October 29, 2024

Birth of Bertha Arndt

In 1910, Bertha Arndt immigrated to America with her mother Pauline Koth Arndt (1859-1930). They were part of the last group to join father/husband Gottfried “Fred” Arndt (1858-1920) in Cass Lake, Minnesota. What do we know of Bertha’s birth?

May 1964, Bertha (Arndt) and Karrie Norenberg, Cass Lake, MN¹

My Recollections of Great Grandma

Searching back, I remember Great Grandma Bertha as an “old” woman with a reddish tint to her gray hair. This idea makes me laugh to think that she was in her late 60s when I was a child – and how “old” am I now?

She spoke in broken English, as German was her first language. Grandpa Otto told me that she and her husband used to speak an altogether different dialect when they wanted to talk above their children’s heads.

When I visited Great Grandma, I never thought to ask her where she was born. I was just 11 years old when she died.

Working backwards from her death record, we’ll zoom in on the details of her birth.

Death Record

Bertha’s oldest son, Otto Norenberg, provided the information for her Minnesota Death Certificate.² Her birth details from this record:

Birthdate: October 29, 1893
Birth place: Minnesota
Father: Gottfried Arndt, born in Russia
Mother: Pauline , born in Russia

Did Otto make a mistake with her birth location? Did he believe that she was born in the United States?

Alien Registration

In February of 1918, the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety passed the Alien Registration Act. This legislation ordered all unnaturalized aliens (foreigners) to register and make sworn declarations about themselves, their family, and their property. For Minnesota researchers, these collected declarations are quite helpful.

Details gleaned from this record:³

Birthdate: October 29, 1894
Birth place: Stephano, Russia
Age Last Birthday: 24

Bertha states that she was born in Stephano [Stepan].

When analyzing the handwriting of this document, pay close attention to the number 9s. Compare these 9s:

date of birth Oct.: 29
year/date of birth: 1894
date of arrival: 1911

The 9s in the first and third examples are very similar. In contrast, the 9 in 1894 has a closed, top loop. Also note that the 4 in 1894 is separated from the first 3 numbers in the year. Perhaps the registrar was doing some mental math to calculate her birth year, thus the differing pen strokes.

Confirmation Record

To date, I have not located church baptism records to pinpoint Bertha’s birth in Russia. However, my grandpa Otto sent me a copy of Bertha’s 1906 Confirmation Certificate.⁴

Details from this document:

Birth: October 29, 1893
Baptism: [not given]
Father: Gottfried Arndt
Mother: Pauline née Koth
Confirmation location: Betshaus (Chapel) of Ugly/Uglÿ by Ernest Althausen, Pastor of Rowno⁵

Conclusion – Birth Location

Bertha told her youngest son, Don, that she was born in Ugly.⁶ This tiny hamlet still exists in western Ukraine at 51.2203, 26.4894 within the Sarny Raion (district) of the Rivne Oblast (province). Stepan is/was a larger, historic community just 20 miles southwest of Ugly.

One thought is that she was born in Stepan and moved closer to Ugly. According to Eduard Kneifel,⁷ there was no Evangelical (Lutheran) church at Stepan, but there was a Betshaus chapel at Ugly. And we know that she was confirmed at Ugly.

A second thought is that Ugly was a colony with urban services in Stepan. When Bertha sailed to North America in 1910, her last permanent address was listed as Coloni Ugli, P.O. Stepan.⁸

On the 1918 Minnesota Alien registration of her sister Helena (Arndt) Eichberg, Helena also lists her birth location as Stiffon [Stepan].

Bertha Arndt was born
in/near Stepan or Ugly,
in what is now western Ukraine

Conclusion – Birth Date

Bertha’s birthday is consistently given as October 29th. Was is 1893 or 1894?

The confirmation certificate was written closer to her birth by someone that spoke the same language. Therefore, the 1893 date given on the confirmation record holds significant weight.

The 1918 Alien Registration was compiled by someone who did not speak Bertha’s language. At that time, Bertha could not sign her name; likely she was unable to read and could not double-check what the clerk recorded. As for the 1894 date provided on the Alien Registration, it could be the result of the registrar calculating her birth year. In October of 1917, Bertha celebrated her 24th birthday and reported such on the registration. The clerk subtracted 24 from 1918 to get the 1894 birth year. Thus, the year provided in the Alien Registration is incorrect.

Bertha Arndt was born
October 29, 1893

Bertha (Arndt) Norenberg at the Family Reunion, Cass Lake, 1962

SOURCES

1
Digital duplicate of slide film. Karrie Blees has the copy.
2
Minnesota Department of Health. Death Certificate 1970-025160. Bertha Norenberg, died October 21, 1970.
3
Portion of page one, Cass County MN Alien Registration of Bertha Nurenberg, February 26, 1918. Minnesota Commission of Public Safety. Alien Registration Correspondence and Other Records. Minnesota Historical Society. Handwritten notes are Karrie Blees’s edits.
4
Karrie Blees has a copy in her file. Donald Norenberg (1932-2012) owned the original. Document written in German: “Bertha Arndt daughter of Gottfried and Pauline née Koth born 29 October 1893 and baptized on _______[original is blank] and received instruction in the Word of God on 1 June 1906 in the Betshaus (prayer chapel) church of Uglÿ has been confirmed and has has participated for the first time in Holy Communion.” E. Althausen, Pastor of Rowno.
5
Rowno Parish History at https://sggee.org/research/parishes/parish_histories/VolhyniaDiocese/RownoParish/RownoHist.html, accessed 27 October 2024.
6
“Grandma Norenberg;” typed history of Bertha Norenberg. Donald Norenberg, attributed author. undated, probably 1961. Karrie Blees has copy.
7
Kneifel, Eduard, Die evangelisch-augsburgischen Gemeinden in Polen 1555 – 1939, Selbstverlag des Verfassers, Vierkirchen 1971. See Rowno Parish History at sggee.org.
8
The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Manifests of Passengers Arriving at St. Albans, VT, District through Canadian Pacific and Atlantic Ports, 1895-1954; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 178. Paulina Arendt and family, S. S. Corsican from Liverpool to Montreal, arrival 21 Jul 1910, line 13.

Author: Karrie Blees

Filed Under: Arndt, Kot/Koth, Norenberg