One is the emperor Charlemegne himself (742-814 C.E.), whom Orrin Moen traced as the 34th great-grandfather of Lovell through Lovell’s mother Anna Moen, and Charlemagne’s son Louis I “The Pious.” And now, I have identified another son of Charlemagne, Pepin of Italy, as the 34th great-grandfather of Reatha through her father Dan Myers, making Charlemagne Reatha’s 35th great. This makes Lovell and Reatha approximately 35th cousins, once removed. This is actually a redundant connection, as Charlemagne is again an ancestor of Dan Myers through another marriage several generations later; this time the nearest common ancestor is Louis I. Yet another “nearest common” is Baldwin II, son of Judith Martel. By the time I  finished with all these threads, I ended up with at least eight different lines leading to Charlemagne .

The second distinct connection is in Kiev(!) Yaroslav I “the Wise,”(978-1054) Duke of Kiev, is the 28th great-grandfather of Lovell, and the 27th great of Reatha. By this line, my parents are approx. 28th cousins, again once removed. More proof that if you go back far enough, we are all cousins. These 11th-century rulers of Kiev were intermarried with at least one Scandinavian … perhaps my next project will trace Reatha’s ancestors into pre-Christian Norway.

Group 1-A

Group 1-B

Group 2

Groups 1-A and 1-B must have been taken just seconds apart. All the same people, with one exception, in the same arrangement. Group 2 has most of the same people, with several missing, three added, and  all rearranged.

Let’s start with the Larson boys, Lovell and Walt. I think we can all agree that they are #30 and 31, although which one is which is not quite so clear. I’m leaning toward #30 for Lovell.

Next, the four Larson men: Axel (2), Isaac (6), Oscar (10), and Olaf (14), and one spouse I am pretty confident of, Anna (22) *(caveat at end of post). I am now convinced that the photo below (long familiar from my mother’s collection, and also included in Lucy’s albums) was taken on the same occasion, not least because the four  men are wearing the same clothes (sans hats).

Probable date: 1917

Two Larson children are identified by labels on other photos in Lucy’s album: Edna (Kohlstead, Louise’s 13-year-old daughter, #29), and Lenora Larson (25). Also identified this way are Edna’s two companions, Ruth (26) and Lois (29), last names and relationships unknown as yet.

Let’s show those thumbnails again, and go a little further out on a limb:

Group 1-A

Group 2

Four semi-wild guesses based on comparison with at least one other photo: Mina Larson (19, or possibly 4), Inar Amundson (3), Emily Hart Amundson (18), and Mary Hart Larson (13). Note the resemblance between 13 and 18 when they are standing close together in Group 2. Finally, the small children, based on their apparent age and association: Harvey Larson (1), Neva Larson (33 – appears only in group 2), Norman Amundson (20), and Glenn Amundson (24).

Wilder yet, I think I may have spotted one Samuelson in there, which could imply there are others. I’ll go into that in a later post, as well as responding to the many comments I hope to receive on this one.

* Vernon Larson was born 23 July 1917, less than a month before the labeled date of the above photo. So why isn’t the baby there, if Anna and Isaac both are? Below is a picture from the following winter:

Winter 1917-18

Again, you can click on the photo to enlarge. It’s a long shot, but maybe Tom Moen is in that mob photo too! Stay tuned.

Group 1-A

Group 1-B

Ringebu parish, Gudbrandsdal, is where the Slettens and the Moens came from. The first 40 pages of the book contain a narrative and discussion of emigration from Norway in general, and from Gudbrandsadal in particular. I copied that section, and will get part of it translated eventually. The rest of the book is filled with names of emigrants, arranged chronologically. I was lucky enough to find ten names I was looking for.

I began with Engebret and Gunder Olson (Sletten) as kind of a warm-up exercise. I had already found their emigration record, which shows they departed Oslo on 3 June 1881, on the steamship Angelo. As I hoped, they were easy to find.Encouraged by this success, I began scanning the following pages for the rest of the Slettens, who were said to have come at some unknown later date, not necessarily all at once. It turns out they *were* all together, in 1884.So, this is the new (to me) information: “Papa” Ole Ellefsen Sletten, Elsie, Johannes, and Mathia (the spellings they used in America), departed Oslo 16 May 1884, also on the Angelo. That gets them as far as England. Still to be traced is how they got from there to America. Note that there is no “residential” surname associated with any of them, not “Sletten” nor any other.

