Ole's Blog

I ran into a few complications as as I was tracing Helene Olsdatter back into Norway. Things were going pretty smoothly until Helene failed to show up with her family in the 1865 census listing.

I searched the churchbooks, and found birth records for all four of the children listed above. Although the farm name (residential surname) changed several times, indicating the family moved from farm to farm more often than most, the witnesses were from the same two or three farms, in some cases the same individuals. There was no doubt I was following the same family as the one in Helene’s birth record.

Then I discovered that the 1865 census, unlike 1801, grouped each family on the same farm separately, so there were 8 listings for the Bradtland farm (there definitely were not 8 different farms by that name). And, lo and behold, there was Helene (I hadn’t found her earlier because here, her name is spelled slightly differently).

Well, at least I found her. But according to this, she was living as a foster child with another family, while her four siblings, both older and younger, lived with their parents. Yet another intriguing but surely untraceable story. More fiction, anyone?

And now a break from the old movies, to amuse ourselves with a little genealogy. I have been studying Helene Olsdatter, Ole Larson’s second wife. She is not a direct ancestor of mine or my first cousins, but is the mother of Oscar and Olaf Larson, and of Paula (“Aunt Polly”) Larson Sletten, Manda Larson Lunde, and Herman Larson. In addition, Helene’s eldest daughter Alma Larson Raiten, is one of the most prolific of all, with eight children and a total of nine pages of descendants in the “Larsons and Slettens” book.

There was very little background on Helene in “Larsons and Slettens.” She was said to be a midwife and herbalist. Aunt Polly was quoted as saying she “came over on the same boat with the Slettens.” Cousin Mary Lentine has asked her mother, cousin Clarice, for some further information on Helene’s immigration and early life in America, which I will post as soon as I receive it.

I was able to reach quite far into the past using the churchbooks and other online resources from Norway. Aline gave Helene’s birth date as 11 Oct. 1855, and her parents’ names as Ole Lien and Anna Hansdatter. That was enough to get me started, and I located her birth record (actual date 11 Oct. 1854), in Gausdal parish:

Link to the page at Digitalarkivet

(year 1854) (born) Oct. 11, (baptized) Oct. 29, Helene; (Parents): Inderst* Ole Johansen Brettingen (and wife) Anne Hansdatter. (Witnesses): Engebregt Hansen Børø _ ningen (and wife)) —? Marthe Simonsdatter Bratland, Marthe af Christen Christensdatter, and Nils Hansen Rud-Bølien.

*”Inderst” is an indication of status or occupation; my Norwegian chatroom friends had a hard time translating it. One thought it was some kind of servant, but others said it indicated a person staying at a home that is not their permanent residence. At any rate, I found that Ole and Anne moved around a lot, which complicated my work. I may expand on that in another post. For now, I am able to report with good confidence Helene’s pedigree for three prior generations.
Since this is another whole branch of the family, I will put up a new page for it in the Generations section. More info to follow as it develops.