BertelOvergaard

Ben Overgard wrote a Life History in his own handwriting before hedied. The original document is in the hands of Betty Laycock,daughter of Ben's son Roy Overgard. Copies exist and are in the handsof several of his descendants. The following is what Ben said abouthis life history. It should be noted that Ben seemed to be a littleconfused about the exact dates given in this document.QuoteBen Overgard Life History----------------------------------------------------------Born in Denmark April 1, 1863. 7 years later sister Anne was born1869. 14 years later our mother passed away 1883. I finished school1 year later 14 years old 1875. Was confirmed the same year in theLutheran Church. 2 years later I started to learn trade bricklayingand plastering. 1877 worked at my trade til 1884, then I went in theArmy 1 year. Then I got a met Mary Simpson. 2 years later we wasengaged to get married but we didn't get married til we came toAmerica 1885, at Tecumseh, Nebraska. We came where Mary's brotherlived Andy Simpson. We worked for them one year then we went Omahawhere Mary's Brother Nels lived. I got work there laying brick.Andrew was born in Omaha April 22, 1886. Next year we moved toCouncil Bluffs. I worked there til 1892. Moved back to Tecumseh,Nebraska. Moved to Kansas in 1893. Alfred was born at CouncilBluffs, Iowa March 18, 1890, passed away at 3. Mabel was born 1892at Tecumseh, Nebr. Roy was born Kansas 1895. Albert born April 22,1898. Earl November 8, 1900. I came to Iowa 1915.Now something about the Simpsen family 3 boys 2 girls (one boy nevercame to America) the oldest was a girl named Elizabet. I have neverseen her. Then Andy at Tecumseh, Nels Omaha, Nebraska. Then my wifeMary. She passed away November 28, 1900. One son born in fall of1888 died at age 6 months "Alfred". 7 children, 7 grandchildren. 7great-grandchildren. Married Mary Owens 1902. Mary Owens died 1913.Agnes Walker married 1915. Mary Walker died 1938. CatherineElizabeth Mahaffey 1939 married Nov 11.Papers Betty wants to take to Denmark. UnquoteThe house where the family lived in Norton County, Kansas was ahomestead. The house was a soddy -- not a sod house -- it was adugout. They dug into the side of an embankment and put a front withdoors and window in that.Ben built school buildings, etc., in northern Kansas and southernNebraska. He also built the vaults and tiled halls in the NebraskaState Capitol.Ben's son Roy told about Andrew being beaten by Ben. At least Andrewthought it was more than a spanking. Roy and Andrew slept upstairsand Roy remembered Andrew sneaking away in the night. Apparentlythere were some Danish families living in the area. They came to thefarm and told Ben that Andrew was ok but wouldn't tell him where hewas. Ben was of the domineering father school, it seems.

Note: Bertel's family name in Denmark was OVERGAARD. There is no recordthat the spelling was ever legally or officially changed to OVERGARDAs far as is known, he himself took and he gave his children theAnglicized name of OVERGARD. He was engaged to a Danish girl whoseparents had migrated and Ben followed them to the US and subsequentlymarried the girl. Ben and his wife Mary (as he called her) had 7children - 5 boys and 2 girls. Mary died in 1900. He remarried in1902. His second wife died in 1913 and he married again in 1915. Shedied in 1938 and he married again in 1939. One child born to hisfirst wife (Alfred) was born in 1888 and died at 6 months.

The following obituary was printed at the time of Ben's death: QuoteBertel (Ben) Overgard, son of Andrew and Johan Overgard, was bornin Hordum, Denmark on April 1st, 1862, and passed from this life athis home in Russell, Iowa, on March 5th, 1949, at the age of 86 years,11 months, and 5 days.The early years of his life were spent in Denmark and at the ageof 23 years he came to America, locating at Tecumseh, Nebr.. He movedto Iowa in 1915 where his home has since been located.In 1865 he was united in marriage to Mary Simpson. To this unionseven children were born, two of whom preceded him in death. Hiswife, Mary passed away in 1900. The surviving children are, Andrew ofBeatrice, Nebr.; Mrs. Mabel Dorr of Lincoln, Nebr.; Roy of KansasCity, Mo.; Albert of Tonganoxie, Kans.; and Earl of Des Moines, Iowa.In 1939 he was married to Catherine Elizabeth Mahaffey ofRussell, Iowa. The home was established in Russell, where they havesince resided.Surviving are the sorrowing wife, the five children, seven grandchildren, and seven great grand children.He was confirmed in the Lutheran Church in Denmark at the age of14 years. After coming to Russell, he attended Church here with hiswife, as long as health permitted.He was a bricklayer by trade, having learned the trade as a youngman in Denmark, following it as an occupation until he retired fromactive work. Mr. Overgard made many friends in Russell and will begreatly missed by all who knew him. Unquote.

