Charles Magnus Bergman was born in 1856 in Finland’s southwest archipelago region in the town of Ekenäs, which is also known as Tammisaari. Gustavus Vasa, King of Sweden, founded Ekenäs in 1546. Bergman’s birthplace is one of those geographical areas in which both Swedish and Finnish are spoken. Berman immigrated to the United States as a first mate on a clipper ship destined for the West Coast. He decided upon Astoria, Oregon as a good place to establish his new home, circa 1880. Throughout his lifetime he worked in various occupations that kept him near the sea. Charlie Bergman is now recognized as the founding father of the Astoria school of decoy makers. Considering that there were thousands of decoy makers across North America, it is important to also note that Charlie is regarded as one of the all-time premier decoy carvers. At first, he carved distinctive hunting decoys primarily for his own use. By age seventy, however, he began carving commercially following retirement in 1929. He made over 5,000 decoys in his career. Charles Bergman died in 1946.

For more information on Bergman read, “Wildfowl Decoys of the Pacific Coast” by Michael Miller and Frederick Hanson with photography by Robert Mortensen 1989.