The goal of my work is to preserve and present the history and stories of my family, for the benefit of present and future generations. It is a large family; many of my ancestors of a century ago have descendants numbering in the thousands. It is to these relatives, both near and distant, that I hope the site will be most useful.
My name is George Larson. I began studying my family’s history around 2008, after archiving my late mother’s collection of old photographs and home movies. The bug bit me pretty hard, and I worked quite hard at it for about a decade. I have done most of my research online, with extensive travels to visit distant relatives, ancestral home sites and gravesites.
My father’s ancestors all came from Gudbrandsdalen, a valley in central Norway, in the late 1800s, while my mother’s, for the most part, came to North America prior to the Revolutionary War, from England and present-day Germany. Dad’s immigrant grandparents settled in western Wisconsin. A generation later, his parents homesteaded in western North Dakota; another generation, and my parents moved to Washington state.
Mother’s ancestors also expanded west, with various branches progressing from Maryland and New England, through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, to the Dakotas, where my mother was born and met Dad.
Surnames of my nearest ancestors include (besides Larson) Myers, Moen, Drayer, Samuelson, Volden, and Sprung. More distant and marriage-related surnames are Pederson, Sletten, Nesseth, Erickson, and Johnson. I am also researching the ancestry of my wife, née Thiel Beechel, with surnames Beechel, Litch, Mohler, Thiel, Green, and Jordan.
I am not an accomplished genealogist, and sometimes settle for less than a professional standard of proof for facts I assemble. I find that seeking the stories behind the facts is far more rewarding than facts alone. You must not consider my work authoritative, but I dearly hope you find it engaging, and worthy of the sharing.
Edgar Vangen, Norway
Jan 20, 2015
Hallo George.
I been very surprised when i saw the birtday to Gunder Sletten 20.January
He vas brother of my great grendfather Edvard.
My birtday is 17. January. Iam born in 1954.
I like the new look of your blog,and iread it every day.
If you have any questjen for norwegien part of the Slettens i can try to answer. The name Sletten coms From a place Called Bjørgesletten in the south part of Fåvang near Stenumgard [picture on your blog]
I hope to hear from you soon
Norwegien hilsen from Edgar.
Joan Bjerkebek Sponsler
Feb 17, 2015
Hi! So excited to read your blog about Favang and the initials on the gate, TGS. I am related to this person. In 2005, I was visiting my relatives in Norway to find where my ancestors came from. (my mother was Helen A Haakenson Bjerkebek, father was Hjalmar Haakenson, his father was Jens Bakkehaugen, his father Johan Haagenson Hemromsveen. Her mother’s side was Ole E Kristian Stalsberg and his father was Ole K Eriksen. I have some of the same buildings and the church gate in my photos that I took when we met with Knut and his friend Marta! My relatives are still living in the Gjovik area and were kind enough to bring us over to the Favang area and show us where they came from. Your blog was so interesting to read, it just makes me want to go back and visit again! Thanks, Joan
Lyford Hale
Jan 25, 2016
Hi Ole: I’m sorry to say that your information on my 7th Great Grandfather, Francis Lyford is not correct. Here’s why I say that:
1. According to Essex County Massachusetts Quarterly Court Records for the period 1636-86, Vol 8, page 59, Francis was 38 years old in 1680. That makes his date of birth 1641 or 42.
2. There are a number of good genealogy researchers in the U.S. and England, including one who did research for a living and had ready access to London’s Public Records Centers. They’ve found two likely suspects as the parents of Francis. The most likely couple are John and Mary Stevens Lyford, from Steventon, Berkshire, England. Their son Francis was born 30 January 1641. The other couple is William and Elizabeth Smallbone Lyford, of Pangbourne, Berkshire. Their son Francis was born 23 July, 1642.
3. There is a passenger list record in the Chancory Lane Public Record Office showing one of the two Francis Lyfords leaving England for America in 1667.
4. The Rev. John Lyford, who you cite as the father of Francis died several years before Francis was born. This fact was not known until a person who researches only the Lyford line found the Essex record that proves when Francis was born. Prior to this, in the middle 1990’s, it was common to see people listing Francis as the son of the Rev. John. I was one of them.
5. There are numerous records concerning Francis, his marriages, purchases of land, use of his sloop, etc. There is not a single record that states or even hints that he was born on American soil. William Welch’s book is the most frequently quoted source of Lyford information. Welch wrote only that all but one American Lyford he’d researched was somehow related, but he never speculated that Francis was a direct relation of Rev John.
