37. PEDER LARSON
38. MARIT LARSDATTER
39. CARL ELIAS
40. JOHN
41. LOUISA
42. LIZA
43. LOUIS
44. CAROLINE
45. ELIZABETH
46. OLIVE
47. SARAH MARIA
48. LOUISA
49. AMUND AMUNSEN ERICKSON
b. 1862 - d. unknown
50. KJERSTINA ANDERSDATTER ERICKSON ESTENSEN
b. 1863 - d. unknown
This only daughter of Sigrid Amundsdatter Ryalen and Anders Erickson had with Esten Estensen of Akeron from Vingelen one son:
105. Andreas
51. ANDERS KNUTSON RYALEN
(probably born 1858)
52. KJERSTEN KNUTSDATTER RYALEN
(probably born 1859)
53. ANNE KNUTSDATTER RYALEN
(probably born 1860)
54. PETRONILLE KNUTSDATTER RYALEN
(probably born 1861)
There is no history of these four children of Knut Amundson Ryalen and Anne Pedersdatter Eide. Their father died as a young man after moving from Ryalen Northern to Sandmaelen in Tolga.
55. OLAVA OLSDATTER RYALEN
There is no record of her life. She was the illigitimate daughter of Ole Amundson Ryalen.
56. ANNA MARIE AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN BYERMOEN
b. 1866 - d. unknown
She married Torvald Byermoen from Grue in Solor (1858-1897) in Tolga township. Their children were:
106. Torvald
107. Astrid
57. KJERSTINA AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN KVEREGGEN
b. 1870 - d. unknown
Kjerstina married Ole E. Kverneggen of Tynset. Their children were:
108. Ella
109. Marit
110. Eldbjorg
111. Eivand
112. Oddrun
58. THEA AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN KVEREGGEN
b. 1873 - d. 1918
She married Ole Kvereggen of Tynset (no relationship to Ole Kvereggen in entry of #57)
Their children were:
113. Jon
114. Asbjorn
59. AMUND AMUNDSON RYALEN II
b. 1874 - d. 1924
In 1907, he married Barbro Jonsdatter Engavoll of Narbuvoll (1871-1953). As a courtesy to the oldest son of Amund Amundson Ryalen who reputation was impeccable in the communities (see #21)he retained the title of "The Second" (ie. II) Thereafter, all of the chidren of the male descendants were to carry the numeral following their names.
According to the translations of the history of Ryalen Northern, Amund II "had both the desire and industry, however he did not become an old man. He was plagued with asthma and the doctors advised him to find a milder climate further south in the country..."
Amund sold Ryalen Northern and later bought it back. Thus, his descendants would carry on a long tradition. Despite the expectation of doctors, Amund lived to the age of fifty years, a wholesome age at the turn of the century.
His children were:
115. Amund
116. Jon
117. Martin
60. ANNE AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN BREDESEN
b. 1880 -
Anne was the youngest daughter born to Amund Amundson Ryalen. She had one son from Mr. Bredesen of Rostvangen. He was director of the Rostvangen Mines and died in an accident on the aerial railroad between Tynset and Rostvangen. Anne lived in Oslo, Norway when these transcripts were made in 1974. Her son was:
118. Alf Meyer
61. ANDREAS MARIUS RYALEN
b. 1883 - d. 1891
This last child born to Amund Amunson Ryalen died at the age of 7 years.
62. KJERSTINA KRISTIANSDATTER RYALEN
b. 1874 - d. unknown
She was the first child of Kristain Amundson Ryalen and lived her life as a seamstress in Oslo, Norway.
63. ANNA KRISTIANSDATTER RYALEN
b. 1876 - d. unknown
There is no record of her life.
64. OLE K. RYALEN
b. Nov 5, 1889 - d. Nov 26, 1892
This first son of Cornelius and Ingeborg A. Lohn died at teh age of three years, and was buried in the now abandoned Poplar River Church cemetery in Sletton Township, Polk County, Minnesota.
65. No Name
Died at birth. Son of Cornelius Ryalen.
66. ANDREW K. RYALEN
b. Nov 22, 1892 - d. Oct 9, 1961
These are the first recorded twins born in any generation. Andrew survived and his brother was recorded in Sletton Township, simply as, "No Name".
Andrew never married but worked for farmers in the Fosston, Minnesota area and, during the years of World War One, moved west to work as a hired hand for Carl Ryland in Mountrail County, North Dakota.
He lived his last years in a rest home in Bejou, Minnesota and is probably the only person who knew where his father, Cornelius, lived after 1901. He stayed with many relatives during many intervals and would ask if they would "take me to see my father, I know where he is." (This information was given by an aunt living in Bejou in 1971.)
Andrew died at the M.C.V. hospital in Maknomahn, Minnesota on October 9, 1961 and was buried in the Bethel Cemetery in Winger at 3 p.m., October 14th. His memorial record shows one named Ingvald Lohn as pallbearer, undoubtedly a relative through his mother. There were listed the names of the few friends - no relatives - at his burial.
67. OLE K. RYALEN
b. Nov 7, 1898 - d. unknown
No record exists in Polk County, Minnesota of this fourth son of Cornelius and it can be assumed he left that area with his parents at the turn of the century.
68. ANNA K. RYALEN
b. Anna was the first daughter born to Cornelius and Ingeborg and there is no record of this child.
69. KLARA K. RYALEN
b. about 1900 - d. unknown
Stories relating to this woman place her in eastern North Dakota in the 1920's where she had married and was living south of Fargo. She has been recalled by some as "Big Klara" who might have had a disdainful personality. There are no other records.
70. IDA K. RYALEN
b. about 1901 - d. unknown
She was born to Cornelius and Ingeborg in the year they left Polk County, Minnesota. There are no available records of her life.
71. CHRISTINE O. RYALEN
b. Sept 8, 1870 - d. unknown
This first child of Oliver and Ranie Ryalen was born in Belle Creek Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota. When she was thirteen years of age, she moved with her parents to Polk County. She went to school near the town of McIntosh.
Christine was confirmed August 5, 1888 at Poplar River ( Norske Evangelik Kirche ) Church in Sletton Township. In 1884 is recorded the birth of an illegitimate daughter who father is listed
as J. D. Peasley. It was later learned that he was an itinerant laborer on the Great Northern Railroad building through Polk County in that year. There have been found no official documents, but church records show her father Oliver, witnessed the baptism of this baby and claimed it as his own on Nov 11, 1894.
119. Anne
72. KARI OLIVERSDATTER RYALEN
b. 1872 - d. 1875
The only evidence of this second daughter of Oliver and Ranie Ryalen is a notation of her birth and death in the Lutheran Church of Minneola Township, Minnesota.
This discovery was made at a time records were being reviewed in the search for other information. These records indicated the approximate location of this childs burial site, and by chance, my own daughter (Debra Lee) found the stone, partially buried under five inches of sod between the stones of her maternal grandparents, Kari Aadnesdatter (1808-1884) and Thor Tvito (1807-1886). When uncovered the stone was clearly inscribed Kari O. Ryalen.
73. OSCAR CORNELIUS RYALEN
b. Mar 18, 1874 - d. Jul 26, 1941.
Oscar Cornelius was born to Oliver K. and Ranie T. Ryalen in Kenyon Goodhue County, Minnesota at a time when his father worked as a hired hand and his mother, the cook for Harven McIntire (who was also a witness to Oliver's marriage) When he was nine, he moved north with is parents to Polk County.
His uncle, Cornelius, having been described as the adventurous member of that previous generation may have lent that trait to this nephew. Oscar grew up in Polk County and was witness to many new marvels of the new 20th century. He went to school for only a short time in the rural school north of McIntosh.
Early on, he worked with the gangs building the Great Northern Railroad as it excavated its way through the center of his fathers homestead west of Fosston. In that railroad boom town of Fosston, he saw his first bicycle and surely, it was love at first sight to watch the mayor drive down its dusty main street in the counties first motor car.
Shortly before Christmas 1897, both his grandparents died, Then after New Years, his father sold the farm and they moved for a short time into the town of McIntosh, before proceeding on to Finley, Steele County, North Dakota.
On July 2, 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Oscar became the first man in Polk County to enlist in the Army. On that date he was sworn into Company F, 15th Minnesota Infantry.
There are some notes of interest to this man's short military career. His regiment was so designated by the Govenor of Minnesota to be used throughout the State during their training in parades and other functions. They were chosen because of their distinctively large physical size. (Oscar was 5' 10" tall - a large man of that period). They became known as "The Govenor's Giants)
The 15th Minnesota was at Camp McKenzie near Augusta, Georgia on the day Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders" ascended San Juan Hill awaiting shipment to Cuba. The unit however, never left the United States. Within three days, nearly the entire regiment had been hospitalized during an epidemic of Typhoid Fever.
Record indicate that Oscar may not have been stricken with those earlier as he had found the opportunity to chastise two individuals in the city of Augusta. Tried by a summary military court, he was fined $2.00 before he too, was seized by the illness. As it turned out, his Company "F" was to suffer the most casualties of this illness. To war off further spread of the disease, that Company was separated from the rest of the Regiment and became known as "The Immunes" Nearly a third of the men died. (This company was written of by Lt. T. A. Turner after the war.)
Due to a shortage of hospital facilities for such a large number of men, many, including Oscar, were returned to hospitals in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the Spring of 1899, Oscar was discharged and he moved to Finley, North Dakota. He finally received permanent disability from the Veterans Bureau in 1924.
Oscar made another first when he ventured farther west than any of his family to western North Dakota, followed by his father, to Mountrail County. He stayed with his parents in that place from 1909 until their death in 1914. Joined by his brother, Carl, both homesteaded the land broken earlier by Oliver and Oscar.
In the years to follow, Oscar became the sponsor to several children in the family as they became baptized in the Bethlehem Lutheran congregation in Epworth Township. On November 19, 1916, he witnessed that of Johann Maynard, son of brother Albin. On February 26, 1926 he was present for Carl's son, Donald Munroe. For his great nephew Victor Eldo on July 6, 1930, and again on April 23, 1933 for nephews Franklin Delano, and Marlowe Galen.
On September 24, 1917, he filed homestead rights on a quarter of land in Section 22, Van Hook Township and on July 18, an adjoining quarter. This property was finally acquired by his brother Carl in the early 1920's and remains the property of Carl's widow.
In early Spring, 1941, after the death of his brother Carl, Oscar again experienced a first, as he became the only one of his generation to venture farther west beyond North Dakota. He spent three months in Cowlitz County, Washington visiting his nephew Victor and had been the first Ryalen to see both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans - a record he alone retained throughout most of the next generation.
He was admitted to the Veterans Administration Hospital at Fargo, North Dakota on June 15, 1941. He died there July 26th, having outlived all his younger brothers. His burial in the National Military Cemetery at Fort Snelling, St. Paul, was attended by his sisters Clara and Alma.
There had never been a marriage, or children.
74. KARI O. RYALEN
b.1875 - d. unknown
She was the namesake of her maternal grandmother and sister who died in Goodhue County. She had also been born in Belle Creek, Minnesota.
When her family left Polk County at the turn of the century, the Minnesota Census of 1900 shows Kari as "single, 25 years of age, and working as a maid in the Fosston Hotel. She is known to have been living in Bismark, North Dakota during the First World War where she raised and educated an illegitimate son.
120. Ernest Cloudious
75. VICTOR K. RYALEN
b. 1878 - d. 1901
He was born to Oliver and Ranie Ryalen in Belle Creek, Minnesota and was five when he moved with his parents to Polk County.
he remained in Polk County with sister Kari when the family moved west to McIntosh. He stayed near Fosston and worked as a hired hand on neighboring farms.
The only known facts according to tradition, wet clothing were hung in the upstairs of the farmhouse in which he stayed. He had returned from a dance in Fosston on a Saturday night and slept in the damp room. It has been surmised that this was the cause of pneumonia and death on December 4th.
He is buried in the now-abandoned Sand Hill Cemetery in Sletton Township, Polk County, Minnesota. He was 23 years old.
