VOLUME 38 | NUMBER 2 | WINTER 2014

In this issue:Notes from the Naeseth Library

Genealogy: Jonas Gatland, the immigrant who returned to Norway

Genealogy: Beautiful Norway, a summer adventure in Tvedestrand

Sample profile: the soldiers of the Scandinavian regiment in the Civil War

Two new board members

Travel with us to Salt Lake City in 2015

Upcoming ClassesUsing Scrapbooking Techniques to Tell Your Family StoryMay 30, 2015Carol Culbertson, instructorMembers: $ 45Non-members: $ 60

Beginning Norwegian GenealogyJune 10 – 11, 2015Jerry Paulson, InstructorMembers: $ 125Non-members: $ 150

Writing Your Family HistoryJuly 8 – 9, 2015Jerry Paulson, InstructorMembers: $ 125Non-members: $ 150

Visit our website for more information & to sign up.www.nagcnl.org

The NorwegiaN americaN geNealogical ceNTer & NaeseTh library

a 2014-2016 eNdowmeNT campaigN for iNvesTmeNT iN sTaff developmeNT

Located in Madison, Wisconsin, the Norwegian American Genealogical Center is a research library of national and international scope. For over 40 years, this non-profit organization has enriched the lives of those who desire to know more about their Norwegian roots and the experiences of their immigrant ancestors.

With a growing number of visitors, correspondents, and members, this research center is widely recognized as a leading resource for Norwegian and Norwegian-American family heritage. The daily work performed by our staff is the very stuff of history: discovering, preserving, and sharing ancestral life stories. Now, after seven years of independent existence during which we have demonstrated a continuing and compelling ability to perform with excellence in genealogical research, NAGC is poised to engage a wide circle of friends in our campaign to create additional endowment funds -- as a long-term investment in the experts here who serve a growing audience for family history.

Our staff members, with several lifetimes of research experience among them, need the support of younger scholars with whom they can mentor and work. Connecting generations of genealogical researchers compels us to seek the funds in support of staff development, finding additional researchers with insights into the latest technological advances in this

competitive field. Building our endowment will make it possible to pass accumulated

knowledge to a new generation of staff experts, all in service to the Norwegian Americans who seek to explore their roots.

This is a campaign about legacy giving, investing your philanthropic

gifts to perpetuate values and priorities. Planned giving of all types, multi-year donations, and estate planning are all

essential to help us add to our endowed funds during the next two years. We appreciate that our members have always been eager to support our mission. We reach out now to invite you to help build the future of this valued heritage organization with an investment in its greatest asset, its staff today and tomorrow.

NORW

EGIA

N AM

ERICA

N GENEALOGICAL CENTER & NAESETH LIBRARY

40TH

ANNIVERSARY

Norway contributed the largest percentage of its population to the U.S., with the single exception of Ireland.

Vår fremtid avhenger av hva vi gir i dag.Our future depends on what we give today.

An exciting project to build for the future –

2 NORWEGIAN TRACKS • VOLUME 38 • NO. 2 • WINTER 2014

greeTiNg from The board of direcTors

As our 40th anniversary year draws to a close, we send special thanks to our board, staff, members, and volunteers who have all helped make 2014 a memorably successful year for NAGC. Our organization, now independent since 2007, has reached a new level of stability, supported as it is by a loyal and growing membership, wonderful board and staff collaborative work, expense discipline, and a well-diversified and healthy non-profit annual income stream. We look ahead as we engage all our membership and a wider circle of friends in our 2014-2016 campaign for endowment to support our staff development needs.

In the past few months, leadership for our endowment campaign has been demonstrated by several important gifts. The initial bequest of Mary and Hugh Embertson has been augmented by two additional estate distributions, adding a 20 percent increase in our endowment.

In October, we received a most generous bequest from the estate of Trygve Lønnebotn, representing another significant increase for our endowment, lifting our campaign, and inspiring others as they consider their legacy gifts. In November, our supporter member, Robert C. Christensen, contributed a leadership donation for our Naeseth Chair Endowment in memory of his mother, Cora Christensen.

During these same months, these major gifts have been supported by donations at all levels – generously given as memorials or tributes and/or additions to membership renewals for our annual fund, provided as gifts-in-kind for our research collections, and given as support for special projects. It is this dynamic combination of support, including gifts large and small, that helps this research center serve a growing audience and build its future.

We hope this newsletter can convey some heartfelt thanks to our membership. This issue includes two essays with family history insights, offering the voice of experience in dealing with the special challenges of Norwegian ancestral research. Jan Olav Gatland, Senior Academic Librarian at Bergen University Library, shares the fascinating story of his grandfather, a tale full of drama and a story that is demonstrative of the naming challenges that we all encounter when researching our Norwegian roots. One of our recent researchers, and a new member, Kay Cummins, describes her family research challenge, acknowledging the assistance she received at NAGC that helped her locate and visit her ancestral village in Norway. Her story includes the details of an encounter with a village historian who provides vital help for her search. This narrative records an experience that will resonate with many who have visited Norway and received similar help from local historians. We thank both these authors for sharing the excitement and adventure of family history research.

As you enjoy this issue, please reflect on the mission carried out at NAGC & NL. Our organization is dependent upon its staff for all the functions of research, translation, and library services that have changed and enriched lives in the Norwegian-American community for over 40 years. Won’t you join in making a special contribution as an investment in NAGC staff development for the campaign, in either 2014 or 2015?

Lowell E. OlbergChairmanBoard of Directors

Published two times a year byNorwegian American Genealogical Center

& Naeseth Library (NAGC & NL)415 W. Main Street

Madison, WI 53703-3116608-255-2224 www.nagcnl.org

Sent to members of NAGC & NLFor membership, contact:

Norwegian American Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library (NAGC & NL)

415 W. Main StreetMadison, WI 53703-3116

608-255-2224 www.nagcnl.orggenealogy@nagcnl.org

_________________________

The purpose of this publication is to assist and encourage genealogists with Norwegian and Norwegian-American genealogical questions.