6. The Abridged Compendium by Frederick Virkus, another good source of early genealogy, says Francis was from England, while incorrectly listing his birth date as 1647.
7. The Compendium of American Genealogy, also by Virkus, on page 866 says Francis was born in London in 1645, giving a new and incorrect birthdate.
8. Savage, in his Dictionary of Fist Settlers of New England, Volume 3, writes that Francis Lyford is “perpet John, Plymouth 1624, came that year, prob. in the Charity with Edward Winslow…” Savage was guessing that Francis was a son of John, which we now know he could not have been because John died before Francis was born. In order to be a grandson of the Rev. John, the only possibility is if Francis was born to Mordecai. I have spent many long hours running this one to the ground and can find absolutely nothing to suggest that it is true. Mordecai disappears from history not long after his mother, the widow of Rev. John, remarries.
9. The Genealogical Dictionary of New England Settlers, page 134 is basically the same information as in Savage’s incorrect genealogy.
Lyford Hale
Jan 25, 2016
Sorry for the typos. That happens when I stay up late working on genealogy.
George
Jan 25, 2016
Thanks for the comment, but I searched both my website tree and desktop database, and can find no Lyfords at all. Not Francis, Rev. John, or any other, nor alternate spellings I can think of. I will be happy to change my data to reflect your exhaustive research, if I can find the data that needs correction.
Lyford Hale
Jan 25, 2016
Hi George. I apologize for sounding bombastic. It was 4:30 in the morning, at the tail end of a night of genealogy research and I should have been asleep. While writing to correct a page on your site, I screwed up some of my own data.
First, here’s where I found what I commented on:
https://olelarsonsfolks.net/early-early-americans/
On that page is found the following: Francis Lyford (4th g. grandfather) b. 1647 in Exeter, New Hampshire. Francis was a mariner. His father John Lyford came from England as a child. Francis’ grandfather (also John Lyford) came to Plymouth in 1624, only four years after the Mayflower. The elder John got in some trouble over his preaching, moved to New Hampshire, and soon thereafter to Virginia, where he died a few years later. When he moved to Virginia, he is said to have left his wife and family in New Hampshire, eventual birthplace of Francis Lyford. Origin of Francis’ mother Ann unknown.
You are citing information found in two or three of the better dictionaries of early New England history. What you wrote about the Rev. John Lyford is correct. What you wrote about Francis is not, but it isn’t your fault. Because we now have better access to original source documents than Virkus, Savage and other researchers could access in the 19th century, we know that some of what they wrote about Francis Lyford was wrong.
If I may, I’ll try again in the cool, clear light of day with the following:
1. According to Essex County Massachusetts Quarterly Court Records for the period 1636-86, Vol 8, page 59, Francis was 38 years old in 1680. That makes his date of birth 1641 or 42.
2. There are a number of good Lyford genealogy researchers in the U.S. and England, including one who did research for a living and had ready access to London’s Public Records Centers. They’ve found two likely suspects as the parents of Francis. The most likely couple is John and Mary Lyford (or Liford), from Steventon, Berkshire, England. Their son Francis was christened 30 January 1641. The second Francis Lyford (or Lyfford), of Pangbourne, Berkshire, was the son of William and was christened 23 July, 1642.
English records show a Francis Lyford christened 27 July 1617, Stanford Dingley, Berkshire, Eng, father Thomas (there’s a line of Francis Lyfords in Stanford Dingley going back to the 1500’s.
In 1997, Valerie Hannington, the paid genealogy researcher in London and a Lyford relative, spoke with me on the phone (an expensive transatlantic call at that time!). She said the following : “On page 160 of the Chancory Lane Public Record Office listing there’s a passenger list that shows a Francis Lyford leaving for America in 1667. This Francis may be the son of John and Mary Lyford, from Steventon, in Berkshire. He was born in 1641. I trace my line to 1290, through the Steventon Lyfords. Thomas Lyford begat Robert, born in 1536, in Stanford Dingley and married to Elizabeth in 1560, in Steventon. Their son, William, was born in 1561. He married Elizabeth Smallbone in 1561. Their son, John, was born in 1603. He married Mary and they had Francis in 1641.”
