My great-grandmother Clara wrote in her journal about her uncle 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗦𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻 who lived in Carver, Minnesota. The first image is an old photograph she had of him seated next to my great-great-grandfather dated “March 20, 1904.” On the back is written “Carl Göran Swenson and his brother John Swenson of Carver.” She called him “Uncle John.” I could never find any records for him but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

Then I remembered my Dad telling me that Clara talked about a cousin named Nancy Berg who lived in Carver. So I’m thinking, “Are they related?” I ran a search in my tree but did not find anyone with the last name Berg. But my Dad looked through Clara’s old photo albums and found pictures of the Bergs under the heading “cousins.” There is also a group photo labeled, “Nancy, Clara, Doris at Carver.” Some of the pictures say “Doris Berg” and another says “Hillard Berg.”

I’m thinking, “Hillard Berg? That’s a unique name.” So I searched for Hillard Berg and found his obituary and other information. I traced him back to his parents Anton Berg and Adeline Emerencia Swenson. Then I traced Adeline back to her father Peter J. Swenson which led to a breakthrough. The records show Peter J. Swenson and my great-great-granduncle John Swenson share the same birth date. Other records show Peter’s middle name is John. So it appeared his first name was Peter but he went by his middle name John. I contacted the curator at the Carver County Historical Society who provided Peter “John” Swenson’s obituary and maps showing where his property was located in Carver County.

After confirming that John and Peter are indeed the same person, I found additional information under Peter Swenson, Peter J. Swenson, and P.J. Swenson. I compared it with notes in Clara’s journal and verified that Peter “John” Swenson and his wife Britta had four children: Carl “Charlie” Swenson, Clara “Tilda” Swenson, Emil Swenson, and Adeline Emerencia Swenson who went by her nickname “Nancy.” Nancy and her husband Anton Berg had two children: Doris Berg and Hillard Berg.

Hillard Berg married the great-great-granddaughter of Chief Wakiŋyaŋtaŋka (Big Thunder), hereditary chief of the Mdewakanton Dakota tribe of the Great Sioux Nation, fourth in the Little Crow dynasty, also known as Little Crow IV.