19. Herman³ Burgener Sr. (Christian², Ulrich¹) was born in Burgdorf, Switzerland April 30, 1879. Herman died July 1972 in Schley, Wisconsin, at 93 years of age. His body was interred July 1972 in Schley, Wisconsin, Emmanuel Lutheran Church Cemeter.

He married Bertha S. Saameli in Weinfelden, Switzerland, September 19, 1903. Bertha was born in Switzerland 1874. Bertha was the daughter of Gideon Saameli and Elizabeth Von Scherb. Herman Burgener Sr. married Bertha Saameli in Switzerland and came to the United States in April 1910. Daughter, Emily, died shortly after birth and is buried in the family plot of the Lutheran Church at Doering, Wisconsin.

When Herman and Bertha Burgener came to America with their children in April 1910, they saw the famed Statue of Liberty on the shore of the United States. Land was a welcome site after their journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

After the immigration process in New York, the family set out for Colorado. Their destination was Two Buttes. After getting off the train at Lamar, they walked 14 miles down a dusty trail and stayed the night at a halfway house. In the morning a livery coach arrived and took them the rest of the way to Two Buttes. Herman's brother, Ernest Burgener, had come to America in 1907 and was living in Two Buttes with his wife, Emma.

Herman worked on the Two Buttes dam. When work on the dam was finished, the family moved to Lamar, Colorado. It was there that their 5th child, Martha, was born. Herman also worked for a Mr. Brown who owned a lumber yard.

Lack of work, the illness of their young son, Ernest, and the friendship of a Lutheran pastor, moved Herman to bring his family to Wisconsin. They arrived in Merrill, Wisconsin on December 6, 1913, about 7:15 PM with the temperature at 25 degrees below zero.

Herman Burgener Sr. and Bertha S. Saameli had the following children:

20 i. Emily⁴ Burgener. Emily died shortly after birth and is buried in the family plot of the Lutheran Church at Doering, Wisconsin.

+ 21 ii. Herman Burgener Jr. was born June 28, 1904.

22 iii. Ernest Burgener was born in Burgdorf, Switzerland August 20, 1905. He married Bernice Schuth in Forest Park, IL. Bernice was born in Chicago, Cook, IL October 20, 1909.

23 iv. Albert Burgener was born in Burgdorf, Switzerland September 27, 1906. He married Louise.

24 v. Bertha Burgener was born in Burgdorf, Switzerland February 25, 1908.

25 vi. Martha Burgener was born in Lamar, Colorado October 25, 1911. She married Charles Phelps.

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