The Sanders Brothers

We really don’t know why it was that three of the four Sanderson brothers decided to emigrate to America from Norway. It’s likely that it was due to the economic status of the times in Norway and that there was only one Family farm. They began emigrating in 1882.

Valley Ciy, Dakota Territory
courtesy of Barnes County Historical Society

Asle and his wife were both in service to the King of Sweden and Norway, according to family legend. He was the first to son to emigrate; he and his Swedish wife Charlotte, also known as Lotta Johannesdatter, immigrated together in 1882 right after their marriage. Not sure what Asle did for the King, but once he arrived in America he obtained training and opened a photography studio.

Another brother Sander immigrated in the 1883 and is shown in the 1885 census living with Asle and Lotta in Valley City, Dakota Territory. He apparently went to Hoquiam, Washington Territory and died there, unmarried in 1948.

Ole Sandersson ca 1885

Ole (our great grandfather and the one in the wedding picture in the last post) immigrated on the ship the state of Pennsylvania, arriving in New York November 29, 1884. It appears that he stayed close to his brother and wife for a short time, working in a Nursery and Greenhouse, and filing his intention to become a citizen there in 1885. He then continued west to settle in Tacoma, Washington Territory for a reason we have yet to uncover. It may just have been the excitement of going to a new town in the midst of a boom. Here’s a picture, taken by his brother at his new photography studio.

Thanks to my beloved late cousin Barbara Roberts, we’ve gotten a great start on compiling this family’s history.