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.
