John Jacob Ellingson was born in Norway on September 27, 1850. In 1870, at the age of 20, John and the rest of the Ellingson family left Norway to begin a new life in the United States. Upon their arrival, John's brothers changed their last name from Ellingson to Jacobson, while John retained the original family name of Ellingson
It was in the United States that John met a young Norwegian woman by the name of Bartha Marie Syvertson, born July 15, 1849. They were married in 1873.
In the spring of 1878, John and Bartha moved from their home in Chicago, Illinois, to a small homestead in Sanborn, North Dakota. They homesteaded on the North ½ of Section 10 in Hobart Township. A few years later, John increased the size of his new home by purchasing an additional quarter of land in the same section with the help of a Mr. Grandin, who in earlier days shipped grain in the Red River Valley.
Homesteading was never an easy life for the early settlers. The Ellingson home, built before 1884, was only a small shanty; in tact, so small that John could lay in bed on cold mornings and start a fire at the same time. Sometime in the early 1900s the main house was destroyed by a fire.
John and Bartha raised four children: Servine Amelie (May 30, 1873), who was born in Chicago and passed away July 4, 1875 from diphtheria; Berthea (May 25, 1884); Johnnie, an adopted brother and "Tine" (Berthinius) Jacobson, a half-brother and cousin, who John and Bartha cared for. Young Berthea, or "Thea" as her friends called her, helped with the farm work as did all children in the early days of homesteading. She helped to milk the cows while she was living at home and, upon occasion, would catch a glimpse of Indians in the distance.
Berthea attended a small school which was located on the Northwest quarter of the Ellingson property. Still in the family photo album is a picture of 12 year old Berthea and her classmates with their teacher, Miss Wedin, also of Hobart Township. The picture was taken around 1896.
When Berthea was in her late teens, her father hired on a young ex-merchant seaman from Norway named Sven Svenson. Sven's wages from his employer amounted to $25.00 per month. Sven had worked on various other farms in the area for a couple of years before coming to the Ellingson farm. It was at this time that Sven made the acquaintance of John Ellingson's daughter Berthea. In .1903, Sven and Berthea were married in Fargo, North Dakota, by a municipal judge. Sven received three quarters of land as his wife's dowry.
Sven and Berthea Svenson moved out onto the Ellingson farm shortly after their marriage. Since there was now someone to look after the farm, John, Bartha and Johnnie moved into the Holstein Anderson home in Valley City. On March 24, 1913, John Ellingson passed away from cancer. Bartha had a new home built after her husband's death, but didn't really care for it so she had another home built.
Bartha and Johnnie didn't stay long in Valley City. Most of Bartha's close friends still lived in Sanborn, and one in particular, Mrs. Moe, so they soon moved back to Sanborn. They moved into a house by Strohs across from old Highway # 10. Eventually this house was moved. On January 7, 1921, Mrs. Ellingson passed away from cancer. The whereabouts of the adopted son, John, is unknown at this writing.
For the time being, since their marriage; Sven and Berthea Svenson were still living on the old Ellingson farm. Here their first child was born in 1904, by the name of Clara. Seven more children were born: Hjalmer (deceased); Florence, Emma, Barney, Emil, George and Lillian. After Sven's death the family changed the spelling of the name to Swenson, which was easier to pronounce. Berthea Ellingson Swenson still lives in a small home just north of Sanborn, N.D.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 61