Henrik Schey emigrated from Forde, Norway in 1869 with his wife, Ingeborg, and settled in Alma township, Marshall County. I have found Henrik Schey's family in Norway, but I know very little about Ingeborg Schey. Did Ingeborg have brothers and sisters who came over from Norway as well? All I know about Ingeborg Schey is that her nickname was Belle, her dad's name was Knute Undal or Undeland, and she was born in Bergen, Norway. I have searched the Norwegian census for Knute with no luck. If anyone has any clues, please write!

I noticed on another message board that you have received information on Ingeborg and her family, so am forwarding you information from the Marshall County History book which you may or may not already have. Please let me know if there is further Marshall County information you may still need.

Henrick and Ingeborn Schey (pgs 53-54)

"Henrick Schey, born June 8, 1842 in Sandfjord, Norway, married Ingeborg, born February 12, 1839 in Bergen, Norway, in Sandfjord, Norway about 1869. The young couple joined in the Scandinavian immigration to the "Land of Opportunity" and arrived in Minneapolis in 1869. Their journey on the Atlantic, in a sail boat, took three weeks and their inland train journey was of almost equal length.
Schey found work in a shop making plows and the couple remained in Minneapolis nine years. Five children were born there: Charley, Christine, Annie, Ole, and Clara.
In the early summer of 1878 Henrick Schey left for Marshall County where free homestead lands were available. He traveled in a covered wagon drawn by a team of oxen. When he came to the Wild Rice River he found other travelers unable to cross the swollen stream. Schey, with a rope around his waist and attached to the oxen, swam the stream and the oxen thus urged, swam pulling the wagon.
Henry Schey's first home was an overturned wagon box on top of a hole in the ground so he could stand erect. Snakes were frequent bed partners, but little time was spent in bed because he had to clear the land and build a house for this family who were to arrive in the fall.
The scene Ingeborg Schey looked upon as she stepped from the train the November day of her arrival was one of loneliness and isolation. The homestead which the family claimed five miles east of Argyle was so thickly covered with trees that some had been hewed down before the log cabin could be erected (which still stands on the South-west quarter of Section 20, Alma Township). Ingeborg was the first pioneer woman to settle in Alma Township. There were no other settlers, only trappers and Ingeborg saw no other pioneer woman for almost two years. Their home was a crude log house, consisting of one room, yet it was the largest of the cabins built that fall; three bachelors built close by. In their new cabin, Henry, their youngest child, was born on the Fourth of July in 1883.
Provisions were scanty and walking was the most common means of transportation. It was not uncommon to see Ingeborg Schey trudging to town carrying what farm produce she might have to exchange for groceries. (The children remember their father telling of walking 40 miles to Crookston for flour, sugar and other provisions.) At one time Schey was caught in a blizzard while carrying a 50-pound sack of flour and plow lathe on his back. He was badly frozen and as a result lost the sight of one eye.
Friendly Indians were frequent visitors and often stayed in teepeees in the woods very near the Schey home. Ingeborg would give them bread and meat. They could not be persuaded to sit at the table but sat on the floor while eating.
In 1880 many of the homesteads were being taken by prospective settlers and the Scheys were happy to have neighbors. It was not long before a school for the children was begun.
The Schey family was as follows; Christine (she married Fred Keye_, Carl J. ("Charlie"), Annie (she married John Bjorgaard), Ole (he died of typhoid at the age of 16), Clara (she married Harvey Turpin), Henry (he married Emma Bengtson).
In 1916 Henrick and Ingeborg Schey felt free to retire from active farm life. They moved to a home within the city limits of Argyle. Henrick Schedy died May 20, 1931 and Ingeborg died March 8, 1928. Thus as a fire flows, flickers, and dies, these pioneers left a memory not to be forgotten (Submitted by Mrs. Neil Dahlman).


page 290, Alma township:

"Settlers started to arrive in what is now Alma township about 1876-77...According to Henry Schey, who is now 91 years old (1975) and a resident of the Good Samaritan home in Warren, his father, Henry O. Schey and brother Thorald O. Scheye, homesteaded in Section 18 of Alma in 1877. As the railroad had not yet reached Argyle, supplies (flour and other staples) were carried on the back of Henry O. Schey from Crookston, a distance of 40 miles. Henry O. Schey was a large, extremely strong man, so was able to do this, according to his son, Henry Schey of Warren.
"The Schey family, who had been in Minneapolis, arrived in 1878, the year the railroad came through Argyle.

On April 18, 1882, HOO. Schey was elebted to the first board of supervisors for Alma township, and also elected as a constable. He also served as a judge of the election.

Pg 290 of the Marshall County history book also mentions that "Henry Schey related to me that many people died of typhoid fever in the early days as the water was contaminated. He said one of his brothers died with it; he (Henry) had had it but recovered."

again pg 290: Thorald Schey and Henry Schey were two of the charter members of Alma Lutheran Church....which was organized October 12, 1880. Thorald was the congregation's first secretary. In 1884, this congregation merged with another to become Middle River Norwegian-Swedish Evangelical Congregation. Today, Pastor Curtis Matz who serves First Lutheran in Middle River may be able to help you with further information on Ingeborg and Henrick and their families. His e-mail address is: trilutheranparish@wiktel.com ph: 218-222-3622 (tell him Deb Hanson sent you)

From the Johan and Sophie (Hanson) Bjorgaard history on page 291 "Johan O. Bjorgaard came to America in 1883 from Troundhjem, Norway to Alma township. His wife Sophie Hanson was born in Norway in 1835 to Erick and Anna M. Hanson. They had five children. Christ, married to Sophie Schey, they had fourteen children. Mary married to Oscar Young and they had six children. John S. married to Annie Schey and they had ten children. Emelia J. married to Ole P. Dyrud they had four children; and Oscar E. married to Myrtle M. carrie. (pg 292 re: John Bjorgaard) On December 5, 1894, he was married to Annie Schey at Warren, Minnesota. Annie Schey was born in Minneapolis and moved to Alma Township with her parents at the age of four.