Confirming the above is notes from Valerie is David L, a Lyford cousin.: “I have a copy of a hand written page from Valerie Hannington, who is listed in your reference list, that lists 4 generations of Lyfords from Steventon, Berkshire, England which she thinks is the Francis line. It goes from Robert, born in 1536, to William, born in 1561 (married Elizabeth Smallbone), to John, born in 1603 (married Mary Stevens), to Francis, born in 1641 and went to Boston in 1667. It is no “official” document.” (In my half-asleep state early this morning, I scrambled some of what I wrote you.)
3. As Valerie said, there is a passenger list in the Chancory Lane Public Record Office that shows one of the two Francis Lyfords leaving England for America in 1667. This coincides with when Francis is found in Boston. The Boston record is the first to mention a Francis Lyford in America, so far as is known as of now.
4. The Rev. John Lyford, often cited as the father of Francis, died several years before Francis was born. This was not known until Anne Higham, who researches only the Lyford line, found the Essex record that proves when Francis was born. The widow of Rev. John remarried in 1639, to Edmund Hubbard. In the middle 1990’s, it was common to see people listing Francis as the son of the Rev. John. I was one of them.
5. There are numerous records concerning Francis, his marriages, purchases of land, use of his sloop, etc. There is not a single record that states or even hints that he was born on American soil. William Welch’s book is the most frequently quoted source of Lyford information. Welch wrote that all but one American Lyford he’d researched was somehow related, but he never speculated that Francis was a direct relation of Rev John or that Francis was born in America. Welch writes: “I have been unable to trace any connection between this John Lyford and Francis Lyford who first appears in Boston in 1667.”
6. I have never found an American document written prior to 1667 that mentions a Francis Lyford, nor have I ever located anyone who has found one … and a bunch of serious Lyford researchers have been looking for decades.
7. The Abridged Compendium by Frederick Virkus, usually a good source of early genealogy, says Francis was from England, while incorrectly listing his birth date as 1647.
8. The Compendium of American Genealogy, also by Virkus, on page 866, says Francis was born in London in 1645, giving a second, though still incorrect, birth date.
9. Savage, in The Genealogical Dictionary of New England Settlers, page 134, Volume 3, writes that Francis Lyford is “perpet. John, Plymouth 1624, came that year, prob. in the Charity with Edward Winslow…” Savage was guessing that Francis was a son of John, the Reverend who came to Plymouth in 1624, long before Francis was born. As noted, we now know John could not have been the father of Francis, because John died before Francis was born.
10. The only son of the Rev. John still alive when Francis Lyford was born in 1641 was Mordecai, who was 16 years old, according to court records in Ireland and the U.S. The records show that Mordecai inherited land in Ireland from his brother Obediah, who died in 1639. Mordecai’s mother and step-father were handling the inheritance for him. Before I realized Mordecai was still a minor, living with his mother and step-father in the year Francis was born, I considered the possibility that Mordecai could have been the father of Francis. As it turns out, Edmund Hubbard, step-father of Mordecai, was still handling court papers for Mordecai in 1642. It is unlikely Mordecai would still be under the protection of his step-father a year after having a child.
Hope this clears up the mystery of while you got the long-winded correction.
George
Jan 25, 2016
No apology necessary; I appreciate the input. At some point in the seven years since writing that page, I must have found that Francis Lyford was not my ancestor after all, and removed him from my family tree. I have now removed that whole paragraph about the Lyfords. Thanks again.
orrin moen
Sep 7, 2016
George
Just back from a trip to France. Took a picture of one of our ancestors ROLLO first ruler of Normandy. A Viking, of course died in 932, buried in the cathedral in Rouen Fr.
orrin
Michelle Brown
Feb 16, 2017
Hi George, I was corresponding with you last summer and we changed our phone and email, I have a photo I would like to see if familiar with you Michelle Brown
Brad R Novak
Mar 13, 2017
George,
My Name is Brad Novak and I live in Lincoln Nebraska. I have also been working on my family history. I have been concentrating mostly on the Novak side recently. to change things up once in a while I work on my mothers side of the family. My maternal Grandfather is Lloyd Drayer, Lillians brother. William and Hannah (hattie) would be my Great Grandparents. I loved seeing the photos that you have of them. That is the first I have seen them, how cool. we spent many a fun day at Grandpa and Grandma Drayers house when growing up.
Take Care,
Brad