This book is the fifth book in the series of eight books. Settlers in America from Norway & Sweden: Eleanor Thompson Asphyxiation & Marie Wick Murder & Gummer Trial. The first book of the series, My Genealogy Techniques May Assist You, is the family history of my Norwegian and Swedish ancestors found through genealogy research. My hope is you will learn something from my experience and research to assist with your family history research. The second book in the series, A Customized Itinerary Independent Travel. In 2018, my granddaughter, Jasmine M. Nelson, before studying in Europe, wanted to travel for eleven days near where the Tronnes/Møgedal families lived in Norway and the Johnson families in Sweden. My close relatives all deceased including my parents, Edna Mae Johnson Tronnes and Elmer Tronnes (Nielsville MN); my grandparents, Olga Victoria Johnson and Henning W. Johnson (Buxton ND); Bertha Møgedal Tronnes and Andrew Tronnes (Nielsville MN). I had no one to interview about family history and did not even know the names of great grandparents and other relatives. Thus, I did extensive research on my own of Norway, Sweden, Minnesota, and North Dakota records. Read about how I felt compelled to attend a Ghost Tour at Bonanzaville and a miracle occurred by discovering Marie Wick.
Doris Teigland Smeby of Gygla, MN and Larry D. Haugen, Fargo, ND, both now deceased, were valuable resources. Doris was the sexton of the Valle Cemetery and she is the reason I found my great grandmother, Johanna Knutsdatter Møgedal, her sons, Kornelius Møgedal and Andrew Møgedal. Doris Teigland Smeby had drawn on a big cloth the names and places where everyone is buried in the Valle Cemetery, this is how I found Eleanor Thompson (16), who was asphyxiated and Marie Wick (18), brutally murdered in the Prescott Hotel Fargo. Larry D. Haugen is a son of Corrine Thompson Haugen and a cousin to Eleanor Thompson. Family history is genealogy plus much more. Genealogy is not about just doing research, it is about telling the stories and ensuring that your ancestors' legacies live on for generations to come.
William Gummer (22) of Mayville North Dakota was the clerk in the Prescott Hotel the night Marie Wick was brutally assaulted, raped, and murdered. The book covers the Gummer trial, guilty verdict, and more on the surprising events in the case.