76. KARL JOHANN RYLAND
b. Jun 5, 1882 - d. Nov 19, 1940
Carl (Charlie) was born in Belle Creek Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota. He moved first with his family to King Township in Polk County and then as a teenaged boy to Finley, Steele County, North Dakota.
In 1914, after working on farms in the Steele County area, he moved west to the farm built up by his father and brother Oscar in Mountrail County, North Dakota. On April 27, 1915 he claimed his fathers land under The Homestead Act after his parents death the year before. He and Oscar added the gabled roof and more rooms to their fathers shanty annd, although owned by Charlie, this place was referred to as "Old Man Ryalen's Place". In the early 1950's when his widow moved to New Town, North Dakota, this house was sold and moved to Minot where it still stands today.
On May 5, 1915, he again claimed another quarter of homestead land in Section 21, Van Hook Township, and continued to acquire more through the years, including all the land of brother Oscar. On October 23, 1922 he filed in Section 12 and on February 2, 1923 in Section 22. Even through the Dust Bowl years when brother Albin's farm failed, Charlie remained a prosperous and thrifty farmer and investor.
In 1923 he returned to Polk County, Minnesota and married Jensine Hanson, daughter of Faber Hansen and Elizabeth Ryalen. For twenty-five years of his life, his land, known as some of the most fertile in western North Dakota, prospered, as it still does today for his wife and daughters.
On November 19, 1940, Charlie walked across the north coulee to a neighbors farm. A new freeway cuts through that spot on which he died. On November 22nd he was buried at the Bethlem Lutheran Cemetery near his parents and baby son.
His children were:
121. Donald Munroe
122. Elizabeth Ramona
123. Margaret Ann
124. Lyla Corine
125. Ilene Fern
126. Franklin Delano
77. ALBIN OLIVER RYLAND
b. Mar 7, 1884 - d. June 1, 1938
Albin was the last son born to Oliver K. and Ranie T. Ryalen and the last to be born in Belle Creek Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota. He was six when he moved with his parents to King Township in Polk County where he was schooled. He was seventeen when he went with them again to Steele County, North Dakota. There, in the town of Sherbrooke, on October 9, 1909 he married Anna Oveda Erickson, youngest daughter of John Erickson and Anna Qvale of Bergen, Norway.
Albin, Anna, and three year old son Victor moved to Mountrail County at the outbreak of World War One in the year of his parents death. He worked as a teamster for Stanley Dray Company before filing under the Homestead Act on December 11, 1915 for a quarter of land in Section 11, Van Hook Township, directly north of his brother Carl. He built up a farm in the Spring of 1916 and on March 15th claimed an additional quarter. All but two of his children were born there.
The Great Depression caused Albin to lose his land and large flocks of sheep and he moved to the county seat at Stanley. Despite desperate years, he saw his oldest daughter enter Minot State Teachers College in Minot.
In 1932, he moved his family to a two room house in Manitou in the westernmost part of the county where he worked on teh farm of Ole Asheim. He acquirred a contract to carry mail south of Manitou. During the next three years he hauled mail in the winter months, relinquishing the job to his daughter Evelyn in the summer, while working for farmers around Manitou, White Earth, and Temple.
In 1936, he moved the family to Williams County on the extreme west edge of North Dakota. There he leased farms from landowners Borshiem, Bozeman, and Zahl. At the age of 54 years, on the Zahl farm two miles north of Williston he died in 1938. He was buried at Bethlehem Cemetery of rural Van Hook in the plot near his parents, son Johann Maynard, brother Carl, and Faber Hanson.
Albin and Anna's children were:
127. Victor Norris (1910-1972)
128. Evelyn Ada (1914-
129. Clarence Vernon (1919-
130. Johann Maynard (1916-1921)
131. John Maynard Oliver (1921-
132. Ardith Marion Helen (1923-
133. Raymond DeWayne (1926-
134. Inez Elaine (1929-1986)
135. Marlowe Galen (1933-1989)
At this point in the manuscript, I will enter my fathers handwritten memories from the events regarding his fathers death, and hints of life during the Great Depression in 1938 as remembered through the eyes of a child.
"The cow is out! the cow is out! That was the cry from our mother that Jack, Ray and I heard from the pump house. Mom came running from the back kitchen door into that first hot day of June in 1938. Besides we three younger brothers the only child from Albin and Anna at home was Inez, still older than me and their youngest daughter. Even big enough to go to school, she and Raymond had only last week finished for the year at the white schoolhouse over west of our place. I was glad too, it wasnt that long ago that Mom had taken me over there for Christmas doings. We'd sat and watched as Santa Claus gave out some presents. When the bearded elf called out my name and handed me a steel built ocean liner - Queen Mary The most beautiful of all the toys that day - I recognized Rays trousers under the red pants. Sullen for a moment, Mom explained that Santa couldn't possibly get to all these small stops. She explained that Raymond had given me the toy. The "Queen", sailed her way from Williams County to Van Hook. I made a trade there with Lyla or Ilene for one of Donald's old trucks. His toy looked heavier and more solid to me. Only years later would the Queen Mary become important.
Inez and Raymond were always talking about that schoolhouse. I learned what a mile was when I walked across to visit. It cost me a full day, not to mention mom's anxieties! Inez and Ray lost the rest of the day at school to walk me home. I spent that night with nightmares of spiders and bugs. I was already tired of school!
School had been closed for three days. Today Inez was around the yard somewhere, maybe over under the back porch again, She used it for a place for that doll of hers. She had that plaster one with no hair, eyes that moved independently in it's head. It had strange bumps, probably from spending too many nights outdoors, Thats what mom said. Besides it was just a place for dogs and we didnt have a dog anyway.
Inez was that way. She always dressed up in mom's funny clothes. Sometimes we'd find gunny sacks and rip them open and make a teepee. We went over by the pump house to the junkpile sometimes and she'd help me pick up enough cans and broken dishes to play store. Mostly though, she played with that old doll and wore those silly high heeled shoes. Once she caught "shingles" from wearing those shoes. Thats what Pa said. Girls were silly anyway. I had only Inez. There was some dispute about Ardith, since she lived in town with Hank and Evelyn. Marvin had said she was his sister. I didn't object.
On this June morning I was standing behind my big brothers in the door of the pump house. Jack was bent over the pump engine. Ray held some tools in his hand. Jack was always good at fixing stuff. He had been working on John Burke's threshing rig. He even worked for the Buzy Bee Cleaners in Williston driving that '33 Ford Van. Once he "almost got sucked up through the Smith Packing Company smokestack when he unloaded garbage! Thats what Ma said.
Raymond was nice sometimes. I had long ago found Ray - the giver of the Queen Mary - to be a "tease". I wasn't about to forgive him for the scar on my forehead. He had no business making me stand upright on that sled, holding a cream can. There were only spots of snow and mostly dry gravel. But I wasn't mad at him anymore. Pa had contributed the ten cents to the American Red Cross just the other day. Ma tied a bandage around my head, stuck the Red Cross pin in front and I laid for a long time on Pa's left arm upstairs. It was the nearest I'd ever been to my father. He said "Lay down here and look at the ceiling with me" he said something about counting spots of nails. I thought it so strange the way he crossed his legs that way, throwing the right leg over the left. Screaming as I knew I was, the man soothed me to sleep in a minute with lasting memories.
Being with Pa was the only time I didnt wonder about my older brother Vernie. I was used to this older brother. Maybe becuase he was around me more. I wasnt sure when times were good or bad, it just seemed Vernie was always around when he was needed.
I dont suppose it was that particular day that I recalled the Bolzman place. It had been a tenant farmhouse, smack in the middle of nowhere. It was a square place, I remember, with a hip-roof covering maybe 4 or at most 5 rooms. There was a high foundation from which led a precipitous stairway into nothing more than a rolling prairie on the east wall. I remember Vernie working every day for that farm up the hill to the southeast, the name I dont recall, coming home every night and parking the Model A as near as possible to the house and out of the wind.
Before then we'd been a tenant farmer for Borsheim. An elegant place with its twin dormered house, and a red barn. So impressive that Jacks caricature drawing of the place would be recalled for years.
By the time we'd moved to Zahl's farm, with its covered front porch on the east where the family could view civilization from any corner. The most prominent were the Swift and Company's smokestacks in Williston jutting into the sky. The family was almost complete. Althought Victor has left Montgomery-Ward in Wiliston and had gone on to the west coast, Hank was in Williston working for Northern Tank Lines. Vernie was here with Northern Hide and Fur, and Jack was buzy with Buzy Bee.
The Zahl place was a happy time for all of us. The family was closely knit and visitors and relatives were abundant. Now though, I recognised 'bill collectors" although I didnt know too much about them, I learned when Ma said, "They came all the way from Grenora for our steel wagon!" A neighbor got our chickens.
Though only five years old, by March of 1938, I knew that our home, whether it be a country place, or where my sisters lived in a town, was only a process. Everything seemed to be related. Everything seemed to happen at once.
For a five year old, the Zahl farm was still bigger and better and had more stuff around than any of the other places I could recall. The year before we'd gone to Uncle Charlies. He had a real tree, with burning candles, Evelyn and Hank had a Kodak and all of our pictures were taken. After New Years, Uncle Oscar planted the tree in a snowbank - a place to feed the birds.
We stayed home in Williston the next year. Thats the year I learned about Santa Claus, and about my brother Ray. It was the year we sat on the front porch where Ma and Pa discussed events I wasnt too impressed with. Hank and Evelyn came out too, Vernie came by and they all argued about Adolph Hitler's symbol. It was an American Indian sign, thats what Pa said. Everyone else disagreed.
Spring came and so did the visitors, The depression was about over. Pa's brother stayed a week. He made a near fool out of himself on the bicycle Mom had scrimped for Jack. Myrtle Asheim stayed a week and when leaving asking the driver to honk the horn on the way by. The horn stuck, "tooting all the way from Canfield Airport to Twin Lakes, we'll be the laughing stock of the country!!" Gus Fredrickson stayed a week. Their kids were real brats. That girl of theirs, a cousin I suppose, tried to push me out an upstairs window! I think her oldest brother was teaching Raymond how to smoke behind the silo.
The Zahl farm was a place none of us had known. For a kid, there was a fence to climb. It was a lot more than taking a stick and writing my name in the dirt. At least someone before had left a junkpile and we could throw rocks at glass bottles. We could do lots of things, except walk on the floor that covered the brick foundation north of the house, and the tall silo we were not to go near. I had no wish to be discarded to the manure pile. That would be my fate if I stepped on the nails in that floor!
We didnt have any horses. Pa and Mom told us about some they had before. Ma told about "big red plums, and harnesses and buggies" The way she carried on about them she must have been crazy for horses. Pa just smiled. I guess he liked horses too.
I remember the folks talking about lambs and sheep. About such they'd both get excited. But whenever conversation dwelled on land, or tractors, or dirt farming, Pa would get quiet. I dont think he was too interested in farming. Just the other day I remember a man named Atoll had come with a truck and loaded up our chickens. Pa didnt say a word. Penny was one of our chickens. She was the favorite I suppose. Always had been. Last winter she came into the house, sneaked into the kitchen and burned her feet. All this spring, she followed Pa around. Maybe she looked for worms after Pa had plowed and hoed, Maybe she just wanted his company. She went with Atoll the other day. I remember her real name was "Henny-Penny" she just thought she was a better chicken than the rest. Maybe thats why Pa didnt say a word.
The Zahl farm afforded a private bed for each of us, beside that new junk pile with the uncountable broken bottles, the unclimbable silo, the unwalkable barn foundation, but we had a back porch, a kitchen with a stove, a formal dining room -never used- and a front parlor. In the parlor was a phonograph with two records. We had a massive front porch. On that front porch our Pa listened to church bells on New Years Eve, 1938 and mysteriously mentioned he would never hear them again. His family simply shrugged, wondering where we would move to next. We watched the bus go by, laughing at the stuck horn.
Old Valentine was always up first. She wasn't livestock or just a cow, she was family! Though we were Norwegian, she was Holstein and, unlike us, she could do anything she pleased. Mostly she liked hanging her head through the pantry window. She knew, as we all did, that Mom was a soft touch for a treat. Today, Valentine was out on the loose, or so we all thought.
