The Hovlands from Hadeland by Verlyn Anderson

Shorter and longer very thorough story of the Hovlands from Hadeland (PEH), both by Verlyn Anderson, a Hovland descendant and genealogist. Looks very carefully at the name Hovland, the descendant’s families, and even church politics.

Hovland Family Information- Verlyn Anderson, former librarian at Concordia MHD

Our Hovland relatives came from the parish of Gran, Norway. It is in the district of Hadeland which is about an hour and a half northwest of Oslo. When Syver was born, his parents were working as husmann (hired workers) and living in a small cottage on one of the Ulverud farms – there are four of them in the parish of Gran. By the time that Syver and his brother and family emigrated to America, they were apparently living on the Vestbraten farm in the Lunner parish with his parents and working as hired help on a neighboring farm. The Lunner parish is directly south of the Gran parish. In 1883, about a dozen or so years after Syver and Ole emigrated, the last members of their family emigrated to America. These were his youngest brother, Otto, and their parents, Ole and Jorun. They left no close relatives in Norway when those last family members emigrated. The elder, Ole’s mother died when he was only six months old. She was not married at the time that Ole was born. I have not been able to locate his father. The name that is given in the church records when Ole was baptized is apparently incorrect because such a person does not show up in the church records or census of the congregation in the neighboring district – so either Ole’s mother did not give the correct information when Ole was baptized or his father’s name was misspelled because such a name does not exist n the census or any parish records of that day. Anyway, after many hours trying to locate him and also having local genealogists working on this puzzle, I have not been able to locate his father. Jorun was born in Hallingdal and walked over the mountains to Hadeland where she worked as a milkmaid on the neighboring farm to where Ole worked. After his mother died, Ole apparently was raised on that farm as a “ward” of the state. I found his confirmation record and he is living there as an orphan at the age of 15. He is also living there when he and Jorun were married a few years later. So, father Ole, did not have any siblings. There were some siblings of his mother that were alive when she died in 1814, but I have not been able to trace them down, – they were born more than 200 years ago! So in all my research in Hadeland, I have not been able to locate any Hovland relatives. If there are any, they would be at least fifth or sixth cousins to us and Norwegians do not consider anyone beyond 3rd cousins as relatives. Also, nothing exists of the small cottages that the hired workers lived in on the farms that the Hovlands are associated with. The Hovlands did not own any land. The farms where they worked still exist, but of course, the Hovlands were not related to any of the farmers that they worked for, – so, in short, – as far as I have been able to research – there are no Hovland relatives in Norway. Of course, you can still visit the district of Hadeland and see the district in which they lived before they came to America.

They Took the Name “Hovland” in America

By Dr. Verlyn D. Anderson, Moorhead, Minnesota

Most of the ancestors of my maternal grandparents immigrated from Hadeland between April 1867 and October 1883. Economic conditions in 19th-century Norway were bleak for many of the country’s young people. Job opportunities were scarce and wages for those that were available were low. When free land became available in the United States with the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862 the emigration numbers rose dramatically among the land-hungry Norwegians. My Hadeland ancestors were among those who were tempted into taking that long and difficult journey across the Atlantic and into the heartland of America in search of an improved livelihood for themselves and their children.

I heard nothing about Hadeland or my genealogical “roots” in Hadeland as I was growing up. My parents were not able to answer my genealogical inquiries, but my maternal grandfather, Ole Hovland, the oldest son of Nils and Mari (Brørby) Hovland remembered that his parents had spoken about a place in Norway called Hadeland and told me the names of his grandparents who were born there. He also remembered that the family name in Norway was not Hovland, but Sørbråten and that his father had two brothers, Gudbrand and Hans, who lived somewhere in Iowa, but he could not recall the location. My great-grandfather had died more than 25 years before I began questioning my grandfather and no one in my immediate family knew any other information.

Using the resources of the Concordia College Library in Moorhead, Minnesota where I was employed, I located the address of the State Archives in Hamar, Norway and wrote to them seeking their assistance in locating the ancestral home of my Hovland ancestors. They advised me to contact Randi Bjørkvik, a prominent Hadeland genealogist. Her prompt reply to my inquiry was filled with information about my Hadeland ancestors. She wrote that they had not lived at a husmannsplace called Sørbråten, but rather at Vestbråten. Grandfather’s recollection had given me enough genealogical information to begin my search, but his memory of the “family name” in Hadeland was incorrect, – it was not Sørbråten, but a quarter of a turn to Vestbråten! Randi Bjørkvik also gave me the names and addresses of several Hovland descendants of Gudbrand and Hans in Iowa who had written to her, seeking information about my emigrant family. The research door to my Hadeland ancestors opened wide! It is now more than 30 years ago since I asked my grandfather those questions, but I am still carefully filling in the missing pieces of my Hadeland ancestry.

My great great-grandparents are Ole Hansen, born 24 June 1814 and Jøran Olsdatter, born 16 October 1810. They were among Hadeland’s poorest of the poor. They were husmenn who moved from farm to farm as they were able to find employment in order to earn a meager livelihood. At the time of their marriage on 1 December 1835, the Gran parish records record the marriage of “bachelor Ole Hansen, age 21, born in Harestueskogen, in Lunner parish, currently living at Falangeie in Gran, the son of Hans Olsen, ibidem, and unmarried young woman Gioran Olsdatter Haugen, age 25, daughter of Ola Hammoson (sic) Tufte in Aal, Hallingdal.” Research in the bygdebok Folk og Fortid i Hol by Lars Sigurdson Reinton, volume VII, page 23, verifies Jøran’s birth and the names of her parents. They were bachelor (ungkar) Ola Hermoson, nordre Tufto and unmarried young woman (pike) Sigrid Syversdatter (or Sjugurdsdatter). Ottar Solberg, Sogndal, Norway, a descendant of Sigrid’s brother, Aslak Syverson, has informed me that people with the name Syver or Sigurd in Hallingdal were in informal everyday speech (dagligtale) called Sjugurd. Later Hadeland church records spell Gioran’s name as Jøran, Jørond or Jøren after 1835. Her name was Joran in America after she emigrated. But what does that “ibidem” (the same) refer to in Ole’s entry? Normally it should refer to Falangeie, but it might here instead refer to Harestueskogen.

Information about Ole’s birth, his parents and his youth is shrouded in mystery. Research in both the Jevnaker/Lunner parish records and in the Gran/Brandbu parish records for 1814 do not reveal an Ole Hansen, son of a Hans Olsen born in 1814. According to his marriage record, Ole Hansen was born in the Jevnaker/Lunner parish. Therefore, as verified by Randi Bjørkvik, Ole must be the illegitimate son of Hans Thorsen Røsterud of Gjerdrum, in Romerike, and Guri Nilsdatter Kloppa, Lunner parish. According to the Jevnaker/Lunner church records there was an Ole Hansen born at Kloppa on 24 June 1814 to the above parents. Kloppa is in Lunner, in or near Harestueskogen. The 24th of June 1814 is the date that Ole consistently gives as his birthday throughout his life so that is further proof that he is this Ole Hansen. But the mystery continues. I have not been able to locate a Røsterud farm in Gjerdrum. There was no Hans Thorsen or Hans Olsen living in the Gjerdrum parish in the 1801 census. Of course, it is possible that he could have been living somewhere else in 1801. In further research I have located a Røtterud farm in Nannestad, the neighboring kommune. The 1801 census of Røtterud lists a Hans Thordsen, born in 1781. The Nannestad bygdebok, volume 1, page 213, records that a Hans Thordsen was born on the Røtterud farm, but gives no further information about him. His older brother, Ole, took over the farm after their father. Could Hans Thordsen Røtterud (not Røsterud) be Ole’s father? We may never know unless further research locates additional information about him or a “Hans Olsen” that is given as his father at the time of Ole’s marriage.

