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William Wilson

15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
The Scandinavian Regiment

Database Record Change Request

Name at Enlist

William Wilson

Birth Name

Ole Halvorse Bergseie

Other Names

Ole Halvorsen

Lived

19 Dec 1824 –

Birth Place

Bamble, Telemark fylke

Birth Country

Norway

Resident of Muster-In

Manitowoc County, WI

Company at Enlistment

F

Rank at Enlistment

Private

Muster Date

12 Dec 1861

Mother

Anne Gjertsdatter

Father

Halvor Olsen Bergseie

Immigration

1844

Spouse

Marthe Marie Zachariasdatter

William Wilson was born “Ole Halvorsen” on December 19, 1824 in Bamble, Telemark, Norway, son of Halvor Olsen Bergseie and Anne Gjertsdatter.  He came to America in 1844 and settled in Two Rivers township, Manitowoc County, WI. He married Marthe Marie Zachariasdatter. He joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company F. The men of the company called themselves “KK’s Protectors” in honor of the 15th’s first Lieutenant Colonel, Kiler K. Jones. “F” was also known as the Valdres Company because a large number of its members hailed from the Valdres region of Norway.

He is listed as living in Manitowoc County, WI, age 38, a farmer, and married. He enlisted for three years on November 8, 1861 at Manitowoc, and mustered at Madison, WI on December 12, 1861 as a Private (Menig). He was sick in hospital at Mound City, IL on March 18, 1862. He was discharged from the service for disability due to disease at St. Louis, MO on April 26, 1862. He died before 1907.

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-8; Regimental Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol.20 p.92;  Ole A. Buslett, Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.523; Martin Ulvestad, Nordmændene i Amerika, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.340;  Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.308; Norwegian Immigrants to the United States. A Biographical Directory, 1825-1850. Volume Four 1849, Gerhard B. Naeseth and Blaine Hedberg, 2008, Anundsen Publishing Co., Decorah, IA, p. 89, ID 1114.