I was right.
There were Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, Americans and an old English woman, who left her "haitches" off-- but I learned.
Then came the Danes, who swallowed half of every word-- and I'd try to imitate them exactly and they laughed 'til the tears ran.
One day mother sent me over to a newly arrived Danish family who had offered to teach me the rudiments of crocheting. Well, I came home afterwards and mother said, "Did you learn anything?"
Yes, I answered, and began talking Danish lingo like all get out-- mother laughed, stopped me talking Danish and laughed till the tears ran. "I didn't send you to learn to mock the Danes, it was to learn to crochet." But it all came so natural that I thought I was smart when I could really swallow half like they did.
I ought to have mentioned the church bells. Oh, they were good! Bells sounding on Sunday morning and evening and every day in the week at morning, noon and 6 p.m.
The Presbyterians were the strongest. Their pastor was John E. Burnley, and he, like Father Barney, was loved by everybody. He didn't care what church you belonged to-- always stopped in friendly fashion to talk to anyone who was out working in his yard.
Folks all walked, whenever errands called them. A walk from East Hudson, to town, or to Buckeye or North Hudson, even, wasn't considered anything to remark about. Folks took many a Sunday walk to Buckeye along the St. Croix shore, where there also, were all kinds of boats, just tied, no locks. We often walked out to Northline Junction, or other mile or two walks on a Sunday afternoon. In town of course everyone "cut corners" to shorten a trip to town.
My second year of school was at the Second St. schoolhouse (which still stands there) where Miss Gertrude Torpey was my teacher. Second grade was upstairs, first grade with Miss McDermott, Stella, I believe, was on the first floor. There was a great deal of snow that winter and my uncle, Hans Jenson, who lived at our home would put on his skiis and pile on as many kids as he could on a big sled he had made, and haul us down to 2nd Street school.
Mayme Moore taught 3rd grade at the Sixth St. school. Miss Hyslop, in second grade was my brother, Axel's teacher. Miss Moore was mine. There were fine play grounds there, nothing fancy, but two or three high swings in the yard, and we each pair, tried to beat the other in going high. We pumped standing up, and we certainly were a reckless bunch. The good Lord must surely have watched over us foolhardy kids, for we never had any mishaps. Teachers often stopped us though.
St. Croix St. was not really straightened until after 1912 or so. The city purchased parts of adjacent lots to help straighten it. The corner on 7th and St. Croix with the Red Brick school right in the middle facing St. Croix St. was sold to Nels J. Jenson, Sr. in 1914-15 with the understanding that part of the north end of the "Mrs. Mary Dyer school room", as it was called, had to be torn down, to help straighten St. Croix and allow for curbing and sidewalk. This used to be the 3rd ward voting place for years. (J. A. Frear even voted there.) The rest of the schoolhouse was then remodeled and made into a full second story home with full length enclosed porch on the west side, and on the east side a covered full length one. Mr. and Mrs. Jenson moved into their very comfortable home in 1915. The City then finished the Seventh St. corner, making it the "finest corner in town".
The Jensons lived there the rest of their lives, with plenty of room for the many family gatherings which, as time went on, had gotten to quite a number.

Hudson Star-Times, 12 May 1893, p4, c1
Arbor Day was celebrated last Friday by 160 pupils from the rooms of Mrs. Dyer, Misses Nash, Van Meter and Torepy. The tree was planted at the Seventh Street School building and will be known as the Washington Elm. Singing, marching and a general good time was had.

John and Karine's youngest son, John W. "Bubbs", was drafted for World War II which began an exchange of almost daily letters between John and Karine and other family. Karine gave me the letters after our marriage for "safe keeping." They have moved with us from North St. Paul to Hudson to our current rural Hudson home. Many, most, have been transcribed.

