Reymert Reinertsen & Bertha Klemetsen

Reymert Christian Reinertsen was born in Farsund, Norway on July 3, 1887. After his father’s death in 1902 he immigrated to the United States with his mother and several of his brothers and sisters. After initially landing in New York, the family settled in Hoboken, New Jersey. While in Hoboken, Reymert met and married Elise Hansen a fellow Norwegian immigrant. The two moved to Brooklyn and Reymert took up boat building. He went into business with his brother-in-law Clement, building lifeboats. Wheher determined to build a safer craft after the death of his father when his boat capsized, or recognizing the potential profits to be made after the Titanic disaster, Reymert and Clement started the Atlantic Lifeboat Company. Clement Hansen eventually left the business and started his own lifeboat company called Neptune Boat Works. Together Reymert and Elise raised four boys Einar, Erling (Al), Rolf (Ralph), and Leif. Sadly, in 1921 while pregnant with their first daughter, Elise contracted scarlet fever and died. The baby was lost as well.

After Elise’s death, her sister Bertha Marie moved in with the family to help take care of the boys. A year later she and Reymert married and expanded the family with another boy, Bernard, and three girls: Elise, Eva and Florence (Dotty). Another son, Frank, was born in 1934 but died three days later.

Elise and Bertha were raised on Lindtvedt farm near Oyestad, in the Aust-Agder province of Norway. They came from a family of boat builders and farmers. The generally agreed upon names for the two girls are Elise and Bertha Marie Klemetsen, but due to Norwegian naming practices they also used Hansen or Lindtvedt as their last names. Elise immigrated to the United States in 1906 under the name Elise Hansen and stayed with a friend in Hoboken. Bertha immigrated in 1911 under the name Bertha Lindtvedt but returned to Norway in 1916. She spent the years during World War I with family in Oslo. In 1920 Bertha returned to the United States permanently.

After moving to New York, Reymert and Elise, and later Reymert and Bertha, lived in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn. Bounded by Sunset Park on the north, Fort Hamilton Park on the south, 7th Avenue on the east, and Belt Parkway & the Narrows on the west, the area was home to a large Norwegian population. Even today, the neighborhood has an annual Norwegian Constitution Day parade to celebrate their heritage. Although the family never talked about the “old country” they would have eaten familiar foods, continued their traditions and conversed in Norwegian. They even read newspapers printed in Norwegian.

Reymert continued in the boat building business. The Atlantic Lifeboat Company constructed many lifeboats for the big troop transports during World War I. After the war, Reymert gained some attention from the press when his company produced a modified lifeboat for three sailors who were proposing to sail it around the world. The boat was hailed as virtually “unsinkable” but it afforded little protection for the sailors from the elements. The trio received a lot of press prior to departing but whether or not they ever set sail and any details of their journey are unknown. After the start of World War II, Reymert contracted with the Navy building lifeboats, but the war ended just before he delivered on his large contract and he was left with a large surplus of boats. For years, many of the boats in Central Park and other local parks were boats from his shop.

Reymert was industrious if not always ethical. During the prohibition, he made boats that smuggled liquor, and also operated horse drawn “milk” wagons to and from various points in Brooklyn. He would sometimes have his older sons drive and drop the wagon off with strict instructions to not look inside or ask questions, just drop it off and walk away. There is also some evidence that he made and used his boats during World War II to smuggle illegal aliens from Cuba. Later, he owned a liquor store near the New York Stock Exchange that did well, but he gave it up for some reason. Despite his various questionable businesses, Reymert was kind with quite a sense of humor. He was also a member of the Freemasons.

In 1956, Reymert and Bertha moved away from the city and purchased property in Middletown, New Jersey, where they lived with their youngest son Bernard and his family.

Bertha was also very kind and she adored her children and grandchildren. Bertha loved gardening and grew her own fruits and vegetables. She was a talented cook and loved to make jams from the various fruits she grew in her garden, and she also enjoyed baking. For a while she cooked in a hotel and was rumored to have been praised by presidents for her cookies. Many of her children and grandchildren remember her for her great cookies.

Reymert died in 1963, and for a while after his death Bertha continued living with her son Bernard until several of her daughters came up from Florida one night and took her down South with them. She remained in Florida until her death in 1982 at the age of ninety.