My Emmons ancestry is unusual because nobody in it was named Emmons until about 1864. Helge Gundersen of Aamen immigrated from Norway to the United States in 1850 and settled in Wisconsin, where he married and had a son. In 1856 he moved his family to Nunda Township, Freeborn County, Minnesota. His name was recorded as Helge Gundersen for the baptism of his son Lars in 1856; he was H. G. Emundsen at the baptisms of his next two children in 1858 & 1860; and Helge Gundersen for the baptism of Ingeborg in 1862; finally he was H. G. Emmons for the baptism of his next two children in 1864 & 1867. Helge's younger brother, Gunder Gundersen, who immigrated to Freeborn County in 1868, was Gunder G. Emmons in the record of his son Jørgen's baptism in 1869. Helge and Gunder's parents were Gunder Sorensen and Kristi Helgesdatter. Like many Scandinavian immigrants, Helge and Gunder broke their centuries-old patronymic naming convention, and Americanized their name. They chose to use the name of the farm in Norway that they came from “Aamen” as the base for their American surname “Emmons.” Many others chose to adopt a variation of the patronymic name that they were given; as examples, Larsdatter became Larson, and Roarsen became Robinson.
The earliest ancestors of this line lived on the family farm, called Eikje, located in Sigdal, Buskerud, Norway. This farm had been in the possession of this family since the 14th Century1. Asle Narvesen was born on this farm in 1582 and died there in 1664. He apparently lived much of his life on other farms where his children were born. Asle Narvesen and his wife Kjersti Olsdatter had a son Gunder or Gunnar Aslesen who would have an important role in this line that would become Emmons2. Gunder/Gunnar Aslesen was born about 1612 or 1614, in Strand Sigdal, Buskerud, Norway and lived on the Grønhovd and Kopseng farms in Eggedal, Norway. He died in 1686. He and his wife, Ingeborg Haagensdatter, had six children, two of them are important in this story. Sigrid Gundersdatter, born about 1639, is an ancestor of Henry G. Emmons' mother. Ellev Gundersen, born about 1641, is an ancestor of Henry G. Emmons' father.
These are the descendants of Sigrid Gundersdatter to Kristi Helgesdatter, mother of Henry G. Emmons. Most events occurred in Eggedal, Norway.
1 Sigrid Gundersdatter (1639 - 1727)
+Fingar Ellingsen ( - 1700)
... 2 Ingeborg Fingarsdatter (1668 - 1703)
.... +Ole Helgesen (1664 - 1714)
....... 3 Helge Olsen (1703 - )
........ +Bergit Helliksdatter (m: 1732)
........... 4 Hellik Helgesen (1734 - 1804)
............ +Guri Oldsdatter (1736 - m: 1766)
............... 5 Helge Helliksen (1766 - 1845)
................ +Siri Nilsdatter (1776 - 1867 m: 1798)
................... 6 Kristi Helgesdatter (1797 - 1864)
These are the descendants of Ellev Gundersen to Gunder Sorensen, father of Henry G. Emmons. Most events occurred Eggedal, Norway.
1 Ellev Gundersen (1641 - 1728)
+Mari Ellevsdatter ( - 1679 m: 1677)
... 2 Asle Ellevsen (1678 - 1765)
.... +Ingeborg Madsdatter (1680 - 1765 m: 1710)
....... 3 Gunder Aslesen (1712 - 1770)
........ +Ingeborg Engebretsdatter (1720 - 1788 m: 1742)
........... 4 Ingebor Gundersdatter (1764 - 1799)
............ +Soren Olsen (1759 - m: 1786)
............... 5 Gunder Sorensen (1793 - 1868)
Gunder Sorensen and Kristi Helgesdatter were married April 14, 1821 in Eggedal, Norway, and they would have nine children. Five of their children would immigrate to America at different times and all five lived for a while in Nunda Township, Freeborn County, Minnesota. Helge Gundersen was born Oct. 3, 1828 in Eggedal, and he immigrated 1850, first to Elgin, Illinois, then moved to Rock County, Wisconsin. His older sister, Ingeborg Gundersdatter, born Dec. 24, 1823, married Klemet Torgersen in Norway where they had five children before immigrating in 1861. They would have four more children born in Nunda Township, and three of their children were baptised in the same church as Helge Gundersen's children. They would Americanize their name to Clementson or Clemmentson and descendants still live there3. Anne Gundersdatter was born Dec. 4, 1833 in Eggedal, and she immigrated in 1855. She married Nils Olson and their children were also baptised in the same church. Gunder Gundersen, born Nov. 11, 1839, married May 30, 1863 Ingeborg Andersdatter in Eggedal. They immigrated to Freeborn County in 1868 and also had children baptised in the local church. Gunder and his wife would soon move on to North Dakota. Kristi Gundersdatter who was born Nov. 5, 1842 is supposed to have immigrated to America in 1870, but the database of baptisms in Freeborn County has three children born to a Kristi Gundersdatter and husband Stener Gundersen Kivle between 1868 and 1874.
