Name/Title
Hagen family: Bernice Evelyn Hagen (Mrs. Edward Fleischer), residents of Traill County, North DakotaEntry/Object ID
2025.30.1Description
This family history file folder briefly documents the lives of Bernice (Hagen) and Edward Fleischer [photo, left] using available images and records. Most of the information in this Catalogit entry, and within the folder on file at the Plummer House Museum, was kindly provided by Bernice's great granddaughter, Jackie (Ausk) Baumgartner, who researched and compiled family history images and data kept by her grandmother, Karen (Fleischer) Ackerman into a Public Member Tree in Ancestry.com, which is titled: Ackerman/Kneip/Fleischer/Hagen Family Tree.
Bernice Evelyn Hagen was born on 7 February 1915 to parents, John and Hannah (Larson) Hagen, life-long residents of the City of Hillsboro [see TCHS Catalogit Family History entry 2025.25.1]. Bernice was the eighth of ten children born to John and Hannah [family tree, below].
In the 1920 US Census, collected on 7 January in Hillsboro, Bernice was almost 5 years old and lived with her parents and siblings on Sargeant Street. Bernice's father, John Hagen, was self-employed as a house painter in 1920.
In the 1930 US Census, Bernice was 15 years old and in the household of her parents and siblings, while her father continued to work as a house painter. Bernice was attending school in Hillsboro in 1930. Bernice Hagen graduated from Hillsboro High School with the Class of 1933 [HHS Sr. photo, below]. After high school, Bernice worked as a clerk for a business in Fargo [1934 City directory].
On 19 October 1935, Bernice Evelyn Hagen, age 20, married Edward Elroy 'Ed' Fleischer, 25, of rural Hillsboro [news, Hillsboro Banner, 23 Mar. 1934]. They married in Sabin in Clay County, Minnesota. Bernice's sister, Amy Hagen, and Ed's brother, Herb Fleischer, were witnesses [Photo, below].
Ed Fleischer was born on 23 February 1910, the second of six children born to parents Harry and Mary (Hertwig) Fleischer [family tree, below]. Ed was born in Miltona in Douglas, Minnesota, which is located north of Alexandria, MN. In the 1910 US Census, Ed was only about two-months old and was on his parent's farm in Lake Mary Township in Douglas County. MN. By time of the 1920 US Census was taken 17 January, Ed (age 9) had moved with his parents Harry and Mary Fleischer to a farm in Bell Township in Cass County, ND. Interestingly, Bell Township borders Bohnsack Township to the South, so Harry and Mary's farm was located only a few miles south of the original Fleischer family homestead in Bohnsack Township. Harry's grandfather, CW Fleischer, had claimed land there n 1878 and homesteaded a farm on the land in 1879 [see TCHS Family History Catalogit entry 2025-12.1].
After Ed and Bernice married in October 1935, they lived in a rented house in the Village of Grandin located on the boundary of Traill and Cass Counties, while Ed, age 30, worked as a farm laborer [1940 US Census]. Ed and Bernice's first daughter, JoAnn was born in 1936 and was age 3 in this 1940 census.
By the 1950 US Census, Ed, age 40, and Bernice, 35 had moved to a home on Sargeant Street in the City of Hillsboro, while Ed worked as a "Tractor operator" for the "County Highway" department. .
From 1936 to 1954, Ed and Bernice (Hagen) Fleischer had eight children, seven living to adulthood, including: JoAnn Beverly Fleischer (b. 27 Sep. 1936 in Page, ND; m. James Anthony Wuenschell, 6 Jul. 1957 in Long Beach, CA; div. May 1966; m. George Willaims, 14 Nov. 1981 in Greenville, SC; living), Barbara Carol Fleischer (b. 7 Dec. 1940 in Grandin, ND; m. Ira Lee Kenson, 13 Aug. 1966 in Las Vegas, NV; d. age 76, 30 Mar. 2017 in Los Angeles, CA), Marie Louise Fleischer (b. 16 Aug 1942 in Sidney, NE; m. Stanley Eugene Foss, 4 Sep. 1965 in Fargo; living), Karen Elaine Fleischer (b. 24 Aug. 1944 in Mayville, ND; m. Bernard George Ackerman, 30 Dec. 1963 in Hillsboro, ND; d. age 75, 11 Mar. 2020 in West Fargo, ND), unnamed baby girl (b. & d. 1946), Harry John Fleischer (b. 19 Sep. 1949 in Hillsboro, ND; m. Sandra Lee Champion, 7 Dec. 1969 in Las Vegas, NV; living), Brenda Mae Fleischer (b. 20 Jan. 1951 in Hillsboro, ND; m. Donald Lee Burns, 3 Jan. 1970 in Hacienda Heights, CA; living), and Charlene Rae Fleischer (b. 20 Jan 1954 in Hillsboro, ND; m. Robert Richard Jablonski, 15 Feb. 1975 in Hacienda Heights, CA; living). For details on the lives of Ed and Bernice's eight children, see their profiles in the Ackerman/Kneip/Fleischer/Hagen Family Tree by Jackie (Ausk) Baumgartner.
Ed Fleischer worked for Traill County until he retired. Then he and Bernice spent time in California over a number of years where many of their children and their families lived [obit info, Hillsboro Banner, 29 Apr. 1985, below]. They later moved back to North Dakota, settling in Fargo where their daughter Karen (Fleischer) Ackerman lived.
Edward Elroy Fleischer passed away, age 75, on 17 April 1985 in Fargo. After funeral services in Hillsboro, Ed was interred in the rural Bohnsack Cemetery in Traill County [grave-marker, below].
After her husband Ed died in 1985, Bernice (Hagen) Fleischer continued to visit her children and grandchildren in California, South Carolina and Texas [obit info, Hillsboro Banner, 6 Jun. 1994, below]. Bernice was visiting her daughter Brenda and family in Eustace, TX, when she passed away at age 79. After funeral services held at St. Peters Lutheran Church in Gun Barrel City, TX, Bernice was interred in Sunset Memorial Gardens in Fargo, ND [grave-marker photo, below].Acquisition
Accession
2025.30Source or Donor
Jackie (Ausk) BaumgartnerLocation
* Untyped Location
Resource RoomBuilding
Plummer House
