from "​Double Cousins" by Ralph Hammersborg, A Norwegian Family Chronicle, produced in 1996

Ralph Hammersborg had asked his Mother’s cousins to write about their lives. The cousin's stories are taken from "Double Cousins by Ralph Hammersborg, A Norwegian Family Chronicle, produced in 1996.” Birth dates of living relatives have been removed from the original text.

1891 - Sigurd Susag
born November 19, 1891 , died at age 92 on November 5, 1984.

Written by son, Ray Susag, April, 1995.

Sigurd Susag was born the eldest of six sisters and one brother on November 19, 1891 at Abercrombie, North Dakota.

He left home and school at age 14 to work in a roundhouse for the railroad but soon left and worked on farms and ranches and drifted across the border into Canada from Montana to either Alberta or Saskatchewan. He drifted up to Edmonton, Alberta about 1910, which was the hiring point for the building of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad (now Canadian National).

He did a variety of jobs for the next few years on the construction gang, starting as a teamster, driving freight down the Fraser River to various camps, supplying fresh meat for the camps (moose that he shot), to heating rivets in winter for the bridge at Prince George. A very rough and ready kind of lifestyle.

He must have seen a place he liked at Newlands about 40 miles east of Prince George as he homesteaded there.

The First World War was going on and about 1915 he joined the Canadian Army and this is how he became a Canadian citizen. He was a sniper (because of his shooting ability) and served in some of the big battles in France & Belgium.

After the war he came back to his place at Newlands to work it in the summer and trap and hack ties ( a slang term for the rough ax hewn railroad ties) in the winter. He spent some time working on log booms on the BC coast but I am not clear exactly when that was.

He left Newlands and went to Quesnel and homesteaded a place at Dragon Lake, southwest of town. He took a summer job with the Forest Service and in this way met my mother as it was part of his job to inspect development work on homesteads in the area.

My Dad & Mother (a widow with one child, Frances Henry) were married in 1929 and he moved to my mother's place and farmed there almost up until his death, November 4, 1984.

He liked to hunt and trap and took pride in his shooting and kept his guns in first class shape. My mother and dad were well suited to one another as they liked to be independent and enjoyed solitude for they were in quite a remote area for many years.

Susag Family (home) - Kinstories (home) - Johnson Family - Flatau Family - Beckman Family
Granquist Family - Anderson Family - Stout Family - Walker Family - Peterson Family - Morris Family - Cauble Family