Andreas Isaksen Brække

Utreist med/Emigrated on: "WALHALLA", departed from Skien to New York. Arrived Aug 11, 1849 with 183 passengers.
Utreist til/Emigrated to: Valders township, Wisconsin

Andreas was born May 3, 1819 in Gjerpen. He was an illegitimate child. His mother was  Lene Maria Larsdatter and as father was stated Isak Andersen from Follestad in Gjerpen. It seems that the mother Lene Maria or Helene Maria had one more child born before she was married. She had the girl Gundborg baptized Jan 22, 1815 in Gjerpen and father was  Aslak Axelsen from Hyni in Gjerpen. He was a soldier. The child died already Oct 6, 1816.
After Andreas was born Lene Marie and Isak Andersen was married in Gjerpen Sep 8, 1820. They had one more daughter, Karen Marie, born Aug 24, 1821. It seems they lived at Bratsbergkleiva, which was a part of Gjerpen (now a part of Skien).

In 1845 I find them in the census, living at Brekkejordet. This means “the Brekke fields” (Brekke N (Nordre=North) was a large farm on the outskirts of Skien. They lived in house no 37.
Isak Andersen, labourer. age 52
Lene Marie Larsdatter, age 59
Anders Isaksen, fishmonger, unmarried, age 26 (this is Andreas)
Karen Marie Isaksdatter, unmarried, age 21.

In 1849, May 25, Andreas Isaksen, fishmonger from Gjerpen, age 30 married in Skien Ellevine Larsdatter, girl from Skien, age 22 (father: Lars Thorsen):

And then the couple emigrated that summer on the vessel “Walhalla”.
In the list of people leaving Gjerpen, only Andreas is mentioned,

When he came to America, Andreas took the name Andrew Jackson. He originally settled in Valders, Wisconsin and later followed his children to Millbank, Grant Co., South Dakota where they had homestead. He died there on Feb 3, 1909 at the home of his son Lars Anderson. His children had changed their last name to Anderson during the American Civil War because of the association of the name Jackson with the Confederacy. He was taken back to Valders in Wisconsin to be buried.

Many of his descendants still live in and around Milbank, South Dakota.

David Andrew Schmunk of Eugene, Oregon has supplied part of this information.



2003 - Skien Genealogical page - by Jan Christensen