Ellen Kjistine Lee Kittleson

came from Kragero and Sannidal on the coast of south Telemark. She was born at Osebakken, now a part of Porsgrunn.  Her parents were Jacob Christianson Lee and Ellen and our limited information suggests he was a shipbuilder in that port area. Ellen had taken a job to be the housekeeper in the home of

Jacob Paulson at farm “Kvihaugen” near Sannidal. Here she met his young nephew Isak who had been adopted by this childless couple as his own father had died early. Records show they were married in Sannidal Church in March 1850. They lived on with Jakob Paulson for 5 years and then, with their three sons, joined the growing group of families leaving Norway.

Their journey to Wisconsin took 13 weeks. Aunt Anne Dahle was born in their first home in America which was a dugout shared with two other families. Soon they purchased land for their first home and it was there Elsie was

Ellen and Isak’s signatures from daughter Elsie’s autograph book before 1900.

born. They were young and ambitious and this strong Norwegian settlement was a support group for progress. Soil without big rocks, acres of land for dollars per acre, markets already in Chicago and Milwaukee for wheat, potatoes, milk and beef made their future bright.

Soon they built a comfortable frame house for their growing family, which eventually included Jake, Christian, Jens, Anne, Elise, Elsie, Edel and Isak. Elise never married and was a long-time parochial school teacher and cultured spinster. She cared for her parents and later lived with Aunt Anne. One year she even came to Lake Mills, Iowa and stayed with her cousin Elsie Lyng while she taught one month of parochial school after eight months of public school.

In February, 1865, Isak enlisted in the 46th Regiment. At the close of the Civil War, he was honorably discharged and returned home in October 1865. We are still attempting to learn more about the circumstances that found Ellen’s only brother Jacob J. Lee in the 15th Infantry of the Confederate Army. The Fertile, Iowa Centennial Book records that Jacob Lee was captured by the Union Army and was at a camp without food or water. The prisoners prayed for relief and the rains came. He was injured when he escaped and this injury finally caused his death in 1898. In 1879 he purchased the farm southwest of Fertile known later by the Peter Dahlbys as the Lee farm. They are buried at Grant Twp. Cemetery near Fertile. (See “The Search for Jacob Lee” that found he was a Union soldier.) The Wisconsin settlement was rapid because the Norwegian immigrants came by boat to Milwaukee or by boat and train to Chicago and from there to Madison. The Kittlesons were about 40 miles SW of Madison so soon they were no longer the frontier. The territory of Wisconsin and Iowa never benefited from the Homestead Act of 1865. It was immigrants to North Dakota and Minnesota, with the help of the railroad promoters, who profited from the Homestead Act to find available lands.

The routing of the Milwaukee Road mainline railroad through Mt. Horeb made it the town of opportunity while Daleyville remained a small village with church and school. Primrose was the township where the Kittlesons lived and Dyvand School was their community center.

When they retired to Mt. Horeb they lived in the comfortable white house across the street from Herman and Anne Dahle. Both Isak and Ellen are buried in Perry Cemetery, Dane County, Wisconsin. The Amund and Elsie Dahlby family honored this family by naming Elsie’s son Isaac (Isak) and her daughter Ellen. Ellen Kjistine lived until September 2, 1900 and her story tells of changes to a totally new way of life. When she was 30 years old, she moved from a childhood and young life in Norway of seaports and ships, to be a frontier mother in America in a completely rural setting. She must have been a remarkable woman as her children have called her blessed. We too honor her numerous descendants and their contribution to the settling of Wisconsin and Iowa. This couple’s picture can be seen in the Little Norway Museum near Mt. Horeb and at the Holtan Homestead Museum near Forest City.

Here you can see the chart of her ancestors and also of her husband, Isak Kjetilson Ronningen:

5 Gen Pedigree Chart for Elen Kjistine Jacobsdtr Lee

5 Gen Pedigree Chart for Isak Kjetilson Ronningen