Pike Family Story

Life in the homeland

The Pike (originally Piķis) family’s roots can be found in two Kurzeme districts – the Pike family’s origins are in the Kuldīga district, while the Bērziņš family – Talsi district. Information about the Pike family can be found in the church records of Kuldīga and Snēpele congregations. In the Snēpele records for 1876, one can find the baptism record for the Lincoln Pike family patriarch Brediķis, with parents listed as Bertulis and Margrieta.

On May 26, 1902, Brediķis married Anna Ješkevics in the Snēpele church. Their son Fricis (later Fred) was born in March of 1903. Brediķis had already left for the United States before his son was born. Anna and Fricis arrived in the US in 1907.

Travel and Arrival in the USA

Brediķis Pike is believed to have arrived in Philadelphia in the summer of 1902, and then headed almost immediately to Lincoln County. However, his name cannot be found in passenger lists, and he may have travelled under a different name. Five years later, his wife and son also arrived under different names, as Anna and Francis Šteins.
Did Brediķis have to leave because of political activities? Or to escape from mandatory military service?

Jānis Bērziņš and his wife Edna, three daughters and one son arrived in the United States in 1904. At first they lived in Boston, then Scranton, and slowly moved westward. Their daughter Grace was born. After living in Michigan for awhile, Jānis died in 1926, and the Bērziņš family moved to Lincoln.

Life in Wisconsin

Anna Pike died in 1927. Two years after his mother’s death, Fred Pike married Grace Bērziņš. They lived in Lincoln and raised eight daughters (including Shirley and Dorothy) and one son Alfred, born in 1932.

Latvian families celebrated Jāņi (Midsummer, St John’s Day) enthusiastically, and they were often joined by locals of different backgrounds, since there was free beer available.

In the time of Prohibition, Latvians brewed their own beer. For other celebrations, such as for Fred and Grace’s wedding, they also distilled gin. Celebrations like the wedding took place in the hay loft of the barn, where hay would be stored in the winter.

Since the Pike family were relatively late arrivals to Lincoln County, they could only buy what land was left, which had swamps and lots of rocks. It was the job of the children to pick out all of the rocks. Already at the age of 12, Alfred started to work with his own threshing machine, as well as his own hired man.

Alfred and his sisters went to the local school, which was just across the road from the Pike farmstead. It was a one-room schoolhouse. The family was fairly poor, sometimes only having lard sandwiches for lunch. They were embarrassed about this, and would sometimes hide from the other children during lunchtime.

Alfred joined the US Air Force, and served in Germany. After returning to the US, he sold and repaired heavy machinery.

Alfred and his wife Jean returned to Lincoln in their retirement years. They lived in a retirement home in Merrill until Alfred passed away in June of 2015. Alfred, as well as most of the Pike family, are not buried in the Latvian cemetery, but rather in the Doering cemetery, south of Gleason.

Family Today

The large Pike family is scattered all across the United States and beyond, but are united by their faith in God. They have regular family reunions, which continue to take place in Lincoln County.

Dorothy (Pike) Richardson writes, “…our grandparents and dad (Fred Pike) left Latvia due to political reasons, I think it influenced our generation to believe in God and be active in church and/or community–not taking our freedoms for granted”.