The first three stories here are from Ruth Holtan’s book, “Journeys, the Women Came Too.”
The Hovlands came from a different part of Norway from most of the rest, who came from Telemark. This was a more flat and settled area and even had a busy glass factory, Hadeland Glass, which still operates near Jevnaker. You would enjoy a visit there.
Joren had a much less conventional beginning than any others of our immigrant ancestors, as her mother had four children but never married and her father never took responsibility for her. Joren’s Journey
Bertha Halvorsdotter Hovland’s Journey
Olava Gulbrandsdatter Hovland Tweeten
The following three articles are by Dr. Verlyn Anderson, a Hovland descendant and genealogist. The first is a good introduction to the Hovland ancestors, Joren and Ole. They came from poverty as husmann, cotter farmers. The second article has one shorter piece and then one longer, very thorough story of the Hovlands from Hadeland. Verlyn looks very carefully at the name Hovland, traces the descendant’s families, and even discusses Norwegian American church politics. This is truly the way careful genealogy is done. (PEH)
Our Hadeland Ancestors by Verlyn Anderson
Hovlands from Hadeland by Verlyn Anderson
If the Anderson article is rigorously academic and footnoted, the folk story told by Halvor Hovland is quaint and deeply pietistic.
The Next to the Sweetest Name: A Love Story from Old Norway, A folk story as told by Halvor Hovland