Earlier Arrivals

Both sets of my husband's great-grandparents came from Rogaland County before 1900. They boarded ships, left their families and traveled to America. Great-grandfather Theodore Olson and family came in 1868 and came to Grundy County, Illinois. He was from Heggheim and his wife, Berthe Thorson, was from Kjølevik.

A few years later, great-grandfather Edward Thorson came to the same area and settled. Edward was from Pundnes and his wife Serena was born at Hjelmeland.

These four people, along with my three grandparents, are who we will be traveling with into the past. If you are researching your Norwegian ancestors, you are in luck. The website Digitalarkivet and the published Bygdeboker are fantastic resources. Your search will be easier if you have a farm name because this can lead you directly to the area you need to look.

Your ancestor may have used his father's name or his farm name or both: Theodore Olson used this name both on his ship record and when he arrived in the area. But, the family story was that their name was Heggem and that they changed it when they came to this country. In Norway, both names were used, Olson - because he was Ole's son and Heggheim for identification of the farm where he lived. There may have been more than one Theodore Olson in the area. So we are looking for Theodore Olson Heggheim or Theodore Olson fra Heggheim.

By knowing this farm name, I searched for it in the bygdebok (see clip above) and the information I found there led me to the correct year in the digital records (see below). Even though I find a lot of information on the family in the bygdebok, I like to find the original record to prove the details. All the records are in Norwegian, of course, and there are no indexes. This means you will spend some time going line by line to find your person, the right person!

Here is the link to Digitalarkivet - http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:kb_read  Go ahead and try it out. When it comes up, select Rogaland in the county pull down list; next selection is Parish, Strand 1855 -1881; then on the Contents Page select Marriage 1866-1868; you will find Theodore Olson and Berthe Thorson's wedding record.

Now try it with your own relative!

Min Besteforeldre

These are the people whose birthplace I wanted to visit when I took my trip to Norway. I wanted to walk where they walked as children, see where they lived and worshiped. I dearly loved these people and have numerous wonderful memories of my life with them. From my earliest memories of having "coffee and" when I was just 2 or 3 years old until I was 27 and "Grandpa Annie" passed on to be with the Lord. Even today, I can still relive those times with them. This photo was taken in 1954 when Ole and Mathilde were leaving to make a visit home. From left, they are Ole, Mathilde, Kristine and John. All, but John, came to America early in 1900 from Norway. They boarded the small boat in Stavanger that took them to a train that brought them to Liverpool, England. There they boarded their ship bound for America.

 Mathilde arrived first in 1908 on the Mauretania at the age of 19. She left her home in Oltedal (Oftedal); she left behind her parents and family to come to America and stay with her sister who was already here. According to the ship's manifest, her ticket was paid for by her brother-in-law, she had $10 in her pocket, and she was 5 foot 6 inches, and had fair skin, dark hair and blue eyes. Mathilde was traveling with another young girl coming to stay with Mathilde's sister and family.



Ole was next to arrive in 1909 at age 20 on the Lucania. He was leaving the island of Ombo, where he had lived all his life. He was going to his brother, Lars, who also paid for his ticket. Ole only had $10, too. He was traveling with a cousin who would also be going to Lars' home.


The last of the three to arrive, was Kristine. She arrived also on the Mauretania at the age of 20 in 1914. She left Tjora, her parents and two sisters and a brother. Six of her sisters had already gone to America. She would be staying with one of them. Kristine paid for her ticket herself and had at least $50 with her.

Mathilde and Ole did not know each other before they met in America in 1911 and were married here. Kristine married John, who was a first generation American boy. His father and mother emigrated from Prussia in 1867 and 1873.

Making Progress

I am still in the process of designing this site, but I think I am making progress. I want this to be a one-stop site for all of our Rogaland ancestors, but we have so many I don't want it to become confusing. This home page will be for general information or directing you to changes on the individual pages. I have set up individual pages for some of the farm/family names that are prominent in our heritage.

I'll be sharing general information on finding your own ancestors, information that I have collected and researched over the years, and first hand information on my wonderful trip to Norway in 2010.

So please check back often, I'll be adding to the pages SOON!!!