(NOTE: The church where most of these baptisms took place is called Lime Creek Church, and it was part of the Silver Lake Parish of Worth County, Iowa. There are two Lime Creek Churches within a few miles of each other. One is in Freeborn County, Minnesota, a mile or so west of the town of Emmons. The other is in eastern Winnebago County, Iowa, north of Lake Mills and just west of the area that was once known as Norman, Iowa. Either could have been where the children were baptised.)
Helge Gundersen & Kirstine Larsdatter
(Mr. & Mrs. H. G. Emmons) |
Helge Gundersen married Kirstine Larsdatter in Clinton, Rock County, Wisconsin, on April 19, 1854. Kirstine Larsdatter of Dahlen was a daughter of Lars Tostensen and Christi Mikkelsdatter, and was also an immigrant from Norway. Her family goes back several generations in Oppland, Norway. Kirstine was born July 16, 1835 and and her sister Ingeborg was a couple of years older, born January 1832. By 1838 Lars Tostensen had apparently died and Christi Mikkelsdatter married Rikard or Richard Abrahamsen. Rikard Abrahamsen became the step father of Kirstine and Ingeborg Larsdatter. He and Christi had a daughter Lise Rikardsdatter born in 1839 (view photo). Kirstine and Ingeborg immigrated to America in 1853. She and Ingeborg were married in a double wedding on April 19, 1854 with Ingeborg marrying Hans Jørgen Knudsen/Knutson. Both sisters had sons born in Wisconsin and were having children in Nunda Township between 1856 and 1867. Kirstine or Christine Larsdatter would adopt the name Larson as her American surname. Ingeborg and others of their family apparently used Dahl or Dahlen, the name of their farm in Norway, as their surname. Lise "Anna Lisa" Richardsdatter, half sister of Kirstine and Christine Larsdatter, married Morten Hanson/Hansen in Norway, and they had three children there before he died. After his death, she also immigrated here in 1877 with her three children. She and her youngest child apparently died about 1881, two children survived. Kirstine and Henry Emmons cared for her son Andrew M. Hanson and Ingeborg and Hans Knutson cared for her daugher Regina K. Hanson.
The first child of Helge Gundersen and Kirstine Larsdatter was born March 28, 1855 in Clinton, Wisconsin and was originally named Jørgen Helgesen. Later, he would be known as George H. Emmons. He was an infant when his parents took him by wagon to Nunda Township, Freeborn County, Minnesota in 1856. There they carved a home out of the wilderness, and had several more children. Lars Helgesen was the first white child born in Nunda Township on Dec. 30, 1856. He would later be known as Lewis H. Emmons. Karl Helgesen was born Nov. 25, 1858 and was known as Charles H. Emmons when he died April 12, 1882 while attending Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota. Two daughters, Kirstine and Ingeborg, were born in 1860 & 1862, and both died as infants. Another daughter born Nov. 23, 1864 was named Kirstine Emmons. She was later known as Christina or Tina. Henry H. Emmons was born Feb. 23, 1867, and that was the name he was always known by. Lastly, a daughter named Isabella Emmons was born in 1869, but she was not shown in the baptism records. She was found in the censuses of 1880 and 1885, but had died before the 50th wedding anniversary of her parents in 1904.
