THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

February 21, 1991

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            Hakon Martinus Nordvi was born in Martensos, East Finmarken, Trondhyem’s Still, Norway, February 4, 1829.  His father was a well-to-do mercantile merchant in Norway, who had business dealings with merchants from Russia, Spain and Denmark.

            The father had the means and wanted young Hakom to go to the best schools to study medicine.  Young Hakon spent his early years in a school in Copenhagen, Denmark.  At the age of 17 he entered the National University of Norway, at Christiania, where he graduated from the department of medicine.

            The urge to become a merchant was too strong in the veins and won out over the medical profession.  After the death of his parents and his only sister, he left his native Norway in 1852 and immigrated to America.

            It seems as if he came directly to Wisconsin, where he was in the mercantile business in Taycheedah, Fond du Lac County; Manitowoc, Manitowoc County; Fort Howard, Brown County; and Kewaunee, in Kewaunee County.

            It was when Hakon was in Manitowoc as a member of the firm of O. Torrison and Company that he became ill and decided to return to his native Norway to see if he could regain hs strength.  He actually went to New York to embark for Norway, but was too late and he missed the steamer.  This possibly was the best luck of his life, as the steamer, the Austria, burned at sea when only a few days out of port and nearly all perished at sea.

            He then returned to Wisconsin and to his trade in the mercantile business at Fort Howard.

            It was at Fort Howard that he was united in marriage to Mary Jane Hudson on September 29, 1863.

            His next move was to Waupaca, in 1865. Here they lived out their natural lives and here they became the parents of four children:  Charlotte Annis, George Henry, Alfred Charles and Albert M., who died in 1872, Hakon also had a brother who remained in Norway, and died at Christiania, Norway, in January 1892.

            Hakon M. Nordvi was called a living encyclopedia by his friends, as he had a terrific memory.  As a linguist besides his native Norwegian he spoke English, French and German.  He could translate Greek, Hebrew and Latin.

            George Henry Nordvi, the son of Hakon Nordvi, became associated with his father in the mercantile business while he was still in the last years years of school.  George Henry Nordvi’s obituary that appeared in the Waupaca County Post in 1928, stated that the building in which he became associated with his father was the Arcade Building.  The building has had many different occupants down through the years.  Now, 1991, it is known as Meredith’s Fashion Shop at 109 North Main.

            After the death of his father on September 6, 1894, George continued with the business until 1900, when he merged his line with several other merchants and they became the Union Store. In 1905 the business was sold to Nathan Cohen who had recently established the Fair Store.

            This later became a part of Schultz Bros. five and dime store.  The Kruger food chain had its store in this building until Schultz Bros. remodeled and expanded in 1948.

            A city of Waupaca building permit, according to the Waupaca County Post, Oct. 15, 1990, was granted to Hansen, Shambeau and Johnson for conversion of a commercial building at 112 S. Main Street to five apartments and mall arrangement. There is still a doorway on the south end of this building that used to lead upstairs over the old Union store where George James had his furniture store.

            After the business was sold, George Nordvi became a salesman representing several lines of merchandise.

            George Henry Nordvi was born in Waupaca May 3, 1866, and in 1896 he was married to Blanche Dunbar, who was a teacher in the public schools of the area.  They had three daughters:  Carolyn, Victoria, and Mary.  George died in 1928 and his wife Blanche, died in 1941.  All members of the original Hakon Nordvi family are buried in Waupaca.