As for the Moens, cousin Orrin’s book “Whence We Came” says they came over in 1877, and sure enough:Gunder Torgerson (Moen) is Anna Moen’s father, my great-grandpa; Torger, then, is my great-great. This record is the first I have seen with destination Minnesota.  Be that as it may, they settled permanently in Vernon County, Wisconsin, as did the Slettens. I visited their graves in June 2009 at Brush Creek and Coon Prairie. I didn’t check with Orrin yet; he may already have known the date and ship, but they are new to me. Two of Torger’s daughters, Randine and Sigrid, are not listed. They must have come separately, as Randine married and raised a large family here. Orrin’s book has no information on Sigrid, other than she had no children, and a picture of Randine and Sigrid together.

Also of note in this record is “Moen,” as part of the residential surname, Rørviksmoen. The suffix “moen” appears with many farm names; I haven’t figured out what it may signify. A very few farms are named simply, “Mø.” which also means “maid” (??). Orrin, who has explored the area, once told me he didn’t think there even was a “Moen” farm associated with the family. This is not at all unusual (see Slettens).

Analagous to the “moen” in “Rørviksmoen,” may be the suffix “-haugen,” as in “Skurdalshaugen” and  “Bakkehaugen.” “Haugen” is translated as “pasture,” or “small hill.” There are also a few farms named “Haugen,” period. Think: Professor Harold “Hill.”

Pardon the poor copy, it was scanned from the newspaper-like printing of Orrin’s book. Thanks to cousin Orrin for publishing it all those years ago.

Date of photos unknown

This *may* be my last post before Thanksgiving. I need to get some fiction written; I’m falling behind on that project.

]]> http://olelarsonsfolks.net/Blog/2009/11/20/new-immigration-info-sletten-and-moen/feed/ 1 http://olelarsonsfolks.net/Blog/2009/11/10/whom-do-you-take-after/ http://olelarsonsfolks.net/Blog/2009/11/10/whom-do-you-take-after/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:56:11 +0000 George http://olelarsonsfolks.net/Blog/?p=1483 Again, it was a comment by cousin Lois that kind of got me on a kick. She remarked how much the childhood picture of her dad resembled her own childhood pictures. In fact, I found one that is pretty blurry but really captures what Lois was saying. Not only the expression, but the stocking cap, and even the hands – as if grasping a steering wheel (or maybe reins, in Walt’s case). I have some cuter and clearer pictures of little Lois, but this one best makes her point.But it isn’t just Lois and her dad. Check out Reatha and daughter Darlene – both in one of their cheesier moments.Sorry if I’m embarrassing anyone. Now I’m going to flog myself a little. Here I am celebrating my fifth birthday with a pout as big as any of my dad’s “famous” ones.Even though my high-school portrait is one I thoroughly loathe, there are a few similarities to my infinitely more handsome father and uncles.

And to my (even more handsome) Grandpa.

Finally, a couple of pairs from the next generations.

Next: Pictures of poverty

The Shack, c. 1910, clarified

Tomorrow: the Nesseth connection.

I am guessing that the side with the door is where an addition was later built, giving the house its final and more familiar shape. If so, then the  picture below (by Uncle Ivan, approx. 1941) was taken from the opposite side, which became the “front.”Note the lean-to structure behind the house, which looks similar to the one in the foreground of the older photo, supporting my guess about the viewing angles. The final interesting detail is that the second photo was labeled “Isaac’s,” even though it must have been taken long before Smith “disposed of” his claim when he reenlisted in the Marines.

Next: more about the Nesseth’s.

A few general comments: 1) The background is positively the North Dakota, Larson brothers’ homestead country. That is a little vague in this photo, but others confirm it. 2) I admit I am very poor at ID-ing people from old photos. After literally hours of staring and comparing with all the other pics I have, and with all my family info, I can only guess at a handful of these folks.

Even the adults named without ? marks are open to question.  Here is another shot almost surely from the same occasion. Some of the same people are in it, wearing the same clothes, but there are key changes.

Both Walt and Lovell are there now. They are almost the only ones in either picture I am really certain about. Oscar and Olaf (if that is who they are) are now down in front; Axel and Isaac are missing, and Anna is standing behind that handsome dude with his sleeves rolled up, who is sitting next to Olaf. For a while, I thought that one might be Isaac, but the resemblance (in my eye) is extremely poor.

Thanks to Edna’s notes, and to other photos like the one below, I am sure I have her  and Lenora pegged.

But yikes! Who the heck are “Ruth” and “Lois??” They are in the group shots as well. They both look older than Edna, so must have been born between approx. 1898-1903. I have scoured the “Larsons and Slettens,” plus the Samuelsons, Moens, and even the Nesseths, and can find no one by those names that could possibly be them. The little tyke with the white collar is another huge mystery. He must have been born in 1915 (give or take a year), and there is no one in my records who fits.

