EDITOR’S NOTE: This fall will mark the 140th anniversary of the official founding of the Town of Meeker (and this newspaper).
This article is about H.R. Bergh. He was a shareholder of the Meeker Townsite; however, he was not counted among the Founding Fathers enshrined on the courthouse rock. I am not sure why. It could be because Mr. Bergh was not as active in the early town formation.
Hagen Rudolph Bergh was born in Norderhov, Buskerkind, Norway on Jan. 16, 1853. Often named as H.R. Bergh or Rudolph Bergh, he came to White River country in 1882 from Wyoming. He was a blacksmith, a very valuable trade in Northwest Colorado during the era of horses, mules, and wagons.
Rudolph preempted 80 acres in Powell Park just below the second Ute agency. In 1886, he moved into Meeker and formed a partnership with C.S. Attix and built a blacksmith shop at Sixth and Market. C.S. Attix had married Rudolph Bergh’s sister, Julie Annette Hansdaughter Bergh.
1886 was a momentous year for Rudolph. He ventured back to the old country to bring back his childhood sweetheart, Bredine Larsen Holton. Of course, respectable young ladies didn’t travel without a chaperon, so her nephew, Olaf Holton, accompanied her to the White River Valley. Bredine and Rudolph were married in Meeker on Jan. 22, 1887. Olaf Holton stayed and started a family of his own along Strawberry. Rudolph and Bredine had two boys: Herman who was known as Ritchie and his brother, Olaf Carl Micharl who was known locally as Micharl or Micheal. The boys attended school here in Meeker. Ritchie worked for the Meeker Herald for a while.
In 1894, the Bergh family were drawn back to the old country. The Meeker Herald reported in the Aug. 11, 1894, issue that H. R. Bergh had left on the Saturday morning stage, bound for Norway. Rudolph had sold his goods and leased out his business to a Mr. Klein from Chicago. Although Rudolph had intended to remain in Norway for several years. Fate would soon bring them back. Mr. Klein proved to be “no good” and ran the business down before he “hit the trail.”
In April of 1895, the Bergh’s returned to Meeker and took up his hammer and anvil once again.
Sadness came to the Bergh family in 1903. Bredine, who came to the White River Valley in Spring of 1886, died Feb. 14, 1903, leaving her husband and two boys aged 12 and 14 behind. Bredine’s funeral was held in the St. James church of Meeker. Later that year, the Meeker Herald announced that H. Rudolph Bergh was blacksmithing for Harp & Riley, proprietors of the shop on Fourth Street near Main.
In 1906, the remaining Berghs moved to Tacoma, Washington. They did keep in contact with Jim Hayes. A letter was received from Rudolph in 1909. The Berghs were doing well. Richie was publishing a monthly trade magazine at Seattle. Micharl was in the plumbing business. We all know that plumbers always make more money than publishers, right?
Hagen Rudolf Bergh died in Tacoma on April 28, 1934, at the age of 81, quite an accomplishment.
Sources: This Is What I Remember book; Rio Blanco Historical Society; Ellen Reichert; Coloradohistoricnewspapers.org; Meeker Herald archives; Federal Census 1900,1910,1920; Ancestry.com.