SIGRl’S BRIEF JOURNEY
Sigri (Sigrid) Tarjeisdotter Nordgaard Tweeten (1830-1878) was born at Mo, Telemark to Tarjei and Else Mandt Nordgaard. She grew up in a privileged home, the oldest of three sisters and two brothers. This was in Froland, a remote green valley where the girls were trained at home and at church so there was little chance to meet new boy friends in her social class. When she was 21, she married an adjacent neighbor Jorgen Bendikson, whose father was a cotter with land. They lived in the Mo area for 10 years on his mother’s farm Lofthus and on the Sigurdsli og Felland farm they purchased.
In 1859, when Bendik was four-years-old they moved to a Tveitane farm which they purchased at Norde Nissedal about 40 miles away. It was a warmer, more productive valley. This was Tveitane #8 so there were many families who called themselves Tveitane in Nissedal. The NISSEDAL BYGDABOK says “Jorgen died in 1867 at 45 years of age”. By now there were six living children: Mikkel, 20, Bendik, 12, Else, 7, Asne, 4, Tarjei, 2 and Dreng, 1. Five others had died as infants; one Bendik, two Asnes, and two Elses had died. They continued to christen the babies until there was someone to carry on the grandparent’s name. The rule was always the same. The first son was named after the paternal grandfather, the second son after the maternal grandfather, the first daughter after the paternal grandmother, and the second after the maternal grandmother. No wonder the same names keep reoccurring.
Oliver Tweeten remembered some information about these people. His story is that Jorgen rode off on his horse one day and never returned. There was some speculation that he had tuberculosis which was the dread disease of that time and he disappeared to protect the rest of the household from the disease. It was a dangerous area for man or beast so a fall into a ravine or the fjord was also possible. The BYGDABOK further says her eldest son took over the small farm but sold it three years later and went back to Mo. Oliver Tweeten adds to this story that Mikkel joined a religious sect who lived as recluse people near Mo. We do not have accurate information about Sigri during the following years except that Bendik, Else and Asne came to Iowa with Bendik when he was 23 so that he would not be drafted into the Norwegian army at that age. Also, they came with prepaid tickets paid by their aunt and uncle Margit and Hans Holtan of Forest City, Iowa. They were sometimes called Holtan as they lived at the Holtan farm until they had other opportunities. Bendik called himself Tweeten from the first records so he Americanized his name immediately as well as dropping the patronymic name of Jorgenson.
The distant cousins in Norway have a journal that says that Sigri and the two small boys left for America but there is no evidence for this in America. There are no burial or census records to help us understand Sigri’s brief journey. The Mandt family may have dismissed her marriage as being beneath their family status, but the population explosion in the valleys had made marriages between the same classes more difficult. The trek to America would largely end any further class distinctions for her descendants. Her final journey is known but to God. In America, Bendik named his first daughter for his mother Sigri. Sarah was the American name for Sigri and Else Sime named her child Sarah also. Bendik also named his son Bennie for his own grandfather Bendik in Norway. At the writing of this text Sigri has 470 blood descendants through Bendik Tweeten alone who carry the blood of this “thoroughbred” woman we know too little about.
“Kan du glemme gamla Norge?” (How can you forget old Norway?)
Sigrid’s final gift to her children was living to be 99 years old and passing those hardy genes to each of those who come after her. Her journey became a blending of the nationalities and the first of many cross-cultural marriages for the good of the generations. We honor her strong contributions to our family tree. ( We don’t know for sure why Ruth Holtan talks about her 99-year life, because our best records show that she died quite young at age 48. I believe she may have confused her with her mother Else MIkkelsdatter Mandt. PEH)
You can see her genealogy in this 5 Gen Pedigree Chart for Sigrid Tarjeisdatter Mandt Nordgarden_
and her husband 5 Gen Pedigree Chart for Jorgen Bendickson Tveitane Lofthus