George H. Emmons married Esther Lena Robinson May 21, 1878, probably in Nunda Township. Esther was the daughter of Ivan Robinson and Soneva Gjerme. She was born July 20, 1858 and probably originally named Esther Lena Evinsdatter. While her baptism record was not in the church records, the baptism record of her sister Karoline Evinsdatter, born Nov. 27, 1860, is in the Lime Creek Church records. Her father is shown as Evin Roarsen and her mother is Sønøve Larsdatter. Baptism records for three other siblings are also in the church records, her father was never listed in these records as Robinson. Some time later, he would change his name to Ivan Robinson and her mother became Soneva Gjerme. Gjerme was the farm that she had come from in Norway.
Since the baptism records of the family of Helge Gundersen and those of the family of Evan/Evin Roarsen were from the same tiny church, I believe that the families lived very close to each other and that George Emmons and Esther Robinson knew each other from childhood. They probably attended church and school together.
George H. & Esther (Robinson) Emmons Young Family
Evelyn - 4, Henrietta - 5 & Carl - 1
Albert Lea, Minnesota, c. 1885
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Sara Evelina Emmons
Her wedding dress, 1905.
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George and Esther had nine children: Henrietta Claryn born 1880, in 1902 she married Charles A. Isaacs; My grandmother Sara Evelina was born May 24, 1881. (I did not know her as Sara, she was always Evelyn.); Carl G. was born in 1883. Shortly after Carl's birth the photograph above was taken. New Year's Day of 1913 he married Sadie Rebecca Emerson; Alma Germaine Emmons was born in 1885, she first married a man named Laymon from Indiana, they were divorced by 1910, and she later married a Marpe, probably from Emmons, and they moved to Seattle, Washington; Grace P. was born in 1887, she married Alfred Blaisdell and they lived in North Dakota and Southern California; Arthur Roy born 1890, in 1917 he married Hilda Narum and they had six children; Emma Victoria who was born in 1891, died of peritonitis in 1912; Myrtle Van Albna was born 1893, never married and was a legal secretary in Los Angeles, California; and finally, Clara Nateva Emmons was born in 1894, she married Anton Ensign Rasmussen in 1917 and they had three children.
In 1881, George and his brother Lewis/Lars operated a store 1 mile south of the Minnesota/Iowa border in Winnebago County, Iowa, near a community then called Norman. Five years later, in 1886, they moved their business across the border into Minnesota. (My father thought they moved because of the strict liquor laws enacted in Iowa.) They built on their father's farm and called the place Emmons. Essentially, they founded the town of Emmons, Minnesota, in 1886. By 1929, Emmons was a town of 400 inhabitants, two banks and a newspaper “The Emmons Leader.”
Many friends and relatives joined the celebration of the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Henry G. Emmons and Kristi (Larson) Emmons in April of 1904 and they had their photograph taken on this occasion. See the photograph here.
My grandfather, Harry J. Braley, was working as pharmacist in Lake Mills, Winnebago County, Iowa, when he first met Sara Evelina Emmons, who was working at a millinery shop next door to the drug store. Lake Mills is about seven miles southwest of Emmons, Minnesota. They were married, June 20, 1905. My father, Alson Emmons Braley, was their first child and was born January 9, 1906 in Lake Mills. In Braley Genealogy, his birth date is March 9, 1906, because Evelyn filled out Mr. Randall's questionnaire and did not want his real date of birth published in the book, so she moved it from January to March. My grandfather owned and operated the drug store and ice cream parlor in Wesley, Kossuth County, Iowa for about 40 years. As a young boy my father sometimes helped out in the store. He graduated with an MD from the State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, May 31, 1931. In June of 1931, he married Hazel Leona Deming of Iowa City, in Iowa City. I was their first child and was born December 11, 1936, in Iowa City.
Alson Deming Braley
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- John W. (Pete) Peterson has done a great deal of research on this Norwegian family line. He is the one who researched the line from Asle Narvesen back to the 14th Century and has been very helpful and most generous in sharing his work with me.
- Henry A. Berg is a descendant of Gunder Aslesen and Ingebørg Haagensdatter and he is the one who first called my attention to the role of Gunder Aslesen in my Emmons line of descent. Henry directed me to the Worth County, Iowa, Church baptismal records that contained so much information. He has also been extremely generous in sharing his work.
- Cynthia Parris is a descendant of Ingeborg Gundersdatter and Klemet Torgersen, by their son, Henry Clemmentson. She has been extremely generous in sharing her work.