Norwegian Tracks is the sole possession of NAGC & NL. All rights are reserved. No reproduction by mechanical or other means without written permission from the editor. We endeavor to respect copyright in a manner consistent with our nonprofit educational mission.

Letters concerning genealogical inquiries forNorwegian Tracks should be sent to Norwegian American Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library (NAGC & NL) 415 W. Main Street, Madison, WI 53703-3116

Norwegian Tracks occasionally solicits or accepts unsolicited copy and artwork for publication.Written material is subject to editing for length, grammar, and accuracy of content. As a rule, no compensation will be given for any accepted material. NAGC & NL reserves first serial publication and reprint rights, but releases all other rights for subsequent publication back to the author or artists.

The Norwegian American Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library is an educational non-profit research center with national and international scope. The Center collects, preserves, shares, and interprets resources for the study of Norwegian heritage.

To carry out this mission, the Center provides:

• The Naeseth Library, located in Madison,Wisconsin, where resources devoted to Norwegian and Norwegian-American genealogy are collected, preserved, shared, and interpreted;

• Assistance, interpretation, education, and research by trained staff to members, patrons, and correspondents;

• Continuing education and outreach for genealogists and the public worldwide through cooperative information exchanges, .publications, tours, displays, seminars, and merchandise sales.

NAGC & NL is open to the public Monday – Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Please telephone ahead, 608-255-2224. An appointment is needed to ensure staff availability and record accessibility.

This issue of Norwegian Tracks is dedicated to the memory of our patron and friend,

Trygve Lønnebotn(1937-2014)

Lowell E. Olberg

3NORWEGIAN TRACKS • VOLUME 38 • NO. 2 • WINTER 2014

NoTes from The NaeseTh library

People come from far and wide to consult the resources available at the Naeseth Library, the headquarters of the Norwegian American Genealogical Center. In 2014 to date, we have welcomed visitors from twenty-six states and three other countries: Canada, Denmark, and Norway. Our visitor numbers are also increasing. In the entire calendar year 2012, we recorded 251 visiting researchers; in 2014 (through early November only), we have welcomed 348 researchers. Our team of genealogical experts has assisted people in all phases of their quest to find their Norwegian roots, from those just beginning their search to experienced researchers who are seeking detailed information.

We are noticing an increase of visitors from Norway. So far this year, nearly 50 people came to the Naeseth Library from Norway, either in groups or on their own. There is a surge of interest by today’s Norwegians in tracking down their relatives who immigrated to the United States and Canada.

Our records show that many who come to the Naeseth Library are NAGC members. For others, it is their first visit and they may have heard about

NAGC & NL in a variety of ways. Our new website is often credited as a source, as are friends, relatives, and NAGC board members, staff, and volunteers. Often our outreach events and classes inspire visits here. We also appreciate the many referrals and recommendations from Sons of Norway Lodges, Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum, and

many other sister organizations in the lively Norwegian-American community.

Despite an increasing trend to conduct genealogical research online, we find that visitors to the Naeseth Library continue to seek out and value the personal attention; translation services; stellar print, microfilm,

and database resources; classes; and unparalleled collection of family histories that we offer. The sheer overwhelming volume of information now available on the Internet often demands assistance for interpretation, verification, and organization -- skills that the NAGC & NL staff offers in abundance to all our visitors.

New Microfilm Reader

We are pleased to announce the recent installation here in the Naeseth Library of a new microfilm/microfiche reader, the Scan Pro 2000, the most durable, easy-to-use, and versatile microfilm scanner now available. Manufactured in Wisconsin, this motor-driven machine has an auto-focus and is the state-of-the-art model used at the Wisconsin Historical Society and in Salt Lake City at the Family History Center.

For visitors and researchers who frequently consult our extensive collection of church and census records, as well as microfilmed newspapers, this new equipment provides important advantages. Higher image resolution and the ability to manipulate screen images mean that some previously illegible and difficult handwritten records can now be deciphered. Providing better quality copies, this

new equipment electronically modifies image contrast and focus. When consulting newspaper microfilms, readers can now capture and focus upon selected text, more efficiently identifying the information desired for consultation and/or printing. Automatic page to page advancement for newspaper microfilms is also a great time saver. Connected to our modern copy machine, the new reader more efficiently and speedily produces high quality copies. The compact size of this new equipment is also a benefit, fitted as it is near our research collection and library stacks.

The purchase of this wonderful new equipment and the expenses associated with its accompanying computer, software, installation, and service have been made possible by a generous grant from The Edwin E. and Janet L. Bryant Foundation, Inc.

Research Visits Increase

We offer our sincere thanks to the donors listed below, who gave research materials for the Naeseth Library during the period from June through October 2014.

Recent Acquisitions

An anonymous donor

Lawrence BergeVerona, Wisconsin

Judith DanielsonBruce, South Dakota

Mark EllisRochester Hills, Michigan

Avis FisherFort Collins, Colorado

Martha FreyMadison, Wisconsin

Kay and Dave FritzMontfort, Wisconsin

Jan Olav GatlandBergen, Norway

Pamela GrothPetaluma, California

Ruth HackettCedar Rapids, Iowa

Ronald LegangerChicago, Illinois

Lynn Alvstad LeglerMadison, Wisconsin

Elmer LindsethSeattle, Washington

Alice Bredeson ZweifelSun Prairie, Wisconsin

Cindy Edge, researching her family history in the Naeseth Library

4 NORWEGIAN TRACKS • VOLUME 38 • NO. 2 • WINTER 2014

JoNas gaTlaNd: The immigraNT who reTurNed To NorwayBy Jan Olav Gatland

The photographs in this article are courtesy of the author and as noted.

This story starts a little north of Bergen, in the western part of Norway – on the north side of the Osterfjord in Hordaland County. In 1872, my great-grandfather, Ole Rasmussen Eknes (1849-1934), married Marta Jonsdotter Saltnes (1843-1924). Together, they moved across the Osterfjord to the island of Osterøy, where they began leasing the farm Gatland in the former Hosanger municipality. My great-grandfather was from Nedre Eknes in Lindås municipality. Ole and Marta soon changed their last name to Gatland, as was usual then for those who leased farms. They lived at Gatland farm for twelve years, from 1872 to 1884, and had three children: Rasmus in 1873 (died in 1882), then my grandfather Jonas in 1879, and Rakel Engelina in 1883.