Leslie Rogne, genealogist of the Hadeland Lag of America has assisted me in my research of Ole Hansen’s mother, Guri Nilsdatter Kloppa. At the time of the 1801 census her parents and siblings were living at Kloppa which is at that time spelled Klyppen. Kloppa is in the Lunner parish, not far from Harestueskogen. The household included the following persons:

Nils Ericksen, mand, 45, nybygger med jord

Gubior Nilsdatter, 33, kone

Erick Nilsen, 9, son; Christian Nilsen, 5, son and Marte Nilsdatter, 3, datter

Nybygger means that Nils was building or creating a new farm. Guri Nilsdatter is not listed as living at home with her family in the 1801 census, but it can be assumed that she was then old enough to be away at a farm nearby, working as a domestic servant or learning household skills. The 1801 census of Jevnaker shows a Guri Nilsdatter living on the farm Tveten, Tron Pedersen, owner. The farm had four “tynesee folk,” including Guri Nilsdatter, age 12. This corresponds currently with her birth record, which states that she was born in 1788. However, that means that the age shown on her death record, age 23, is incorrect. She would have been 26. She was buried at the Lunner Church on 26 December 1814. Her brother Christian Nilsen, age 18, was buried the same day. There is no indication of what caused their deaths. However, the year of their deaths, 1814, may be significant. The long Napoleonic Wars were finally coming to an end in Europe at that time. Norway suffered a severe food shortage during the final years of this war. This was caused by England’s naval blockade of Norway’s coast, preventing the importation of food. During these “Black Years” (1812-1814) many Norwegians, even normally healthy young people, succumbed to illnesses because they were weakened by extremely limited and poor diets. Guri and Christian may have been two of those victims.

Who raised Ole after his mother died when he was only six months old? Did his mother’s parents, Nils Eriksen and Gubior Christiansdatter, care for him, at least for some time? It is doubtful that his father assumed the responsibility of raising his infant son. I have searched the records to see if there could have been a Hans Olsen on the Fallang farm at that time, but I found none. Ole consistently used the name Hansen at the time of his marriage, at his emigration and after he settled in America. His gravestone in the Friborg Lutheran Church cemetery in rural Rothsay, Minnesota also reads Ole Hansen Hovland. Probably Hans Olsen was the name of a man who acted as Ole’s father, but was not his biological father. Ole must have lived somewhere after his mother died and maybe Hans was that man who provided him a home in which to grow up.

Leslie Rogne has suggested another possibility. The name Ole Fallang appears often as a witness for the baptisms of several of Ole Hansen and Jøran Olsdatter’s children. This Ole Fallang seems to be the Ole Hansen Fallang who became the gaardsmand of Fallang by marriage to the daughter of the gaardsmand, Gudbrand Nielsen Fallang. Ole Hansen was the son of Hans Sorensen Gammebakken. Could this be the reason that Jøran and Ole named their first son Gudbrand, in honor of the owner of Fallang who at that time was Gudbrand Nilsen? Could it be possible that either Ole Hansen Fallang or Gudbrand Nilsen provided a home for Ole Hansen (Hovland) when he was growing up? I have not yet been able to locate Ole’s confirmation record. That record would also give a clue as to where Ole was living when he was 15 years old.

Jøran was apparently among the many young women who in the 19th century walked over the mountains from Hallingdal to Hadeland in search of work. Hadeland was a rich dairy producing area so there were job opportunities for young women to work as milkmaids on the large Hadeland farms. Jøran was working on the Fallang farm when she married Ole on the 1st of December 1835. At that time, he was working on the Helmen farm. However, at the birth of their son, Gudbrand, only five months earlier he is said to be from Fallangeyet located less than three kilometers from the Helmen farm. Apparently, there was considerable traffic between these two farms at this time. We are not able to find answers to all of our genealogical questions about Ole and Jøran, but we know for certain that they were married on 1 December 1835 in the Gran parish, Hadeland, Norway.

Between 1835 and 1856, Ole and Jøran had nine children, eight sons and one daughter. Six sons

survived to adulthood. Their children were:

Gudbrand, born 1 July 1835, at Falangeie;

Ole, born 23 December 1837, at Ulverud;

Hans, born 27 August 1841, at Ulverud;

Siri, born 19 May 1844, at Haugtvedteie and died at Ulverud on 16 April 1847;

Lars, born 15 March 1847, at Ulverud and died there on 10 May 1847;

Lars, born 12 June 1848, at Ulverud and died there on 18 June 1848;

Syver, born 1 October 1849, at Ulverud;

Nils, born 12 March 1852, at Ulverud;

Otto, born 2 April 1856, at Rudseie.

Gudbrand was born on 1 July 1835 on the farm Fallang where his mother was a servant. His birth took place exactly five months before Ole and Jøran were married on 1 December 1835. This was not unusual, especially among poor people in Norway at that time. Often a couple did not marry until after their first child was born. This ensured both partners that they would be able to produce children who could help care for them in their old age. In other words, having children to care for them was the parents’ assurance of a kind of “social security” as they grew older.

The husmannsplace Ulverud was owned by the farm Hvinden in Gran. Again, according to Randi Bjørkvik, during some of this time Ulverud may have been owned by the farm Haugtvedt so the reference to Haugtvedteie at Siri’s baptism may not indicate that the family had moved, but rather that the ownership of the husmannsplace may have changed for a short period of time. The information in these birth records indicates that the family lived at the Ulverud from about 1837 until 1856. They are recorded as living at Rudseie at the birth of their last son, Otto, in 1856. Just two months later, Ole and Jøran and their family moved to Vestbråten. On June 3, 1856 Ole signed a husmann’s contract with Steffen Kristensen, the owner of Hovland vestre which defined the conditions under which he and his family could live at Vestbråten. Randi Bjørkvik further states that no one currently remembers when there was a husmannsplace at Vestbråten. After the railroad came to Hadeland the land owned by the Hovland farm that lay west of the newly laid railroad was cut off from the main farm, consequently in 1899 Vestbråten was sold. Vestbråten is located just a short distance west of Roa. In the 1865 census Ole’s patronym is listed as Olsen, not Hansen, and Jøran is recorded as being Gulbrandsdatter instead of Olsdatter! At this time, she is also recorded as being three years younger than Ole, instead of four years older as she was when they were married. This 1865 census also indicates that their son, Ole, his wife, Anne Andersdatter Blekeneier, and their infant daughter, Julie, were also living at Vestbråten. However, by the time of the 1875 census, only Ole Hansen, Jøren Gulbrandsdatter (sic) and their son, Otto, are living at Vestbråten. The other five sons had already emigrated to the United States by that time.

The “Hovland” Family Emigrates

The primary reason why the Hovland family emigrated to America was economic. They were all members of the landless husmenn class who had few opportunities to advance their economic well-being in Norway. The scarcity of tillable land and the law of primo-genitor (odelsrett) which gave the oldest son the right to inherit the farm of his parents, made it virtually impossible for others to acquire land. In addition, 19th-century Norway lacked the capital resources to build factories and other industries that could have provided jobs for the fast-growing population. The Norwegian young people had to look elsewhere for economic opportunities.

The goal of owning a farm was the dream of many young people in Hadeland. At that time, being a land-owning farmer was considered the very best occupation in the whole world. When free land became available with the passage of the Homestead Act in 1862, the Hovlands, and thousands of other young Norwegians looked to America for a way to improve their economic futures. The Homestead Act would allow each of the six brothers to become landowners, not of small farms, but of large 160 acre-(640 mål) farms! They caught the “America Fever.”

Ole and Hans, Ole and Jøran’s second and third sons, were the first of their family to emigrate to America. Ole and his wife, Anna Arnesdatter Blekeneier, their two daughters, Julie, born 1 January 1865, and Anne Marie, born 2 February 1867, and Ole’s brother, Hans left for America in April, 1867. They received a certificate from the local minister to emigrate to America on April 15th and presumably left a short time later. Their crossing of the Atlantic in a sailboat took seven weeks. Their destination was Big Canoe, Winneshiek County, Iowa, arriving in mid-June. Big Canoe is located in the northeast corner of Iowa, 14 miles northeast of Decorah, Iowa and only a few miles west of Lansing, Iowa which is located on the Mississippi River and was a frequent destination point for Norwegian emigrants into this area.