At least one of the babes-in-arms is also unaccounted for. One is surely Harvey. Another could be Vernon, although he was only three weeks old on this date, and none of them look that young. But even if so, there is no one to match the third baby. So, pipe up, cousins! I need some serious help on this one.

Next: a new, early picture of “Isaac’s house.”

Walt c. 1914

Next is obviously Isaac and Walt on the right. The other man and child are less certain; after some very insightful comments (see below), I am fairly settled on Isaac’s close friend Con Brunsvold and his eldest son Howard (wh0 was about Walt’s age).

Isaac, Walt, and ?? c. 1915

Below must be the earliest photo yet known of Lovell.

Walt and Lovell c. 1915

Finally (for today), the two of them with a barnyard pet.

Walt, Lovell, and calf, c. 1917

This is a luxury, very few of these are labeled at all. Next: some large group shots with identity crises.

Finally, I drew in the boundaries and labels with a photo editing program. Here is a wide view showing all four homesteads. The area shown is approximately 8 miles wide. Location is about 25 miles south-southeast from Sidney, MT. The thin white line near the left (along the west boundary of “Smith’s” land) is the Montana-North Dakota border.

four Larson homesteads

*”Ron Whited’s house” is significant, as Ron is a grandson of Axel Larson. I don’t know who owned the land originally, but in the 1930′s, that farm was occupied by the Walter Hart family. My mother, Reatha, was working for the Hart’s when my father, Lovell, met and courted her.  By the time I was born, it was farmed by Ron’s parents, Lila Larson Whited and her husband “Skeeter.” Ron, incidentally, is the only relative I know of who still lives and ranches in the area, which is now very sparsely populated.

In the following image (which is not even the largest available blow-up), you can clearly see houses and farm buildings. This image is approximately 1.5 miles wide.To view it yourself, give Google Earth or any map Website a latitude & longitude, such as the corner where Isaac’s and Smith’s land meet (NW corner of Sec. 14, Township 146N, Range 105W per legal description), which are: 47.4646375, -104.0333190. It is easy to spot the section and quarter-section lines, as that is where the seams appear where the photos are “stitched” together. That made it very easy to draw the property lines.

I identified the houses based on my visit to the site in 2003, expertly guided by cousin Larry. It is easy to recognize nearby features, such as the large barnyard to the south of Isaac’s house, and the pond west of Oscar’s. Here are photos I took of the two houses back then.

Isaac Larson house

Oscar Larson house

I’m not quite as certain that I hit the exact location of the original shack from the “famous” 1910 photo, but it is fairly close.

Shack site

It doesn’t show up here, but near the dead tree is an indentation in the ground where the shack stood. According to Larry, the tree is the same one shown in the old photo (I am a bit skeptical of that).

Next: Finding Private Larson.

After a nice lunch at the “Badger Crossing” with Aline, Clarice, and Sam, we went to Brush Creek church and cemetery.

Brush Creek church

No one among us knew when the church was built. It must have been after the fire anecdote that Aline related in “Larsons and Slettens,” and prior to 1906. Great-uncle Axel’s wedding photo from that year (published in the same book) shows in the background the very artwork that is still displayed in the chancel.

Church interior

Out in the cemetery, Aline guided us to the graves of a slew of relatives. The first was Ole and his first wife Anne (Samuelsdatter).

Ole's stone

The stone was placed by cousin Aline relatively recently, prior to about 1980 when my mother photographed it.

Nearby is the grave of Ole’s mother, Anne (Larsdatter).

Anne's stone

Her correct birth date, as discovered in the primary sources, is 1801. Anne is buried alongside Ole’s sister Mari, Mari’s husband, and one child. Anne’s stone is very similar to those of the three Stigens; they must all have been placed by the Stigen family.

Stigen stones

Anne Samuelsdatter’s brother, Ole (Samuelson), is also buried at Brush Creek, as are his wife and at least one son, Sidney.

Several of Ole Larson’s children are there, including Smith Larson.

Smith's stone

I had thought that Smith was a merchant marine. Maybe that was after he was a US Marine? I also heard for the first time that Smith had died after losing a leg with gangrene. Unclear how long that was before his death, or what kind of injury the leg had suffered. Other details are needed on these questions.

On the Moen side, Anna Moen’s parents, Gunder and Maria, are buried at Brush Creek.

Gunder Moen's stone

There are lots of other Moens there. When I get home and see the Moen book, I will try to figure out which ones are related.

So for myself, and all the grandchildren of Isaac Larson, we have four great-grandparents and one great-great buried at Brush creek. There are some more great-greats at Coon Prairie, coming up in a later post.

Sorry this is taking so long. I’m just really busy right now.