Genealogy Jottings

My grandfather Bjarne occupied the slot of the first child in his family born in America. He took that role very seriously, and when he grew up he promptly anglicized his name to Barney.

His parents, grandparents, and older sister Riborg had emigrated from Bø in the far northern reaches of Norway in 1904 and 1905. Upon their arrival in the United States, they settled temporarily in Lake Park, Minnesota. Bjarne’s father and grandfather went to work for the railroad to earn enough money to homestead in the West. While the family lived in Lake Park, Bjarne was born on 26 August 1906.

By 1907 the family had saved enough to begin homesteading. Bjarne travelled on the train with his family to Culbertson, Montana. From there they headed north to the Medicine Lake area and acquired homesteads among other Norwegian settlers. A few years later, Bjarne’s parents moved on to a larger homestead in Sheridan County near Redstone, Montana, just south of the Canadian border.

On the new homestead, Bjarne helped his dad build a sturdy barn that still stands on the property over a hundred years later. They spoke Norwegian at home, and Bjarne did not begin to learn English until his sister Riborg started school. During his youth, he learned to hunt and fish, a pastime that became a life-long pursuit.

Bjarne and his siblings Riborg, Signe, Jennie, and Otto attended the Two Tree School about a mile from their home. Their father had built the structure.

Long after Bjarne had finished the eighth grade at Two Tree, a pert, new teacher arrived from Minnesota to take over instruction at the school. Martha Mattila lived with surrounding farmers, including the Bentsens, during the school year. Bjarne took a shine to her, and they were married on 2 June 1928 in Plentywood, the county seat. For unknown reasons, they wed at the Congregational Church even though both were Lutheran.

They welcomed their first child, my mother Joyce, the next year. The local paper reported that “Mother and daughter are getting along nicely and Mr. Bentsen is wearing the smile that won’t come off.”

Once he started his family, Bjarne no longer wanted to help with the farming; he seemed ready to try something new. He and Martha left Montana to return to her old neighborhood in Hibbing, Minnesota. By 1930 they had moved into a house next door to her parents, and Bjarne went to work as an electrician for the local iron mine.

During the Depression, Bjarne and Martha added a son and another daughter to their family. Bjarne changed lines of work again, leaving the mines to become a police officer.

His family recalled encountering him in his official capacity during those years. He occasionally had to pick up his disorderly brothers-in-law at the taverns. Sometimes he stopped in at home in the evenings to tell his children it was time for lights out. His worst experience was identifying the body of his father-in-law after Alex Mattila was killed by a train in 1945.

Martha’s mother Ada Mattila died in 1948. By then, after 18 years in Minnesota, Bjarne was missing the West. He and Martha sold all their belongings and went to Wyoming with their three children to make a new start. At some point he had taken a correspondence course in electrical work, and he put that to use in Powell. Over the next few years they bounced from one Wyoming town to another, living in Basin, Worland, and Casper, as he gained experience in the field.

They finally ended up in Rapid City, South Dakota in 1951. There he owned the Interstate Electrical Company and joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors Association. He acquired a four-placer Navin plane, and joined the air patrol. In 1960 he created quite a stir in Riverdale, North Dakota when he arrived in his plane for his son’s wedding.

Bjarne also joined the Rushmore Masonic Lodge #220 during these years. He liked to participate in parades by riding a motorcycle with the Shriner’s group.

Over the years, the Bentsen marriage unraveled, and the couple divorced in 1960. Bjarne married Evelyn Nickerson after his divorce was final. With this marriage, he acquired four step-children—3 girls and a boy.

By 1965, Bjarne’s health was breaking down. He gave up the electrical shop and worked only occasionally as an electrician. At one point he took a short-term job at the Dave Johnston Power plant in Glenrock, Wyoming. When he was home in Rapid City, he helped his wife by collecting the rents for the office building she owned. He fully retired in 1981 due to ill health.

He and Evelyn continued to live in their family home until he was hospitalized in 1986. He passed away on 13 February 1986. The Masonic rites were performed at his funeral, and he was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Rapid City. His cemetery marker reads, “Loving Bapa, Grower of Trees.”