Eighteen-year-old Syver, the fourth son, was the next one to emigrate. His ticket was purchased to Lansing, Iowa. He left on April 24, 1868 on the ship S.S. Oder, bound for Hull, England, out of Christiania, Norway’s capital. The S.S. Oder was a combination steam/sail ship. It was 200 feet long and had a beam of 27.5 feet, of iron construction with a clipper stem. It had a single screw drive and masts rigged for sail. It would have taken the ship only a couple of days to travel from Christiania to Hull, England. At Hull, Syver would have boarded a train for the short trip across England to Liverpool where he boarded an English-owned steamship bound for New York. After clearing Customs, he would have traveled by railroad via Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fort Wayne, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois to Lansing, Iowa. This train trip would have taken about three days to complete. His journey from Hadeland to Iowa would have taken less than a month.

The next year, on 17 September 1869, Gudbrand, his wife, Berte Halvorsdatter Prestbråteneie and their four children, Julia, born 1 December 1861, Milla, born 21 December 1862, Halvor, born 16 November 1864 and Olava, born 6 September 1866 left Norway. They also sailed on the S.S. Oder from Christiania to Hull and after their train trip across England boarded the S.S. Peruvian for the trans-Atlantic crossing to New York. From there they would have taken the same route as Syver had done the year before. They arrived in Winneshiek County, Iowa, most likely Lansing, Iowa, on 14 October 1869.

My great-grandfather, Nils, was the next brother to immigrate to America. His brothers who were already in the United States paid for his passage. The Emigrant protokoll (Emigrant register or transcript) in Christiania gives as his destination, Lansing, Iowa. He left on May 20, 1870 on the S.S. Hero, bound for Hull, England. I have not yet discovered the name of the ship that he traveled on to New York. Again, he would travel by railroad to the same destination as his brothers had done before him.

The home at Vestbråten must have been very quiet after five sons, two daughters-in-law and six grandchildren had emigrated. Only Ole, Jøran and their 14-year-old son, Otto, were left in Norway when Nils emigrated in 1870. The prosperous economic times that followed the American Civil War came to a sudden halt after the Panic of 1873 when stock markets all over the world crashed. A severe worldwide economic depression followed. It lasted throughout the rest of the 1870s. Because emigration was very sensitive to economic fluctuations, immigration to the United States from all the countries of Europe fell dramatically after 1873 and did not rebound until 1880 when the American economy began to improve. The number of Norwegian emigrants to America reached its highest annual number in 1882 when 28,804 people left for America. The very next year the last members of the “Hovland” family left Norway. Ole Hansen, age 69, and his wife, Jøran Olsdatter, age 72 and their son, Otto, age 27, left Christiania on 12 October 1883 on the ship S.S. Rollo again bound for Hull, England, retracing the journey that their sons, Syver, Gudbrand and Nils had made more than a decade earlier. Their destination, as reported in the Emigrant protokoll, was Northwood, Winnebago County, Iowa where Ole and Jøran’s sons, Gudbrand and Hans and their families lived. The name of the ship that they traveled on from England to New York is not known.

With the arrival of Ole, Jøran and Otto in Iowa, the last members of the “Hovland” family had safely arrived in America. Their trans-Atlantic crossings were over. None were ever to return for a visit to the land of their birth. Their lives in Norway became a memory. They spoke often of “the old country” and continued to call themselves Norwegian until their dying day. But it was now time for them to become Norwegian Americans. It is important to note that in this sentence the word “Americans” is the noun and “Norwegian” is its modifying adjective. This is probably one of the least understood facets of American culture, but one that is vitally important for each immigrant group, – they are Americans, -no matter from what nation they come.

Selecting a Surname in America

These family members used Hansen and Olsen as their patronymic or surnames in Norway. How did “Hovland” become their permanent surname? The first immigrants from this family used the name Olsen Hovlandseie when they arrived in America in 1867. As the rest of the family members joined them, they apparently all accepted Hovland (sometimes spelled Haavland) as their American surname.

Why did they choose that name? There may be several reasons for their choice. Most likely it was because the parents, Ole and Jøran, were living on a husmann place called Vestbråten when the first two sons, Ole and Hans, went to America. They did not own Vestbråten. They were husmenn, living on this small plot of ground, paying their “rent” for this small house, maybe an outbuilding or two and a few-mål of land by working for the farmer who owned Vestbråten. Vestbråten was owned by the Hovland vestre farm, located on the east side of the valley from Vestbråten. Another reason for choosing that name might be that Ole or Hans may have worked on that Hovland farm before they emigrated and thus decided to adopt that name when they got to America. It is not unusual that they did not select Vestbråten as their surname. Vestbråten was surely only a couple of acres with a tiny, poor set of buildings in a small grove of trees. The name did not have the prestige of the Hovland name. Also, Vestbråten is quite difficult for Americans to pronounce correctly and cannot be properly written in English because the Norwegian vowel å is lacking in English. Nonetheless, whatever their reasoning, Hovland was the name they chose when they got to America and it has remained as the family’s surname for more than 135 years.

Iowa was the destination for all six of the Hovland brothers and their parents when they immigrated to America. However, after spending some years in Iowa, Ole, Syver, Nils, Otto and their parents eventually moved north into Minnesota. They selected sites for their homesteads in Otter Tail County, Trondhjem Township, located in the gently rolling country-side on the eastern rim of the wide Red River Valley in the west central part of Minnesota. They were attracted to this farmland because it had three essentials that the pioneer farmers needed: open prairie for farmland, a nearby wood supply and an easy access to water.

The Iowa Hovland Brothers: Gudbrand and Hans

Two of the Hovland brothers, Hans and Gudbrand, decided to secure farms in Iowa and they remained in Iowa for the remainder of their lives. Twenty-five-year-old Hans Olsen arrived in Iowa in early June 1867. His brother, Ole and his family traveled with Hans on this 7-week long journey from Hadeland. For the first several years Hans worked on farms in the vicinity of Big Canoe, Iowa. Big Canoe is located in Winneshiek County, a few miles northwest of Lansing. During that time, he learned about farming in Midwest America.

After his marriage to Marie Walhus in 1869, they moved about 150 kilometers west into Winnebago County and acquired a farm, probably a homestead, near Fertile, Iowa. There they raised a family of eleven children. Hans was a successful farmer and involved in many community organizations. He was especially active in the Elim Lutheran Church where he was a member of the local church council for many years. He often worked as a lay preacher (vikar) in his parish and in the surrounding community. The strong Christian faith and piety of Hans and Marie continues to be evident in their descendants today. The church was the primary focal point of their lives.

Hans Olsen Hovland was born on 27 August 1841 at the Ulverud farm, Gran, Hadeland, Norway. He died in Fertile, Iowa on 7 February 1915 at the age of 73 and is buried in the Elim Lutheran Free Church cemetery, rural Fertile, Iowa. In 1869 he married Marie Walhus, born on 25 August 1856 in Winneshiek County, Iowa, daughter of Mikkel Larson Dahl and Ingeborg Walhus who had immigrated from Telemark, Norway. She died in Clear Lake, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa on 14 November 1922 at the age of 66 and is also buried in the Elim Lutheran Free Church cemetery, Fertile, Iowa.

They were the parents of eleven children:

Albert, born 4 August 1870 in Fertile, Iowa. He was a farmer. He did not marry. He died in Fertile, Iowa on 7 February 1937 at the age of 66;
Ida, born on 20 December 1874 in Fertile, Iowa. She married Pastor Conrad Silas Halverson in 1898. They had six children. She died on 22 November 1912 at the age of 37;
Martin, born on 12 October 1876 in Fertile, Iowa. He was a farmer. He married Elsie Levad on 5 September 1899. They had nine children. He died in Fertile, Iowa on 10 May 1949 at the end of 72;
Georgina, born on 14 October 1879 in Fertile, Iowa. She married Peter A. Grove on 18 June 1898. They had three children. She died on 11 December 1965;
Sophie Louise, born on 22 April 1881 in Fertile, Iowa. She married Gustav Markuson Nordvedt on 10 June 1902. They had 10 children. She died ???
Hannah, born 11 December 1884 in Fertile, Iowa. She never married. She died in Canby, Minnesota on 20 July 1905 at the age of 17;
Julia, born on 2 February 1886 in Fertile, Iowa. She never married. She died in Canby, Minnesota on 20 July 1905 at the age of 19;
Ole, born 22 September 1888 in Fertile, Iowa. He was a farmer and never married. He died in Fertile, Iowa on 8 February 1954 at the age of 65;
John Melvin, born on 15 March 1891 in Fertile, Iowa. He married Mabel Louise Hove on 24 June 1920. They had two children. He was a farmer. He died on 29 August 1971 at Erskine, Minnesota at the age of 80. He is buried in the Fairview Cemetery, Erskine, Minnesota.
Herman, born on 4 September 1893 in Fertile, Iowa. He was a farmer and never married. He died on 7 November 1973 at the age of 70;
Ellen Mathilda, born on 8 February 1896 in Fertile, Iowa. She married Henry Ingmen Sheimo on 13 January 1920. They had four children. He was a farmer. She died in 1980 at the age of 83 in Hanlontown, Iowa.