In 1884, my great-grandfather (Ole Rasmussen Gatland) bought the farm called Mykingtræet, a former smallholding under the neighboring farm Noss, in North-Myking, in the former Haus municipality (now Osterøy). The entire family moved there and changed their name to Myking. Two more children arrived: Bernt Andreas in 1890 and Malvin in 1893. The farm name’s last syllable, –træet, is not an unusual ending in the western part of Norway; it means “a limited place.” My great-grandfather enlarged the house, cleaned up the forest, and cultivated all the land that could be developed. He kept the usual small farm animals: a horse, a few cows, sheep, hens, and probably a pig.

On growing up, my grandfather, for some reason, wanted to keep his birth name, Gatland. This was probably against his father’s wishes – since Jonas’s confirmation in 1874 registered him as Jonas Olsen Myking. It was still a tradition to use the father’s first name with –sen as a middle name: as in Jonas Ol(e)sen Myking. This –sen ending developed from sønn in the 17th century, later becoming –son or –sen. My father sometimes wrote his name as Ole J. (Jonassen) Gatland. The Norwegian words sønn in bokmål and son in nynorsk are the same as the English son. Daughters often used the corresponding ending –datter or –dotter.

The Mykingtræet farm did not make much of a living for a big family. Growing up, Jonas worked odd jobs on Osterøy, and also in nearby Bergen. Probably in 1901, he met Brita Ellingsdotter Dalland (1884-1920), who was selling eggs at the market in Bergen. She was from Manger at Radøy and the eldest of ten children. Jonas had not saved

enough for both marriage and emigration; he travelled to the United States to make some money, planning to return for Brita and bring her to America.

Many people did not see any future in small farms in the western part of Norway; there was no place for all the descendants in one family to stay. The promised land was waiting across the ocean. Letters from earlier immigrants to America, some sent by people from Osterøy, were a decisive influence. These people from North Hordaland dreamed of an

open countryside with uncultivated land that would provide a far better living than the wretched farms in Vestlandet. Between 1901 and 1905, 146 people emigrated from Osterøy and 4,458 people (mainly young men) emigrated from the whole of South Bergenhus county. Osterøy had a stronger emigration of young people than the rest of the country.

At the age of 23 in 1902, my grandfather Jonas left Bergen under the name Jonas Olsen Myking (Gatland), and as a son of a farmer in Hosanger. Travelling first by ship to Liverpool, a typical emigration path, Jonas then found a place on the transatlantic ship called “Oceanic,” for a time the world’s largest passenger vessel. The crossing took about six or seven days, and Jonas arrived at Ellis Island on March 27th, having left Bergen on March 14th. As his occupation, Jonas gave “Lab,” an abbreviation for laborer. Jonas indicated his final destination as with Iver Hansen, in Benson, Swift County, Minnesota. I’ve never been able to find any information about this person named Iver Hansen.

On his arrival, my grandfather changed his mind and first settled in Superior, far north in Wisconsin, six miles from Duluth. Here he worked as a miner in this area of rich iron ore deposits. Superior was growing quickly, with over 30,000 inhabitants, and Jonas stayed and earned money from 1902 to 1905. He was typical: many people from the west of Norway settled close to the Great Lakes, many of them near Lake Superior. In 2000, the census recorded that more than 31 percent of the population in Superior had roots in Scandinavia: from Norway (13.6 percent), Sweden (11 percent), and Finland (7 percent).

In 1905, grandfather Jonas crossed the border into Minnesota and purchased land in Brookston, about seventeen miles northwest of Cloquet. He probably had to go that far west to get a proper piece of land. His new farm consisted of 160 acres. In Minnesota, the prairies are situated mostly in the south and west, not in the Brookston area, and Jonas probably had a lot of forest on his land.

In 1907, after five years in the U.S., the 28-year-old Jonas returned to Bergen, where the 23-year-old Brita Ellingsdtr. Dalland was still waiting for him. They were married in the Bergen Domkyrkje in April 1907. Eleven days after the wedding, they left Bergen for Liverpool. In the Emigrant Register, Brita is recorded as Bertha Ellingsdtr Gatland (Dalland), and Jonas is recorded as John Olsen Gatland. Why did he

Mykingtræet farm on Osterøy, as it appeared in 1979; birthplace of the author in 1949.

Photo by Gjert Kristoffersen, courtesy of the author.

Jonas Gatland, in a Bergen studio photograph, about 1900.

5NORWEGIAN TRACKS • VOLUME 38 • NO. 2 • WINTER 2014

supply “ore miner” as his occupation and Superior, Wisconsin, as his place of residence when he had lived in Brookston for two years? As a new occupation, he gave “farmer.”

At the beginning of May 1907, Jonas and Brita arrived in the U.S. and settled down on the land near Brookston. Brita’s younger brother had travelled with them and headed off to Superior. Jonas and Brita had seven children: four in Brookston and three after they moved to Cloquet. My father, Ole (1908-1982), was the eldest; then came Martha, who died in infancy (1909-1910); Martha Elida (1910-1981); Emil (1911-1996); Ingeborg (1913-1984), Betzy Johanne (1914-1993), and Malvin (1917-1996). On 27 July 1910 in Duluth, grandfather Jonas became an American citizen. Another important event happened in 1910: Jonas’s younger brother, Bernt Andreas Myking (1890-1962), immigrated to Minnesota. After settling in Cloquet, Bernt Andreas called himself Andrew Myking; in 1912, he married Ludvikka Petersen (1891-1963), who was from Bodø.

In the summer of 1912, Jonas and his entire family moved into a new house in Cloquet, a town with a large Scandinavian community. Jonas and his family lived only a few blocks distant from his brother’s house. In Cloquet, Jonas worked at one of the saw mills or lumber companies, but did not sell his land in Brookston. In September 1918, two months before the end of World War I, Jonas was drafted. But that news was quickly eclipsed by one of the worst natural disasters in Minnesota history.

