Petra Inga Hagen, 1901-1905

Headstone GPS Coordinates: Burial location in cemetery is unknown.

Birth: 01 March 1901, Selje, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway.

Death: 24 July 1905, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Jacob Hagen, Infant Girl Hagen

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None

On September 5, 1902, two Norwegian brothers, Anders Mathias Torstensen Kvalheim and Peder Martin Torstensen, sailed out of Bergen, Norway on a ship called Allan with their wives and young children. The two brothers and their families would adopt the surname “Hagen” in America and make their way to the Pacific Northwest to settle in Seabeck, Washington.

Anders Mathias Torstensen Kvalheim and his wife Pernille Karine Hansdatter Kvalheim, who became known as Andrew and Pernille Hagen, left Norway with their two children, Petra Inga and Simon Daniel. Petra Inga was born on March 1, 1901, in Selje, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, and was baptized on April 8, 1901. Sadly, she would not live long in her new home. On July 24, 1905, when she was four years old, Petra died from “brain fever,” a term once used for severe infections of the brain such as encephalitis or meningitis. Her symptoms may have included a high fever and mental confusion. She passed away at the family home in Seabeck.

In the Seattle Daily Times, Petra’s death notice was published; however, the reporter or possibly the undertaker recorded that Petra was a boy named Peter, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Hagen of Seabeck. Emigration and baptism records clearly show that Andrew and Pernille’s child was a girl, not a boy.

Petra Inga Hagen was buried in Seabeck Cemetery in an unknown location. She sadly would not be the only child of Andrew and Pernille to be lost. Nearly ten years later, on June 9, 1915, Pernille gave birth to a stillborn daughter in Seabeck. Little is recorded about this child beyond her stillbirth, but her brief existence is another quiet reminder of the hardships the Hagen family endured during their early years in Washington.

Petra would also not be the only young member of the extended Hagen family buried in Seabeck. In 1905, Peder Martin Torstensen and his wife Karen Jacobsdatter Vange—known in America as Peter and Karen Hagen—welcomed their third son, Jacob. Two or three years later, Jacob died of pneumonia. Although no official birth or death record has been found, Jacob’s eldest brother, Ingvald Hagen (1901–2001), later shared the story of his little brother with Seabeck historians. Jacob is believed to be buried in Seabeck Cemetery, likely near his cousin Petra.

Andrew and Pernille eventually moved their family to Marysville, where they raised their surviving children, while Peter, Karen, and their family remained in Seabeck. Several of Andrew and Peter’s siblings also emigrated from Norway and settled primarily in the Tacoma area.

Special note: Peter Hagen from Norway is not the namesake of Peter Hagen Road. That distinction belongs to Percy “Pete” D. Hagen, originally from Pennsylvania, who lived at the end of the road that now bears his name. He lived from 1899 to 1978 and served several terms as president of the Crosby Community Club during the 1940s.