I have mentioned ancestors that have come from Norwegian farms. I thought I would compare two of them so you can see what was grown and raised on each. The Dyrdal (Inner) farm is located in the Province of Sogn og Fjordane and the Haselhaugen farm is located in the Province of Buskerud. In the 1865 census the Dyrdal farm was growing oats and potatoes and had two horses, twenty six cows, and thirty six sheep. In 1865 the Haselhaugen farm was raising rye, barley, and peas and had three cows and six sheep. The picture shows the 1845 census for the Inner Dyrdal farm and what crops and animals they had then.  ¶ 9:33 AM 3 comments

 
When I started posting I began with bio's of my ancestors. Two ancestor I forgot to include were my ggg-grandparents Samuel Jephtha Meader and Sarah Ann Scribner. He was born July 9, 1818 in Ferrisburg, Vermont and died March 25, 1900 in Madrid, Boone County, Iowa. His parents were Joel and Rebecca Meader. He spent part of his childhood in or near Farnham, Canada. Sometime around 1841 he married Sarah Scribner somewhere in Ohio. They had six children. Her year of birth would be around 1824. One or two sources of indicated that she was born in Moses Pike, Ohio. Also at least one source gives the birthplace of one of Samuel's brother's wife as Moses Pike. I have yet to find any indication of that town existing. Samuel and his family lived for about ten years in Henry County, Iowa. In 1854 they traveled to Polk County, Iowa. Sarah died, as I mentioned, in 1860 in Mitchellville, Polk County, Iowa. In 1872 he married Nancy Higbee. He died in 1900 in Madrid, Iowa. His son John Edwards is my gg-grandfather. The picture shows taxes Samuel paid while living in Henry County, Ohio in 1851 and 1853.  ¶ 9:57 AM 5 comments

 
The picture is of the Hval church in the region known as Aadalen, Buskerud, Norway. It is located on the Begna River. This is the church my gg-grandparents Lars and Ragnhild Haselhaugen went to after it was built in 1862. Also it is probably the same church where another set of gg-grandparents Fredrick Ellingson and his wife and family went. It is the church that Lar's daughter Bertha and and Fredrick's son Nub (my g-grandparents) were married in. My guess is that Bertha and Nub probably met at this church. The Hval Church to the best of calculations was quite close to the Haselhaugen farm. From what I have read one of Lar's jobs was to ring the church bell and it was Ragnhild's job to help wash the floors.  ¶ 9:01 AM 0 comments

 
Another ggg-grandfather that moved alot was John S. Young. He was born in Ohio and grew up and marrried in Wayne County, Indiana. A year after his marriage he and his wife bought a farm in Hamilton County, Indiana. A year later they bought a farm in Tipton County. They remained there for about five years. They then moved into the town of Tipton and remained there for another five years but in the last year they moved to the outskirts of town. They next moved to Ringgold County, Iowa for about a year and then went to Polk County where they remained until they died though for the first half of their stay in Polk County they lived on a farm and for the second half they moved to the town of Mitchellville. I believe that the three lots on the right hand side of the photograph of downtown Tipton belonged to John.  ¶ 10:36 AM 0 comments

 
One of the things that I have found interesting is the number of times some of my ancestors have moved during their lifetime. One example is Lester B. Archer who is one of my ggg-grandfathers. He was born in New York, grew up and got married in Medina County, Ohio. In the 1860's he and his wife and family moved to Polk County, Iowa. After several years there they moved to Adair County, Iowa. For the next several decades he moved multiple time back and forth from Adair County to Cass County and from one township to another. In between their were periods of time when the family lived in Kansas and Nebraska. After his death his wife, Lucinda, who was also born in New York and grew up in Lorain County, Ohio even spent time living in Oklahoma with her daughter and family. The picture shows Lester, Lucinda, and two of their sons in the 1885 Nebraska census. I am sure the S.B. Archer is a mistake and it should actually be L.B. Archer. At this time their daughter and her family were also living in Nebraska.  ¶ 9:04 AM 0 comments

 
The following is a list of some of my direct (g-grandparents, gg-grandparents, ggg-grandparents, etc.) and where they were living in 1860. The picture is of the location of the Asle Lien farm in Buskerud, Norway. It is now or was when the picture was taken an agricultural school.