Inez wasn't with her doll on the front porch. Mom ran from the house and down the dirt road toward Number 2 highway, She carried a gallon fruit can filled with water. Raymond steering to miss Valentine standing by the house, pedaled at full speed towards the neighbors and the only telephone.
"The cow is lost! The cow is lost!" Valentine was here. Only Inez had disappeared for awhile. Now Ray was on that bike peddling his heart out. My hero Jack stood with tears in his eyes, He was seventeen and couldnt cry!
I didnt know much about death when I was five. I learned less that day when I came down from Pa's room where he lay with a towel on his face. Somehow he was different that he was as we laid with my red cross pin and all. Out in the garden this morning his face had been so different. Maybe it was the greyness in his hair, his stillness maybe, or maybe I'd seen a kind of smile I hadnt seen before.
Everything happened quickly after that. Evelyn and Hank came from town and Victor came back from the West Coast. I don't remember Mom during that time but someone picked me up at Evensons Funeral Parlor and realized then that what Mom had yelled was nothing to do with the cow. "Pa is gone! Pa is gone!"
Grownups covered our front porch at Zahls. They whispered. By then I'd seen my father twice. The blue suit, the still dark hair with the graying temples and the gray casket. What would be more fitting than gray skies? It was a gray day when I saw my father again out on the prairie near Van Hook. It wasn't so much anymore, as it was all those other men I remember. Like those others on the porch at Zahl's. Standing in small bunches, talking in that whisper, in a way my father never talked. They never said exciting things like my father did. So self conscious in their suits and brown shoes, with nothing to do but stand there. Standing there whispering with their hands in their pockets. What was so important to have these busy farmer's stop their work to come here on this gray day? Were these the ones who the Williston paper said "would sorely miss him"?
Those fast and confusing days were all of my fathers life to me. There was the fast dash to Mountrail County. The stops at Borsheims, Bozlmans, and Zahl's and I can remember no more of him.
He was gone now, just as he had been gone from home. Quiet with everyone and a disciplinarian maybe, because quiet followed him. Yet my mother told of another personality. Her husband was a gentle man, but occasionally noisy and sometimes even wild. He was remembered by her as an intelligent but stubborn man who, completely sober, disrupted a town by punching the police chief of Williston in the nose. The record shows he had no enemies, but friends remembered him thirty years after his death.
Reading through Dad's notes, such as that above, of memories of his youth during the 1930's and 1940s, I also discovered another tidbit. As you have just read, my dad lost his father at the young age of five. By and large his father was a mystery, or at least a faint image of his early years. Four years following the death of his father, and my grandfather, his mother, my grandma Anna, remarried. The following excerpt reveals his misgivings about this "new dad".
Of course my grandfather died sixteen years before my own birth. This next excerpt offers a glimpse at the man who would become at his age of 70, my grandfather.
"Another turning point came in 1942. Of course I always knew there was the chance that mom would remarry again. And as 1941 and 1942 went from bad to worse, the possibility of another marriage seemed her best hope of salvation.
Gust Bangs came to the house now and then, sometimes with arms filled with bags of groceries which he jovially spread on our table. He was short but husky, with a neatly trimmed, Clark Gable, sort of mustache, with dark graying hair. An outgoing man in his late fifties and a widower. He had emigrated to the United States as a young boy at the turn of the century and had known only farming. Now with the wartime demands, had finally become one of the most prosperous men in the county.
One day in May Mom and I sat for a long time in the shade of the house and she lingered an unusually long time, then out of the blue asked, "Do you think Gust would make a nice dad?" It was a troubling question and she saw my uneasiness when she said, "Gust is a good man and he was a friend of your Pa".
The possibility of having a father scared me and I suppose my greatest fear was of losing my mother. Though I liked Gust's spirit, and absorbed the advantages of his farm over my existence in Stanley.
I liked Gust well enough as a visitor, dropping by with his shiny new car, or truck and an occasional ice cream treat, but my heart stayed closed against him. That is, until a Saturday afternoon when I ran across him coming out of Will's Lumber Yard in Stanley. He pulled my coaster wagon around to his rear bumper, commenting with a chuckle, "We better put some pork rinds into those wheels before they fall off altogether!" With that, he took his pliers and bent a brand new six penny nail to keep a front wheel on.
Disregarding any possible laws to the contrary, he tied a rope from my handle, around the bumper and placed the end of the rope in my hand. With that he said, Okay Sparkplug, if we get going to fast, just drop the rope." "Sparkplug". Later other nicknames would pop up from time to time. "Felix", "Plink", names that I would learn to read as a gauge to his moods.
Excitement like that I had never known! Right down Main Street in front of who I thought was the whole town population the wagon rumbled on its bent wheels the full distance home!
Then, Gust Bangs got out of his car and untied the rope in front of my shocked and awe-struck mother. My quietness masked a boyish impulse to hug the man and it began a relationship into which that impulse would linger for the next thirty-five years."
KLARA ELISE RYALEN OLSON
b. Jun 19, 1886 - d.
Clara was born to Oliver and Ranie Ryalen in McIntosh Township, Polk County, Minnesota. She was baptized in the Poplar River church on December 12, 1886. Her uncle Adolph witnessed her baptism.
She was four years old when her parents moved to Steele County, North Dakota where she married and loved her life. Clara married Edwin Olson of Finley and for a time lived over the millinery shop in that place. Olson became a large, successful farmer south of Finley and a mail carrier, which the route has been passed down to his sons today.
Their children were:
136. Milton
137. Ruby
138. Orville
139. Leona
140. Elmo
141. Inez
142. Darwin
143. Lorna
79. ALMA OLETA RYALEN THOMPSON
b. Nov 27, 1889 - d.
Alma was the youngest child of Oliver and Ranie Ryalen, born in McIntosh Township, Polk County, Minnesota. She was baptized in the Poplar River Norwegian congregation in Sletton Township. Sponsors being, Jens Kvam, I.O. Sather, and his wife Sofia on July 19th.
She married Thom Thompson, a taxi driver at one time in Minneapolis, Minnesota where they lived their lives.
There were no children.
80. CLARENCE A. RYALEN
b. Jan 24, 1896 - Jul 21, 1896
This six month old son of Adolph and Louisa Ryalen was buried in the Sand Hill Cemetery of rural McIntosh, Minnesota on July 24, 1896.
81. WILLIE A. RYALEN
b. 1897 - d. Nov 28, 1902
Willie was the son of Adolph and Louisa Ryalen. Born in Sletton Township, Polk County, Minnesota. He died at the age of "Five and a half years" in November, 1902. He was buried in the Sand Hill Cemetery near McIntosh, Minnesota.
82. CHRISTINA HANSON MOORE
b. June 29, 1892 - d. unknown
She was the first child born to Elizabeth Ryalen and Faber Hanson in Sletton Township, Polk County, Minnesota. Following her mothers death, her father and sisters, Elma and Cora moved to Mountrail County, North Dakota and she married in Minnesota to Carl Moore.
In the 1930's, she moved with her husband to Stanley, Mountrail County, North Dakota where, it is believed, they separated. In the 1950's she moved with her children to San Francisco, California where she died during the 1960's.
Her children were:
144. Myrtle
145. Clarence
146. Helen
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
THE SIXTH GENERATION
10. AMUND KNUTSON RYALEN
b. 1806 d. 1889
Tolga Parish records show he was confirmed at the age of fourteen years on October
22, 1820 along with several others from Ryalen Western. This is twenty years before the Tolga parish is known to have been built.
At the age of twenty this only son from the marriage of Knut Amundson and Maren Engebretsdatter, married in 1826 to Kjesten Olsdatter of Ryalen Western. She was a sister of Peder Olsen and daughter of the original Ole Pedersen of Ryalen, who eventually condensed the surname to Rye. Kjesten was born in 1803, three years older than her husband. She died in 1882 at the age of 79 years.
When Amund was thirty two he received half of Ryalen Northern from his father who was 64 at the time and ready for retirement. Traditionally, as the oldest of the sons, Amund would have claimed all of his fathers farm. In his third marriage, half brother Ole was born and was also considered an oldest son and was therefore, a rightful heir to the remaining half when he came of age. The second half of Ryalen Northern was deeded to Amund's half brother six years later in 1844.
Amund and Kjersten bore nine children before his death at the age of 83 years:
(17) Maren, a daughter
(18) Sigrid, a daughter
(19) Knut, a son
(20) Ole, a son
(21) Amund, a son
(22) Lars, a son
(23) Kristian, a son
(24) Embret, a son
(25) Kjersten, a daughter
FOOTNOTE:
In 1852, with the first emigration of inhabitants from Holdalen and Tolga to the United States, several of the family of Amund Knutson Ryalen's wife Kjesten, also left that district. Her brother Peder Olsen of Ryalen Western and his son, Ole Pedersen Ryalen, born November 30, 1818 emigrated as well. There was also Ole Pedersen's wife Sigrid from South Hodal. Their daughter Kirtsi, born August 30, 1850also left when she was two years old. Joining in the emigration were both of Sigrid's parents.
When our direct ancestors left Norway for America, there is record to indicate at least six from neighboring Ryalen Western joined them.
11. KIRSTI KNUTSDATTER RYALEN ESTENSEN
b. 1813 d. unknown
She was the first daughter os Knut Amundson Ryalen and his third wife Elen. She was raised on Ryalen Northern and married in the Tolga church to Ole Estensen of Nygaard in Ovresjodalen. He was four years her junior. Kirsti was the only child of this family to remain in Norway when her mother and family emigrated in 1852.
At the time of emigration, she had reached 49 years and her husband and herself had become "pioneers of Mosengrenda where they built up the farm they called Kroken."
There has been found no record of their family.
12. OLE KNUTSEN RYALEN
b. February 6, 1816 d. Novemebr 10, 1897
The oldest son of Knut Amundson Ryalen and his third wife Elen Olesdatter Oien, he was born and raised on Ryalen Northern, baptised and confirmed in the Tolga Parish.
In 1837 he fathered an illegitimate son named Adolph. This boy must have died in infancy and a second Adolph was born on December 17, 1842. On August 12, 1844 at the age of 28, he married in the Tolga church to Kirsti Jonsdatter. She was born December 12, 1823, a daughter of Jon Olsen of Herdal and Kirsti Olesdatter Ryalen.
In the year of his marriage he shared inheritance of Ryalen Northern with his older half brother, Amund. He built a cabin of logs on his part of the farm which stood until 1901, long after he emigrated to the United States. Its foundations are visible and the house is remembered by ancestors living there today.
Ole's portion of Ryalen contained the main farm's summer cabin called a "Seter" This place is located far below the main farm and is occupied during summer months until early September as the family brings the cattle down for summer grazing. Maren, first daughter of Ole and Kirsti was born in that Seter which is known as "Oldervikvollen" (Alberbay Meadow). The log house is still standing today in 1976.
The years 1851-1852 was a time of extreme drought in Norway. "America Fever" as it was called was sweeping the land. Many from other districts were selling their land and possessions and "going over the blue swamp" as the Atlantic Ocean was being referred. Everyone wanted to go to the "North American Free States".
In the Fall of 1851, Ole's father died and was buried in Tolga cemetery. The following February Ole sold Ryalen Northern to Ole Pederson Rye of Ryalen Western.
On March 12, 1852, Ole led a large group from Hodalen which included his wife and four children, mother and three sisters, and a brother. Included in the group six people from Ryalen Western and four cousins from Nordvang. They embarked from Christiana (Oslo) on board the White Star Line's brig "Dramen" for New York.
Ole was in Wisconsin from the years 1852 through 1860 where it is likely his first son Adolph Myron and mother Elen were buried. From Wisconsin, one sister went to Iowa and another to Illinois. His younger brother remained in Wisconsin and his younger sister accompanied him and his family of wife and three sons to Minnesota.
