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| Birth/baptism of Osten (Ostensen) item #10 |
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| Hans and Anna Bardahl Family c.1890 (colorized image) Steve is notable for his absence here and in any other family photos |
A clue for his distance from the family can be found in his birth record. His original name was not Steve Bardahl. Born 8 September 1868, his baptism record in the Holden Lutheran Church of Goodhue, MN shows his given name as Osten, with parents Osten Ostensen and Anne Eriksdtr. Holien.
After his mother married Hans Bardahl in 1873, Osten is sometimes found in records as "Erstine" or "Astein" with the surname Bardahl. He didn't seem to adopt the name Steve until he reached adulthood.
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| 1875 census for Hawk Creek, Renville, MN, Astein Bardahl age 6 |
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| 1880 U/S. census, Granite Falls, Chippewa, MN, Erstine Bardahl age 11 My grandfather John Bardahl is 1 year old at this time |
On 5 March 1894 he married Laura Nelson, daughter of Carl and Karen Nelson (and older sister to Louise Nelson who would become my paternal grandmother).
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| Wedding of Steve Bardahl and Laura Nelson, first entry for 1894 Pomme de Terre Lutheran Church |
One might imagine that all was bliss for the couple since their example was followed by Steve's half brother John who would go on to wed Laura's sister Louise a few years later. However, Steve and Laura were not destined to live happily ever after.
Steve and Laura moved to Milton, North Dakota to farm shortly after their wedding. According to The Milton Globe newspaper of 18 February 1897 "Steve Bardahl has opened up a collection agency. Office at residence, three doors west of post office." In the 22 July 1897 edition of the same paper: "Mr. and Mrs. S. Bardahl have moved into the building recently vacated by Mrs. Hanson."
The Milton Globe also gives us details about Steve's career. It reported on 13 October 1898: "Steve Bardahl of this city was last Monday appointed and sworn in as deputy sheriff. Deputy Gunder Nelson's business is of such nature that it necessitates his absence from the county at this busy time, when the services of a deputy sheriff are daily required."
Steve and Laura appear in the 1900 census at Milton, N.D. where they are renting their home and Steve is listed as a police constable.
The Milton Globe of 8 June 1906 reported: "At a meeting of the village council Tuesday evening Steve Bardahl was appointed marshal to succeed Jonas Christenson, resigned."
This must have been an interesting time and place to be involved in law enforcement; it was in many ways still "the wild west". Records for Sheriffs serving in Cavalier County indicate that as a result of the prohibition enactment when North Dakota became a state in 1889, an additional deputy was needed at Langdon and Allan Pinkerton, a former city policeman, was hired for the job. Pinkerton broke up a large gang of outlaws terrorizing residents of several counties. Several murders and property line disputes required investigation between 1894 and 1898. From 1900 to 1904 several controversial trials were held and there was an investigation involving blind pigs. (A blind pig isn't what you might think. Apparently it referred to a low-class establishment that would thwart the prohibition laws by charging patrons to see an animal, such as a pig, and then offer them a free drink as part of the viewing. More information can be found at this site.)
Steve would have been in the thick of all this law enforcement action. But the jail did not hold only hardened criminals. My grandmother Louise once told me how Steve had locked her in jail in Milton and refused to release her for some time. He was playing a joke on her, but she was NOT amused, finding the whole experience quite terrifying.
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| Laura Nelson back row right with brother Nels, young sister Louise (my grandmother) and their mother Karen Nelson c.1890 (colorized image) |
The Milton Globe also gives us details about Steve's career. It reported on 13 October 1898: "Steve Bardahl of this city was last Monday appointed and sworn in as deputy sheriff. Deputy Gunder Nelson's business is of such nature that it necessitates his absence from the county at this busy time, when the services of a deputy sheriff are daily required."
Steve and Laura appear in the 1900 census at Milton, N.D. where they are renting their home and Steve is listed as a police constable.
The Milton Globe of 8 June 1906 reported: "At a meeting of the village council Tuesday evening Steve Bardahl was appointed marshal to succeed Jonas Christenson, resigned."
This must have been an interesting time and place to be involved in law enforcement; it was in many ways still "the wild west". Records for Sheriffs serving in Cavalier County indicate that as a result of the prohibition enactment when North Dakota became a state in 1889, an additional deputy was needed at Langdon and Allan Pinkerton, a former city policeman, was hired for the job. Pinkerton broke up a large gang of outlaws terrorizing residents of several counties. Several murders and property line disputes required investigation between 1894 and 1898. From 1900 to 1904 several controversial trials were held and there was an investigation involving blind pigs. (A blind pig isn't what you might think. Apparently it referred to a low-class establishment that would thwart the prohibition laws by charging patrons to see an animal, such as a pig, and then offer them a free drink as part of the viewing. More information can be found at this site.)
