INTRODUCTION

Nearly forty years ago, my father embarked on a lengthy project that would consume the majority of his last twenty years. A long held interest in his family history, fueled by listening to the reminisces of older relatives resulted in a family story nearly 400 years in the making. He researched a family line that began about the time the first Puritans stepped ashore from the decks of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, and ends roughly with the birth of my oldest son in 1979.

Our family has spanned the centuries from a humble beginning on a Norwegian mountain farm to many separate branches in a far flung America.

In this blog, my intent is to transpose from the old paper manuscripts and notes the family tree that my father composed, relying mainly on his own composition.

It must be understood that several decades have passed since my father typed his last page. It is with the knowledge and assumption that in the years since, updates and corrections have taken place as new facts have been learned which are unknown to me. It is my hope that anyone with more accurate information would take the time to note that in this blog.

Also it must be known that my father was not a professional researcher. As such he had limited knowledge of maintaining a proper bibliography of any other works he may or may not have used to help his story along. If at any point it becomes apparent that my fathers words mirror the written word of another, it is completely without my knowledge and as a result of this uncertainty, the manuscript can never be copywritten or published beyond this blog, which is intended purely for the enjoyment of family members and other interested readers.