Bernt Strommen

STROMMEN, WILHELMSEN, RODBERG, VAAGE, HALS, KVERNEVIK

Posted By: David Strommen (email)
Date: 12/2/2007 at 17:37:52

Bernt (Ben) Matthias Karlsen Strommen was born April 9, 1891 in Selje, Nordfjord, Norway on the farm of Straumen (the dialect word for Strommen). He was the fourth of ten children born to Karl Wilhelmsen and Johanne Jonsdtr. (nee Kvernevik) Strommen. He was baptized and confirmed in Selje and received a primary education in the same community. In the spring of 1911 he and his younger brother Carl, b. 1893, decided to travel to an older brother, Sivert, born 1889, who had come in 1906 to the Webster, SD area. Sivert had come to his uncle and aunt, Rasmus and Helen (nee Paulsdtr. Fladager) Kvernevig who lived near Bristol, SD. Ben and Carl arrived in New York just before Ben's 20th birthday, April, 1911. For two years Ben, along with his brothers, were employed as farmhands in the north central South Dakota area. In 1913, Ben decided to come and visit and possibly work in the north Iowa area where his uncle, Anders Wilhelmsen Strommen, and aunt Marie Wilhelmsdtr. Birkeland lived along with several other relatives from the Nordfjord area. It was here that he met his first cousin, Emma Marie Andersdtr. Strommen, b. February 17, 1892, although they had corresponded for some time. They fell in love and were married June 6, 1914 in Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada. To this union three sons were born, Clarence Alven , b. 1914, d. 1915, Arthur Clarence, b. 1920, d. 1984, and Kenneth, b. 1924, d. 1988. Ben was engaged in farming in the Forest City and Fertile area for many years. The Strommens were members for many years of the Fertile Lutheran Church. Ben and Emma moved to Forest City in June of 1967. Emma passed away in September 1980, Ben passed away in June 1982.

~biography written by David Strommen