Alpha/Evans Alpha/Alpha Evans i USA - hvordan søker jeg?

[Ståle Jensen]

Jeg leter etter etterkommere av "Sterke Jens" som emigrerte til USA. Vi vet ikke når, ei heller hans virkelige navn. Vi tror han het Jens Jensen (men 'Sterke Jens' kan også gjenspeile på etternavnet, og var i familie (enten bror, nevø, onkel) med Jørgen Jensen (1869) som var gift med Marie Kristine Pedersdatter (1872) og drev melkebutikk i Solheimsgaten 11 i Oslo ved århundreskiftet og fremover. Opprinnelig kom Jørgen fra Sandar, sønn av Jens Pedersen (1838) som var dansk sjømann som gikk i land der.

Det vi VET er at familien i USA skiftet navn til Alpha. En av etterkommerne - Greta Evans Alpha (eller Alpha Evans) var i Norge på 1970 tallet og besøkte min far - men hun døde et par år etter.

Er det noen som kan gi meg noen gode råd om hvordan gå videre? Hvordan får jeg tak på en tråd å nøste i?

Finnes det muligheter å finne Alpha Evans i USA i dag... og nøste der?
Hvordan kan jeg finne "Sterke Jens"...

Takknemlig for all hjelp!

Med hilsen en glad amatørslektsforsker,

Ståle Jensen

[Margit R Bakke]

Hei Ståle!
If you tell me more information, perhaps I could find them? When did they come to America? What are their birthdates? What else do you know about them.

[Ståle Jensen]

Hello Margit!

Thanks for answering.

Today I received three pictures from 1957/58 from my father, which had writings on the backside.

One is of a woman - Greta Alpha Levang. She visited Norway once.
One iso of her mother and youngest brother. She call him Harald (Harold) Alpha. He was the youngest of three children.
The last one is of a man called Allen. I beleive it is Greta's husbond. He was a farmer.

In the 1930 Census for Adams, Walsh, ND I found:
Maria Alpha (Norwegian mother and father) immigrated in 1905, 55 years
Andrew G (son) 18 yrs
Greta C (daughter) 15
Harold M (son) 13

I do find Greta again in the Death index
Name: Greta Levang
Birth: 12 Apr 1914
Other: 30 May 1991, 58210, Adams, Walsh, North Dakota, United States of America

Her youngest brother I think I've found his orbituary in the Jacson Sun:
Harold M. Alpha , HENDERSON, TN
Graveside services for Mr. Harold M. Alpha, 90, will be 11:00 A.M. March 30 at Henderson City Cemetery. He died March 27, 2007. Surviving is his wife, Elizabeth (Beth) Harris Alpha, and a daughter, Jane Hicks

Casey Funeral Home 731-989-2421
As reported in The Jackson Sun: 03/29/2007

I would like to find out more, if Greta and Allen had children and where they are or went.

Likewise I would like to find out more who Maria Alpha (Greta's mother) was married to, and where they both came from. I think that must have been Norway.

Allen Levang's family is listed in the different Censuses from 1910 and up to 1930. In 1930 Allen lives with two of his brothers.
If I am right, I think Allen's father Christ Levang's father was Knut Levang (20 March 1851 - 10 Dec 1919). I found another on Ancestry.com who had him in her tree, the O'Donnel tree.

What do you think of all this?

Thanks again,

Ståle

[Margit R Bakke]

I believe this would be her husband:

First child born in Canada, the other two are born in Montana



1910 United States Federal Census
Name: Hans Alpha
Age in 1910: 43
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1867
Birthplace: Norway
Relation to Head of House: Head
Father's Birth Place: Norway
Mother's Birth Place: Norway
Spouse's Name: Marie
Home in 1910: Beatrice, Chouteau, Montana
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Gender: Male
Year of Immigration: 1899
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Hans Alpha 43
Marie Alpha 36


World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
Name: Hans J Alpha
City: Not Stated
County: Toole
State: Montana
Birth Date: 29 May 1876
Race: White
Roll: 1711446
DraftBoard: 0

[Margit R Bakke]

Last Name:Alpha
First Name:Hans
Publication: Walsh Heritage: A Story of Walsh County and Its Pioneers. Vol. 2. 1976.
Institute Call Number: F642.W3 W35 v. 2

The above Biography is available for $5.00.
You can order it here:
[email protected]

Printed copies of biographical sketches can be ordered via email from the Institute for Regional Studies at the NDSU Libraries for a fee of $5.00 per sketch.

The copies will be sent by postal mail, not e-mail, therefore include your postal mailing address in your e-mail request. The billing will be sent with the photocopies.

