My gg-greatmother, Thora (Toro) Guulsdatter Glesne, came over to the United States with her family which included my g-grandfather Erick Gunhus in 1849. She died probably in the year 1850 which would make her my first Norwegian ancestor to die here in America. Several years ago I emailed one of the Norwegian Ancestry forums for information about her family. If I received anything I thought it would be about just her and maybe at the most three generation preceding her. What I received back was a file listing her and her ancestors as far back as 50 generation which I found simple astonishing. Norwegians though keep excellent church and paraish records. Based on this information I was able to determine that at least some of her very early ancestors came from Sweden. I have also found reference to ancestors being born in Finland and Ireland. The vast majority of it is written in Norwegian which I don't read. The picture is a listing of some of her ancestors.  ¶ 4:51 PM 0 comments

 
My gg-grandfather Lorenzo Weinhart lived to be 104 years old. He was born in Iowa and the only times he left the state were for a couple of years when he and his family went to Nebraska around 1885 and then when he was in his 80's he went to California to live with one of his daughters. Looking through Ancestry.com I came across this newspaper article about him written a few months before he died in 1959. What I really found interesting about it is that it was from a Lima, Ohio newspaper.  ¶ 11:10 AM 0 comments

 
The house in the picture is known as the Eaton House. It is located in Albert-Lea Minnesota. It was built in 1857 and for a period of time was known as the best house in the city. Years later it was used as a library. It was then sold for use as a residential home. About 1935 my grandparents (Ben and Florence Fredrickson) bought it and made it their home. It remained in the family until about 1985. The house in the back was known as the 'little house' and it was my parent's home before moving to Elwood, Indiana in 1948.  ¶ 4:26 PM 0 comments

 
My g-grandparents, Sjur and Ingeborg Markuson, were both born along the Sognefjord in Norway. Though they were born only about eighteen miles apart, they didn't meet and marry until they were in Goodhue County, Minnesota years later. The Sognefjord is the second largest fjord in the world. It is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) long, reaches a depth of about 1300 meters below sea level. Its average width is about three miles. Cliffs along the fjord may rise to heights of around 1000 feet. My g-grandfather lived on a farm that was about 500 feet above the fjord and my g-grandmother lived on a smaller fjord that jutted off the Sognefjord. The picture shows a painting of the Sognefjord and the boats that were used to cross from one side of the fjord to the other.  ¶ 1:17 PM 1 comments

 
In 1877 Nub Fredrickson Ringerud married Berthe Larsdatter Haselhaugen in the Hval Church in Ringerike, Buskerud, Norway. In 1875 Nub was living and working on the Lien Sondre farm as a dayworker/tenant. The people he was living and working with were Guldbrand Larsen and Olea Bendiksdatter. These were Berthe's grandparents/her father's parents. Both the Haselhaugen farm and the Lien Sondre farm are in the same Hval suparish which was serviced by the Hval Church. My guess is that Nub and Berthe first met through her grandparents and probably at the Hval Church. The picture shows photographs of Nub and Berthe.  ¶ 11:04 AM 0 comments