Ancestors

Bertha Lad

Bertha was born Birte Andersdatter in Norway in 1842, a daughter of Anders Gulliksen Stoa, called Andrew in Wisconsin, and his wife Mary. Andersdatter means Anders's daughter; Stoa is the family's farm name. By the 1900 census she came to America in 1855. Her parents came to Iowa County, Wisconsin, as well, and died there four months apart in 1896.

Her first children were Ladds: Eric N. Ladd, born in 1864, who died in 1940 and is buried at Otter Creek; Andrew Ladd; and E. M. Ladd. Whether Ladd was a first husband's name, or a farm name the family used before they were Andersons, is not known. Eric's memorial puts him under Elling Anderson as his father, which would make it the second.

In 1870, by his memorial, she married Elling Anderson, a man from Hedalen in Valdres. Their children were Alfred, born at Dodgeville in 1871, who grew up as Alfred C. Ellison; Amelia, born at Highland on 8 September 1875; Emma; Elmer; George; and Clara, born in July 1890.

When Amelia married John Watson Peart in January 1897, the clerk wrote her mother down as Bertha Lad, the surname of her elder sons. Elling died that November. The 1900 census of Dodgeville town has her as Bertha Andersen, head of the household, fifty-six, born October 1844 in Norway, immigrated 1855, with Emma, 20, George, 16, Elmer, 13, and Clara, 10. In 1910 she was a widow of sixty-four in Dodgeville Ward 1, with Clara, then nineteen, still at home.

She died on a Saturday in 1936, aged ninety-four, at the home of a daughter in Edgerton, and the funeral was held the following Tuesday from the Lulloff funeral home at Dodgeville. The obituary, headed "Anderson Rites Held", reads in full: "Funeral services for Mrs. Bertha Anderson, 94, who died Saturday at the home of her daughter in Edgerton, were held from the Lulloff funeral home here Tuesday with the Rev. Daniel H. Fleet officiating. Burial was at Otter Creek cemetery. She is survived by 10 children, Mrs. Amelia Peart, Spring Green; Mrs. Ada Walton, Janesville; Mrs. Emma Alvastead, Dodgeville; Mrs. Clara Chappell, Edgerton; Eric Ladd, Dodgeville; Andrew Ladd, Dodgeville; E. M. Ladd, Edgerton; Albert Anderson, Butler; George Anderson, Dodgeville; and Elmer Anderson, Grantville." She is buried at Otter Creek beside Elling, under one small stone: ANDERSON, ELLEN 1841-1897, BERTHA 1842-1936.

If Bertha Lad is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Bertha Lad (1842-1936)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/bertha-lad-1842-1936-95993e.