*****

Gudbrand (later Americanized to Gulbrand) Olsen, his wife, Berte Halvorsdatter and their four children arrived in Lansing, Iowa on the 14th of October 1869. They apparently lived in that area until the next spring. In 1870 they also moved to Fertile, Iowa, probably in company with his brother, Hans and his wife. During that first year in Winnebago County, they lived in a dugout together with the Peter Oswald and the Knute Levang families. According to Ruth Holtan, Forest City, Iowa, Gulbrand’s great- granddaughter, this dugout was located on a steep hillside sloping to the southeast, northeast of the present home of Jim Petersburg. They used timbers to make a wall for the outside face of the dugout. There they survived at least one cold winter. He either purchased an existing farm or acquired a homestead in that community. In addition to being a successful farmer, he also worked as a carpenter to supplement his income. Gulbrand later built a log house for his family on the farm. For this home he chose a beautiful site on the west edge of the near-by Goose Lake. Here later Hovland generations have also lived.

Gulbrand’s wife, Berte (americanized to Bertha) died in 1874 when their youngest son, Albert was only two years old. Gulbrand was not able to care for the little boy so Knudt and Mathea Oswald Morkve adopted him. They later moved to Northwood, North Dakota. Albert used the name Albert Hovland Morkve when he grew up. During the time when he was a widower, several of Gulbrand’s younger children were taken care of by his brother, Hans and his wife, Marie, who lived nearby. Several years later a widow in Mt. Valley Township, Guro Kristoffersdatter Gunderson, hired Gulbrand to add a log addition to her home. Instead of paying him for his work, she married him and they joined their families. Eventually they added three more children to their large family. Together, then, they had a total of 15 children!

Gulbrand was an excellent singer and served as klokker at the Winnebago Lutheran Church formany years. Like his brother, Hans, he was also a very active member of his church. Gulbrand Olsen Hovland was born on 1 July 1835 at Falangeie, Gran, Hadeland, Norway. He died in rural Lake Mills, Iowa on 28 March 1923 at the age of 87 and is buried in the Winnebago Lutheran Church cemetery, Lake Mills, Iowa. In February, 1862 he married his first wife, Bertha Halvorsdatter Prestbråteneie born on 24 April 1842 in Jevnaker, Norway. They had six children.

Bertha died in 1874. She is buried in Forest City, Iowa. On 25 October 1876 Gulbrand married Guro Kristoffersdatter Gunderson, born on 13 September 1846 in Nissedal, Norway. She had six children, born in her previous marriage. Three children were born during Gulbrand and Guro’s marriage, therefore, Gulbrand is the father of nine children. These are Gudbrand’s six children with his first wife, Berte Halvorsdatter Prestbråteneie:

Julia Gudbrandsdatter, born 1 December 1861 at the farm Prestegarden, Jevnaker, Norway. In 1874 she married Ole Christopherson, a brother of Gudbrand’s second wife. They moved to Northwood, North Dakota where they homesteaded and she later died;
Milla Gudbrandsdatter, born 21 December 1862 at the farm Bjøralteie, Lunner, Norway. She married Oscar Gover and lived for a time in North Dakota. They later moved to Palmetto, Florida;
Halvor Gulbrandson, born 16 November 1864 at the farm Gulleneie, Jevnaker, Norway. He marrried Carrie Michaelson on 6 November 1891. They had five children. Halvor died on 16 June 1952 at the age of 87;
Olava, born 6 November 1866 at the farm Prestbråteneie, Lunner, Norway. She married Bendick Jorgenson Tweeten who was born in Nissedal, Telemark, Norway. They had 13 children. Olava died on 2 July 1918 at Forest City, Iowa;
Oscar, born 1 April 1870 in Winnesheik County, Iowa. He never married. He died on 22 April 1907 at the age of 37;
Albert, born 22 April 1872 in Winnesheik County, Iowa. When his mother died when he was only two years old, he was adopted by Knudt and Mathea Oswald Morkve. After this he was known as Albert Hovland Morkve. They moved to Northwood, North Dakota. He married Anne Enochsen Hansen, born 13 August 1880. Albert died on 28 August 1954 in Northwood, North Dakota. These are Gudbrand’s three children with his second wife, Guro Christopherson Gunderson:
Carl, born 22 June 1877 in Winnesheik County, Iowa. He married Thea Levad in 1897. He died in 1932;
Bertha, born 2 February 1879 in Winnesheik County, Iowa. She married Henry K. Nelson on 20 March 1900. They lived in Osage, Iowa. They had five children;
Sever, born 9 February 1881 in Winnesheik County, Iowa. He married Eliza Oswald. They had nine children.

The following are Guro Christopherson Gunderson’s six children from her first marriage. They used Gunderson as their surname:

Thea (Tilda), born 15 December 1860, married to Hans Mattison
Gunder, born 18 April 1864, married to Helen Grossley
Christopher, born 4 April 1866, married to Thuri Herjuson
Tom (Tellef), born 8 May 1868, married to Tilda Cleveland
Thune (Torborg), born 20 November 1869, married to Louis Anderson
Mulla (Mary or Anna Maria), born 8 October 1871, married to Tobias Herjuson Harris

The Minnesota Hovland Brothers: Ole, Syver, Nils and Otto

On an early morning in late April 1871, Ole Olsen Hovland, his wife Anne and their four children left Big Canoe, Winneshiek County, Iowa with all their earthly possessions carefully packed into an oxen-drawn covered wagon. They traveled about 20 kilometers north to Spring Grove, Minnesota where Ole’s brother, Syver and his wife, Guri, lived. By that time Ole had lived in Iowa for four years and it was three years since Syver had arrived from Norway. Both were interested in acquiring homesteads of their own, but free land was no longer available in their already settled communities so they decided to travel north into Minnesota where free fertile land was still available for homesteading. Ole and Syver had spent their time in America working as “hired men” on farms owned by Norwegian immigrants who had arrived in America a decade or two earlier. During those working years, the brothers learned the multitude of skills and Midwestern farming practices that they would need to know to survive on the edge of the frontier where the free land was located. The “frontier” was an ever westward-moving line that marked the edge of European settlement on the Mid-Western prairie. By 1871 that frontier line had reached some 500 kilometers northwest of Spring Grove into Otter Tail County, located in west central Minnesota, a very long journey for oxen-drawn covered wagons to travel. What frontier survival skills did they need to learn that they had not learned in Norway? These included, among others, acquiring some knowledge of the geography of Iowa and Minnesota in order to be able to locate the available free land. They needed to know what to look for in selecting their homestead land, but they also had to know the legal process for acquiring this property. This meant that they had to be able to understand and speak some English because the majority of government officials could not understand Norwegian. It was also essential that they would be able to build their own log homes and other farm buildings. They would have seen or even lived in a dugout during their time in America so they would know how to construct one if they found they would have to live in one on the prairie. There would be no carpenters for hire on the frontier. Another important reason for living and working in an established community was to earn and save enough money to buy the essentials for survival on the frontier. This included buying or building a covered wagon, acquiring a pair of oxen and purchasing the many essential household items, supplies and small farm equipment that every homestead needed. In addition, they needed to have extra money to purchase food and pay unforeseen expenses that they knew they would encounter along their travel route and during their first critical year on their homestead until their crops were harvested the following year.

Ole and Syver must have done a great dealing of planning and making careful preparations for their long journey to Otter Tail County. The covered wagons had very limited storage space so they had to make certain that every item that they took was absolutely necessary. Finally, one day in early May 1871 they were ready to leave. It is known that the two brothers and their families traveled together, but it is not known who else may have traveled with them. Often homestead-seeking pioneers traveled in caravans of 8-10 wagons, sharing the hardships of the long trip and assisting one another when difficulties were encountered.