Ole came into Minnesota from La Crosse, Wisconsin in the summer of 1860 as Minnesota was entered into the Union. At the Mississippi River port town of Red Wing, he acquired 160 acres of land west of the town in Zumbrota township. It was unbroken prairie son on rolling hills near the Zumbra River. It had been a land grant to James Perry of Indiana as a veteran of the Mexican War.
Following a settler named Cavanaugh and the first settler named Matson, Ole Ryalen was the third to settle in the township.
Two of his sons enlisted in the Civil War and from bounties paid at $300 each, he built a large frame house.
By the time of the 1870 Census, his income was derived from "eggs, two cows, two oxen, and some rabbits". His children were "going to school". He had a grove of apple trees, a large barn,
sixteen pine trees he had brought from Norway in a small sack, and had broken nearly 40 acres of land. The wealthiest man in the township was Walter Doyle who farmed and operated a way station for the stage between St. Paul and Dubueque, Iowa. he had reported assets of $2,700. James Cavanaugh was worth $1,950. The third reported was Ole Ryalen with possesions amounting to $1,530.
By 1878 Ole had helped build the Minneola Lutheran Church that straddled the township lines of Belle Creek and Minneola. By this time more settlers had come. Williams had settled one mile east, Matson lived two miles northwest, Chandler lived three miles southwest and Cook lived three miles northeast. It was at the Matson farm two miles northwest that caused a stir in the new Zumbrota Times newspaper. Here, Jesse and Frank James watered the horses on their escape south from the failed robbery of the Northfield, Minnesota bank.
In 1883, at the age of 67 years, Ole leased his cultivated land to his son Eli with the stipulation that he and his wife could live rent free.
In 1890, he sold the farm. Eighty acres were purchased by the minister of his Minneola Lutheran Church. The remaining eighty acres, "with house and buidlings" went to John Anderson of Kenyon.
In the Fall of 1890, Ole and Kjesti moved north to Polk County which had been settled by their oldest son in 1880. They lived with daughter Elizabeth in Sletton township until they both died in 1897.
Ole was 81 when he died on November 13, 1897. Kjesti died exactly one month later. They are buried in the now abandoned Poplar River (Norske Evangelik Kirche) cemetery in Sletton township, southwest of Fosston, Minnesota.
(The note posted on the above photo says :"The Stone monument erected at Poplar River Cemetery near Fosston, Minnesota. The south-facing surface indicates that of Ole K. Ryalen. The opposite his wife Kjesti, died 1897")
The children born to Ole Knutson Ryalen and Kjesti Jonsdatter in Norway were:
(26) Adolph Myron, a son
(27) Adolph-The Younger, a son
(28) Kornelius, a son
(29) Ole Iver (Oliver), a son
(30) Erling (Eli), a son
Their children born in America were:
(31) Erling, a son born in Wisconsin
(32) Ole Jr., a son born in Minnesota
(33) Adolph, a son born in Minnesota
(34) Elizabeth, the only daughter
13. MAREN KNUTSDATTER RYALEN LOSEN
b.Setember 5, 1818 d. unknown
She was the second daughter of Knut Amundsen Ryalen and his third wife Elen. She was the only child to be born on the Alderbay meadow. The seter occupied by the family during the cattle grazing season in summer.
Tolga parish records show Maren was baptised on October 4, 1818 and was witnessed by godparents Peder Olsen Ryalen and Paul Iversen and Olava Amundsdatter Bakken(11)
She emigrated from Norway in March, 1852with a large family and settled breifly in Wisconsin. She married Knut Larsen of Methius, Norway and in moving to the State of Iowa changed their surname to Losen. They settled near Hosper, Emmett COunty, Iowa and are known to have raised a large family. Many of their children became clergymen. Only two sons have been located:
(35) Peder
(36) Ole
14. LAVRENSE KNUTSDATTER RYALEN PEDERSEN
b. April 14, 1821 - d. Unknown
Born on Ryalen Northern to Knut Amundsen and Elen Olsdatter, she was baptised and confirmed in the Tolga parish. She married Lars Pedersen of Nordvang. She was thirty years old when she emigrated from Norway with many of her relatives. His parents, Peder and Marit, also emigrated at that time.
The American version of her name was "Elizabeth". With only an oral tradition, most believe she moved with her family to Chiacago, Illinois where she died in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
(Side notes: The entry regarding the Chicago fire had been penciled out on the original manuscript, leading one to believe new knowledge about this person had been gained. That new information however, is not noted.
Also, at this point in the manuscript, several pages are missing. They contain the information on
numbers 15. Tyri, 16. Knut, 17. Maren, 18. Sigrid, and 19. Knut, )
20. OLE AMUNDSEN RYALEN
b. Apr 27, 1834 - d. 1902
Ole was baptized in the Tolga parish on June 8, 1834. He married Louisa Reimers of the city or Roros. They lived in a rented house at Tolga station. Ole fathered an illegitimate child, but there are no records of other children of his marriage to Louisa.
55. Olava - born in the 1840's
21. AMUND AMUNDSEN RYALEN
b. June 28, 1836 - d. 1915
He was baptized on July 2, 1836. When he married Marit Amundsdatter of Broen (1842-1907) at the age of 36, he bought for $120.00 a piece of land known as Tyergjelton. His older brother Knut (19) had received Ryalen Northern as an inheritance but after four years of poor management, had sold the land to Amund.
Amund moved from Tyergjelton in 1862 and according to transcripts of the history of Ryalen Northern,
"...had to both use all their energy, save and live economically in order to overcome the debt they had accepted with the purchase of the farm." They had nothing to invest of their own resources, but Amund had apprenticed under master carpenter Knut Hoysen from Os, and therefore had a solid background as a carpenter.
Thereafter he was a construction gang leader in the communities and put up, among others, the rural judges farm at Tynset which became the railroad station, and the tax collector place at Tunheim. Two imposing buildings that still stand there. During the construction of the railroad buildings, he took on the interior work in the station buildings and the guard houses. He was known for his beautiful mirror panels, cupboards, and other inventory."
He managed the farm into a well run place and became an economically well situated man. It is written in a memorial to him that he was a veteran of the old school who took upon himself many difficult burdens throughout a long life. Well armed with both talent and intelligence, and sympathetic in all his dealings, he left behind lasting memories among Holdalers and where ever he was known.
Amund Amundson Ryalen and Marit Amundsdatter of Broen raised six children on Ryalen Northern before his death at 79 years.
56. Anna Marie - 1866
67. Kjestina - 1870
58. Thea - 1873
59. Amund - 1874
60. Anne - 1880
61. Andreas Marius - 1891
He was 30 years old when his first child was born, and 55 when the last was born in 1891. At his burial according to firther transcriptions, from the history of the farm "there was a large following from many townships, and his freinds had written a song, of which the first verse goes,
"Thus have you tired wanderer, layed your wandering down, are free of sorrow and misery,
and rest now in peace"
22. LARS AMUNDSON RYALEN
b. 1838 - d. Unknown
This son of Amund Knutson Ryalen married Randi Ostensdatter from Kvam in Gudbrandsdal. There life was spent at Dordiegga in the Gudbrandsdal valley and their history is recorded there. Their children are unknown.
23. KRISTIAN AMUNDSON RYALEN
b. 1842 - d. Unknown
Kristian became a train watchman in Tolga and married first to Berit Pedersdatter of Rossing, and had with her two daughters.
62. Kjerstina - 1874
63. Anna - 1876
He married a second time to Ingrid Engebretsdatter of Jonsgard. There weer no children.
24. EMBRET AMUNDSON RYALEN
b. August, 1845 - d. Unknown
Little is known of this youngest son of Amund Knutson Ryalen. Tolga records show he was vaccinated against unknown diseases at the age of three months along with a cousin, Oliver (28) also three months of age, on November 10, 1845.
When he married Ragnhild Hansdatter from Sel, he inherited a part of Ryalen Northern (see 19) and named it Ryhaug. There is no record of any children.
25. KJERSTEN AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN MOE
b. 1850 - d. Unknown
She was the youngest child born to AMund Knutson Ryalen and Maren Engebretsdatter. Shen she married Johannes Moe, a train foreman from Tolga, she inherited part of Ryalen Northern where she and her husband settled and built up the farm called Moesgard. There were no children. (See 19 and 25)
26. ADOLPH MYRON KNUTSON RYALEN
b. 1837 - d. May 24, 1851.
Adolph was an illegitimate some of Ole Knutson Ryalen (12). He died and was buried at TOlga parish in the same summer as his grandfater Knut Amundson Ryalen when he was fourteen years old. Considering the close proximity of their deaths, it is possible that they were the result of an accident.
27. ADOLPH K. RYALEN - The Younger
b. unknown - d. unknown
28. KORNELIUS K. RYALEN
b. Dec 12, 1842 - d. Unknown (after 1901 in America)
Tolga parish records indicate he godmother was named Olava Estensdatter Ryalen on his baptism January 29, 1843. As an emigrant there is no American record indicating he ever used the name Olsen. and the spelling of his given name had dropped the "K" and he was named Cornelius.
The son of Ole Knutson Ryalen and Elen Olsdatter was nine when he left Norway with his parents, two brothers, and many relatives. He appeared next on the 1860 Minnesota Census (the States first) as "Staying on the farm and going to school" in Belle Creek Township, Goodhue County.
In August of 1862, Cornelius enlisted in Company D, 10th Regiment of Infantry. During the first week of training at Fort Snelling near St. Paul, the famous Sioux Uprising in Minnesota broke out and, in September, even before being issued uniforms and weapons, he was found at Fort Abercrombie on the eastern edge of Indian Territory ( now the Dakotas ). He became one of nearly 6,000 men under the command of General Sibley to spend that summer in several battles at Devils Lake and Big Mound (site of present day Bismark, North Dakota) against the Sioux.
In 1863, he was hospitalized at St. Louis, Missouri during the Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing). In September he was attached to the 16th Army Corp, commanded by General U.S. Grant and served through the Battels of Tupelo and Pontchartrain.
According to records in the Minnesota Historical Society, his Company D was the leader in the first charge in the Battle of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee during the Winter of 1863-64. Then, Cornelius's military career ended during the Battle of Nashville.
He became the first to leave southern Minnesota in 1883. He worked the Northwoods lumber camps, then as a teamster for James Hill who was turning his Red River flatboat business into the beginning of the Great Northern Railway.
In 1887, Cornelius settled on a quarter of land in Sletton Township, Polk County, Minnesota. His brother Oliver came north in 1887 and settled in King Township. His parents came to Sletton Township as did his younger brothers in 1890.
In 1888, Cornelius married another homesteader, Ingeborg A. Lohn and seven children were born.
64. Ole - 1889
65. No Name (Andrews twin)
66. Andrew - 1892
67. Ole the Younger - 1898
68. Anna - 1899
69. Klara - 1900
70. Ida - 1901
During the last three years of the century, Cornelius lost several children, parents, and many relatives in the Fosston area. Me moved from Polk County about 1901, and every search has shed no light on this adventurous man.
29. OLIVER K. RYALEN
b. Feb 23, 1845 - d. Nov 10, 1914
Like his brother Cornelius, Oliver never used the name of his father, but signed his name Oliver K (for Knutson).
Baptized in Tolga parish on March 26, 1845, his witnesses were Anne and Paul Iverson (9) and aunt Maren (13). He was seven when he immigrated from Norway and was schooled in Wisconsin and Belle Creek, Minnesota.
At age, nineteen he enlisted in Company L, 1st Minnesota Regiment of Artillery and served at Chattanooga, Tenneseee. Three months after the wars end, he returned to Belle Creek.
In November, 1869 while working as a hired hand for Zumbrota farmer Harvin McIntire, he married Rainie Tvito (Rosa Thompson), a daughter of Thor and Kari Tvito from Aust Agdar near Bergen, Norway. In 1887, he moved north to Polk County with a family of eight children where he setteld in King Township. He remained there for fifteen years.
Following several bad farming years, he moved with the Great Northern Railroad west to Steele County, North Dakota where he remained until 1910.
When Mountrail County in western North Dakota was platted in 1912, he had squatted on land near the Missouri River and built a lean-to shack. His older sons Carl, and Oscar joined him in 1914 when Carl filed homestead rights on his fathers already broken land.
