The Big Mystery

• One brother changed his last name “Petersen” when arriving at Ellis Island
• The other brother changed his name “Peterson” when arriving to Ellis Island…….or so the Petersen family thought
• How does one account there being very little knowledge of the PetersEn side of the family knowing very little about the PetersOn side?
• CUTOFF is a probable answer

Bowen Theory & Evolution

• “Dr. Bowen replaced Freud with evolution and brought in family systems thinking to bring it all together”
• Dr. Bowen made a significant effort to construct his theory consistent with facts associated with evolution. The theory is based on the facts of evolution NOT on evolutionary theory. Bowen held that the human family is a system that is governed by the laws that govern other natural systems. The concept of the emotional system is the link between homo sapiens and non human species.
• Family relationship systems are one way the emotional system manifests itself.
• Today I’m going to look at Cutoff as a natural process common in the human family by presenting factual information about two Norwegian brothers who immigrated to the US.

Basic Facts / Norwegian Family

• Fridtjov 1876-1923..died age 46 / Alma 1877-1972 died age 95
• Fridtjov worked for the county road department / Alma house wife
• Poor / working class
• 10 Children all surviving to adulthood
• 19 years between the oldest and the youngest
• Two oldest sons immigrated to USA in early 1920’s
• One became a laborer the other into sales
• Of the 8 in Norway, two became house wives, one a cook, one had a small business, two were mill laborers, and two others moved to the west coast (not sure their profession)

Two Norwegian Brothers

• Two brothers migrated to the US from Nabbetorp, Norway
• They were two out of 10 children born into a poor stable family
• Both settled in the same area of Garyton, Indiana
• Both married and had families
• One brother had six children all living well into adulthood ( 2 with Masters, 1 with a PhD, 1 with a college degree, 2 with HS diploma)
• One brother had three children, the oldest suffered a severe brain injury as a child and lived his life in an institution, the youngest died at age 11 of food poisoning, middle lived into adulthood (college degree / engineer)
• One brother died at 43 (diabetic) the other at 62 (colon CA)

Facts About Alf Fredrik (my grandfather)

• Born 1900 Nabbetorp, Norway
• Father Fritjof (Norwegian) mother Alma (Swedish)
• 3rd of 10 children / 7 younger siblings
• Older sister born 1898 / older brother Kristian born 1897
• Worked for Norwegian Rail as a rail hand prior to move
• Immigrated to USA 1922 at age 22
• Reason: eventyrlig opplevelse …..for adventure and economic pressures, chance of a better future
• At Ellis Island name changed from Pettersen to Petersen
• Traveled immediately to Gary, IN for work in Steel Mills
• Married 3 years later to Dorothy Byers age 18
• Had 6 children / My father the oldest / only
• Became an American Citizen age 27 on 1-9-1928
• Dorothy died of breast cancer at age 41, 10-15-1948
• Ages of children at her death 21, 16, 13, 10, 5 and 3
• Alf remarried to Fern Thompson LPN 1-13-1949
• Fern was Dorothy’s childhood best friend
• Moved from Garyton, IN to Cadillac, MI 1952
• Over the years Alf stayed in contact with his Norwegian family through cards and letters.
• Yet His only visit back to Norway was in June of1962
• Alf died 9-5-1962 of colon cancer
• My father Don visited Norway 1974 and 1977
• I moved to Norway 3-76 and lived there for 30 months; I became a steel laborer; learned the language; have been back numerous times
• I was the only child or grandchild that lived in Norway and learned the language
• 3 of Alf’s sons and 1 grandson belong to the Sons of Norway
• I am in weekly / monthly Facebook contact with 2nd and 3rd Norwegian cousins

