Hundreds of Fredericksons reunite

Relatives come from many states, Norway

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The Frederickson family reunited about 350 of its clan Saturday night with a gala event at Turner Hall.

Since some of the family has been moving away from the area creating smaller reunions, there was a desire to create a larger reunion this year for the family that has been holding reunions since 1935, according to Patty Young of Hanska.

The reunion is for descendents of Frederic and Marit Bjorvik who came to American from Norway in 1876. They changed their last name to Frederickson after coming to America.

Young said this year's turnout equaled that of the 1935 reunion held at the Hovde Resort on the south side of Lake Hanska.

Traditionally, the reunions were held in the park in Hanska or at Lake Hanska.

This year, descendents came from as far away as Lillehammer, Norway, home of an Olympic ski competition site.

"We are very proud of that (Olympic ski site)," said Jostein Tryggeset, who teaches law and is a high school principal.

Artifacts at the reunion included wooden implements dating back to 1784, a wide and deep wooden bowl used to collect milk and skim cream off the top, family bibles, many photos and a grommegrot stir (a paddle used to make rice pudding with sour cream), and old family trunks.

Young said the family came to the U.S. with all its belongings in the trunks.

Tryggeset said the southern Minnesota prairie is much different than the mountainous region the family left in Norway.

"Some of my relatives went crazy when they came here," he said. "They had a hard time adjusting to such a different place. They were used to resting their eyes on the mountains.

"When I come here, I am almost treated like a king," said Tryggeset. "Lots of people from here go to Norway, but very few of them ever come here."

He said his descendents left Norway because of the tough times there. Frederic and Marit had ten children and only a couple cows and a few pigs.

"There home was on a steep hill on the back side of the valley," Tryggeset said. "The sun shined there only in the morning. In the afternoon, it was tough to hunt. They shot reindeer on the mountain and fished in the river. It was a hard living."

He said coming to America was a great adventure.

Tryggeset said he enjoyed meeting many relatives here that he never knew he had.