After four to five weeks of often-difficult travel, they arrived at their destination – Otter Tail County, Minnesota. They could not travel far each day because of their four young children, one to six years of age and because both of the Hovland wives were pregnant. Guri, Syver’s wife, would give birth to her first child on July 17, 1871, less than six weeks after their arrival. Anna, Ole’s wife, gave birth to their fifth child on September 27, 1871, two months later. The brothers selected adjoining homestead land in Otter Tail County in Section 26 of Trondhjem Township. A township is a government unit of land, six miles square or 36 square miles and thus containing 36 sections. The land of this township was fertile uncultivated prairie with scattered small lakes surrounded by groves of trees. During the previous two years other Norwegian immigrants had also acquired homesteads in the area, but there was land available for future settlers. They placed their farmsteads less than a kilometer apart, each located in a grove of trees near a small lake that would be a source of water for them until wells were dug.

While the men were busy breaking up two small pieces of ground so they could immediately plant potatoes and other vegetables that would provide food for the coming winter, the women began clearing the areas where their homes would be built. At first their covered wagons were their only homes. By the time the men had finished their plantings, they realized that they would need to provide more adequate shelters for their families as quickly as possible. Each brother apparently decided on a different way to do this. Ole and Anne continued to live in and under their covered wagon while Ole cut down trees and built a one-room log house. Based on information in the Ole O. Hovland genealogical files in the Hadeland Folkemuseum, descendants of their oldest daughter, Julie Hovland Aamodt, have reported that Thea Mathilde was born “under a covered wagon” on September 27, 1871, about three months after Ole and Anne arrived in Trondhjem Township. A further indication that this may be accurate is that according to Ole O. Hovland’s obituary, he completed building his small log home before the arrival of their first (1871-72) winter in Trondhjem Township. Because of the time that it would have taken him to have felled the trees, trimmed the logs and built the house, this meant that the house was not ready for occupancy until late in the fall, most likely well after September 27th. However, according to family recollections, Syver and Guri lived in their more permanently built dugout for nearly two years before they built their log home. Their dugout was completed in time for their oldest son, Ole, to be born in it on July 17, 1871, only about a month after the family’s arrival from southern Minnesota.

A dugout was usually located on the southern slope of a hill and was little more than a hole in the ground, only about 3 x 4 meters in size. As in Gulbrand’s dugout in Iowa, the front wall of a dugout was made of timbers. Timbers also supported the ceiling of the dugout. When the builders of this temporary structure intended it only for summer and early fall use, the dugout was usually quite primitively built, often lacking a regular door and having only some openings in the outer wall for light to enter. Even though these dugouts were hastily and crudely built, they did provide shelter from the ever-blowing prairie winds and from thunderstorms. They were also safer and more comfortable places for the homesteaders to sleep during the hot summer nights. When the pioneers planned to live in the dugout for a longer period of time, they would build in more permanent features into their dugout. By the time the garden plots were harvested and the snow covered the ground, a one-room log house stood on Ole’s farm and the dugout on Syver and Guri’s homestead, complete with a door and some windows, was ready to provide rude, but adequate shelter for the coming Minnesota winter.

It is known that most of the homesteaders brought a cow or two and some chickens with them when they left the more settled areas in the south. These animals and the oxen would also have needed some kind of shelter for the winter. The first shelters for the animals were most likely dugouts. Much more could be written about the homesteaders adventurous 500-kilometer journey by covered wagons from Spring Grove to Trondhjem Township and about their busy first several years on the homesteads. However, those topics will have to be written about at another time.

Ole Olsen and Anna Arnesdatter Hovland lived on their homestead for twelve years. By that time, they had a family of eleven children and apparently felt the need to acquire more land to provide for their growing family. In 1883 they purchased a 160-acre (640 mål) farm in Section 25, about two kilometers east of their homestead. They continued to own and farm their original homestead, but the second, larger farm became the family’s home for the next 70 years. When their oldest, Olaus, married in 1895 he and his wife, Mina, moved on to the old homestead.

Like his brothers in Iowa, Ole was a very active member of his church. According to pioneer pastor Tollef Rosholdt’s records, Ole O. Hovland became a voting member of the Immanuel Lutheran congregation in June 1871. That large congregation then included two townships, Trondhjem to the south and Norwegian Grove to the north. The congregation had been established less than a year earlier in July 1870. The first worship service in the southern half (Trondhjem Township) of Immanuel congregation was held on September 17, 1871, at the farm home of Knute Pederson, Ole’s closest neighbor to the east. It is certainly reasonable to expect that both Ole and Syver and their families were in attendance that day. In 1872 the large Immanuel congregation was split into two congregations, – North Immanuel and South Immanuel. A log church was built by the members of the South Immanuel congregation in 1874. Ole and Syver were among the builders.

In addition to his active participation in the affairs of the South Immanuel Church, Ole served on the local public-school board for many years. He was also on the Trondhjem Township governing board where he was the township’s road supervisor for many years during the time when the first roads in the community were built. Ole and Anna had 14 children, eleven of whom grew into adulthood. In 1913, fifty years after their marriage in Hadeland, they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. A family picture taken on that occasion is included at the end of this article. This successful pioneer died at his farm home on December 24, 1915 at the age of 76. Anna lived on to the age of 90, dying on March 19, 1931, nearly sixty years after she and her husband made that long difficult journey by covered wagon from Iowa.

Ole Olsen Hovland was born on 17 December 1837 at the Ulverud farm, Gran, Hadeland, Norway. He died in rural Rothsay, Minnesota on 24 December 1915 at the age of 78 and is buried in the South Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota. On 14 November 1863 he married Anne Arnesdatter Teslobakken Blekeneiet, born on 14 September 1840 in Brandbu, Norway, daughter of Arne Torstensen and Anne Andersdatter. She died in rural Rothsay, Minnesota on 19 March 1931 at the

age of 90. She is also buried at the South Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery, rural Rothsay, Minnesota.

They were the parents of fourteen children:

Julie, born 1 January 1865 at Vestbråten, Hovlandseie in Lunner, Norway. She emigrated to Iowa with her parents in 1867. She married Ole Jacob Peterson Aamodt (Åmot) on 10 November 1885. They lived in Barnesville, Minnesota. They had 10 children. She died on 31 May 1911 at the age of 46;
Anne Marie, born 2 February 1867 at Håkenstadeiet, Lunner, Norway. She emigrated to Iowa with her parents in 1867. She first married Andrew P. Stadum on 2 July 1885. They had two children. He died on 30 November 1890. She then married Ole Stoen on 23 March 1897. They also had two children. She died on 17 June 1941 and is buried in Barnesville, Minnesota;
Olaus, born 16 September 1868 in Winneshiek County, Iowa. He married Mina Sjolaas on 21 March 1895. They did not have any children. He died on 9 July 1923 and is buried in the South Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery, rural Rothsay, Minnesota.
Anton, born 31 March 1870 in Winneshiek County, Iowa. He married Helen Halvorson on 19 December 1891. After their marriage they moved to New England, North Dakota. They had seven children. He died on 3 November 1941 and is buried in New England, North Dakota;
Thea Mathilde, born 27 September 1871 in Trondhjem Township, rural Rothsay, Minnesota. She married Andrew Osten on 24 November 1891. They had 10 children. She died on 15 February 1956. She is buried in the West North Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery in rural Pelican Rapids;
Lewis, born 13 December 1872 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He was not married. He died on 6 December 1952 at Rothsay, Minnesota at the age of 79. He is buried in the South Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota;
Sophie, born 15 July 1874 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. She married Anton Hans Kittilson on 2 November 1896. They had nine children. She died on 20 December 1959 in Ottertail, Minnesota and is buried there;
John Frederick, born 1 October 1875 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He married Helga Erickson on 5 December 1912. They homesteaded at Columbus, North Dakota. They had six children. He died on 15 September 1943 at the age of 77. He is buried at Columbus, North Dakota;
A stillborn child, a twin of John Frederick, was also born on 1 October 1875 and is buried in the South Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota;
Oliver Alfred Hovland, born 5 August 1877 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He was only 12 years old when he died on 7 March 1890. He is buried in the South Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota;
Ida Caroline, born 18 August 1879 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. She was only 4 years old when she died on 31 August 1883. She is buried in the South Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota;
Minna Telise, born 10 May 1881 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. She married Oluf B. Ulsrud on 2 December 1902. They had two children. She died on 8 January 1941 in Columbus, North Dakota and is buried there.
Carl Edwin, born 18 September 1882 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He married Abbie Mathilda Carlson on 28 June 1908. They had three children. He died on 10 March 1964 and is buried in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Ward Township, Burke County, Coteau, North Dakota;
Ida Caroline, born 9 March 1884 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. She married Anton O. Sommerness on 14 November 1903. They had six children. She died on 3 August 1930 at the age of 46 at Rothsay, Minnesota. She is buried in the South Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota.