[Margit R Bakke]

Naturalizations can be ordered:

Name Country Date Papers County Volume Page Comments
Alpha, Hans J Norway October 16, 1899 1st Walsh D-5 434
Alpha, Hans J Norway February 17, 1910 1st Walsh D-8 063

[email protected]

The State Archives and Historical Research Library, SHSND, Bismarck, can provide copies of naturalization records for all North Dakota counties. A billing of $5.00 per person requested will be sent with the photocopies.

[Margit R Bakke]

Hans Alpha, a Pioneer in Canada:

http://www.ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=760886

[Margit R Bakke]

Hans Alpha's Death:

Name (Last, First Middle) Date of Death County of Death Gender Age Date of Birth State of Residence County of Residence Action
ALPHA, HANS J 01/12/1923 Walsh MALE 46 Years 05/29/1876 North Dakota Walsh

You can order an obituary:

[email protected]

The cost is $5.00 for each obituary. I could order them for you if you think that is easier. Let me know.

Give all Death information.

Name (Last, First Middle) Date of Death County of Death Gender Age Date of Birth State of Residence County of Residence Action
ALPHA, GUNHILD M 10/07/1966 Walsh FEMALE 92 Years 04/18/1874 North Dakota Walsh

[Margit R Bakke]

Walsh Heritage, Walsh County Volume 2
Adams Township
CHRIST LeVANG Bio
Christ Levang, son of Knut and Gunhild Levang was born May 25, 1872 in Iowa. He came to North Dakota with his parents when he was five or six years old. He grew up on the family homestead near Garfield.
Christ married Frances Houser Feb 12, 1896. She was born Aug 28, 1878 to Frank Houser and Mary Grecier. Theylived near Spillville, Iowa, later moved in a covered wagon to the Pisek-Veseleyville area, then again to a farm east of Adams.
Christ and Frances Levang homesteaded south of Adams on the SE 1/4 Section 23, Township 157, range 58. The deed was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt May 20, 1862. None children were born: Clarence, Abner, Fred. Allen, Vivian, Florence, Blanche, Irene and Roy.
Christ and his family lived on the farm near Adams until the fall of 1917, when they moved to Park River.
Christ was active in community affairs, held offices such as school clerk, township clerk, justice of the peace, director of the elevator board and president of the Walsh County Press. He served two terms as State Senator, after that became Tax Supervisor for the state.
Christ died April 4, 1931 on his way home fra Bismarck. He was found in his car near the Okeson farm, west of Adams.

[Ståle Jensen]

Hello again Margit,

Thanks a lot, this was useful information. I have to digest it a bit, and I need to be somewhat sure that I have found the right Hans Alpha.

IF he is the right one, he might be the one that changed the name to Alpha. It could also been his father.
Again, IF this is the right one his surname in Norway should have been Jensen.

His wife Marie, must have had two names as she is registred as Gunhilda in 1920.
She is registred in New York Passenger list as:

Name: Gunhild M Alpha
Birth: abt 1874
Departure: Stavanger, Norway
Arrival: 18 Sep 1936 - New York, New York

Is there any posibilities to find Hans Alpha prior to 1900?

Best regards,
Ståle Jensen

[Ståle Jensen]

I would also like to find out if Harold Alpha's wife an daughter are still alive, and where....

xxx (navn fjernet av moderator LnC)

Both was mentioned in his obiturary.

Where do I search for these two?

Ståle

[Laila Normann Christiansen]

Hei! Som moderator gjør jeg oppmerksom på dette med nålevende og navns nevnelse i Slektsforum.

Opplysninger om nålevende skal gis i privat melding (PM) eller på epost.

Jeg har fjernet navnene i forrige innlegg.

[Margit R Bakke]

Where in Norway was Hans Jensen Alpha from?

[Margit R Bakke]

Gunhilda Marie was the name of his wife on his WWI papers also that I attached to a message.

[Margit R Bakke]

Perhaps this is him? Was he from Nordland?

Name: Hans Jensen
Arrival Date: 21 Jun 1899
Age: 22
Birth Date: abt 1877
Gender: Male
Race/Nationality: Norwegian

Ship Name: Tainui
Port of Arrival: Quebec, Canada
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England

[Margit R Bakke]

Or maybe this is him? Was he from Denmark?

Name: Hans J S Jensen
Arrival Date: 5 Feb 1899
Age: 21 years 10 months
Birth Date: abt 1877
Gender: Male

Ship Name: Siberian
Port of Arrival: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England

[Ståle Jensen]

The saying, delivered from the old folks in the family...now remembered by my father (75 yrs) was that one of the ancestors moved to the USA and changed name to Alpha.