The summer of 1918 was the driest in 46 years, with twenty inches less rain than normal, creating the right conditions for a catastrophe. The fire began on October 12th, coming into Cloquet from the west where it had started along the railroad near Brookston. In the afternoon, a freight train left Brookston with 200 escaping persons; the partly damaged and blackened train with its hysterical passengers made a strong impression on the citizens of Cloquet when it arrived. Before the train continued, the passengers got water and help while warning the spectators of the quickly-approaching fire. Driven by strong winds an hour later, white ashes began falling over the city. The western sky was red-hot and the people of Cloquet were surprised by how fast the fire was spreading. They were not prepared – volunteers arriving to help fight the fire were met by the fire itself. Spreading at a speed of 2.3 miles an hour, the fire

that approached Cloquet was more than six miles wide.

By ten o’clock that night, the whole of west Cloquet stood in flames. Jonas and Brita lived in the eastern part of the city and, according to family lore, they all escaped on one of the last evacuation trains. Jonas’s brother Andrew and his family also escaped. The eldest children remembered the intense heat from the fire during the twenty-mile journey to Duluth. The successful evacuation by train from Cloquet saved about 8,000 people, most of the city’s inhabitants. In the entire region, more than 450 died and 52,000 were injured or displaced. 38 communities were destroyed and 250,000 acres over 40 miles were burned.

After escaping the fire, Jonas and his family were helped with food, clothes, and lodging. The Duluth Herald printed the names of survivors and wrongly recorded this family group as “Gotlund, Eunice, wife and six children from Cloquet…” It was probably at this point that grandfather’s name was wrongly “corrected” to “Gutland.” Not wanting to return to Cloquet, Jonas and Brita moved to Duluth. Grandfather’s occupation then is not clear; later he just recorded his work as “laborer.”

At the age of ten or eleven, my father sold newspapers on street corners. The Duluth Herald not only carried news of the historic fire, but also coverage of the Spanish influenza epidemic. In February 1920, just as the epidemic was declining, The Duluth Herald contained this notice:

MOTHER OF SIX DIESMrs. Britta Gutland Called: Whole Family Ill With ‘FluWith the death of Mrs. Britta Gutland, 35, wife of Jonas Gutland, 3823 West Superior Street, yesterday afternoon of pneumonia following an attack of the ‘flu, their six children, all of whom are ill with the same malady, were taken to the Armory emergency hospital…The family came to Duluth as fire sufferers in October 1918, having lost everything they had when the flames swept through Cloquet…

Once again, Jonas had been struck by catastrophe. Luckily, all the children recovered; but how was a single father to raise six children ranging in age from three to twelve years? The children were sent to different foster homes, a situation that my grandfather could not live with. After eighteen years in America, he had enough of the Midwest. He had achieved his goal: getting his own property and becoming an American citizen. But destiny took him in another direction.

In July 1920, Jonas Gatland returned to Norway with his six children, all with Gatland as the family name. As an American citizen, he had no problem obtaining a passport. He wrote in his application that his plan was “to take my family home to my folks to be cared for.” On 16 July 1920, the family left New York on board the Bergensfjord and arrived in Osterøy after nine days. The family moved into the house at Mykingtræet with Jonas’s parents, Ole and Marta, and Jonas’s sister, Rakel. Here they all lived – four adults and six children – in a typical small house with two bedrooms.

After the Minnesota fire, a commission was appointed to assess the circumstances and find the causes of the catastrophe. Following much legal wrangling, several railway companies were found in part responsible and an agreement to pay victims half of the value of their claims in compensation was reached. Jonas and Brita lost everything they had in both Brookston and Cloquet. Jonas’s brother, Andrew Myking, decided to return to Cloquet with his family after the fire and surely kept Jonas up to date with the news of compensation for property claims. Jonas was

Jonas and Brita Gatland, with two of their children, Ingeborg and Emil. This photograph was taken in Cloquet, Minnesota, in 1913.

Continued on page 6

6 NORWEGIAN TRACKS • VOLUME 38 • NO. 2 • WINTER 2014

probably wondering what to do; but, in December 1921, this “failed” immigrant to the U.S. wrote a letter to Knute Nelson, the well-known and highly successful Norwegian immigrant from Voss, who was now a United States Senator from Minnesota. This letter initiated a most amazing exchange of correspondence stretching over two years between my grandfather and Senator Nelson.

I knew early on that my grandfather had corresponded with Senator Nelson, having inherited several envelopes from the Senator, but only one of the original letters. Would it be possible to find traces of these letters in the overwhelming collection of Knute Nelson Papers in the Minnesota Historical Society? After having glanced through thousands of letters, most of them formal correspondence from lawyers, businessmen, and politicians, it was a unique experience to see a handwritten letter emerge from “Fotlandsvaag, Osterf. Bergen.” Grandfather Jonas did not write Osterøy, but used the official address, since the mailing went via Osterfjord.

The Knute Nelson Papers do not contain many handwritten letters, and the first letter my grandfather wrote is the only one that I saw as transcribed by a machine-written version, with the English spelling corrected. Jonas’s written English was not bad, considering that he never enjoyed any form of education in English; but he sometimes uses Norwegian word order and “Norwegianisms.” I think Nelson himself was consulted when grandfather’s letter was transcribed: the 78-year-old Senator could still read, write, and speak Norwegian, making it easier for him to understand the full meaning.

As I was hoping, all the letters from Senator Nelson were preserved in carbon copies. Thin yellow or green copies were archived daily, filed at the end of all the incoming letters. In his letters, Jonas records the family name as Gutland. Why did he do this, and when did it start? In his passport application, Jonas used Gatland. The change must have happened after the fire, probably during the registration in Duluth. When dealing with the insurance issues, grandfather felt obliged to use the same way of writing his last name to avoid any misunderstanding.