Sjur Markuson - Goodhue County, Minnesota
Christen Benson (Bendixson) and family - Goodhue County, Minnesota
Erick Gunhus (Gunderson) - Rice County, Minnesota

Lester and Lucinda Archer and family - Medina County, Ohio

John S. and Mary B.C. Young and family - Tipton County, Indiana
Elizabeth Young - Hamilton County, Indiana

Samuel and Sarah Meader and family - Polk County, Iowa
Abner and Margaret Fish - Dallas County, Iowa
Joseph and Beulah Fish and family - Dallas County, Iowa

Mary Fish - Schuyler County, New York

Fredrick Ellingson and family - Buskerud, Norway
Lars Haselhaugen and family - Buskerud, Norway
Asle Lien and family - Buskerud, Norway  ¶ 8:38 AM 0 comments

 

In my last post I listed seven ancestors that lived past their 90th birthday. Three of the seven are close relatives. Beulah Fish is the daughter of Abner Fish and the mother of Lorenzo Weinhart. It makes you wonder if genetics played a role in their longevity. It became even more interesting when I found that Beulah's son from a second marriage, Watson Knight, lived to be 101. This pretty much established that if genetics was involved it was passed through the Fish side of the family. I checked the ages of Abner's parents and siblings and found one brother that lived to be 91. I also checked the ages of Abner's children and besides Beulah the oldest was 87.  ¶ 8:54 AM 0 comments

 
This is a list of what I call my direct ancestors (grandparents, g-grandparents, gg-grandparents, etc.) that lived beyond their 90th birthday. The picture shows a newspaper article about Lorenzo Weinhart's 100th birthday.

Lorenzo Weinhart - 104
Betha Fredrickson - 98
Beulah Fish - 94
Abner Fish - 96
Lucinda Archer - 94
John S. Young - 92
Mary B.C. Young - 92  ¶ 9:34 AM 0 comments

 
This is a list of unusual deaths of ancestors that I have have come across during my searches.

• Charles Weinhart (the brother of Lorenzo Weinhart - died in Indian raid - 1871
  
• Lars Haselhaugen - gored to death by a bull - 1886
• Elling Fredrickson Ringerud and Beret Pedersdatter - (the parents of Fredrick Ellingson) both drowned (1860 and and 1837)
• Erick Aslesson Helsa Lien - (the father of Asle Lien) stabbed in a fight over money (1830)
• Nub Fredrickson - hit by a train - 1909
• James C. Young - (the brother of Mary B.C. Young) killed in Civil War battle - 1863
• John L. Young - (the brother of Mary B.C. Young) died of disease while fighting in Civil War - 1863

  ¶ 11:09 AM 0 comments

 
Along the boundary of Richland Township, Rice County, Minnesota and Kenyon Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota is located the farm my father grew up on. In the early 1900's his father, Joseph Marcuson, bought the land and built the farm. Based on old plat maps I was able to locate the farms of both my grandmother and grandfather parents, Erick and Astrid Gunhus and Sjur (Sever) and Ingeborg Markusson. I knew their farms were close to the farm my father grew up on but it wasn't until I was able to zero in on them using Google Earth Maps that I found just how close. The map in the picture shows the locations of the three farms along with the location of where the farm for Christen Benson (Ingeborg Markusson's father) would have been at. The two farms located next to Sjur's farm are those of Erick Gunhus's brothers Ole and Gunder.  ¶ 10:57 AM 0 comments

 
My Holy Grail is Joseph Weinhart. He is my only true Geman ancestor that I know of. I have his tombstone inscription and the mortality census for 1860 (the year he died) but all the rest is conjecture. I believe I have him in the 1856 census, 1850 census, and the ship that he immigrated on. But each one of these have inconsistencies such as age, spelling of names, etc. His son in the 1910 census listed Joseph from Baden and another earlier researcher listed him from the Black Forest area which is in Baden. Three fourths of my ancestors are Norwegian. Norwegian records are very easy and free to access. Germany appears to be just the opposite.  ¶ 12:20 PM 1 comments