First we beleived him to be a brother of my grandfather, but we have accounted for all of his brothers and sisters.

Therefore, I suspected him to be a brother of my grand-grandfather. But in the Norwegian censuses I can only account for one brother of him - and he lived here in Norway in 1900 with his family. His mother and father lived in his household.

Of course it CAN be possible that they got a third son, i 1876 (one year after the 1875 census) - that left Norway in 1899 (one year before the 1900 census). But then again, his mother, Maren born 1828 must had been 48 years when she gave birth. Even in those days, it sounds a bit old?
IF this is the case, I think it's difficult to find traces of him here. I have tried to manually read the scanned churchbooks - but no luck so far.

This is the tree I am working on:

1865 census for 0724 Sandar
Jens Pedersen, matros (Sailor) 34 yrs from Denmark
Maren Pedersdatter, wife, 36 yrs from Sandherred

1875 census for 0724 Sandar
Jens Pedersen, Husmand med lidt jord og matros, 1838, from Søborg Sogn Denmark
Maren Andrea Pedersdatter, wife, 1828, from Sandherred prgj.
Peder Jensen, son, 1865, from Sandherred prgj.
Jørgen Jensen, son, 1869, from Sandherred prgj. (Jørgen is my great-grandfather)

In the 1900 census for Sandar, Peder still lives in Sandar, now married to Lova (Olava) Josefine and with a daughter - Magnhild.
The old folks, Jens and Maren now lives with them.

Jørgen has moved to Kristiania (Oslo) and lives in Solheimsgate 11, where his wife runs a milkshop.
Their two first children, Alvilde (1885) and Hjørdis (1898) are registred too.
Later they got three sons:
Jens Haakon in 1901
Erling Andreas Jørgen in 1905
Knud Jørgen in 1907 (my grandfather)

So the answer is Sandar / Sandherred and / or Oslo (Kristiania).....

Was this helpful?

[Margit R Bakke]

Ståle!
I got this in the mail for free from a man who did a lookup.
How is your search going?
see attachment.

[Ståle Jensen]

Hello again!
Your help in earlier posts helped a lot!
I ordered both the obituaries and the section from "Walsh Heritage - A story of Walsh County and its Pioneers".
These are quite detailed, and even got pictures of Hans and Marie Alpha AND Andreas and Caroline Jensen (who was his parents).

At the archives in ND they were very helpful and service oriented - they helped me within a day or two - even trusted me to pay after I got the material.


NOW: I am left with a confusion of Andreas Jensen and his wife Caroline (Karoline) in Norway.
Up till now I've beleived my great grandfather's parents came from Sandherred, and that he was a Danish sailor. BUT this was also a bit uncertain, as I find Jørgen Jensen and his family WITH Andreas Jensen (mentioned as Jørgen's father) in the 1900 Census of Kristiania. But here all trace of Andreas Jensen ends. He is registrerd born in Sørkedalen, which was a part of Aker those days. But I hav had no luck so far. I might put up a post for him too.

The reason I beleived them to come from Sandar / Sandherred was according to the census of 1875 for Sandar. Here I find the Danish sailor, his wife and two sons, the youngest to be Jørgen (Hans Alpha's brother). This is the only Jørgen Jensen I can find born in 1869. Jørgen is also mentioned in the "Walsh Heritage - A story of Walsh County and its Pioneers" - as a brother of Hans Alpha that stayed in Norway and got 5 children - all correct!

I wish I could confirm that Andreas Jensen was Hans and Jørgen's father, and that I could find more information about him!

Thank you so much for all kind help so far!

Ståle

[Aasmund Ulvund]

Hei Ståle
Jeg er ny på Slektsforum og jeg ble nylig oppmerksom på din etterlysing av Gunhild Maria som var gift med Hans J. Alpha. Gunhild Maria Finnestad, 18.04.1874-07.10.1966, var tanten til min svigermor. Hun var fødd i tidligere Hetland kommune som nå er en del av Stavanger kommune. Gunhild Maria hadde 6 søsken som du kanskje har fått kjennskap til nå. Min sviger mor hadde i mange år brevkontakt med Gunhild Marias datter, Greta Caroline. Greta besøkte også min svigermor i Stavanger og vi har bilde av henne fra det besøket. Vi har også et bilde av henne sammen med Allan Levang og et bilde av Gunhild Maria da hun var 91 år gammel. Om du ikke har navnene på Gunhild Maria sine søsken kan du få de av meg. Det er flere år siden tråden var aktiv så jeg vet ikke hvor mye informasjon du har nå.
hilsen
Aasmund