Altogether, I found copies (or evidence) of a correspondence between Jonas and Senator Nelson numbering no fewer than 15 letters, with Nelson often writing to my grandfather on several succeeding days in 1922. The letters make clear how seriously Senator Nelson tried to assist grandfather in the resolution of his claims. Senator Nelson also reacted with kindness to the news of my grandfather’s surgery and ill health during 1922. The last letter from Senator Nelson to grandfather was dated 14 April 1923, just two weeks before the Senator’s death. I think that my grandfather received some claim settlement money during the fall of 1923.

Many years were to pass before all the damage claims were resolved. During the 1930’s, several politicians and others in power felt it unfair that the fire’s victims received only half of what they had lost. In 1935, President Roosevelt signed a document giving claimants the right to the other half of their compensation. Grandfather Jonas probably received a second payment the year after that.

In 1923, the Mykingtræet farm was transferred from Ole Rasmussen Myking to his eldest son, Jonas Myking. My great-grandfather would still not accept his eldest son’s last name as Gatland. Even as grandfather Jonas signed this contract as Jonas Myking, he continued to call himself Jonas Gatland. In the agreement, Jonas took on the responsibility not only for the farm, but also for his parents and his sister, Rakel. His

mother died in 1924, his father in 1934, and his sister moved out when she married in 1932.

My father, Ole J. Gatland, took over Mykingtræet in 1938; I was born there in 1949. My adventurous grandfather Jonas died in 1950.

Mykingtræet was not a big farm, and it included mostly forest and outfields. The arable land was rather steep and boggy, being much too small to feed four adults and six children. The farm also supported a horse, one or two cows, and some hens and sheep. After Jonas’s 1922 surgery, his health was not good; the insurance money must certainly have been important. I guess this gave my grandfather an occasion to buy a carriage for the horse -- a buggy on two wheels for passengers that was the first of its kind on Osterøy. At the time, there was a passable cart road from Gjøkleiva by the main road up to Mykingtrae, which is now the official name. _______________________________________________________

JAN OLAV GATLAND is Senior Academic Librarian at the Bergen University Library. He has also worked as a teacher, critic, editor, and translator, and written many non-fiction books and articles, including biographies of several well-known Norwegian literary or cultural figures like Olav Dalgard (2013), Ola Raknes (2010), Rolv Thesen (2006), Åsmund Sveen (2003), and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (2002). During 2013-2014, Mr. Gatland was a visiting

scholar in the Scandinavian Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and visited NAGC & NL seeking information about his grandfather. Mr. Gatland values his connections to the United States, especially his relatives, the descendants of his great uncle Andrew Myking, who live in Minnesota.

For a more complete version of this article in Norwegian, see: www.osteroy-sogelag.org (Osterøy i soge og samtid, Sogeskrift for Osterøy, 2014. “Jonas Gatland – til USA og heimatt” av Jan Olav Gatland). This article in Norwegian contains the full text of many of the letters exchanged by Jonas Gatland and Knute Nelson.

The author wishes to acknowledge the following resources that he consulted about the Minnesota fire of 1918:Carroll, Francis M. and Raiter, Franklin R. The Fires of Autumn: the Cloquet-Moose Lake Disaster of 1918. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1990. Skalko, Christine and Wisuri, Marlene. Fire Storm: the Great Fires of 1918. Cloquet: Carlton County Historical Society, 2003.

Jonas Gatland, with his six children, in Mykingtræet, about 1940. First row, from left: Betsy, Jonas, Martha, Ingeborg. Behind, from left: Emil, Ole (the author’s father), and Malvin.

Jan Olav Gatland

7NORWEGIAN TRACKS • VOLUME 38 • NO. 2 • WINTER 2014

twO new MeMBers fOr Nagc & Nl board of direcTorsThe Board of Directors is pleased to welcome new members Paul M. Berge and John W. Thompson, who were both in attendance for their first board meeting in late September 2014.

Paul M. Berge, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Graduate School of Banking, was associated with the M&I Bank of Madison and Southern Wisconsin, becoming president in 1976 and retiring as chairman and chief executive officer in 2003.

Very active, often as an officer or board member, in many professional and civic organizations, Paul has been involved with the University of Wisconsin Athletic Board, Wisconsin Bankers’ Association, the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club of Downtown Madison, and Mendota Gridiron Club. His board work has included service with M&I Bank, Dean Health Care, St. Mary’s Hospital, Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, Sigma Chi Fraternity, and the Easter Seal Society. He has received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Wisconsin School of Business in recognition of his lifetime career accomplishments and public service as an emeritus member of the UW Business School Board of Visitors.

Paul has always been very proud of his Norwegian heritage, and is a member of Sons of Norway and a founding member of Madison Torske Klubben. Paul has deep roots in Valdres, Norway, where his paternal Berge great-grandparents were born and lived before immigrating to Valders, Wisconsin, in 1862. (Some of his maternal great-grandparents also have close connections to Norway.) Paul enjoys researching his family history. He is also an avid downhill skier, loves to boat, travel, and support the UW athletic teams. Paul, and his late wife of 52 years, Mary, have two children. His son Bobby and wife Lisa live in Bedford, New Hampshire, with Paul’s five grandchildren; and Paul’s daughter, Maren, resides in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

John W. Thompson is the president of Thompson Investment Management, Inc., in Madison. Before he established that firm in 2004, John was president of Thompson, Plumb & Associates for 20 years. Prior to co-founding Thompson, Plumb & Associates, John served as senior trust and investment officer at Firstar Bank in Madison. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

John is a member of the Rotary Club of Downtown Madison, the Madison Torske Klubben, and serves on the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Board of Curators. He and his spouse, Jane Bartell, have supported many Norwegian-American cultural organizations and are active in Madison area cultural events. John lists genealogy among his hobbies, which also include woodworking, travelling, and boating.

With a total of nine grandchildren, John is happy to pass along some of the research he has done on his family’s history. Growing up in Manitowoc County, John has Valders, Wisconsin, in common with his board colleague, Paul Berge. John grew up on a farm that neighbored the farm where Thorstein Veblen spent part of his childhood.

NAGC & NL Board of DirectorsFront, from left, Robert Anderson, Lowell Olberg, Paul Larson, and David Johansen

Back, from left, Jon Grinde, JoAnn Six, Ann Leon, John W. Thompson, Anne Lindblom, and Paul Berge.Not pictured: C. Marvin Lang, Ellen S. Aa. Vollebaek, and and Dan Huebner.