****:

Syver Olsen and Guri Torgersdatter Flatin Hovland lived on their homestead in Section 26 of Trondhjem Township for their entire lives. Their original homestead land is currently, in 2002, owned by their grandson, Norris Hovland, the son of Joseph S. Hovland. Because he was active and very interested in improving living conditions for himself and future generations, Syver did his full share in establishing and building up his community. He was active in all local school affairs, in the promotion of building good roads and, like his brothers, was especially active in his church. He and his wife, Guri, joined the Immanuel Lutheran congregation as soon as they arrived in June 1871. When the North Friborg congregation was formed about 1884 and that church building was built only about four kilometers south of the Syver Hovland homestead, they immediately moved their membership to it. The Friborg congregation belonged to the Hauge Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod in America. The less liturgical and more informal worship style of this synod and its emphasis on individual piety and godly living were especially appealing to Syver and his growing family. He had an excellent singing voice and was the song leader (klokker) at Friborg for many years.

After Guri, Syver’s wife, died on February 25, 1917, their son, Joseph and his family moved unto the homestead to live with Syver. They lived with him until his death on June 16, 1936 at the age of 86. Syver Olsen Hovland was born on 1 October 1849 at the Ulverud farm, Gran, Hadeland, Norway. He died in rural Rothsay, Minnesota on 19 June 1936 at the age of 86 and is buried in the Friborg Lutheran Church cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota. In 1870 he married Guri Torgersdatter Flatin in Spring Grove, Minnesota, daughter of Torger Larsen Flatin and Mari Eriksdatter Eriksen. She was born 10 July 1854 on the Flatin farm, Eggedal, Buskerud County in Norway. She died in rural Rothsay, Minnesota on 25 February 1917 at the age of 62. She is also buried at the Friborg Lutheran Church cemetery, rural Rothsay, Minnesota.

They were the parents of thirteen children:

Ole Theodore, born 17 July 1871 in Trondhjem township, Rothsay, Minnesota. He married Kari Moen on 16 November 1894. She was born on 27 May 1873, rural Rothsay, Minnesota. They had eleven children. He died on 29 January 1940 in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. He is buried at Rothsay, Minnesota;
John Martin, born 22 April 1873 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He married (1) Othelia Halbakken on 2 November 1898. She was born on 16 March 1880 and died on 5 April 1917. They had six children. He then married (2) Christine Gaare on 17 June 1921. He died on 16 October 1954 in Rothsay, Minnesota. He is buried in the Ringsaker Cemetery, Pelican Rapids, Minnesota;
Edward Syver, born 15 February 1875 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He married Anna Sonshagen. They had seven children. He died on 25 January 1919. He is buried at Bethel Cemetery, rural Heimdal, North Dakota;
Louise, born 30 March 1877 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. She married (1) Hans Brorby on 20 October 1896. They had two children, both of whom died shortly after their births. She then married (2) Syver Brenden in 1900. They had nine children. She died on 24 October 1931 at Rothsay, Minnesota. She is buried in the Our Savior’s Lutheran Church cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota;
Louis Syver, born 1879 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He homesteaded at Lignite, North Dakota in 1902. He married Louisa Luna from Canada. They had no children. He was killed by lightning in 1904 at the age of 25 and is buried in the First Lutheran Church cemetery, Lignite, North Dakota;
Thorvald, born 6 June 1881 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He married Caroline Moen on 11 March 1903. They homesteaded in Stanley, North Dakota. They had ten children. He died on 5 May 1956 and is buried in the Fairview Cemetery, Stanley, North Dakota;
Syverin, born 1883 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He married Hilda Moen. They also homesteaded in Stanley, North Dakota. They had five children. He died in 1963 in Stanley, North Dakota and is buried in the Lunds Valley Cemetery, Stanley, North Dakota;
Oscar, born 7 November 1885 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He married Martha Christine Severson. They had three children. Oscar died on 18 August 1945 in Parkland, Washington and is buried in the Trinity Cemetery in Parkland, Washington;

9.Gina, born 19 November 1888 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. She married Gustav Sonshagen. After their marriage they moved to Simmie, Canada. They had eight children. Gina died on 6 October 1962 and is buried in Simmie, Saskatchewan, Canada;

Joseph, born 24 January 1890 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. On 2 November 1912 he married Mabel J. Haugse. They had seven children. He died in Fort Worth, Texas on 14 December 1963. He is buried in the Friborg Lutheran Church cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota;
Alice, born 11 June 1892 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. She married Tom Dalager in 1913. They moved to Saskatchewan, Canada after their marriage. They had five children. She died on 14 December 1974 in Instow, Saskatchewan, Canada and is buried in the Garden Valley Cemetery in Instow;
Arthur, born 30 June 1894 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. On 16 August 1915 he married Milla Watterud. They had four children. He died on 19 June 1971 at Pelican Rapids, Minnesota;
Clara, born 29 December 1896 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. She married John Moen on 26 February 1919. They had ten children. They were farmers. She died on 28 December 1969 at the age of nearly 74. She is buried in the Friborg Lutheran Church cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota.

***

Nils Olsen (Hovland) left Norway two months after his eighteenth birthday. During his first eight or nine years in America he lived and worked in Iowa, probably in Winnebago County where his brothers, Gulbrand and Hans, lived. Soon after arriving he adopted Hovland as his surname and americanized the spelling of his given name to Nels. In 1879 he came to Trondhjem Township where his brothers, Ole and Syver, lived. He traveled by train, not by covered wagon as his brothers had done eight years earlier. We know that he soon found a job as a “hired man” on a farm owned by Anders Jørgensen and Anna Brørby who had emigrated from Hadeland in 1868. On January 3, 1880 he married their oldest daughter, Mary (Mari).

The newly married couple purchased 80 acres of land in Section 35 of Trondhjem Township from the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Roadway Company which at that time was constructing a railroad line from St. Paul and Minneapolis via Fergus Falls through Rothsay and eventually ending in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This land was a small part of the land grant that the United States federal government had granted to the St. P. M. and M. Railroad to encourage them to build their railroad lines into the newly settled areas of Minnesota. Nels’ land bordered that of his brother Syver’s land to the north. In 1892 Nels and Mary bought another 160 acres from the same railroad company. That land was located in Prairie View Township, two kilometers east of the small village of Lawndale, Minnesota, in Wilken County, the neighboring county to the west of Otter Tail County. This land was located about 20 kilometers northwest from the farms of his Trondhjem Township brothers. When they had built a set of buildings on their new farm and moved there, Nels sold his original 80-acre farm to his nephew, Ole S. Hovland, Syver and Guri’s oldest son.

Nels Hovland took an active interest in his church, Our Savior’s Lutheran in Rothsay, Minnesota. Our Savior’s belonged to the same parish as the North Friborg Church where his brother, Syver, was a member. In addition to his church activities, he was also involved in community affairs. He was elected to several terms on the Prairie View Township governing board and, like his brothers, also served for many years on the local school board. Nels and Mary lived on this farm for the rest of their lives. Their grandson, Robert Hovland, the son of their youngest son, Melvin, now owns and lives on this farm today.

