Torkel Jorgenson Heimdahl (1822-1873 ) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 30) Theme: "The Old Country"

Norway was the "Old Country" for a majority of my ancestors. After leaving Norway, most immigrants remained in America but the call of the "Old Country" led one family back across the Atlantic, at least for awhile.

Torkel Jorgenson (my 2X great grandfather on my mother's father's side) was born 1 October 1822 at Treungen, Nissedal, Telemark, Norway and baptised there when he was just five days old. His parents were Jorgen Torkelson and Birgit Targiesdatter. 

klokkerbøker baptism record for Torkel Jorgenson 1822 

The Norwegian kirkebøker contain all the vital statistics, including vaccinations for smallpox which were required starting in 1810. Torkel was vaccinated on 25 July 1822 by Bjorn Olson when he was just under 10 months old. 

Torkel's father Jorgen was the klokkar (sexton) who would have been in charge of keeping the klokkerbøker versions of the kirkebøker for Nissedal parish for the time period so we no doubt looking at his handwriting in the above record of his son's birth and baptism.  He would have been a well educated man and no doubt a respected member of the community. However, Jorgen died in January 1839 when son Torkel was just 17 years old; Torkel was confirmed in the state Lutheran Church just a few months after losing his father.

3 November 1839 Confirmation record for Torkel Jorgenson Hjemdal (note that baptism and immunization dates are included in the Confirmation record) 

The family story was that son Torkel had been a school teacher in Norway, but according to the Nissedal, Telemark Bygdebok, he was a klokkar like his father. In addition to his church position, he was also a farmer.

Torkel was the oldest of 6 children. In 1852, two of his younger sisters left for America. 

On the day after New Year's Day 1856, at age 33, he married Signe Knutsen Tveitane. Their first child, (and only son) Jorgen Torkelson, was born on November 30 of that year; other children followed at two-year intervals: Karine, Berget, Jorgene (my great grandmother), Signe, Kari and Turi. 

The family emigrated from Telemark in 1862 to the United States. The parish records tell us that they left on 4 April 1862 for "Amerika"; Torkel was 40 at the time and the oldest three of their children came with them. Mother Signe was pregnant with Jorgena who was born 12 October 1862 after their arrival in Wisconsin. Next daughter Signe was also born in America in March of 1864. 

One of Torkel's sisters remained in Norway and married, but the remainder of the family all emigrated with Torkel and Signe in 1862. Included in this family migration was his widowed mother Bergit Tarjiesdatter.

It isn't certain what prompted Torkel to make an unusual move - back to the comfort of the Old Country with his wife and growing family. The family story had always been that he had developed tuberculosis. The Nissedal bygebok tells a more complex tale of land transactions and Torkel, as the oldest son, appears to have taken the Heimdal land over again for a period of time. The 1865 Norwegian census conducted on the last day of the year finds the family living back at Heimdal Sondre, Nissedal, Telemark. 

The Nissedal Bygdebok tells us that Torkel made a final sale of the Heimdal land in the Old Country in 1869. I have not located any other records that show them leaving Norway or arriving once more in America, but daughter Turi was born and baptised in Lake Mills, Iowa in July of 1870. (Poor Signe was probably once again pregnant on a cross-Atlantic journey!)

For the longest time, we had thought that Torkel had died in Norway of tuberculosis in about 1867 and that his widow and children had decided to head back to America to join some of her family in Iowa after his death. For this reason, it was a surprise when we actually found Torkel's death record showing his death in January of 1873 in Lake Mills, Iowa. 

#44. - Death Record for Torkel in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Records 1875-1940 for
Lake Mills, Iowa, Winnebago Lutheran Church (accessed via Ancestry.com)

Signe soon remarried (12 November 1873) to a man named Kittil Aaneson. The family photo that we have is from this marriage, with no known photograph of Torkel. 

 Torkel's widow Signe (remarried to Kittil Aaneson, seated center)
Torkel's children left to right standing: Turi. Bergit, Jorgen,
Jorgene (my great grandmother), Karine
Seated left is daughter Signe and on right is Kari.

Torkel is buried in the cemetery at Winnebago Lutheran Church, Lake Mills, Iowa, far from the Old Country of his birth.

Winnebago Lutheran Church, Lake Mills, Iowa
Photo courtesy Diane Gravlee of Find a Grave website

Some Resources: 

• Norwegian kirkebøker and census records for Nissedal, Telemark are available online at the Norwegian Digital Archives: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/
• Nissedal Bygdesoge Gard og aett Treungen sokn, Kjell Åsen; utgjevar Nissedal Bygdesgogenemnd 1978.