Steve would have been in the thick of all this law enforcement action. But the jail did not hold only hardened criminals. My grandmother Louise once told me how Steve had locked her in jail in Milton and refused to release her for some time. He was playing a joke on her, but she was NOT amused, finding the whole experience quite terrifying.
While his law enforcement career was being established, the couple had difficulty starting a family. Again from The Milton Globe newspaper, 22 November 1900: "BORN - to Mr. and Mrs. Steve Bardahl, on the 17th inst., a son. The infant died within twenty-four hours after its birth, and the bereaved parents have the sympathy of many friends, especially as this is their second misfortune of this nature within the last few years."
The Bardahls were again on the move to a different rented house, as reported by The Milton Globe of 12 April 1906: "Mr. and Mrs. Steve Bardahl this week moved into the Wakeford house on West Oakland ." One gets the feeling that the Bardahls were rather unsettled.
The 1910 census finds Steve and Laura in Milton Village, Montrose Twp., N.D. The record indicates that Steve was 41, Laura 36; that they had been married 16 years; that Laura had given birth to two children, neither of whom survived; that his occupation was laborer and that they were renting a house. It appears that Steve's law enforcement career had ended by this time.
During the 1910s, Steve and Laura joined other family members homesteading in the Leinan area of Saskatchewan (north of Swift Current). Homestead records indicate that he made application for three different quarter sections: SW20-19-14-W3M, SW18-18-14-W3 and NW18-18-14-W3 but apparently did not ever prove up any of them. Many family members today might be surprised to learn that Steve and Laura had homesteaded in the area at all. The couple did not arrive in Canada until too late in 1911 to be counted in the Canadian census taken that summer. They do not appear in any of the group family pictures taken from the early homesteading days. Once again, Steve has been nearly forgotten. It seems they were in Canada for about 5-7 years before moving back to the United States, but did not seem to have left much of a mark.
It isn't clear just when the Bardahls separated or if they ever actually divorced. However, they lived apart for the rest of their lives.
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| Laura (Nelson) Bardahl, unknown year |
By the time of the 1930 US census, Steve was living with his mother in Barrett Village, Lien Twp., Grant Co., MN; at this time, he was 61 - white, male, single (note that something else had been written in the space for marriage condition and then erased and replaced), unemployed farm laborer, and not a veteran.
In the late 1930's (probably following his mother's death in 1938) he moved to Langdon, N.D. and was custodian at the City Hall there. As his health failed, he moved to a nursing home in Arthur, N.D. and died there 24 July 1947. Steve is buried at Lebanon (Milton) Memorial Cemetery. Reunited in the end, Laura was buried here too when she died in 1954.
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| Stone for Laura Bardahl at Lebanon (Milton, Cavalier County, N.D.) Photo courtesy HL49 of Find a Grave website There is no stone for Steve - once again nearly forgotten! |
01 August 2020 Addition:
Many thanks to my cousin Roger for his fine detective skills in finding a photograph that almost certainly includes Steve. The 1930 U.S. Census had told us that Steve was living with his mother Anna in Barrett, MN. Photographs taken at the time of a 1930 visit by John and Louise to visit his mother include this one of Anna with her sons John and Ole and their wives; the man on the right is undoubtedly Steve. Not completely forgotten, after all!
Some Resources:
- Saskatchewan Archives Board for Homestead Records located online at https://www.saskarchives.com/collections/land-records/homestead-files-saskatchewan-archives/pre-1930-homestead-file-series-s-42
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 1781-1969, birth records for Holden Church MN for 1868 located online through Ancestry.com
- Pomme de Terre MN. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America marriage records for 1894
- Sheriffs Serving North Dakota 100 Years photocopy of page for Langdon, Cavalier County provided by Ross and Barbara Dohlen from their visit to the area
- A Century of Area History 1882-1982 Milton, North Dakota local history book, photocopied pages provided by the Dohlens from their visit there
- The Milton Globe : Milton, Cavalier County, N.D., published weekly from 1888-1937
Your newspaper searches were quite productive for you to piece together such a good profile of their lives. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Virginia, but I had a lot of help from cousins Ross and Barbara who visited the area and provided me with much of this material.
ReplyDelete