Note:

Funeral services were held at the Russell Baptist Church, Rev. A. E.Beals officiating. Catherine Elizabeth, who died in 1950, was buriednext to Ben so he is buried between his last two wives.

• Emigration: MAR 1887 Hordum, Thisted, Denmark 3
• Immigration: MAR 1887 Amsterdam, NY
• Note:

On 1 May 1868, in the wake of numerous scandals involving trustingemigrants who had been cheated by Danish emigration agents, the Danishparliament passed a law calling for the stricter regulation of theseagents. In accordance with this law, the Copenhagen Chief of Policehad to approve and monitor the work of all the emigration agents inDenmark and to authorize all tickets to overseas destinations made outin Denmark. This was to be done regardless of whether the emigrantsailed directly from Copenhagen to the United States or indirectly,via another European harbor. All the information on each ticket wascopied down in a ledger, resulting in 90 thick volumes of specificinformation on every single emigrant, the Copenhagen Police Records ofEmigrants. A search of these records was made and the emigrationrecord for Berthel (sic) was found. The following fields are shown:Name, Occupation, Age, Destination, Contract No., Reg. date,Birthplace, Birth Parish, Last residence, Dest. country, Comments,IDcode.Overgaard, Berthel, Landmand, 23, Amsterdam, NY, 1122, 3/4/1887,,-,Hordum, Thisted, USA,,I8687O0909.A "Landmand" was a farmer (a man of the land). There is anothercategory of farmer which is called "husmand". That is a small farmerwho could not afford a farm on a piece of land but only a "house" on apiece of land. Thus Husmand. It appears Berthel (sic) was a man ofthe land.Berthel may have travelled to America at the same time and on the sameship as his wife to be, Marie Simonsen who registered as a singleperson on 6 Mar 1887 from Villerslev, Thy (2 days after Bertelregistered) with the same destination, Amsterdam, NY.4 3

• CONF: 1876 Hoerdum Lutheran Church, Denmark 1
• NATU: 8 SEP 1936 Southern District of Iowa
• Note: Certificate of Citizenship No. 4174614, Petition No. 1860, issuedSeptember 8, 1936. 5

  Note: Issue of License and Certificate of Marriage 4 April 1887 in Tecumseh.Also, the Tecumseh Chieftain (local paper) listed "OVERGAARD-SIMONSON- May (sic) 14, 1887 - License to wed issued this past week to B.Overgaard age 24 and A. Simonson age 22." 6 7

  Sources:1. Abbrev: Handwritten Life History by Ben OvergardTitle: Handwritten Life History by Ben OvergardAuthor: Bertel (Ben) Overgaard2. Abbrev: Family RecordsTitle: Family Records3. Abbrev: Danish Emigration ArchivesTitle: Danish Emigration Archives4. Abbrev: Copenhagaen Police records of EmigrantsTitle: Copenhagaen Police records of Emigrants, emigration record givingName, Occupation, Age, Destination, Contract No., Reg. date,Birthplace, Birth Parish, Last residence, Dest. Country, Comments,IDcode. Overgaard, Berthel, Landmand, 23, Amsterdam, N.Y., 1122,3/4/1887,,-, Hordum, Thisted, USA,,I8687O0909.5. Abbrev: Certificate of CitizenshipTitle: Certificate of Citizenship Nr 4174614, Petition Nr. 1860, issuedSeptember 8, 1936.6. Abbrev: License and Certificate of MarriageTitle: License and Certificate of Marriage, Issued 4 April 1887 in Tecumseh,Johnson Co., NE7. Abbrev: Tecumseh Chieftain NewspaperTitle: Tecumseh Chieftain Newspaper, article listing marriage of B. Overgaardand A. Simonson.