Olover died that year at the age of 69 years, nine months. Such as the case of his parents before him, his wife Ranie died seven days later, on November 17th. They are buried in Bethlehem Lutheran Cemetery, Epworth Township, Mountrail County, North Dakota.
There were nine children.
71 Christine - 1870
72. Kari - 1872
73. Oscar Cornelius - 1874
74. Kari the Elder - 1875
75. Victor - 1878
76. Karl Johann - 1882
77. Albin Oliver - 1884
78. Klara Elise - 1886
79. Alma Oletta - 1889
30. ERLING (ELI) OLSON RYALEN
b. Jan 6, 1842 - d. (probably at sea, or in Wisconsin)
This last of Ole's sons born in Norway does not appear on records following his immigration from Norway as a three year old. He is presumed to have died during their eight year stay in Wisconsin or, as did so many other children, during the voyage in steerage across the Atlantic.
31. ERLING (ELI) K. RYALEN
b. 1859 - d. 1926
During his adulthood, he was named for the brother born earlier in Norway. Born and schooled in Wisconsin, he leased the remaining 80 acres of his fathers Belle Creek, Minnesota farm on April 23, 1883. He remained single throughout his life, and was head farmer in Belle Creek until it was sold in 1891. He moved north to Polk County with his parents in 1891.
32.OLE K. RYALEN JR.
b. 1861 - d. Unknown
Born in Goodhue County, Minnesota. He moved to Polk County in 1891. There is no record of a marriage or children, and he appears to have left that place with his older brother Cornelius about 1901.
33. ADOLPH K. RYALEN
b. 1865 - d. Mid-1930's
He was the namesake of an older brother born and died in Norway (26). There were two childrren born to his marriage to Louisa (surname unknown)both of who died within a two year period.
80. Clarence
81. Willie
34. ELIZABETH OLSDATTER RYALEN HANSON
b. May 20, 1866 - May 25, 1925
Elizabeth was the ninth and last child born to Ole Knutson and Kjesti Ryalen and, of interest, the only daughter. She married Faber Hanson at the Minneola Church in Goodhue County, Minnesota. Faber, an immigrant carpenter from Norway, was born December 16th, 1863. Their marriage took place on June 3, 1890 and they moved in 1891 to Polk County where they homesteaded in Sletton Township until her death in 1925.
Faber and Elizabeth lost four children. When she died, Faber sold the darm and moved with two daughters to Mountrail County, North Dakota. They spent their first year with his daughter Jessie (87) and her husband Carl Ryland (76). Faber stayed on as a hired hand to Carl until his death in 1935. He is buried in the Ryland family plot at Bethlehem Lutheran Cemetery.
There children were:
82. Christina - 1892
83. Anna - 1894
84. Fredi - 1896
85. Olga - 1899
86. Olga the Younger - 1902
87. Jensine (Jessie) - 1904
88. Elma - 1907
89. Fredi the Younger - 1909
90. Cora - 1912
35. PEDER JONSON LOSEN
b. 1864 - d. unknown
He was the first of many children born to Maren Knutsdatter Ryalen and the only member of American birth to return to visit his mother's birthplace on Ryalen Northern in Norway. This occurred during the Centennial of Norwegian Independence (see Leiv Ryalen letter).
A native of Emmett County, Iowa. Peder described his family as living in Decorah in 1912 and 1913 and his age at about fifty years. He recorded his name officially after that as Peder J. Losen. He married Anna Iverson and their children were:
91. Mamie - 1890
92. Jon - 1891
93. Phillip - 1894
94. Carl - 1895
95. Alfred - 1897
96. Paul Arnold - 1900
97. George Sexton - 1902
98. Selma Beattie - 1904
99. Ruth Othelia - 1906
36. OLE JONSON LOSEN
b. about 1906 - d. unknown
Ole was born near Hosper, Emmett County, Iowa. He was a musician and played his own compositions. No marriage or children are recorded.
Based on the typed entry in the original manuscript. The "Sixth Generation" ends at this point.
The following listings are indicated as the "Eighth Generation" however there is no listing of a Seventh. I can only assume that this was simply a counting error of my father and what is listed on the manuscript as "The Eighth Generation" was intended as the Seventh. I read through the manuscript and from what I have seen following each outline, can determine that this is the case.
The entry for Number 37 ( Peder Larson ) will begin in the next chapter "The Seventh Generation".
In addition, to explain the numbering system, the number with each listed name can be traced by comparing it to the indented offspring listings. For instance to follow the line of the above listed "36. OLE JONSON LOSEN" simply back track through the indented offspring until number 36 is located in the previous pages. As one can see, directly above the listing of number 36, OLE JONSON LOSEN, one will find the last entry in the offspring list as number 99. (Ruth Othelia) To locate OLE JONSON LOSEN'S parent, simply scroll back to find number 36 in the indented offspring list.
b. 1806 d. 1889
Tolga Parish records show he was confirmed at the age of fourteen years on October
22, 1820 along with several others from Ryalen Western. This is twenty years before the Tolga parish is known to have been built.
At the age of twenty this only son from the marriage of Knut Amundson and Maren Engebretsdatter, married in 1826 to Kjesten Olsdatter of Ryalen Western. She was a sister of Peder Olsen and daughter of the original Ole Pedersen of Ryalen, who eventually condensed the surname to Rye. Kjesten was born in 1803, three years older than her husband. She died in 1882 at the age of 79 years.
When Amund was thirty two he received half of Ryalen Northern from his father who was 64 at the time and ready for retirement. Traditionally, as the oldest of the sons, Amund would have claimed all of his fathers farm. In his third marriage, half brother Ole was born and was also considered an oldest son and was therefore, a rightful heir to the remaining half when he came of age. The second half of Ryalen Northern was deeded to Amund's half brother six years later in 1844.
Amund and Kjersten bore nine children before his death at the age of 83 years:
(17) Maren, a daughter
(18) Sigrid, a daughter
(19) Knut, a son
(20) Ole, a son
(21) Amund, a son
(22) Lars, a son
(23) Kristian, a son
(24) Embret, a son
(25) Kjersten, a daughter
FOOTNOTE:
In 1852, with the first emigration of inhabitants from Holdalen and Tolga to the United States, several of the family of Amund Knutson Ryalen's wife Kjesten, also left that district. Her brother Peder Olsen of Ryalen Western and his son, Ole Pedersen Ryalen, born November 30, 1818 emigrated as well. There was also Ole Pedersen's wife Sigrid from South Hodal. Their daughter Kirtsi, born August 30, 1850also left when she was two years old. Joining in the emigration were both of Sigrid's parents.
When our direct ancestors left Norway for America, there is record to indicate at least six from neighboring Ryalen Western joined them.
11. KIRSTI KNUTSDATTER RYALEN ESTENSEN
b. 1813 d. unknown
She was the first daughter os Knut Amundson Ryalen and his third wife Elen. She was raised on Ryalen Northern and married in the Tolga church to Ole Estensen of Nygaard in Ovresjodalen. He was four years her junior. Kirsti was the only child of this family to remain in Norway when her mother and family emigrated in 1852.
At the time of emigration, she had reached 49 years and her husband and herself had become "pioneers of Mosengrenda where they built up the farm they called Kroken."
There has been found no record of their family.
12. OLE KNUTSEN RYALEN
b. February 6, 1816 d. Novemebr 10, 1897
The oldest son of Knut Amundson Ryalen and his third wife Elen Olesdatter Oien, he was born and raised on Ryalen Northern, baptised and confirmed in the Tolga Parish.
In 1837 he fathered an illegitimate son named Adolph. This boy must have died in infancy and a second Adolph was born on December 17, 1842. On August 12, 1844 at the age of 28, he married in the Tolga church to Kirsti Jonsdatter. She was born December 12, 1823, a daughter of Jon Olsen of Herdal and Kirsti Olesdatter Ryalen.
In the year of his marriage he shared inheritance of Ryalen Northern with his older half brother, Amund. He built a cabin of logs on his part of the farm which stood until 1901, long after he emigrated to the United States. Its foundations are visible and the house is remembered by ancestors living there today.
Ole's portion of Ryalen contained the main farm's summer cabin called a "Seter" This place is located far below the main farm and is occupied during summer months until early September as the family brings the cattle down for summer grazing. Maren, first daughter of Ole and Kirsti was born in that Seter which is known as "Oldervikvollen" (Alberbay Meadow). The log house is still standing today in 1976.
The years 1851-1852 was a time of extreme drought in Norway. "America Fever" as it was called was sweeping the land. Many from other districts were selling their land and possessions and "going over the blue swamp" as the Atlantic Ocean was being referred. Everyone wanted to go to the "North American Free States".
In the Fall of 1851, Ole's father died and was buried in Tolga cemetery. The following February Ole sold Ryalen Northern to Ole Pederson Rye of Ryalen Western.
On March 12, 1852, Ole led a large group from Hodalen which included his wife and four children, mother and three sisters, and a brother. Included in the group six people from Ryalen Western and four cousins from Nordvang. They embarked from Christiana (Oslo) on board the White Star Line's brig "Dramen" for New York.
Ole was in Wisconsin from the years 1852 through 1860 where it is likely his first son Adolph Myron and mother Elen were buried. From Wisconsin, one sister went to Iowa and another to Illinois. His younger brother remained in Wisconsin and his younger sister accompanied him and his family of wife and three sons to Minnesota.
Ole came into Minnesota from La Crosse, Wisconsin in the summer of 1860 as Minnesota was entered into the Union. At the Mississippi River port town of Red Wing, he acquired 160 acres of land west of the town in Zumbrota township. It was unbroken prairie son on rolling hills near the Zumbra River. It had been a land grant to James Perry of Indiana as a veteran of the Mexican War.
Following a settler named Cavanaugh and the first settler named Matson, Ole Ryalen was the third to settle in the township.
Two of his sons enlisted in the Civil War and from bounties paid at $300 each, he built a large frame house.
By the time of the 1870 Census, his income was derived from "eggs, two cows, two oxen, and some rabbits". His children were "going to school". He had a grove of apple trees, a large barn,
sixteen pine trees he had brought from Norway in a small sack, and had broken nearly 40 acres of land. The wealthiest man in the township was Walter Doyle who farmed and operated a way station for the stage between St. Paul and Dubueque, Iowa. he had reported assets of $2,700. James Cavanaugh was worth $1,950. The third reported was Ole Ryalen with possesions amounting to $1,530.
By 1878 Ole had helped build the Minneola Lutheran Church that straddled the township lines of Belle Creek and Minneola. By this time more settlers had come. Williams had settled one mile east, Matson lived two miles northwest, Chandler lived three miles southwest and Cook lived three miles northeast. It was at the Matson farm two miles northwest that caused a stir in the new Zumbrota Times newspaper. Here, Jesse and Frank James watered the horses on their escape south from the failed robbery of the Northfield, Minnesota bank.
In 1883, at the age of 67 years, Ole leased his cultivated land to his son Eli with the stipulation that he and his wife could live rent free.
In 1890, he sold the farm. Eighty acres were purchased by the minister of his Minneola Lutheran Church. The remaining eighty acres, "with house and buidlings" went to John Anderson of Kenyon.
In the Fall of 1890, Ole and Kjesti moved north to Polk County which had been settled by their oldest son in 1880. They lived with daughter Elizabeth in Sletton township until they both died in 1897.
Ole was 81 when he died on November 13, 1897. Kjesti died exactly one month later. They are buried in the now abandoned Poplar River (Norske Evangelik Kirche) cemetery in Sletton township, southwest of Fosston, Minnesota.
