Berit Marta AndersenBerit Anna Andersen
Berit Anna ("Annie" or "Hannah") immigrated to Duluth, Minnesota, where she married Lorenz Hansen. The Hansens (shown at left with five of their children) had seven children in all: Henrietta, Emma, Alma, Martha, Lilly, Emil, and Willie (perhaps William.) Henrietta married Horace Rigsby but little is known of the other children. Berit Anna died in 1926.
Ole Andersen
The only member of the family known to have ever revisited the country of his birth, Ole traveled frequently between Norway and the United States. He first came to the US in 1883 but was back in time to return to America with the rest of the family in 1889. He married Gjertrude Lovset while in Kansas and they later moved to Tacoma along with his mother and several brothers and sisters. By 1897, however, Ole was in Dawson City, Yukon Territory, looking for gold, and Gjertrude had returned to Norway with their children Anders and Klara. It is believed that Gjertrude wished to return because of a combination of ill health and homesickness.
Ole returned to Norway following the gold rush, and the family settled in on the Gimse farm which Ole purchased from Gjertrude's parents. One more child, Anna Elise, was born in 1901. Each of the three children had four children in turn, presenting Ole and Gjertrude with twelve grandchildren, all of whom settled in the Melhus area.
Ole returned to the United States at periodic intervals for several years, as he would work for several months at the St. Paul lumbermill in Tacoma and then return to Norway for the remainder of the year. Years later, he returned for one last time, at the age of 80. This time he stayed for several months in Rainier, Washington, with the family of Cleo Goodwin, a daughter of his sister Christine. He returned in 1939, just days before war broke out in Europe. Ole died in 1946. He and his wife are buried in the graveyard of the Melhus church.
Mette Marie Andersen
Some time after her arrival in Kansas, Mette Marie ("Mattie"), married a man whose last name was Rodde. She is pictured at left with her husband. They had three girls, all born in Kansas: Alma, Inga and Karen ("Carrie"). A photo exists of the three as grown women, along with their mother, but the picture has been misplaced. I'll include it here if and when I find it!
The family moved to Seattle some time after 1886. Although Carrie and Inge both married, Alma never did and was living with her mother as late as 1920. Inga married Adolph Holmes and had two boys, Alvin and Edgar. Carrie married Burthan Slettedahl, son of E. B. Slettedahl, a prominent minister. Clifton was born to them in 1905, Evelyn in about 1908, and Robert in about 1912. The marriage eventually failed however, and Carrie remarried a Bellingham man and had an additional son. Mette Marrie died in Seattle in 1925. Olaus Andersen
In March 1899, Olaus married Josie Peterson in El Paso County, Colorado. They are shown at right in a picture taken in Cripple Creek, Colorado.
The couple later moved to Poulsbo, Washington, where his mother Marta had settled. For much of that time Olaus worked in a mine in Nevada, and Josie is known to have cared for Marta when needed. They are not believed to have had any children. Olaus died of unknown cause in 1922 and is buried alongside his mother in the Lutheran Church graveyard in Poulsbo. I have been unable to find any information about the time, place or cause of Josie's death.  |
