Siblings Marry Siblings

So, we have many marriages in our Holtan family where siblings married other siblings. Don’t worry, no incest, just lots of double cousins. The first were the two oldest Holtan sons, the two who stayed in Iowa, marrying two Thorvilson sisters. Halvor married Gunhild and Thomas married Aasne, and they lived next door and their kids grew up together, double cousins and best friends.

Then, three Haugens married four Holtans. First, Peter Andreas Haugen married Sarah Holtan, daughter to Thomas and Aaste, but she died at age 25, and Peter then married her older sister Tilda. Then, Halvor’s George married Marie Haugen, and Thomas’ Edwin married Emma Haugen. Also in the Thomas Holtan family, Hilda married Andrew Brackey and Agnes married his brother Norman.

And two Opheim women married Holtans. Selma Opheim married Halvor’s youngest son Gilman, and his sister Marie’s son Tilford Carlson, Gilman’s nephew married Edna Opheim.

Among the Tweetens, the Holtan’s cousins, 2 Tweetens married 2 Westerbergs, two Nelsons married two Tweetens, and two Tweetens married two Nyhus’s.

In North Dakota, the younger cluster of Hans and Margit’s children were busy too. Three of the Holtan boys married three Peterson women, 2 sisters and a cousin. Three Holtan boys, right in line in age, Engebright, Henry and Martin, married Cora, Johanna Permelia, and Amanda Peterson. In the next generation, Orville Holtan, son of Martin, married Beverly Nordquist, and her two aunts, Leone and Ruby Nordquist, married two Tweeten brothers, Ernest and Lester, cousins to the Holtans through Margit. Gilbert Holtan married Clara Severts, a distant cousin from the Eivend Holtan Minnesota Holtans.

This may seem strange to us today, but in those days, you only met people and potential mates who lived nearby. And to be honest, it’s a pretty good way to evaluate your potential mate to see what a great spouse their older sibling has made.