(The note posted on the above photo says :"The Stone monument erected at Poplar River Cemetery near Fosston, Minnesota. The south-facing surface indicates that of Ole K. Ryalen. The opposite his wife Kjesti, died 1897")
The children born to Ole Knutson Ryalen and Kjesti Jonsdatter in Norway were:
(26) Adolph Myron, a son
(27) Adolph-The Younger, a son
(28) Kornelius, a son
(29) Ole Iver (Oliver), a son
(30) Erling (Eli), a son
Their children born in America were:
(31) Erling, a son born in Wisconsin
(32) Ole Jr., a son born in Minnesota
(33) Adolph, a son born in Minnesota
(34) Elizabeth, the only daughter
13. MAREN KNUTSDATTER RYALEN LOSEN
b.Setember 5, 1818 d. unknown
She was the second daughter of Knut Amundsen Ryalen and his third wife Elen. She was the only child to be born on the Alderbay meadow. The seter occupied by the family during the cattle grazing season in summer.
Tolga parish records show Maren was baptised on October 4, 1818 and was witnessed by godparents Peder Olsen Ryalen and Paul Iversen and Olava Amundsdatter Bakken(11)
She emigrated from Norway in March, 1852with a large family and settled breifly in Wisconsin. She married Knut Larsen of Methius, Norway and in moving to the State of Iowa changed their surname to Losen. They settled near Hosper, Emmett COunty, Iowa and are known to have raised a large family. Many of their children became clergymen. Only two sons have been located:
(35) Peder
(36) Ole
14. LAVRENSE KNUTSDATTER RYALEN PEDERSEN
b. April 14, 1821 - d. Unknown
Born on Ryalen Northern to Knut Amundsen and Elen Olsdatter, she was baptised and confirmed in the Tolga parish. She married Lars Pedersen of Nordvang. She was thirty years old when she emigrated from Norway with many of her relatives. His parents, Peder and Marit, also emigrated at that time.
The American version of her name was "Elizabeth". With only an oral tradition, most believe she moved with her family to Chiacago, Illinois where she died in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
(Side notes: The entry regarding the Chicago fire had been penciled out on the original manuscript, leading one to believe new knowledge about this person had been gained. That new information however, is not noted.
Also, at this point in the manuscript, several pages are missing. They contain the information on
numbers 15. Tyri, 16. Knut, 17. Maren, 18. Sigrid, and 19. Knut, )
20. OLE AMUNDSEN RYALEN
b. Apr 27, 1834 - d. 1902
Ole was baptized in the Tolga parish on June 8, 1834. He married Louisa Reimers of the city or Roros. They lived in a rented house at Tolga station. Ole fathered an illegitimate child, but there are no records of other children of his marriage to Louisa.
55. Olava - born in the 1840's
21. AMUND AMUNDSEN RYALEN
b. June 28, 1836 - d. 1915
He was baptized on July 2, 1836. When he married Marit Amundsdatter of Broen (1842-1907) at the age of 36, he bought for $120.00 a piece of land known as Tyergjelton. His older brother Knut (19) had received Ryalen Northern as an inheritance but after four years of poor management, had sold the land to Amund.
Amund moved from Tyergjelton in 1862 and according to transcripts of the history of Ryalen Northern,
"...had to both use all their energy, save and live economically in order to overcome the debt they had accepted with the purchase of the farm." They had nothing to invest of their own resources, but Amund had apprenticed under master carpenter Knut Hoysen from Os, and therefore had a solid background as a carpenter.
Thereafter he was a construction gang leader in the communities and put up, among others, the rural judges farm at Tynset which became the railroad station, and the tax collector place at Tunheim. Two imposing buildings that still stand there. During the construction of the railroad buildings, he took on the interior work in the station buildings and the guard houses. He was known for his beautiful mirror panels, cupboards, and other inventory."
He managed the farm into a well run place and became an economically well situated man. It is written in a memorial to him that he was a veteran of the old school who took upon himself many difficult burdens throughout a long life. Well armed with both talent and intelligence, and sympathetic in all his dealings, he left behind lasting memories among Holdalers and where ever he was known.
Amund Amundson Ryalen and Marit Amundsdatter of Broen raised six children on Ryalen Northern before his death at 79 years.
56. Anna Marie - 1866
67. Kjestina - 1870
58. Thea - 1873
59. Amund - 1874
60. Anne - 1880
61. Andreas Marius - 1891
He was 30 years old when his first child was born, and 55 when the last was born in 1891. At his burial according to firther transcriptions, from the history of the farm "there was a large following from many townships, and his freinds had written a song, of which the first verse goes,
"Thus have you tired wanderer, layed your wandering down, are free of sorrow and misery,
and rest now in peace"
22. LARS AMUNDSON RYALEN
b. 1838 - d. Unknown
This son of Amund Knutson Ryalen married Randi Ostensdatter from Kvam in Gudbrandsdal. There life was spent at Dordiegga in the Gudbrandsdal valley and their history is recorded there. Their children are unknown.
23. KRISTIAN AMUNDSON RYALEN
b. 1842 - d. Unknown
Kristian became a train watchman in Tolga and married first to Berit Pedersdatter of Rossing, and had with her two daughters.
62. Kjerstina - 1874
63. Anna - 1876
He married a second time to Ingrid Engebretsdatter of Jonsgard. There weer no children.
24. EMBRET AMUNDSON RYALEN
b. August, 1845 - d. Unknown
Little is known of this youngest son of Amund Knutson Ryalen. Tolga records show he was vaccinated against unknown diseases at the age of three months along with a cousin, Oliver (28) also three months of age, on November 10, 1845.
When he married Ragnhild Hansdatter from Sel, he inherited a part of Ryalen Northern (see 19) and named it Ryhaug. There is no record of any children.
25. KJERSTEN AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN MOE
b. 1850 - d. Unknown
She was the youngest child born to AMund Knutson Ryalen and Maren Engebretsdatter. Shen she married Johannes Moe, a train foreman from Tolga, she inherited part of Ryalen Northern where she and her husband settled and built up the farm called Moesgard. There were no children. (See 19 and 25)
26. ADOLPH MYRON KNUTSON RYALEN
b. 1837 - d. May 24, 1851.
Adolph was an illegitimate some of Ole Knutson Ryalen (12). He died and was buried at TOlga parish in the same summer as his grandfater Knut Amundson Ryalen when he was fourteen years old. Considering the close proximity of their deaths, it is possible that they were the result of an accident.
27. ADOLPH K. RYALEN - The Younger
b. unknown - d. unknown
28. KORNELIUS K. RYALEN
b. Dec 12, 1842 - d. Unknown (after 1901 in America)
Tolga parish records indicate he godmother was named Olava Estensdatter Ryalen on his baptism January 29, 1843. As an emigrant there is no American record indicating he ever used the name Olsen. and the spelling of his given name had dropped the "K" and he was named Cornelius.
The son of Ole Knutson Ryalen and Elen Olsdatter was nine when he left Norway with his parents, two brothers, and many relatives. He appeared next on the 1860 Minnesota Census (the States first) as "Staying on the farm and going to school" in Belle Creek Township, Goodhue County.
In August of 1862, Cornelius enlisted in Company D, 10th Regiment of Infantry. During the first week of training at Fort Snelling near St. Paul, the famous Sioux Uprising in Minnesota broke out and, in September, even before being issued uniforms and weapons, he was found at Fort Abercrombie on the eastern edge of Indian Territory ( now the Dakotas ). He became one of nearly 6,000 men under the command of General Sibley to spend that summer in several battles at Devils Lake and Big Mound (site of present day Bismark, North Dakota) against the Sioux.
In 1863, he was hospitalized at St. Louis, Missouri during the Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing). In September he was attached to the 16th Army Corp, commanded by General U.S. Grant and served through the Battels of Tupelo and Pontchartrain.
According to records in the Minnesota Historical Society, his Company D was the leader in the first charge in the Battle of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee during the Winter of 1863-64. Then, Cornelius's military career ended during the Battle of Nashville.
He became the first to leave southern Minnesota in 1883. He worked the Northwoods lumber camps, then as a teamster for James Hill who was turning his Red River flatboat business into the beginning of the Great Northern Railway.
In 1887, Cornelius settled on a quarter of land in Sletton Township, Polk County, Minnesota. His brother Oliver came north in 1887 and settled in King Township. His parents came to Sletton Township as did his younger brothers in 1890.
In 1888, Cornelius married another homesteader, Ingeborg A. Lohn and seven children were born.
64. Ole - 1889
65. No Name (Andrews twin)
66. Andrew - 1892
67. Ole the Younger - 1898
68. Anna - 1899
69. Klara - 1900
70. Ida - 1901
During the last three years of the century, Cornelius lost several children, parents, and many relatives in the Fosston area. Me moved from Polk County about 1901, and every search has shed no light on this adventurous man.
29. OLIVER K. RYALEN
b. Feb 23, 1845 - d. Nov 10, 1914
Like his brother Cornelius, Oliver never used the name of his father, but signed his name Oliver K (for Knutson).
Baptized in Tolga parish on March 26, 1845, his witnesses were Anne and Paul Iverson (9) and aunt Maren (13). He was seven when he immigrated from Norway and was schooled in Wisconsin and Belle Creek, Minnesota.
At age, nineteen he enlisted in Company L, 1st Minnesota Regiment of Artillery and served at Chattanooga, Tenneseee. Three months after the wars end, he returned to Belle Creek.
In November, 1869 while working as a hired hand for Zumbrota farmer Harvin McIntire, he married Rainie Tvito (Rosa Thompson), a daughter of Thor and Kari Tvito from Aust Agdar near Bergen, Norway. In 1887, he moved north to Polk County with a family of eight children where he setteld in King Township. He remained there for fifteen years.
Following several bad farming years, he moved with the Great Northern Railroad west to Steele County, North Dakota where he remained until 1910.
When Mountrail County in western North Dakota was platted in 1912, he had squatted on land near the Missouri River and built a lean-to shack. His older sons Carl, and Oscar joined him in 1914 when Carl filed homestead rights on his fathers already broken land.
Olover died that year at the age of 69 years, nine months. Such as the case of his parents before him, his wife Ranie died seven days later, on November 17th. They are buried in Bethlehem Lutheran Cemetery, Epworth Township, Mountrail County, North Dakota.
There were nine children.
71 Christine - 1870
72. Kari - 1872
73. Oscar Cornelius - 1874
74. Kari the Elder - 1875
75. Victor - 1878
76. Karl Johann - 1882
77. Albin Oliver - 1884
78. Klara Elise - 1886
79. Alma Oletta - 1889
30. ERLING (ELI) OLSON RYALEN
b. Jan 6, 1842 - d. (probably at sea, or in Wisconsin)
This last of Ole's sons born in Norway does not appear on records following his immigration from Norway as a three year old. He is presumed to have died during their eight year stay in Wisconsin or, as did so many other children, during the voyage in steerage across the Atlantic.
31. ERLING (ELI) K. RYALEN
b. 1859 - d. 1926
During his adulthood, he was named for the brother born earlier in Norway. Born and schooled in Wisconsin, he leased the remaining 80 acres of his fathers Belle Creek, Minnesota farm on April 23, 1883. He remained single throughout his life, and was head farmer in Belle Creek until it was sold in 1891. He moved north to Polk County with his parents in 1891.
32.OLE K. RYALEN JR.
b. 1861 - d. Unknown
Born in Goodhue County, Minnesota. He moved to Polk County in 1891. There is no record of a marriage or children, and he appears to have left that place with his older brother Cornelius about 1901.
33. ADOLPH K. RYALEN
b. 1865 - d. Mid-1930's
He was the namesake of an older brother born and died in Norway (26). There were two childrren born to his marriage to Louisa (surname unknown)both of who died within a two year period.
80. Clarence
81. Willie
34. ELIZABETH OLSDATTER RYALEN HANSON
b. May 20, 1866 - May 25, 1925
Elizabeth was the ninth and last child born to Ole Knutson and Kjesti Ryalen and, of interest, the only daughter. She married Faber Hanson at the Minneola Church in Goodhue County, Minnesota. Faber, an immigrant carpenter from Norway, was born December 16th, 1863. Their marriage took place on June 3, 1890 and they moved in 1891 to Polk County where they homesteaded in Sletton Township until her death in 1925.
Faber and Elizabeth lost four children. When she died, Faber sold the darm and moved with two daughters to Mountrail County, North Dakota. They spent their first year with his daughter Jessie (87) and her husband Carl Ryland (76). Faber stayed on as a hired hand to Carl until his death in 1935. He is buried in the Ryland family plot at Bethlehem Lutheran Cemetery.
