Bertha Nelson, (1890-1897)

Headstone GPS Coordinates: Burial location unknown. 

Birth: 1890 Kitsap County, Washington

Death: 12 November 1897, Issaquah, King County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Andrew Nelson, Malina Nelson, Infant Girl Nelson, Bertha Nelson, Nils Myhre

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None

Bertha Nelson was born in 1890 in Kitsap County, Washington, the daughter of Norwegian immigrants Anders (Andrew) and Malina Nelson. She grew up on her family’s farm near Dyes Inlet in Silverdale, where her father cultivated the land and raised poultry. Bertha was one of eleven children in a large pioneer household shaped by hard work, faith, and both joy and sorrow.

When Bertha was just four years old, tragedy first touched her young life. On April 12, 1894, her mother died while giving birth to her eleventh child. The infant did not survive. Bertha and her siblings were thereafter raised by their father on the family homestead.

In November 1897, tragedy struck again—this time claiming Bertha’s life. While traveling with her father, who at times worked in the coal mines of Issaquah, Bertha fell from a bridge into the river below and drowned on November 12, 1897. She was only seven years old.

Her death was published in the Mason County Journal, Friday, 26 November 1897.

We regret to learn of the accidental death by drowning of a daughter of Mr. Nelson who lives back of Seabeck, near Crosby, on the 12th . The body was not recovered until two days afterwards and was brought home on the 16th for burial. She was about seven years old.

Bertha was laid to rest in Seabeck Cemetery. While cleaning near her mother Malinda’s grave, a small, broken,pre-1900 style headstone was found that could have belonged to her or possibly her infant sibling who died with her mother.