Photo by Diane Maurer

Jane L. Loper(1934-2014)

The Board of Directors, Staff, and members of NAGC mourn the death on 30 September 2014 of Jane L. Loper. Very active in the Madison community as a member of many philanthropic, educational, social, and civic organizations, Mrs. Loper was born in Neenah, Wisconsin. With her husband of 54 years, Professor Carl Loper, she travelled widely around the world. In 2007, the Lopers established the Loper Endowment Fund for the acquisition of research materials pertaining to North Norway. Mrs. Loper was also a leading donor to the 2014 NAGC Gala event. The Lopers’ generosity and long-time support are greatly appreciated, not least by the many researchers who consult the collections at the Naeseth Library.

In Memoriam

8 NORWEGIAN TRACKS • VOLUME 38 • NO. 2 • WINTER 2014

Shortly before I retired, I made a list of things I wanted to do when I had the time. Top of the list was travel to Norway and visit the town of my paternal grandmother’s birth. She was from Tvedestrand, a small town in Aust-Agder, about five hours south of Oslo. Her family had always lived in that area, as long as anyone knew. The men were mostly seamen.

My grandmother died a year before I was born; I am her youngest grandchild, the only one she never knew. My generation is spread out over 28 years, making me about the same age as many of my cousins’ children. After my dad died at the age of 101, I found a photo marked with his distinct handwriting, identifying the lady as his “Ma.” I look so much like her it is frightening; maybe that is what drove me to find out more about her.

Since 1979, I have lived in the suburbs of Washington, D. C. I got interested in genealogy about 30 years ago because there were so many resources close at hand. I went to the National Archives, the Library of Congress, and the DAR Library, and I found a great deal of material. I joined Ancestry.com and continued my research, finding much information on my family members, once they arrived in the U.S. The problem was finding information in a foreign country when I did not speak the language. I even got into the census records of Norway, but was only guessing as to what they said (other than the names).

As I began to work on my travel plan, I contacted the Naeseth Library in Madison, Wisconsin, and spoke with Solveig Schavland Quinney of the Norwegian American Genealogical Center. She spent some weeks researching their records, and provided me with the answers to many of my questions. Knowing the language, Solveig knew how to use the records from Norway that I had only viewed. She gave me an immense amount of help, including maps showing exactly where Tvedestrand is. She translated papers that located my family in the town, complete with street names and house numbers. She took me back several additional generations and explained the Norwegian way of naming children, using a father’s first name for the child’s last name. She found that my grandfather’s father was Thomas Olsen, a master rigger outfitting sailing ships. She also confirmed that his father, Ole Thomassen, was a sailor, as were Thomas’ s three brothers: Christopher, Jorgan, and Martin. She located baptism, confirmation, marriage, and death records at the family church in Holt.

I started planning my trip, signing on for a tour group, believing it was important to have professionals show me the country before I ventured out on my own. We started on August 9th, flying from Washington to New York, and then to Finland. The trip was long, but well worth it. After three days in Helsinki, we flew to Ivalo, Finland, on the Arctic Circle. On day six, we transferred to Kirkenes, Norway, a port near the Russian border. There, we boarded a Norwegian coastal steamer for a six-day cruise along the northern and western coasts of Norway, in and out of fjords, passing thousands of islands and mountains, with 35 ports of call. We also took several side trips from the ship. Reaching Bergen, we spent several days there, seeing the sights of that beautiful city.

On August 25th, we said good-bye to our tour group, and headed south to Tvedestrand in a rented car. Once we cleared city traffic, the drive was easy. We had been warned to obey traffic regulations or face still fines, which would be added to the car rental fees. They target tourists,

we were told; their cars are easy to spot by the rental company tags in rear windows. I had made a point of asking the bus driver on our tour bus several questions about road signs, which are not like any I had ever seen. (The rental company had offered nothing to decipher these.) The large, round signs with numbers are for maximum speed allowed in kilometers. I rented a car with GPS, but it was in Norwegian; we relied heavily on regular maps and asking lots of questions. The roads are excellent, even though we passed through 242 tunnels between Bergen and Tvedestrand. We had variable weather, including heavy rain, snow flurries, sleet, and hail; but the roads remained mostly just wet. Storms would come up suddenly and pass just as quickly. The weather was mainly magnificent, with low temps in the mid 40’s and the highest about 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once we saw the sign for Tvedestrand, it was difficult to find the way down to the water’s edge on a street barely wide enough for a small car. The streets were cobblestone and, if a pedestrian appeared, the car had to pause until the walker entered a doorway to allow the car to pass. Finding a person to speak English was not difficult. The younger people spoke wonderful English, and the middle-aged would attempt English; most of the older folks in smaller town were friendly, but did not understand English. We stayed at a resort in Gjving, 18 kilometers from Tvedestrand. It took us about 35 minutes to drive there because the roads were very narrow and twisting. We later learned that this area is a place many Norwegians visit on vacation in late summer.

During my first evening in Tvedestrand, I tried to get the lay of the land. The streets are very steep, heading up from the beautiful water’s edge. Fortunately, I wandered into a book store near the water and asked if they had any maps of the area in English. The shop lady said, “No, but what are you looking for?” I told her I wanted to locate several houses where my family once lived. She suggested, “Go to the bookstore at the top of the hill and see an older man named Johnson. He lives above the store and sells books, too. He lived in England for years and his English is very good. He has retired to this area and has become the town historian.”

The next morning, I learned that Tvedestrand is known as a town of books, with six or seven book stores in a small area. I reached the book store on the hill around 9:30 a.m., only to learn that it would not open until 11. As I started to leave, a man came to the door. I said, “Excuse me, sir, but I was told there is a gentleman here who runs the book store and is the town historian. Is that you?” He said, “It could be.” Inviting me into his shop, he asked what I was looking for. I told him I was searching for the location of my grandmother’s house, where she lived with her family until they immigrated to America in 1883. I also said I was looking for her grandfather’s house, and his name was Ole Thomassen. I shared addresses from the 1880 Norwegian census, and he asked me what else I had. Showing him the baptismal, confirmation, wedding, and burial records from the Holt Church, I pulled out the thick packet of information and offered it to him.