There children were:
82. Christina - 1892
83. Anna - 1894
84. Fredi - 1896
85. Olga - 1899
86. Olga the Younger - 1902
87. Jensine (Jessie) - 1904
88. Elma - 1907
89. Fredi the Younger - 1909
90. Cora - 1912
35. PEDER JONSON LOSEN
b. 1864 - d. unknown
He was the first of many children born to Maren Knutsdatter Ryalen and the only member of American birth to return to visit his mother's birthplace on Ryalen Northern in Norway. This occurred during the Centennial of Norwegian Independence (see Leiv Ryalen letter).
A native of Emmett County, Iowa. Peder described his family as living in Decorah in 1912 and 1913 and his age at about fifty years. He recorded his name officially after that as Peder J. Losen. He married Anna Iverson and their children were:
91. Mamie - 1890
92. Jon - 1891
93. Phillip - 1894
94. Carl - 1895
95. Alfred - 1897
96. Paul Arnold - 1900
97. George Sexton - 1902
98. Selma Beattie - 1904
99. Ruth Othelia - 1906
36. OLE JONSON LOSEN
b. about 1906 - d. unknown
Ole was born near Hosper, Emmett County, Iowa. He was a musician and played his own compositions. No marriage or children are recorded.
Based on the typed entry in the original manuscript. The "Sixth Generation" ends at this point.
The following listings are indicated as the "Eighth Generation" however there is no listing of a Seventh. I can only assume that this was simply a counting error of my father and what is listed on the manuscript as "The Eighth Generation" was intended as the Seventh. I read through the manuscript and from what I have seen following each outline, can determine that this is the case.
The entry for Number 37 ( Peder Larson ) will begin in the next chapter "The Seventh Generation".
In addition, to explain the numbering system, the number with each listed name can be traced by comparing it to the indented offspring listings. For instance to follow the line of the above listed "36. OLE JONSON LOSEN" simply back track through the indented offspring until number 36 is located in the previous pages. As one can see, directly above the listing of number 36, OLE JONSON LOSEN, one will find the last entry in the offspring list as number 99. (Ruth Othelia) To locate OLE JONSON LOSEN'S parent, simply scroll back to find number 36 in the indented offspring list.
THE FIFTH GENERATION
5. Marit Amundsdatter Ryalen
b. 1770 d. unknown
The history of this first daughter of Amund Pederson Smed and Kirsti the Elder can be traced to eastern Hodalen. The first child in our lineage to be christened with the surname Ryalen married and lived in the community of Brynhildsgard. There is no record of children.
6. KNUT AMUNDSON RYALEN
b 1774 d. 1851, in the Fall
Born on Ryalen Northern, probably schooled in rural Hodalen or the town of Tolga, he was unlikely to have received any of the church ordinances in the Tolga church. He was 66 years when that place was built and organised. It is known that he did become a member and was buried there.
He married in 1805, when he was 31 years old to Maren Engebretsdatter of Slabakken. She was born at Slabakken in 1781. They had one child a year later and she died in 1808. Their son was named :
(10) Amund
In 1811 at the age of 37 years Knut married a second time to Sigrid Olesdatter of Oien. She was the daughter of Ole Oien of Ovresjodalen and born in 1786. At the age of 26 and less than two years after this marriage Sigrid died. There were no children from this marriage.
Knut was at age 39 when he received from his 75 year old father Amund, the deed for all of Ryalen Northern. He paid the price of 100 Riksdalerand married a third time. She was Elen Olesdatter, daughter of Ole oien of Ovresjodalen and younger sister of Knut's second wife. Elen was born on April 25th, 1790. At the age of 62, she emigrated to and died in America, probably en route to or in, Wisconsin after 1852.
From Knuts third marriage there were added the half brothers and sisters of Amund:
(11) Kirsti, a daughter
(12) Ole, a son
(13) Maren, a daughter
(14) Laurentse, a daughter
(15) Tyri, a daughter
(16) Knut, a son
FOOTNOTE:
It is interesting to recall that during the original ownership of Ryalen Northern, a portion of the land given by the widow Ostensen to her son Jon included "half of Ovresjodalen which he called Vestgard..." To note the the last two wives of Knut were from Ovresjodalen indicates that, after all, there may have been a remote relationship between that early Ostensen family and the descendants of Jacob.
7. KARI AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN SIMENSEN
b. 1779 - d. unknown
Born and raised on Ryalen Northern, this second daughter of Amund and Kirsti the Elder moved to Stoen Farm where she married Anders Simensen. There have been found no additional record of fmaily.
8. ANNE AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN IVERSEN
No birth or death records have been found. Born on Ryalen Northern she married Paul Iversen of Moen and both were probably members of the Tolga church. They were witnesses or godparents for her niece Maren (13). There is no record of family.
9. TYRI AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN JENSEN
b. 1789 d. unknown
She was born on Ryalen Northern as the last child of Amund Pedersen Smed and Kirsti the Elder. She married Jon Jensen of Storbekken. There is no record of family.
b. 1770 d. unknown
The history of this first daughter of Amund Pederson Smed and Kirsti the Elder can be traced to eastern Hodalen. The first child in our lineage to be christened with the surname Ryalen married and lived in the community of Brynhildsgard. There is no record of children.
6. KNUT AMUNDSON RYALEN
b 1774 d. 1851, in the Fall
Born on Ryalen Northern, probably schooled in rural Hodalen or the town of Tolga, he was unlikely to have received any of the church ordinances in the Tolga church. He was 66 years when that place was built and organised. It is known that he did become a member and was buried there.
He married in 1805, when he was 31 years old to Maren Engebretsdatter of Slabakken. She was born at Slabakken in 1781. They had one child a year later and she died in 1808. Their son was named :
(10) Amund
In 1811 at the age of 37 years Knut married a second time to Sigrid Olesdatter of Oien. She was the daughter of Ole Oien of Ovresjodalen and born in 1786. At the age of 26 and less than two years after this marriage Sigrid died. There were no children from this marriage.
Knut was at age 39 when he received from his 75 year old father Amund, the deed for all of Ryalen Northern. He paid the price of 100 Riksdalerand married a third time. She was Elen Olesdatter, daughter of Ole oien of Ovresjodalen and younger sister of Knut's second wife. Elen was born on April 25th, 1790. At the age of 62, she emigrated to and died in America, probably en route to or in, Wisconsin after 1852.
From Knuts third marriage there were added the half brothers and sisters of Amund:
(11) Kirsti, a daughter
(12) Ole, a son
(13) Maren, a daughter
(14) Laurentse, a daughter
(15) Tyri, a daughter
(16) Knut, a son
FOOTNOTE:
It is interesting to recall that during the original ownership of Ryalen Northern, a portion of the land given by the widow Ostensen to her son Jon included "half of Ovresjodalen which he called Vestgard..." To note the the last two wives of Knut were from Ovresjodalen indicates that, after all, there may have been a remote relationship between that early Ostensen family and the descendants of Jacob.
7. KARI AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN SIMENSEN
b. 1779 - d. unknown
Born and raised on Ryalen Northern, this second daughter of Amund and Kirsti the Elder moved to Stoen Farm where she married Anders Simensen. There have been found no additional record of fmaily.
8. ANNE AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN IVERSEN
No birth or death records have been found. Born on Ryalen Northern she married Paul Iversen of Moen and both were probably members of the Tolga church. They were witnesses or godparents for her niece Maren (13). There is no record of family.
9. TYRI AMUNDSDATTER RYALEN JENSEN
b. 1789 d. unknown
She was born on Ryalen Northern as the last child of Amund Pedersen Smed and Kirsti the Elder. She married Jon Jensen of Storbekken. There is no record of family.
THE FOURTH GENERATION
AMUND PEDERSON SMED
b. 1738 d. 1824
He was born on the Smedgaarten in ingelen and in 1772 married Kirsti the Elder Knutsdatter, daughter of the new owner of Ryalen.
Upon this marriage he moved from Smedgaarten and took possession of Ryalen and became the patriarch of sons named Amund for many generations to follow.
In 1805, at the age of 67 years, he paid a debt to Jens Finn of Roros that had been held against Ryalen by Rasmus Finn for forty two years. In 1813, eleven years before his death, he gave the deed for what remained of Ryalen Northern to his son Knut for a fee of 100 Riksdaler ( old Norske currency) or about 225 US dollars. As a good businessman he "retained the right to repossess in case the son should sell or die."
Amund and Kirsti reared five children:
(5) Marit, a daughter
(6) Knut, a son
(7) Kari, a daughter
(8) Anne, a daughter
(9) Tyri, a daughter
FOOTNOTE:
Before the marriage of Amund Pederson Smed to Kirsti Knutsdatter united the descendants of Jacob Torsteinson to those of Peder Ostensen and the Ryalen Farm, Nils Pedersen had remained head farmer of Ryalen for 23 years before his death in 1758.
Upon his death, what remained of Ryalen after he relinquished The Bakken to his brother, was willed to wife Berit. She in turn, gave its management to their son Jon. During a period of five years that followed Ryalen went into debt to the same Rasmus Finn, a speculator. During this time of indebtedness Berit conveyed to son Jon, "half of Ovresjodalen which he called Vestgard. Upon foreclosure of Ryalen shoe moved with her son to Vestgard in 1763 and Ryalen Northern was sold away.
From 1763 to 1768the land of Ryalen lay dormant and in 1769 a man named Knut Iverson of Broen Farm in Tolga married Marit Larsdatter of Ryalen Western, and he purchased all of Ryalen Northern from Jens, son of Rasmus Finn. He left a balance of a contract and offered this equity as a dowry to his daughter Kirsti the Elder upon her marriage to Amund pederson Smed.
As Amund Pederson Smed moved across from Vingelen to the eastern slopes of the valley to Hodalen there is no records found of his great grandfather Jacobs farm Fordert, nor has there been found a trace of Smedgaarten in Vingelen, the farm on which he had been born and had remained in his family for three generations.
The names of Peder Ostensen and his wife Berit, their sons Nils and Jon and their grandson Jon are not listed in family lineage. The are not ancestors except for the fact they wrought into prominence the name we call our own.
There is no reliable source for the name Ryalen. It has been connected to the part of a hand piece that guarded the wrist on a scram axe or sword. There is also indication it came from the description of a mountainous field or meadow. It is not a true word in the Norwegian vocabulary.
The history of Norway and its early dependence on the sword justifies the word. The geography of that country, and the terrain on which that place still stands is enough evidence to believe either interpretation.
b. 1738 d. 1824
He was born on the Smedgaarten in ingelen and in 1772 married Kirsti the Elder Knutsdatter, daughter of the new owner of Ryalen.
Upon this marriage he moved from Smedgaarten and took possession of Ryalen and became the patriarch of sons named Amund for many generations to follow.
In 1805, at the age of 67 years, he paid a debt to Jens Finn of Roros that had been held against Ryalen by Rasmus Finn for forty two years. In 1813, eleven years before his death, he gave the deed for what remained of Ryalen Northern to his son Knut for a fee of 100 Riksdaler ( old Norske currency) or about 225 US dollars. As a good businessman he "retained the right to repossess in case the son should sell or die."
Amund and Kirsti reared five children:
(5) Marit, a daughter
(6) Knut, a son
(7) Kari, a daughter
(8) Anne, a daughter
(9) Tyri, a daughter
FOOTNOTE:
Before the marriage of Amund Pederson Smed to Kirsti Knutsdatter united the descendants of Jacob Torsteinson to those of Peder Ostensen and the Ryalen Farm, Nils Pedersen had remained head farmer of Ryalen for 23 years before his death in 1758.
Upon his death, what remained of Ryalen after he relinquished The Bakken to his brother, was willed to wife Berit. She in turn, gave its management to their son Jon. During a period of five years that followed Ryalen went into debt to the same Rasmus Finn, a speculator. During this time of indebtedness Berit conveyed to son Jon, "half of Ovresjodalen which he called Vestgard. Upon foreclosure of Ryalen shoe moved with her son to Vestgard in 1763 and Ryalen Northern was sold away.
