6 Hartje/ Alfred and Bertha Hartje early marriage

Alfred and Bertha married February 2, 1920 in Gretna, Manitoba.  The first official document I have for them is the North Dakota Census of 1925.

1925 St Thomas, Pembina County, North Dakota State Census1

From this we can see Alfred is 28, Bertha is 24 and they have had 3 children during this five year period.  Harvey is 4, Lloyd is 2 and the third child is listed as 'Babe,' a girl,  and 1 year old.  They are living in St Thomas township, Pembina County.  That is pretty much all we get from the state census.  I thought some of you might like to see the entire page.  It shows who their neighbors were and I know you will recognize some of the names.

1925 St Thomas, Pembina County, North Dakota State Census1

Here is a different record.  A phone book from 1928 in Grand Forks.  It says Alfred is a laborer.  They live at 401 N. 4th street.  I did a google maps search and it looks like a new house there, so no help on knowing what their home was like at the time.

1928 phone book, Grand Forks2

Next up is the 1930 Federal Census.  According to this they are in Cavalier Township and they own their farm.  The Census was taken April 26, 1930.  Alfred is listed as 32, Bertha is listed as 29.  They own a radio, which at that time was the best way to get the news of the day.  They were both able to read and write.  Both were born in North Dakota, both of their father's were born in North Dakota.  Alfred's mother was born in Germany, Bertha's mother was born in North Dakota.  The information for the farms was filled out on a separate form.  I'll have to see if I can find that.  It says he had 94 farm schedules.  I'm not sure exactly what that means right now but looks about average.

1930 Federal Census Cavalier Township. Pembina County, North Dakota3

They now have 5 children.  Harvey is 9, Lloyd is 7, Ardell is 5, Hazel is 4 and a half, and Pearl is 2 and a half.  So the enumerator wasn't clear about Ardell when he was doing the census in 1925.  Harvey and Lloyd have both been in school during this year.

Happy Discoveries to you from one Ancestral Explorer to another,
Janet

Sources:

1.  North Dakota, Territorial and State Censuses, 1885, 1915, 1925, North Dakota State University Archives; Fargo, North Dakota, Roll 5238, Ancestry.com online.

2.  U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995, 'Grand Forks, North Dakota, City Directory, 1928', Ancestry.com online.

3.  1930 United States Federal Census, '1930; Census Place:  Cavalier, North Dakota; Page 6A; Enumeration District:  0010; FHL microfilm:  2341474', Ancestry.com. online.