Nels Olsen Hovland was born on 12 March 1852 at the Ulverud farm, Gran, Hadeland, Norway. He died in rural Rothsay, Minnesota on 13 April 1939 at the age of 87 and is buried in the Our Savior’s Lutheran Church cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota. On 3 January 1880 he married Mari (Mary) Brorby, born 26 April 1862 on the Sondre Brørby farm, Jevnaker, Norway. She emigrated from Norway with her parents, Anders and Anna Brorby in 1867. She died in rural Rothsay, Minnesota in May 1952 at the age of 90. She is also buried at the Friborg Lutheran Church cemetery, rural Rothsay, Minnesota.

They were the parents of nine children:

Ole, born 28 August 1880 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He married Karen Ohe, born 14 July 1880, on 10 August 1901. They homesteaded near Columbus, North Dakota in 1902. They had eleven children. He died on 23 September 1980 and is buried in the Bagstevold Cemetery, Erhard, Minnesota;
Adolph Nels, born 4 May 1883 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. On 4 March 1908 he married Astrid Tannas, born 29 January 1885. They were farmers, first on a homestead in Canada, then at Columbus, North Dakota, and finally at Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. They had five children. He died on 26 July 1978 and is buried at Rothsay, Minnesota;
Joseph Nels, born 22 April 1885 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He married Alma Haga on 23 March 1910. They were farmers in rural Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. They had 8 children. He died on 22 May 1971;
Alfred, born on 10 January 1888, in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He married (Alice) Ruby Mallingen in 1931. They were farmers and lived on the original homestead of Anders Jørgensen and Anna Brørby, Alfred’s maternal grandparents. They had no children. Alfred died in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota on 2 April 1967. He is buried in the Our Savior’s Church Cemetery, Rothsay, Minnesota;
Nettie, born 2 August 1890 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. She married Olaf Amundson on 18 October 1916. They were farmers in Esmond, North Dakota. They had three children. She died on 1 October 1978 in Rugby, North Dakota. She is buried at Esmond, North Dakota;
Louis, born 26 April 1893 in rural Rothsay, Minnesota. He was married to Margaret Stallman on 12 October 1927. They had seven children. He died 2 January 1972. He is buried in the Thornhill Funeral Home Cemetery in Spokane, Washington;
Sophie, born 25 November 1895 in rural Lawndale, Minnesota. She married Anton Bunde in 1918. They had one child. She died in 1918;
Hannah, born 11 September 1898 in rural Lawndale, Minnesota. She married Andrew Stadum on 17 January 1931. They were farmers in Maddock, North Dakota. They had three children. She died 23 March 1963 and is buried in Maddock, North Dakota.;
Melvin, born 19 January 1901 in rural Lawndale, Minnesota. He married Clara Western on 11 November 1929. He took over the family farm near Lawndale, Minnesota. They had three children. He died on 27 December 1983. He is buried in Our Savior’s Lutheran Church cemetery in Rothsay, Minnesota.

***

Otto, Ole Hansen and Jøran Olsdatter’s youngest son, remained in Norway with his parents after his five brothers had emigrated to America. His parents were growing older and probably were reluctant to emigrate so he continued to live in Norway. In 1881 he married Margrete Hansdatter Bråstadeie. They had a son, Hans Martin, born on September 6, 1881. Margrete died in 1882. Whether it was because of her death or the improving economic conditions in America, Otto decided to emigrate in 1883. In an age with few social services and certainly no state pensions, his parents, Ole and Jøran, had no other choice than to emigrate with him, despite their ages, 69 and 73 respectively. They left Christiania on October 12, 1883 on the ship Rollo, bound for Hull, England and from there on to New York and finally, Iowa. Otto left his two-year old son, Hans Martin, with the boy’s maternal grandparents. The boy died in 1892 at the age of eleven. It is not known why Otto did not return to Norway to get him or why Hans Martin did not emigrate later with someone who was also traveling to Minnesota. Because the young lad died so young, it may have been that he was not considered healthy enough to travel. Otto and his parents stayed in Iowa with the Hans and Gulbrand Hovland families for several months. Then they continued on north to Trondhjem Township where the other three brothers lived. The four “Minnesota” brothers built a small house for their parents on Nels and Mary’s farm. There their aging parents lived in the midst of their four sons and their growing families. Ole died in 1890; Jøran lived another three years, dying in 1893 at the age of 83. Both are buried in the Friborg Lutheran Church cemetery, eight kilometers southeast of Rothsay, Minnesota.

Otto probably worked on his brothers’ or neighboring farms after his arrival from Norway. On October 29, 1889 Otto married Thea Olsdatter Klemma whose parents owned the farm directly west of Otto’s brother, Ole’s farm. Thea’s father was still using his patronym Thorsen at that time, but would adopt his former Norwegian farm’s name, Klemma, before his wife died in 1903. The Klemmas had emigrated from Enebakk, Akershus County, Norway in 1866. Very likely one of the farmers that Otto had worked for before and maybe even directly after his marriage was Johannes C. Melen. Johannes and his wife, Anna Louise, had homesteaded 160 acres directly north of Ole O. Hovland’s original homestead in Section 22 of Trondhjem Township in 1870. They had no children to inherit their farm so they apparently agreed to sell their farm, at a reduced price, to Otto and Thea with the provision that they could remain living on the farm and that Otto and Thea would care for them until their deaths. Thus Otto, in reality, became the odelsgutt of the American Melen farm! Johannes died on November 12, 1901 at the age of 65. Only 17 years later, Otto died of cancer on September 18, 1918.

Thea and Anna Louise Melen continued to live on the farm after Otto died when Thea’s oldest son, Olaf, took over the farming. However, a few years later Olaf moved to a homestead in eastern Montana and after that Thea rented out her farm to neighbors. At that time both women moved to Thea’s parental home. Thea lived there until 1942 when she became quite frail and moved to Minneapolis to live with her daughter, Mildred. Anna Louise Melen continued to live with Thea’s younger siblings, lovingly being cared for by them until she died on September 16, 1946, only six weeks before Thea died on November 2 of the same year. The ancient Norwegian system of caring for an aging farm couple under the provisions of the Odelsrett law had worked well in America.

Otto was only 62 years old when he died. He was the youngest of the six Hovland brothers and died just three years after his two older brothers, Hans and Ole, had died. They reached the ages of 73 and 78 respectively. Syver was 86 years old when he died. Gulbrand and Nels were more than 87 years of age when they died. They had worked hard all their lives, raised very large families and had experienced many difficulties, but five of them exceeded the “fourscore and ten” maxim that we read of in the Bible. They were a strong lot!

Otto Olsen Hovland was born on 2 April 1856 at the Rudseie farm, Lunner, Hadeland, Norway. He died in Rothsay, Minnesota on 18 September 1918 at the age of 62 and is buried in the South Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery, rural Rothsay, Minnesota. On 29 October 1889 he married Thea Olsdatter Klemma. Thea was born 12 September 1866 in Lanesboro, Fillmore County, Minnesota, the daughter of Ole Thorson and Maria Johanna Lucken Klemma. She died on 2 November 1946 in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the age of 80 and is also buried in the South Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery, rural Rothsay, Minnesota.

They were the parents of five children:

Olaf, born on 25 April 1890 in Rothsay, Minnesota. He was a farmer. He died on 19 June 1966 at the age of 76 and is buried in Montana. Olaf never married;
Julius, born 11 October 1891 in Rothsay, Minnesota. He was a farmer in Montana. He died on 9 February 1981 at the age of 89 and is buried at the South Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery, rural Rothsay, Minnesota. Julius never married;
John, born on 3 January 1894 in Rothsay, Minnesota. He married Mabel Malingen on 30 March 1920. He was a farmer in Nashua, Montana. They had six children. He died on 31 May 1932 at the age of 38. He is buried in Nashua, Montana;
Hjalmer Ludvig, born on 19 January 1896 in Rothsay, Minnesota. He was a farmer. He died on 16 August 1957 at the age of 61 and is buried in Nashua, Montana. Hjalmer never married;
Mildred Elvina, born on 13 April 1903 in Rothsay, Minnesota. She married Joseph Connor, born 16 June 1902. They lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They had two daughters. Mildred died on 12 June 1997 at the age of 94 and is buried in Resurrection Cemetery, Mendota Heights, Minnesota.

*****

The Hovland Farms in Trondhjem Township, Minnesota

It is interesting to note that the landless Hovland brothers emigrated from Norway in order to obtain land in America. They all succeeded in doing this. Gulbrand and Hans settled on farms in northeastern Iowa in Winnebago County. In addition to farming, Gulbrand was a carpenter. These farms are no longer owned by their Hovland descendants.