Karine to Bubbs, letter of Jan. 23rd, 1945
"How does the little boat on the big ocean feel to you? Have you ever in your wildest flights of fancy imagined anything so vast? I've often wondered if those who want to join the Navy realize the size of the Atlantic and Pacific. At night, on the water, when the stars are out, in the vast dome of the Heavens, doesn't one feel small? I can still see the enormity of it now, even after so many years, "where sky and water meet." I felt so small as I stood by the high rail of the ship and I never forgot it... I used to think of the liner we came over on as a vast hotel. One can easily forget that they are on the water while in the state rooms."

Karine to Bubbs, letter of Jan. 25th, 1945
"We, Ma and we kids, landed in Hull and started out from Liverpool on the biggest liner of it's time, after crawling across England on some small boat and I thought Hull the smokiest, dirtiest, loneliest place that I ever laid eyes on, next to Liverpool."

Karine to Bubbs, letter of Feb. 5th, 1945
"Give me a silver poplar, if it must be a poplar. I've always had a soft spot in my memory for them. They were so silvery and beautiful, in Norway. There was one lane of Grandpa Petruson's land that was called "Poplar Lane" (in American). When the sun shone into the lane, the leaves fairly shimmered with shiney reflections, as they swung lazily in the tiny breeze of their own making, for you know there's an old saying in Norwegian, that "the leaves of the poplar will stop their swaying, only when the love of our Lord shall cease." My mother told us, that her mother had told her the legend. I wish I had known enough as a youngster to listen to the tales she used to tell, they were so good, so well told, so dear, to file away in Memory's book. When that poplar that grew north of the dining room window, spread it's roots so that it wedged into the sewer pipes, and my Dad cut it down, Mother said she hated to have him cut it down. She used to sit and look at it, and dream of her childhood days, while at home, with her parents and all were together."

HSO, 15 May 1947, p1
Auxiliary Pays Tribute to Gold Star Mothers
The Otis H. King Post No. 50 American Legion Auxiliary met last Thursday with the special feature of "honoring Gold Star Mothers.: Four Gold Star mothers, Mrs. W. J. Askov, Mrs. A. J. Lyksett, Mrs. O. J. Solheim and Mrs. J. A. Stayberg, were each presented with a pink carnation corsage, the gift of Roy's Flower Shop, and a "gold star" white layer cake.

"On Petticoat Lane," Hudson Star Observer, 11 Feb 1965
This week's gold medal goes to Mrs. John A. Stayberg, who is 80 years old. Mrs. Stayberg has worked at the bloodmobile center in Hudson every year since the blood program started. Mrs. August Weinberg has been another longtime and faithful worker.
Mrs. Stayberg adds to her bloodmobile laurels a long career as corresponding secretary and/or publicity chairman for at least three organizations, Sons of Norway, Aid Society Norden, and Mercy Rebekah lodge. [Women's Relief Corps should have been included also.]

Birth	23 Aug 1883	Mo, Rana, Nordland
Christen	14 Oct 1883	Mo, Nordland
Emigration	5 Jun 1891	British Princess - Port of Philadelphia
Marriage	17 Dec 1904	Hudson, St. Croix County, Wisconsin - John Arnt Stayberg
Death	26 Nov 1973	Hudson, St. Croix County, Wisconsin
Burial	29 Nov 1973	Hudson, St. Croix County, Wisconsin, Willow River Cem

Spouse	John Arnt Stayberg (1882 - 1952)
Child	Jeannette Karine Stayberg (1905 - )
Child	Thelma Lorraine Stayberg (1907 - 1969)
Child	Herbert Norval Arnold Stayberg (1910 - )
Child	John Winston Stayberg (1923 - 1945)

Father	Nils Johan Jenson (1858 - 1934)
Mother	Jensine Cathrine Petrusdatter (1848 - )
Sibling	Jens Herman Jenson (1879 - )
Sibling	Olaf Peter Jenson (1882 - 1964)
Sibling	Axel Zahl Jenson (1885 - 1945)
Sibling	Nels Johan Jenson (1886 - 1947)