Andrew Stumprud

STUMPRUD

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/18/2010 at 21:33:58

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Andrew Stumprud
By Lin Strong and Ann Fullbright

Andrew and Bertha Stumprud came to the Sergeant Bluff area to farm in 1888. Andrew born as Andreas Andersen, was born in 1836 in Trondheim, Trondjheim, Norway, the son of Anders Christiansen and Marthe Halvorsdotter. In 1860, he married Bertha Christine Hiledotter in Tryghoved Kirche in Norway. A son, Augustus Julius Martinus Anderson, was born 24 August 1862; and a daughter, Bertha, was born 11 February 1866. This is the family that immigrated from Norway in February of 1867.

Upon arrival at Ellis Island officials would not let Andrias keep the name of Andersens had already come into this land, so he took the name of Stumperude (the spelling changed throughout the years as documented by birth records and census records). Stumperude means wooded land, describing the area he had come from in Norway.

After they left Ellis Island they moved to Quebec for approximately one year, then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 4 July 1868. Andrew farmed part of the year near Fergus Falls, Minnesota (Ottertail County), but moved the family to Minneapolis during the long harsh winters. In the winter of 1873, and when Andrew listed his wife as dying in the family Bible, he also listed his son, August as having died at the same time. August was very ill, but he did not die.

In April of 1873 he hired a housekeeper to come to Fergus Falls to help care for his two children. This widow with a small daughter was Berthe Larsen (married name possibly Berensen). Berthe was born 3 December 1844 in Aasperseekouen Kongsvinger Prestgeld, Norway. Her parents were Haagen Larsen and Anne Gulbransdotter, Berthe and her first husband had a general store in Anchorhaundaunt, Norway. Her first husband was supposedly a champion ice skater. Berthe, her husband and a daughter, Julia Emelle, her parents and sisters, Ella, Jennie, Helene, Anna and Lena, and Berthe’s uncle Heinrich and his son immigrated to the United States in 1869. Berthe’s husband and her uncle supposedly died aboard ship. They moved to Minneapolis, and Berthe stayed there when the rest of the family moved to homestead in the Fairbault area. Haagen Larsen died there in 1873, but Anne Larsen stayed in the area with her daughters until 1880 when she went to live with Berthe.

Andrew and Berthe were married in April of 1874. They farmed in the Fergus Falls area for fourteen years. Children born to this marriage were: Hannah Bertina, born 18 July 1878; Heinrich, Molline, Aarnt, and a second Heinrich, all died as infants: Ollie Milton, born 20 May 1885; and George, born 9 April 1888. Berthe’s mother, Anna Larsen, died in Sergeant Bluff in the fall of 1888 and is buried in the cemetery on the hill with her daughter, Jennie, in unmarked graves.

The Stumprude lived and farmed near Sergeant Bluff for about twenty years and moved to Sioux City when they retired. Andrew died 20 August 1920 and Berthe died 19 August 1924. They are buried at Graceland Park Cemetery in Sioux City.
Bertha’s daughter Julia stayed in Sergeant Bluff, married Aaron Gunderson, raised a family, and had a millinery shop in her home.
Above information compiled by :Lin Strong, Box 121, Almelund, MN 55002, with help from Ann Fullbright 26629 Ferguson St. Boron, CA 93516