“My dear,” he said, “you have come from America well-prepared, and I can help you. Many arrive here with no dates and have nothing but a name and a town, and expect us to work a miracle in a day. How much time do you have?” I told him I would be in town all week. He said, “Good. Let’s get started.”

beauTiful Norway: a summer adveNTure iN TvedesTraNd text and phOtOGraphs By Kay CuMMins

9NORWEGIAN TRACKS • VOLUME 38 • NO. 2 • WINTER 2014

It took him about four hours to download (from three different computers) maps, photos from the 1880’s, and additional information on my family. All the street names had changed over the years. All the house numbers had also changed. He eventually found the streets, cross-referencing to the new names. Then he did the same with the house numbers. Once he had the current numbers and names, he marked a map showing locations. Next he downloaded a large black-and-white photo, taken from the water in 1880, showing the town as it appeared when my family was last there. By comparing everything, he was confident that all the buildings I was seeking were still there. Then he helped me compare the old photo with reference to the map. He marked the map and pointed out features on the photo to help me keep my bearings. He refused any money for his work, saying he loved to do this. I bought a book about the town from him before leaving.

Late that afternoon, I set out to locate the house where I believed my grandmother was born. I knocked on the door, and a man answered. I asked, “Would you mind if I took a few pictures of your house? I believe this is where my grandmother was born.” The man said, “I don’t think that is possible, because my great-grandfather bought this house in the summer of 1883, and it has been in our family ever since.” I answered, “Sir, my great-grandfather sold this house in the summer of 1883 to finance taking his family to immigrate to America.” He said, “Was his name Thomas Olsen?” I said, “Yes.” He then said, “His name is on the deed. Let me get my shoes and I’ll come out and help you get some good photos.”

My next stop was on a dock in the water, looking back at the town. There was a large, vacant building to my left, facing the water. It had six windows and the roof looked like it was damaged, but this was the building where Mr. Johnson told me the rope factory once stood. Behind

the factory, slightly above the roof level, two houses over, was the house once owned by my great-great-grandfather, Ole Thomassen. Mr. Johnson believed that Ole’s son, Thomas Olsen, had been born in that house. Thomas became a master rigger, putting new ropes on the sailing ships that moored near the factory. Mr. Johnson said, “It’s little wonder he became a rigger because every day (coming out of his house), he surely saw men taking off the old ropes and putting on the new ones.”

I walked to this second house, and knocked, but no one was home. I took several photos and left. Later at a stop in town, a waitress asked if I had found the house I was looking for. I told her I had, but that no one was there. She asked, “Where is the house located?” I showed her the old photo and she immediately said, “That’s right behind the old rope factory. I know the old man who lives there. His name is Ole Thomassen. Was he home?”

I told her that no one was there, but that Ole Thomassen was the name of my great-great-grandfather. She said, “Maybe this man is a great-great-grandson of your family member. You must go back again. He will be very disappointed if he hears you were here and he didn’t get to meet you.” I later returned to the house, but never found anyone home. I like to think that, maybe, he is related to me.

That afternoon, I visited the secretary of the local Lutheran church. She phoned to the Holt Church groundskeeper, who agreed to meet me. This beautiful church had recently celebrated its 850th anniversary. Its baptismal font dates from 1200 A.D. Originally lit by candles, the church’s candlelabras still hang on wires from the ceiling. With its original organ still in the ancient choir stall, a new organ was placed nearer the front of the church in the 1970’s. A large, model sailing ship hangs from the ceiling on wires. The groundskeeper said, “Most of the church members were seagoing people and prayed for safe return from their voyages.” A large oil painting of “The Last Supper” hangs behind the main altar of this building, which was originally Roman Catholic before converting to Lutheran. The cemetery covers three sides of the grounds outside the church, containing graves that date back hundreds of years. Walking around, I saw many of my family names, including Gunderson, Halvorsdatter, and Olsen. My great- great-grandmother (Anne Christophersdatter) and my great- great-grandfather (Ole Thomassen) are buried here.

Very early on the morning of August 29th, we drove back to Oslo for our flight to England, where we changed for another flight home. We were tired, but felt very satisfied, having completed the trip of a lifetime.

Tvedestrand house where my grandmother was born in 1874

The house in Tvedestrand where my great- great-grandfather, Ole Thomassen (1816-1867), lived.

KAY CUMMINS, a member of NAGC & NL, was born in St. Louis and grew up in its suburbs. Graduating from Incarnate Word Academy and Mercy School of Nursing in Fort Scott, Kansas, she received her B. S. in health care administrations from St. Joseph’s College in Windham, Maine, in 1994. Two years later, she became a Certified Post Anesthesia Nurse. Working for 45 years as an R.N. in hospitals in Missouri, Kansas, California, Spain, and Maryland, Kay spent the last 27 years of her career working in a recovery room, caring for patients immediately post op. She married Gene Cummins, an ordained Deacon for the

Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., who is also a retired naval officer. Together, they have three grown children, and seven grandchildren. She has travelled extensively, spending more than four years living in Rota, Spain. Kay enjoys learning, and has completed four college classes this past year: three classes in American Sign Language and one in writing. Kay and Gene Cummins have lived in Gaithersburg, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, since 1979.

Holt Church, Tvedestrand Top: Eighteenth-century ship model

Bottom: Medieval baptismal font

Kay CumminsPhotograph by

Gene Cummins

10 NORWEGIAN TRACKS • VOLUME 38 • NO. 2 • WINTER 2014

profiles of NorwegiaN-americaN soldiers iN wiscoNsiN’s famous 15Th iNfaNTry regimeNT The scaNdiNaviaN regimeNT iN The civil war

NAGC & NL Volunteers, Staff, and Board members have all contributed their time and talent in presenting the definitive records about Wisconsin’s 15th Volunteer Infantry Regiment on our new website. The most important parts of this information, available free on www.nagcnl.org, are the soldier profiles. Each record includes crucial information, photographs when available, and history for over 900 of the Regiment’s soldiers. We reproduce below a portion of a typical soldier profile as a sample of the type of information that has been gathered. This is a part of the online entry for Norwegian-born Thorkild Rossing (1840-1923).