From 1763 to 1768the land of Ryalen lay dormant and in 1769 a man named Knut Iverson of Broen Farm in Tolga married Marit Larsdatter of Ryalen Western, and he purchased all of Ryalen Northern from Jens, son of Rasmus Finn. He left a balance of a contract and offered this equity as a dowry to his daughter Kirsti the Elder upon her marriage to Amund pederson Smed.
As Amund Pederson Smed moved across from Vingelen to the eastern slopes of the valley to Hodalen there is no records found of his great grandfather Jacobs farm Fordert, nor has there been found a trace of Smedgaarten in Vingelen, the farm on which he had been born and had remained in his family for three generations.
The names of Peder Ostensen and his wife Berit, their sons Nils and Jon and their grandson Jon are not listed in family lineage. The are not ancestors except for the fact they wrought into prominence the name we call our own.
There is no reliable source for the name Ryalen. It has been connected to the part of a hand piece that guarded the wrist on a scram axe or sword. There is also indication it came from the description of a mountainous field or meadow. It is not a true word in the Norwegian vocabulary.
The history of Norway and its early dependence on the sword justifies the word. The geography of that country, and the terrain on which that place still stands is enough evidence to believe either interpretation.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
THE THIRD GENERATION
PEDER TORSTEINSON SMED
b. 1701 d. unknown
This only known grandson of Jacob Torsteinson and son of Torstein Jacobson Smed was born on the farm Smedgaarten in Vingelen and as his name indicated, was the oldest if not the only child of Torstein and Ingeborg. In 1732 he married Barbro Amundsdatter of Vingelen, inherited and remained on his fathers farm. There is no record of family other than one son:
(4) Amund
Footnotes:
When Peder married Barbro at Smedgaarten, on Ryalen Northern across the valley Nils married in 1735 to Berit Svensdatter and became the owner of Ryalen. On February 16th of that year, Nils conveyed to his younger brouther Jon a "piece of land east of the Engaa brook including meadows at Rubrosten, Nykassa, and a meadow at Gran in Galadalen, together with a share and part of one quarter calfskin ( old deed) use of Ryalen in return he answer and pay other taxes and royal payments." This division of Ryalen Northern became known as "The Bakken" (the slope") Thirty fours years later the Bakken would disappear in debt to Rasmus Finn of Roros.
b. 1701 d. unknown
This only known grandson of Jacob Torsteinson and son of Torstein Jacobson Smed was born on the farm Smedgaarten in Vingelen and as his name indicated, was the oldest if not the only child of Torstein and Ingeborg. In 1732 he married Barbro Amundsdatter of Vingelen, inherited and remained on his fathers farm. There is no record of family other than one son:
(4) Amund
Footnotes:
When Peder married Barbro at Smedgaarten, on Ryalen Northern across the valley Nils married in 1735 to Berit Svensdatter and became the owner of Ryalen. On February 16th of that year, Nils conveyed to his younger brouther Jon a "piece of land east of the Engaa brook including meadows at Rubrosten, Nykassa, and a meadow at Gran in Galadalen, together with a share and part of one quarter calfskin ( old deed) use of Ryalen in return he answer and pay other taxes and royal payments." This division of Ryalen Northern became known as "The Bakken" (the slope") Thirty fours years later the Bakken would disappear in debt to Rasmus Finn of Roros.
THE SECOND GENERATION
TORSTEIN JACOBSEN SMED
b.1655-d. a 1720
It is a certain fact that he was born on the Nordfjord in western Norway, the known birthplace of his father, and came with him between the ages of eleven and sixteen years to Vingelen in Tolga township.
There is no reason to believe that all the proper church ordinances and the required confirmation were not performed that was the ultimate bridge between his childhood and the responsibility of manhood. The history of Norway and Sweden also confirms that he would have served the mandatory conscription of two years in the military under the Swedish monarch during the invasion of his country by Peter the Great of Russia.
The first real fact of our ancestry begins with this man when he married Ingeborg Andersdatter of Tolga. She was born in 1660 in Tolga and died in 1733 - likely in Vingelen.
Torstein did not inherit his fathers farm nor does history tell the disposition of that place named "Fordet", but it does indicate it was either sold before he became of age, or there was an older brother or sister who traditionally would have become owners. Rather, Torstein upon his marriage built up a second farm he called Smedgaard in Vingelen which he derived from the name of his occupation as a blacksmith.
There was only one son of record:
(3) Peder
FOOTNOTE:
In 1696, Torstein Jacobson Smed adopted the new surname, married and built up his farm Smedgaarten. In Hodalen across the valley, a first son was born to Jon and Marit Ostensen on Ryalen Northern and they named him Nils.
In 1701 when Torstein's son Pedr was born in Vingelen a second son coame to Jon and Marit on Ryalen Northern and they named him Jon.
b.1655-d. a 1720
It is a certain fact that he was born on the Nordfjord in western Norway, the known birthplace of his father, and came with him between the ages of eleven and sixteen years to Vingelen in Tolga township.
There is no reason to believe that all the proper church ordinances and the required confirmation were not performed that was the ultimate bridge between his childhood and the responsibility of manhood. The history of Norway and Sweden also confirms that he would have served the mandatory conscription of two years in the military under the Swedish monarch during the invasion of his country by Peter the Great of Russia.
The first real fact of our ancestry begins with this man when he married Ingeborg Andersdatter of Tolga. She was born in 1660 in Tolga and died in 1733 - likely in Vingelen.
Torstein did not inherit his fathers farm nor does history tell the disposition of that place named "Fordet", but it does indicate it was either sold before he became of age, or there was an older brother or sister who traditionally would have become owners. Rather, Torstein upon his marriage built up a second farm he called Smedgaard in Vingelen which he derived from the name of his occupation as a blacksmith.
There was only one son of record:
(3) Peder
FOOTNOTE:
In 1696, Torstein Jacobson Smed adopted the new surname, married and built up his farm Smedgaarten. In Hodalen across the valley, a first son was born to Jon and Marit Ostensen on Ryalen Northern and they named him Nils.
In 1701 when Torstein's son Pedr was born in Vingelen a second son coame to Jon and Marit on Ryalen Northern and they named him Jon.
THE FIRST GENERATION
My father, began his story with the following paragraph, followed by the entry of the oldest recorded member of our family.
"As this record evolves, footnotes have been added from time to time to supplement the description and history of each individual by giving a history as well of the environment in which they lived. In the case of the first generations it is important to understand the reasons the surname continued to change several times before the ultimate name Ryland appeared."
The First Generation
JACOB TORSTEINSON b. 1620 d. 1705
"The oldest is a person named Jacob Torsteinson from Nordfjord, I do not know exactly when or where he was born".
This passage in a letter written by descendants Leiv Ryalen from Oslo, Norway in 1976gives a faint glimpse into the life of our First Progentitor. From it is learned that the area of his birth was along the Nordfjord which flows into the North Sea on the west coast of Norway between the old cities of Alesund and Bergen. It is a high and rugged region with inlets and fjords flowing between mountains that rise literally thousands of feet up from sea level.
Any possible occupations in his time was limited to seafaring trades along that fjord and it is the fabled anchorage of Viking traders, explorers and raiders who lived eight generations before the life of this first traced ancestor.
Small families were rare and it is probable there were births of brothers and sisters but the time of his birth can only closely be guessed by the known birth of one of his sons and according to the time he migrated from that region to Hedmark Fylke (county) and Osterdalen (Eastern Valley). The letter from Leiv Ryalen continued, "He came to Vingelen in Nord Osterdalen in about 1665-1670 and built up a farm."
Vingelen is an out of the way place, laying about 2300 feet above sea level and 700 feet above the Glomma River that flows from that area to the south coast near Oslo.
Below on on the east bank of the river lays the "Tolga Station town".
Jacob would have been about 45 years old when he settled and built the farm he called "Fordet" and where he must have lived the remainder of his life.
Without further study, there is every reason to believe that he, if not with a wife or other children, was buried in the Vingelen parish between thirty and forty years before the Tolga church in the valley was established on the west bank of the Glomma River across from Tolga in 1740.
Jacob's only known relative was a son:
(2) Torstein
Footnote: From the beginning of the Viking Age the head of a family was considered a King that dominated all the land he could physically and financially support. When Norway and Sweden came under the rule of a single monarch these small kingdoms were retained intact and given boundaries, a tax roll number, and description.
Nearing the end of the 16th Century there existed one such kingdom in Hedmar that came under the ownership of a man called Peder Ostenson who received his property in the year 1685 when it was first taxed to an individual. This land lay on higher, mountainous ground that stretches along the eastern slopes of the Osterdalen or Glomma River Valley. This area is known as Hodalen.
When Peder Ostensen received title to his land in Hodalen, Jacob Torsteinson had built up Fordet across the valley some ten years before. Eleven years later in 1696, Peder Ostenson's son Jon married Marit Nilsdatter and received a lifetime lease to a section of his fathers land and it became known as Ryalen Nord. The remaining parcel of Peder Ostensen was sold away to Ole Pedersen who adopted Ryalen as his surname which remained in the family until 1780 when it was condensed to Rye. This second property became known as Ryalen Vestre.
"As this record evolves, footnotes have been added from time to time to supplement the description and history of each individual by giving a history as well of the environment in which they lived. In the case of the first generations it is important to understand the reasons the surname continued to change several times before the ultimate name Ryland appeared."
The First Generation
JACOB TORSTEINSON b. 1620 d. 1705
"The oldest is a person named Jacob Torsteinson from Nordfjord, I do not know exactly when or where he was born".
This passage in a letter written by descendants Leiv Ryalen from Oslo, Norway in 1976gives a faint glimpse into the life of our First Progentitor. From it is learned that the area of his birth was along the Nordfjord which flows into the North Sea on the west coast of Norway between the old cities of Alesund and Bergen. It is a high and rugged region with inlets and fjords flowing between mountains that rise literally thousands of feet up from sea level.
Any possible occupations in his time was limited to seafaring trades along that fjord and it is the fabled anchorage of Viking traders, explorers and raiders who lived eight generations before the life of this first traced ancestor.
Small families were rare and it is probable there were births of brothers and sisters but the time of his birth can only closely be guessed by the known birth of one of his sons and according to the time he migrated from that region to Hedmark Fylke (county) and Osterdalen (Eastern Valley). The letter from Leiv Ryalen continued, "He came to Vingelen in Nord Osterdalen in about 1665-1670 and built up a farm."
Vingelen is an out of the way place, laying about 2300 feet above sea level and 700 feet above the Glomma River that flows from that area to the south coast near Oslo.
Below on on the east bank of the river lays the "Tolga Station town".
Jacob would have been about 45 years old when he settled and built the farm he called "Fordet" and where he must have lived the remainder of his life.
Without further study, there is every reason to believe that he, if not with a wife or other children, was buried in the Vingelen parish between thirty and forty years before the Tolga church in the valley was established on the west bank of the Glomma River across from Tolga in 1740.
Jacob's only known relative was a son:
(2) Torstein
Footnote: From the beginning of the Viking Age the head of a family was considered a King that dominated all the land he could physically and financially support. When Norway and Sweden came under the rule of a single monarch these small kingdoms were retained intact and given boundaries, a tax roll number, and description.
Nearing the end of the 16th Century there existed one such kingdom in Hedmar that came under the ownership of a man called Peder Ostenson who received his property in the year 1685 when it was first taxed to an individual. This land lay on higher, mountainous ground that stretches along the eastern slopes of the Osterdalen or Glomma River Valley. This area is known as Hodalen.
When Peder Ostensen received title to his land in Hodalen, Jacob Torsteinson had built up Fordet across the valley some ten years before. Eleven years later in 1696, Peder Ostenson's son Jon married Marit Nilsdatter and received a lifetime lease to a section of his fathers land and it became known as Ryalen Nord. The remaining parcel of Peder Ostensen was sold away to Ole Pedersen who adopted Ryalen as his surname which remained in the family until 1780 when it was condensed to Rye. This second property became known as Ryalen Vestre.
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