The other four brothers each owned farms in Trondhjem Township, Otter Tail County, in west central Minnesota. The 1884 Otter Tail Platbook contains a map of Trondhjem Township that shows the close proximity of these Hovland farms. Syver and Ole arrived in the township early so they were able to homestead their land. Nels and Otto purchased their farms from a railroad grant and from early homesteaders who had no children. A copy of the map of the southeast corner of Trondhjem Township is included below.

Each of the numbered squares on this map is called a “section.” Each section is one American mile square and contains 640 acres (2.560 mål). Note that in 1884 the brothers were still spelling their surname Haavland. Their farms are located in the following sections:

Section 25 – Ole O. Haavland, farm purchased in 1883;

26 – Ole O. Haavland’s original homestead, acquired in 1871;

26 Syver O. Haavland’s homestead, acquired in 1871;

35 Nils O. Haavland’s farm, purchased from the railroad grant in 1880;

36 – Ole O. Haavland’s wood lot, purchased before 1884.

In addition, Otto would acquire two farms by 1900. These are:

22 – Otto O. Haavland bought the J.C. Melen farm in 1889 or 1890;

23 Otto O. Haavland bought Nils H. Landskov’s farm at the death of the owners in 1900.

When Nels O. Hovland moved in 1893 to his newly purchased farm in Wilken County, he sold his farm in Section 35 to Syver’s oldest son, Ole S. Hovland. The farms of Syver and Nils in Sections 35 and 36 are still owned by Syver’s grandson, Norris Hovland, and Syver’s great grandson, Orlan Hovland.

By their emigration to America all six of the Hovland brothers could continue to be farmers, thus delaying the families’ necessity for urbanization for several generations. It is interesting to note that by 1900, less than 30 years after Ole and Syver arrived in Trondhjem Township, the formerly penniless Hovland brothers and their wives were owners of 1,060 acres (4.240 Norwegian mål) of fertile farm land, complete with comfortable well-built homes, large barns and outer buildings and dozens of heads of livestock. They had succeeded! Their large growing families could look optimistically into a promising future.

Nearly all of the children of the “Minnesota Hovland” brothers also remained on the land. Their sons inherited their father’s land, purchased land in the surrounding area or moved west into North Dakota, Montana or Canada where they homesteaded. A majority of the Hovland daughters married farmers. Succeeding generations have become steadily more urbanized. Today only a small percentage of the hundreds of Hovland descendants earn their living by farming, but many are in occupations related to agriculture. The descendants of the Hovland immigrants have now joined the American mainstream and work in the same variety of occupations as other Americans.

Understanding the Transplanted Norwegian Lutheran Church in America

The Hovland brothers were all very active and participating church members. Not long after they arrived on the frontier and had provided basic shelters for their families and their livestock, they eagerly joined their neighbors in constructing their own church buildings on the prairie. The United States Constitution, America’s basic legal document, forbids state support or involvement in any religious denomination. The First Article of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Thus, with no governmental support, the people then, as today, had to build and financially support their own churches. The church continues to be among the very few institutions of the community that the government does not control. Thus, the churches quickly became not only places of worship, they also served as the social centers of each immigrant community. There the people had full control of their own affairs where they could speak their own language and maintain the traditions of their ethnic group without interference. In the churches they could continue to be Norwegian and hear God’s Word preached in their “heart language,” the language of their youth.

The English-language public schools were not allowed to teach religion, therefore the immigrant churches operated Norwegian-language summer schools where children were taught not only the Norwegian language, but were also given religious instruction. Women’s and young peoples’ groups and other church organizations provided popular social activities. Thus, churches in the emigrant communities were social centers as well as religious centers.

The Hovlands were deeply involved in the activities of their congregations. Gulbrand and Syver were church klokkers for many years; all six brothers were members of their local church councils. They and other family members sang in church choirs, taught in the Norwegian-language summer schools, attended revival and prayer meetings, helped raise money to support the foreign missions of their synods and enjoyed the many social activities that the churches sponsored. It was also on Sunday morning, after the formal worship service, that people gathered informally to exchange the news of the day. I remember in my youth that this informal “news exchange” often took longer than the worship service! Hovland families’ deep involvement in these church affairs can also, in part, be traced to the influence of their mother, Jøran. There is strong evidence of her deep piety as she raised her family of six boys. She may have been influenced by the teachings of Hans Nilsen Hauge, the well-known Norwegian evangelist, because Jøran’s cousin, Sigrid Nilsen Tufte, was married to Elling Eielsen, a very well-known pioneer Haugean preacher in America. Arriving in America in 1843, Eielsen was the first ordained Norwegian pastor among Norwegian Americans.

The brothers may not always have agreed on church governance and polity because the six of them became members of four different Norwegian-American Lutheran synods. The congregations established in America by Norwegians reflected the religious characteristics of the homeland. The two primary characteristics of church life in 19th-century Norway were the traditional Lutheranism as reflected by the Church of Norway and Lutheran pietism and life style as reflected by the movement known as Haugeanism, the latter springing from the preaching and activity of the layman, Hans Nielsen Hauge. Without the authority of a state church such as they had in Norway, the Norwegian Lutheran immigrants were unable to agree to co-exist in a single Norwegian-American synod, but instead established a number of them. These synods were in basic doctrinal agreement, but they could not agree on such items as the style of worship, the authority of the pastor and the role of the laity in the worship life of the congregation. By the end of the 19th century, there were basically four varieties of Norwegian-American Lutheranism that immigrants could choose to join. The Hovland brothers were individually members of all four of these synods.

Ole and Otto belonged to the Norwegian Synod, the synod most similar to the more formal, clergy-led Church of Norway. Syver and Nels, on the other hand, belonged to the more pietistic Hauge Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod. For Nels, this may have also been because of the influence of his wife, Mari Brørby, who was a member of an immigrant Hadeland family with pietistic views. Gulbrand’s choice was the United Norwegian Lutheran Church, which was a “middle of the road” synod, retaining aspects of both traditions. Hans belonged to the Lutheran Free Church, a congregationally based Lutheranism with less synodical control and more involvement of the laity in its worship service. Thus, to understand the importance and popularity of the church among the Norwegian immigrants and also among their descendants today, it is necessary to understand how the role of the churches changed and expanded when the Lutheranism of the Church of Norway was transplanted into American culture. This also helps us understand the high degree of involvement that the Hovland brothers and their families had in their individual Lutheran congregations.

These homesteading pioneers were strong, resourceful and willing to endure countless unknown hardships. They came from a crowded Norway to the open prairies of the American Midwest, seeking economic opportunities for themselves and their descendants. They knew on the day that they decided to immigrate to America that they could not return to Norway – there was nothing there for the Hovland family. They had to move on – westward to the edge of the European settlement and there begin all over again. There they became “new Adams and Eves in the Midwestern Garden” or maybe they were Askeladdens “working to gain their kingdoms” as Per Hansa imagines in Ole E. Rølvaag’s insightful immigrant novel, Giants in the Earth (I De Dage and Riket Grundlegges in Norwegian). Yes, they were “giants in the earth” who tamed the land and made it, with God’s help, to bloom with fields of golden grain and tall corn on the rolling fertile hills that surround the sky-blue lakes of Trondhjem Township – of Minnesota and of the American Midwest.

The Hovland brothers and their wives raised large families who found happiness and economic success in America. We, their thousands of descendants, know for certain that this corner of the world that our immigrant ancestors touched became a better place for their having passed this way. As Eugene Boe writes so eloquently in his essay* entitled “Pioneers to Eternity: Norwegians on the Prairie” -“And so they came and went, the first sons and daughters of that cruel prairie. The long, hard day’s journey into night had a stop – finally – and they are all gone now, these builders and tamers, gone gently into that last sleep, where surely they dream of the eternal mansion with gates flung open, its towers resplendent in the celestial morning.” *Boe, Eugene, “Pioneers to Eternity: Norwegians on the Prairie,” in The Immigrant Experience: The Anguish of Becoming American, edited by Thomas C. Wheeler, New York, New York: Dial Press, 1971, page 83.