To read addition information about Captain Rossing and to consult the other fascinating soldier profiles now available, see www.nagcnl.org and follow the path to the soldier search section. New content continues to be added to the site, and we welcome additional information and photographs you may wish to contribute, via www.genealogy@nagcnl.org. The information in our website is based upon the collection of Scott C. Meeker, who donated his research to NAGC in 2011. This new appearance of the Meeker research, along with additional information, on our website has been made possible by the Gerhard and Milma Naeseth Charitable Foundation, with additional assistance from Helen and Lowell E. Olberg and The Edwin E. and Janet L. Bryant Foundation, Inc.

...

11NORWEGIAN TRACKS • VOLUME 38 • NO. 2 • WINTER 2014

You are invited to join our senior research expert for a genealogical tour to the world-famous Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Participating in this tour will give you an opportunity to work with the largest collection of genealogical materials in the world. If you would like to spend some worthwhile time at a wonderful research facility, this tour is for you.

Jerry Paulson, Naeseth Chair for Genealogical Research at NAGC & NL, will assist you with your research and be available for personal consultation. Jerry has been leading biennial tours to Salt Lake City for over ten years and is most knowledgeable with the staff, resources, and logistics for such a tour. Trained library staff and volunteers will also be available. The Salt Lake City Plaza Hotel has been chosen for the overnight accommodations because it is located next to the Library, with a very short walk between the two facilities.

For NAGC members, the fee for this trip is $1,220 – this includes seven nights in the Salt Lake City Plaza Hotel, access to all research facilities, orientation class and individual assistance, and a special group dinner. This fee does not include airfare or ground transfers. Reserve your spot today – enrollment is limited to 30 participants, and the tour will fill up early. A $275 deposit per person is the required fee at the time of registration. For further information, contact Jerry Paulson at (608) 255-2224 or gpaulson@nagcnl.org.

Plan now for this unique trip of discovery!

MAKE YOUR PLANS NOW FOR AN EXCITING GENEALOGICAL ADVENTURE IN 2015

NorwegiaN geNealogy research Tour To salT lake ciTy’s family hisTory ceNTer

September 13 – 20, 2015

New Olive Nordby Note Card Perfect for your winter correspondence –

Winter Branches by Olive Jensen Nordby

Available exclusively through NAGC & NL

20 cards with 20 envelopes – Cards are 5 x 7” NAGC Members: $22 – Non-Members: $25

Postage & handling: one to two packages, add $6 – three or more packages, add $13

This card is also available as a Christmas card with Norwegian greeting

God jul og godt nyt tår

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

To order, visit our e-Store at www.nagcnl.org, email, call, or fax your order along with your credit card and telephone numbers, plus shipping address. Please indicate whether you would like cards with or

without greeting, as well as the number of packages you would like to order. Telephone: 608-255-2224 – Fax: 608-255-6842

Help support genealogy with

your purchase of these notecards From a hand-colored woodblock

print by Olive J. Nordby (1915-2014)

Olive wrote about her inspiration for making this image: This is a print of some intricate branches. Bare branches can be just as beautiful as ones that have leaves. I liked the way the branches curved but it needed something to liven it – I added a male and female cardinal.

Help support genealogy with your purchase of these notecards

From a hand-colored woodblock print by Olive J. Nordby (1915-2014)

Olive wrote about her inspiration for making this image:“This is a print of some intricate branches. Bare branches can be just as beautiful as ones that

have leaves. I liked the way the branches curved but it needed something to liven it – I added a male and female cardinal.”

Available exclusively through NAGC & NL

20 cards with 20 envelopes – Cards are 5 x 7”NAGC Members: $22 – Non-Members: $25

Postage & handling: one to two packages, add $6 – three or more packages, add $13

This card is also available as a Christmas card with Norwegian greeting

God jul og godt nyttårMerry Christmas and Happy New Year

To order, visit our e-Store at www.nagcnl.org, email, call, or fax your order along with your credit card and telephone numbers, plus address.

Please indicate whether you would like cards with or without greeting, as well as the number of packages you would like to order.

Telephone: 608-255-2224 – Fax: 608-255-6842

New Olive Nordby Note CardPerfect for your winter correspondence –

Winter Branches by Olive Jensen Nordby

12 NORWEGIAN TRACKS • VOLUME 38 • NO. 2 • WINTER 2014

Norwegian American Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library (NAGC & NL)

415 W. Main StreetMadison, WI 53703-3116

PRESORT STANDARD

US POSTAGEPAID

MADISON, WIPERMIT #1069

usiNg scrapbookiNg TechNiques To Tell your family sTory

Saturday, 30 May 2015, 9 a.m. to noon, with coffee and treatsOstby Education Center of the Norwegian American Genealogical Center

This new class grows from the enthusiasm and expertise of instructor Carol Culbertson, who will be using her own impressive family history scrapbooks as a model for those enrolling in the session. Carol, with her over 30-year association with NAGC, will offer instruction on putting together a sample page for the type of scrapbook you envision.

Carol recommends scrapbooking techniques as a creative way to organize, share, and preserve the documents, photographs, and memorabilia that you have collected through the years. Scrapbooked family histories are an easy way to present family histories, making stories visual and stimulating and creating a wonderful way for family members of all ages to learn about their ancestors. This presentation offers much more than just dry lists of names, dates, and places, while also helping preserve photos and other items that need to be presented in context. This class offers a chance to add creativity to any family history project with a three-dimensional approach.

To facilitate this class, Carol is limiting enrollment to ten people, and offering it on the Saturday morning in May after Memorial Day. This is a special opportunity to take part in what is becoming a popular new family history approach.

Reserve your place early: $ 45 for NAGC members; $ 60 for non members. Call 608-255-2224 or email cculbertson@nagcnl.org