The Sjur (Sivert) Markusson family I would think is fairly typical of families that took root in the 1850's and 1860's. Both Sjur and his wife Ingeborg were born in Norway. Actually they lived fairly close to one another while growing up. About twenty miles separated them. They both ended up in Goodhue County, Minnesota living across the road from each other. They married in 1860 and had at least ten children. They are a couple of gaps in the ages of the children indicating that another child or two might have been born during those period of time and died for some reason. Of their ten children six of them, including my grandfather, stayed within the area, two ended up in North Dakota, and two ended up California.  ¶ 8:53 AM