Abel
Cathrine von Krogh
Bernhardus'
only son, Georg Friderich von Krogh (1653-1696), was born in Trondheim,
spending his life in military service; first as Captain of the Trondheim regiment
and later becoming Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, and Chief of the Regiment in
Bergen. Married three times, he produced sixteen children, a guarantee the von Krogh
family name would exist for centuries in Norway. One of his sons was Christopher
von Krogh (1685-1752), Abel Cathrine's great-grandfather,
born in Bergen. He too, was a military officer, serving as Major, Colonel, and
Commander of a regiment in Stavanger from 1719 to
1752. It was he who purchased the Hogganvik estate as his residence and he sired
nine children... among whom was Soren de Fine von
Krogh
(1725-1795), Abel Cathrine's grandfather.
Soren
was born at Hogganvik and like his father was a military officer, holding the
rank of Major General in command of the troops at Stavanger during
the Seven Years War. Married twice, he sired fourteen children and Bernardus
Arnoldus (1776-1836), Abel Cathrine's father, was the third child of Soren's
second marriage to Catharina Nikolava Frorup. Both great-grandfather and
grandfather of Abel Cathrine are
buried in the old cemetery at Vikedal.
Bernhardus
Arnoldus also entered military service becoming a Lieutenant in the bodyguard of
King Christian VII. When Denmark became involved in the Napoleonic Wars, he was
wounded in the defense of Copenhagen in 1807 and returned to Norway where he
married his first cousin, Cecelia Sophie Muller von Krogh
September 5, 1808 in Sandeid, a
not uncommon practice in those times. The young couple lived on Nyvold,
a part of the Vestbo estate,
where there was an excellent spot for salmon fishing. Lieutenant Bernhardus was
renowned for his gallantry and sportsmanship and excelled as a "Halling-dancer."
He and two of his brothers died the same week in
December of 1836 in a typhoid epidemic just months after Abel Cathrine and
Bjorn set sail for America.
Abel Cathrine's great-grandfather, Christopher, had a brother, Georg Friderich (1687-1768), who was, in 1724, Major of the Trondheim garrison. In 1731 he was made Colonel and by 1758, Commanding General of Northern Norway. In 1760 he was made a White Knight and in 1764, Commandant at Trondheim. Upon his death, April 29, 1768 his body was interred at Trondheim's cathedral, Nidaros.
He
had a son by the same name, Geog Friderich (1732-1818) who also had a brilliant
military career as a staff officer under King Frederick the Great of Prussia,
where he was promoted to Adjutant General. Returning to Norway, he became
Commandant at Trondheim and,
for a period of time, Commander in Chief of the Norwegian Army during the
Napoleonic Wars. He was a prolific writer and is credited with introducing the
cultivation of potatoes in Norway. In recognition of his distinguished career,
King Christian VII of Denmark honored him with the "Great Cross of
Dannebrog" and the title "Knight of the Elephant".
It
was he who lived at Stiftsgaarden
in Trondheim, the largest wooden building in Norway, which had been
built for his mother-in-law, Cicilie Christine Schoeller. Upon his death three
days of mourning were proclaimed by the Norwegian Army. He was buried by the
south wall of the west wing of Nidarod Cathedral
where a plaque marks the spot. The remains of his father are also here... having
been moved during restoration, from inside the cathedral. These two Georg
Friderichs
are the von Krogh's about whom you might perhaps hear the most.
The father - a brother to Abel Cathrine's great-grandfather Christopher (making
him her great-grand-uncle) and the son - first cousin to her grandfather.
Abel
Cathrine received
her name via her maternal grandmother, Abel Catharina Segelcke, whose paternal
grandmother was Abel Catharina Sorensdatter Berg. It was the custom for a
first-born to be named after a grandparent.
Abel
Cathrine was
the only one to emigrate from her father's family of five children. However it
is interesting to note that six nephews, sons of all three of her brothers,
followed her to America. Three located in Spring Grove, Minnesota; two in
Northwood, Iowa (where she lived in her later years with her daughter, Dina, and
Rev. T. A. Torgerson; and yet another settling in Chicago and marrying there in
1892.
Abel
Cathrine also
had a third cousin living on Koshkonong Creek, Caspar Nilson von Krogh, who
emigrated in 1843 under somewhat the same circumstances as Abel Cathrine and
Bjorn - marriage with a lower class and dissatisfaction
with the state
church. Caspar was well-educated at the University of Christiania
and progressed
to the Royal Academy of Engineering, becoming a Master Gunsmith. Caspar became a
very wealthy man, founding the town of Kroghville on Koshkonong Creek.
The
town no longer exists... but here Caspar operated a grist mill, an artificial
limb factory, a water power plant, a textile factory, a cultivator factory and a
machine shop. He built a twenty-room mansion, using his inventive genius. The
town's demise was caused by the Chicago Northwestern Railroad, in 1882, choosing
to pass by Kroghville and instead make the nearby village of New London a stop.
Mention of this third cousin has been made because we have learned this man may
have assisted Abel Cathrine after Bjorn's death in 1850 - perhaps might even be
responsible for the comfortable home erected for the widow and her children in
1851.