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History/Biography: Julius Berg Johannesen was born in 1869 to Johannes Johannesen Bauman and Barbro Susanna Pedersdatter in Kiby (Tyby), Nord-Varanger, Finnmark, Norway. His father, Johannes Baumann, was a fisherman and partner of Per Kristian Glein, a well-known skipper and merchant on the island of Dønna. He married Barbo Susanna in Dønna, foster daughter of Per Kristian Glein.
Julius became a fisherman and laborer in Norway after his father died when he was 10. His mother encouraged to find work elsewhere, knowing that he did not want to be a fisherman. He became a private tutor to children of a wealthy family, and was appointed assistant postmaster at Osen, north of Trondheim. When two young men came to visit from America, they became acquainted with Julius and offered to pay for his transportation to the United States. In 1891, at the age of 20, Baumann immigrated to the United States and eventually settled in Minnesota.
Baumann wrote songs and poems on the Norwegian-American immigrant experience, and his poems were frequently memorized, and sung to well-known melodies. Baumann published three volumes of poems: "Digte" (1909), "Fra Vidderne" (1915), and, posthumously, "Samlede Digte" (1924). He was well acquainted with Norwegian-American Authors Waldemar Ager and Ole E. Rølvaag.
See “Julius B. Baumann: A Biographical Sketch" by John Heitmann( Norwegian-American Studies, Vol. 15) for more information. Scope and Content: Papers of a Norwegian-born poet and register of deeds in Carlton County, Minnesota: poems, letters, clippings, and three scrapbooks containing newspaper articles by Baumann, responses to his articles, and discussions on Norwegian-American literature by a variety of authors. Baumann published three volumes of poems: "Digte" (1909), "Fra Vidderne" (1915), and, posthumously, "Samlede Digte" (1924).
A pamphlet concerning the emigration of Seraf Holter's grandparents Christoffer Olson Holter (1827-1866) and Anna Holter (1827-1922) from Nannestad, Norway, in 1862 and their first years in America. They came on "Nordlyset" to Quebec, and went on to Koshkonong, Wisconsin; later to Fillmore County, Minnesota, and finally to Kandiyohi County, Minnesota. The pamphlet included information about Nannestad and Rundalen, Voss. Two sons became Lutheran clergymen and editors: C. C. Holter (Seraf Holter's father) and K. C. Holter, who founded the K. C. Holter Publishing Company in Minneapolis.