Moving On - Children of the Children of God

David Berg's father was a Swede called Hjalmer Emmanuel Berg. He was born near Kalmar in "Småland" and arrived in America at the end of the 1800s with his parents and siblings.

David Berg's mother was a famous American Pentecostal preacher, Virginia Lee Brandt, daughter of Rev. John Lincoln Brandt. She decended from German immigrants who settled in America in 1745. She was born May 27th 1886 in West Virginia. She was related to Robert E. Lee, the Civil War general.

As a beautiful young woman she was engaged to be married to Bruce Bogart, a relation of actor Humphry Bogart. At the engagement party she meet a young Swedish immigrant, Hjalmer Emmanuel Berg, who was hired to entertain the crowd. It was love at first sight and they soon married.

Hjalmar was "saved" by his father-in-law and started studying theology in Des Moines, Iowa. His wife was apparently not happy, but remained loyal.

In 1913 she gave birth to their first child, Hjalmar Jr. Shortly after she slipped and fell and broke her back in 2 places. While recovering she had a religious experience and claimed that she had been divinely healed.

Their newfound pentacostalism caused them to be thrown out of their church. They instead became freelance preachers outside of the system.

(From the book "Kærlighedsfamilien - fokus på Guds Børn" af Kaj Moos)

This is all I have vis-a-vis Mo's genealogy. There is also a bit on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berg

Does anyone have anymore?

Reader's comments on this article
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from Temporary
Friday, April 29, 2005 - 03:48
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oh my god, I can't believe that they even insinuate that David's son commited suicide, that's fucked up.
(reply to this comment)

From steam
Friday, April 29, 2005, 05:33
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Berg is the one who said his son Aaron commited suicide in "The Last State" letter about Mene. Before this Aaron had been idolised by Berg and the Family. However now he was trying to demonize Aarons daughter and he pulled out the real story since it suited his purpose at that moment.(reply to this comment)

From Rain Child
Thursday, March 23, 2006, 05:43
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How unbelievably horrible, to tell a poor child that her father committed suicide, especially in anger, and making her feel that it reflected on her. We will never know what Mene went through, It's worse than any Steven King novel. (reply to this comment)

From Rain Child
Thursday, March 23, 2006, 05:44
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Is "The Last State" available on the web?(reply to this comment)

From gragon
Thursday, March 23, 2006, 11:07
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http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/The_Last_State(reply to this comment)

From Birger Langkjer
Friday, April 29, 2005, 04:35
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According to the book I mention, he had an alcohol problem and his wife had left him with their youngest child. He was thrown out of England and banned from entering ever again after an incident in immigration.

Only God knows whether he feel off the cliff or jumped off, but it seems that he was in a situation, where he was likely to have committed suicide.(reply to this comment)

From Rain Child
Thursday, March 23, 2006, 05:39
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I never knew it could have been a suicide either! I remember someone telling me as a child, "Aaron was too good for this world, so he walked up onto a mountain, and God took him home." I always sort of assumed he'd been translated or something, like Elijah. :) Shows I haven't thought about it in a long time.(reply to this comment)

From oral historian
Friday, April 29, 2005, 10:04
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Aaron's wife (Shulamite/Judy) claims her husband sent her a suicide note, which she passed on to Berg. Shulamite also claims that Aaron had a diagnoses of schizophrenia. (reply to this comment)