Ole's Blog

Well, it is “official.”  I will be visiting Norway, along with my lovely wife, this coming August, for a self-planned “roots” tour. I am not going to spend the next six months boring you with details of our emerging plan, but here is a genealogical tidbit I developed over the past couple of days.

I got to wondering if we have any relatives still living in Norway. Ole Larson had one sibling who did not emigrate, as far as we know. Her name was Embjør Larsdatter, christened 19 Sept. 1823. Hereafter, I will spell her name Embjor, for convenience of typing. She apparently removed to the seaport city of Bergen, where she married one Peder Endresen on 11 August 1850.

I scoured the LDS index, but found no children of this couple. There was one false alarm; in Gausdal parish, adjacent to Embjor’s childhood home in S. Fron, an Engebret Pedersen was born in 1860, son of Peder Engebretsen and Embjor Larsdatter. At first I thought that Embjor’s husband’s name may have been mistaken or mis-transcribed from the Bergen church record, but it turned out to be a different Embjor Larsdatter altogether. So, no leads in that regard. I might add that the bridegroom was a widower 51 years of age when they married, while Embjor was 27.

There is, however, a “shirttail” relative: Knut Kvernflaten of Faavang (near Tretten), who has served as an informal guide to both Orrin Moen, and to cousins Lois and Myrna. Knut is related by marriage to both the Moen’s and the Larson’s (biologically related to certain branches, of course). He told me he was related to Orrin Moen’s mother, Leonora Hovde (Moen). Ergo, he must also be related to Leonora’s mother, Laura Fransen (Hovde), sister of my great-uncle Axel Larson’s wife, Mina (“Aunt Minnie”). I am excited that Knut said he will be in the area when I visit.

Still investigating whether there may be biological relatives of the Moen’s still living in Norway. Stay tuned.

Cousin Aline recently sent a letter with some fascinating enclosures: pages from two very old books, with inscriptions by Ole Larson’s sister, Marit Larsdatter. Marit was four years older than Ole, and immigrated to Wisconsin with him, their mother, and another sister. She died in 1880 from complications at the birth of her third child. The baby also died. Aline included a photo of Marit in her seminal “Larsons and Slettens 1985.”

Marit Larsdatter 1837-1880

It is the only known image of any of the four immigrants of 1865 (Ole, Marit, Mari, and mother Anne).

Here is the title page of one of the books.

Translation: “David Hollazens The Order of Grace. How a soul is brought from his own righteousness and godliness to his own sinful miseries’ acknowledgement, But thereafter is led to the open arms of Jesus; and thus by faith, is coming to the forgiveness of sins, and a godly life. Composed of Four Conversations.”

Not so interesting so far? Here is the good part: the inscriptions in Marit’s own handwriting.“This book belongs to Marit Larsdatter Skurdalseiet, Fron. It is given me by Pastor Olsen in Aamodt.”

On the facing page:

“I emigrated to America in the year 1865 the 8th of May from Christiana, and came to Quebec after 7 weeks journey over the sea, to Coon Prairie the 8th of July same year.”

Finally, a page either from another book, or a loose sheet in it.“Belongs to me, Marit Larsdatter Skurdalsbrenden.* I was born September 1837 and was confirmed in South Fron church the 13th of June 1851. Emigrated from my old home the 18th of April 1865 and came here to Coon Prairie the 8th of July same year, 1865.”

*This is the first time I have seen the suffix “…brenden” attached to the farm name Skurdal. I do not yet know the significance; “brende” translates as “burned”(?) This deserves more investigation.

These documents were shared with Aline by Edwin Giese, Marit’s great-grandson (who is part Sletten as well). Tusen takk to both these cousins. In case you are counting, Edwin is third cousin to me and my generation of Larsons. It is quite a thrill to view the actual penstrokes of our great-great aunt, written more than 130 years ago.

Gudbrandsdalen with dandelions www.visitnorway.com

Here are some photos of the ancestral region of Ole Larson’s parents.

Gudbrandsdalen housing www.visitnorway.com

Farm with mountains famsteen.com

Bunader (festival costumes) are distinctive in each of Norway’s regions. The ones below are from Gudbrandsdalen.

Bunader www.lailas.net

The next photo is from the website of the Skurdal family of North Dakota. It is definitely Gudbrandsdalen, but is not the Sore Uppigard Skurdal (“South Upper Skurdal”) farm, where the family’s matriarch, Anna Skurdal, was born in 1890.  The Skurdal farm, South Skurdal in particular, was the home of the Lars Poulsen family. I have tried unsuccessfully to contact the ND Skurdal’s. But now, I have visited the area for myself, and posted several photo essays. For more complete information on Skurdal, visit this post. For the complete tour, use the category “Ancestral Sites in Norway.”

Gudbrandsdalen, www.skurdal.org/

Below is a photo cousin Clarice took of Skurdal in 1991.

Skurdal farm 1991

Thanks to Clarice’s daughter Betty Ann  for sending me this one. There are six Skurdal or Skordal farms in S. Fron parish, less than a mile apart, according to current Gule Sider maps and satellite photos. The land rolls of 1904 list them, roughly translated as Upper, Lower, North, South, and Middle Skordal, plus Skordalshaugen. Anne Larsdatter was born at Davidhaugen, also part of the Skurdal complex; she and Lars Poulsen raised their family on South Skordal. “Haugen” means “hill’ or “pasture.” Names of tenant farms are not recorded in land transactions or tax rolls. In the churchbooks, they are, but the names seem to be quite fluid. Quite possibly the family was raised on the same plot where Anne was born,  listed under two names in various documents.

All this beautiful scenery, coupled with Ole’s story, reminds me of a saying I’ve heard describing some remote Indian villages in Alaska: “poverty with a view.”

I’m just getting around to reviewing the materials sent to me last month by cousin Carmen Stifstad, and updating my database with info on Kari Larsdatter (Ole’s sister) and her descendants. Kari had four children, 13 grandchildren, ten of whom married, so there are likely several dozen great-grandchildren, but I don’t have info on that generation, yet.  More updates to follow. Here is a snapshot, dated around 1910, of Kari and most of her descendants to that date (plus some spouses) Not pictured is her eldest son, Ole. His wife is there (#1), so maybe he is the photographer.

Carmen’s ancestors in the photo are her mother, Mabel Johnson (4), grandparents, Randine Nesseth Johnson (2) and Ole Johnson (11), and Kari herself (3). Again, fondest thanks to cousin Carmen. Stay tuned.

A brief inspection of the churchbook where the christening of Kari Larsdatter’s illegitimate son was recorded in 1856 (born in November 1855) was a bit surprising to me. Here is where you can find the page, and browse the book yourself if you like. And here is a portion of the record:

In the right-hand column the mother is “Pige Kari Larsdatter Skurdalseiet.” Pige (modern spelling: Pike) means “girl” or “unmarried woman” (Kari was 25). And the father is “Ungkarl Rasmus Knudsen Kjorstadeiet,” Ungkarl meaning “bachelor.”

I looked through six or eight pages beginning with this one; each page had about ten records. I was surprised to find that almost every page had one or two records with “Pige + Ungkarl” parentage. So, it seems that at least 10 percent of the births recorded during that time period were to unwed parents, a much higher proportion than I would have expected.

Of course, just because it was common does *not* mean that the child and the family were not stigmatized by it. I can hardly imagine that it was socially more acceptable in the Norway of the 1850′s than it was, say, in America in the 1950′s.

Coincidentally, Lars Poulsen, Kari’s (and immigrant Ole’s) father, died about four months before this child was born. At least it *probably* was a coincidence. But one can imagine scenarios …