Facts About Kristian Anker Petersen

• Born 3-20-1897 Nabbotorp, Norway
• Father Fritjof (Norwegian) and mother Alma (Swedish)
• Reason he left Norway economic pressures; younger brother immigrated a year earlier
• Immigrated to USA 1923
• Met his future wife Austrid (Esther) on the boat over
• Esther is Swedish born 9-6-1901
• Settled in Garyton, IN where his younger brother had immigrated to in 1922
• Married and had 3 children – Henry born in 1927, William born in 1929, and Margaret 1933.
• Henry fell out of a tree age 9 – severe brain damage- lived his life in an institution; Margaret died age 11 of food poisoning; William went to college, became an engineer – married with 3 kids (I’m in contact with 2)
• Kristian changed the spelling of his name from Pettersen to Peterson – His children were named Peterson
• Kristian died 1940 of diabetes
• On Christian’s grave stone his name reads “Petersen”
• Chris did not return to Norway after immigrating
• His son William, did visit Norway in 1955

Tante Ingeborg’s 65th Birthday

and the Pettersen Flower Shop in Fredrikstad

Cutoff as a Natural Process in Family

• “Previous history provides the markers for how anxiety is handled in the family in general. It indicates the degree to which our ancestors shaped their own lives and the degree to which our ancestors shaped our lives” PM
• “Cutoff develops in adaptation to acute and chronic anxiety in a family system”
• Time – Distance – Age can also be part of the natural process that can lead to Cutoff in families and not just the degree of unresolved emotional attachment to parents
• Economic pressures came into play for the two Norwegian brothers decision to immigrate to the USA
• The size of the family and economic anxiety created a natural process for the Norwegian siblings to “find there own way” without much family support
• Efforts at survival are a natural process that can lead towards Cutoff
• 19 years Age difference between the oldest of Norwegian siblings offered a natural process for distance in the family that led to cutoff

Cut-Off in the American Petersen Family

• Alf and Kristian geographical cut-off through immigration (Chronic economic anxiety – Distance – Time)
• Alf appears to have stayed in more contact with the Norwegian family than Kristian
• Early deaths / first with Kristian in 1940, then his daughter in 1944
• Four years later the death of Alf’s wife Dorothy in 1948
• A “family” expectation That Alf will marry Kristian’s wife Austrid
• Alf remarries three months later to Fern Thompson
• Alf’s marriage to Fern / all the older sons geographically cut-off; 2 younger sisters remained close and stayed in Cadillac
• After Chris’ death, his functioning son grows up, goes to college, and “marries into a big Italian” family
• Time – Distance – Unresolved issues of emotional attachment
• Eventually the ancestors of the PetersEn’s and those of the PetersOn’s lost contact and much knowledge of the other
• However the Norwegian Petersens knew about both
• William was the first grand son to visit Norway in 1955
• Then my father visited 1n 1974
• I then moved to Norway in March of 1976 and stayed for 30 months.

The Grandkids of Alf & Christian

• 5 out of 6 of Alf’s children had kids
• Alf had 10 grandchildren and 20 great grandchildren
• 8 of Alf’s grandkids have college degrees
• 1 out of 3 of Chris’ children had kids
• Chris has 3 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren
• All 3 of Chris’ grandkids have college degrees

2 Cousins “sen” & “son” / Cutoff / Evolution

• Looks like a cutoff was bridged by Eric Peterson and Gordon Petersen
• Both have had a life long curiosity about the Norwegian side of the family
• Hard as I tried over the past 30 years, I did not find any major issues of unresolved emotional attachment as reason to fuel immigration for either Alf or Chris. Theory would tell me some unresolved issues are there.
• Aunt Ingeborg said “so many children, such an age difference between the oldest and youngest, challenging economic times, It was hard to stay in contact”. This fueled distance and some cutoff for the families on both sides of the Atlantic.
• But the two brothers who immigrated did stay in contact with the Norwegian family, but over time, lost contact with each others families
• Emotional distance did get played out in America on both the Petersen and Peterson sides of the family
• Alf’s sons distanced and and two cutoff after he remarried
• After Chris died, his functioning son “married into” a large Italian family in Chicago and gradually lost contact with the Petersen side
• I do think this…….given the factual data presented, both brothers were “moving towards” and “moving away” (towards opportunity, adventure, the “promise land”…away from little economic opportunity, potential poverty, and family)
• …but both to slightly varying degrees…..is this a part of evolution in family?

THANK YOU!

Workplace Solutions, Inc.

Gordon Petersen MSW, LICSW, CEAP – President

Phone: (802) 862-3373

Email:  gordon@workplacesolutionsvt.com