Finnestad Ancestry

Standing, left to right: Frances, Alice and Lillian Seated: Caroline and Ole Jr Finnestad I would guess this photo was taken sometime between 1915 and 1917. I base this on the previous photo I have of Frances, taken in 1914 of her confirmation and Lillian was not married until 1918. This is the only photo I have seen of my great great grandparents, Ole and Caroline Finnestad. Thank you to Joan Bays, the great granddaughter of Ole and Caroline for providing this photo.

Goodwin, the oldest son of Rasmus and Carrie Finnestad died November 7, 1914. He was the grandson of Ole and Mari Finnestad. The marker indicates 1913, however the date is incorrect. According to a Canadian website, he had passed away in 1914: http://www.ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=1036531 Inaccuracies and mistakes are quite common when attempting to trace history. Goodwin is buried at the Saskatchewan River Church Cemetery. Rasmus was only 22 when he passed away.

Bert, the second to youngest son of Ole and Mari Finnestad died May 22, 1914. Bert is buried at the Saskatchewan River Church Cemetery. Bert was a young 52 when he passed away. The Cemetery is located near Outlook, Saskatchewan. Here are directions should you wish to visit: Drive south from Saskatoon 50.3 km on 219 and 11.8 km west on Sask River Church Road. The legal land description is NW-20-30-7-W3, at 51.5863 North Latitude and 106.9713 West Longitude. The cemetery is 17.9 kilometers (26 minutes) from Outlook, Saskatchewan, CA Depart Outlook on HWY-15 (North) and travel 70 m. Turn RIGHT to stay on HWY-15 for 3.3 km. Turn LEFT (North) onto Local road for 11.4 km. Bear RIGHT (East) onto Local road named Sask River Church road for 2.7 km

The above record from Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee County, Illinois indicates Kenneth, the second son of Oliver and Mary Finnestad was baptised December 21, 1913. Kenneth is the great-grandson of Ole and Mari Finnestad. In attendance was Christopher Risetter, his uncle (by marriage to his aunt Clara), Herman Quitno, probably an uncle on his grandmother Caroline's side and his aunt Alice Finnestad.

The above photo was taken of the confirmation class of 1913 at Calvary Lutheran Church on Perry Road, Lee County, Illinois. Lillian Finnestad is seated in the bottom row, far right. She was confirmed October 19, 1913. In attendance were her parents, Ole and Caroline Finnestad. Lillian was 14 at the time of her confirmation. She is the granddaughter of Ole Sr and Mari Finnestad. The photo below was taken of the confirmation class of 1914 at Calvary Lutheran Church on Perry Road, Lee County, Illinois. Frances Finnestad is seated in the bottom row, 2nd from the right. She was confirmed November 8, 1914. In attendance were her parents, Ole and Caroline Finnestad. Frances was 14 at the time of her confirmation. She is the granddaughter of Ole Sr and Mari Finnestad.

As I had stated on a previous post, Ole and Mari Finnestad's youngest son, Rasmus had left Illinois and moved to Iowa. The passport application (shown below) for Rasmus' wife, Carrie, indicates they had moved to Saskatchewan in December 1912. Bert and family had already been living in Canada since 1904. Below is a little bit of history from the book provided by Rasmus and Carrie's granddaughter, Carmen (nee Finnestad) Hurd.

The grandson of Ole and Mari, and the son of Ole Jr and Caroline Finnestad, Oliver was married to Mary Kurth on December 18, 1911. I do not have a photo of from their wedding, but here is a picture of Mary, I am guessing was taken sometime in the 1950's. Oliver and Mary were my great grandparents, though Oliver had long passed away before I was born and I do not know if I ever had met Mary who had passed away when I was about 3 years old. If anyone has a photo of Oliver and Mary on their wedding day, please let me know.

Of Ole and Mari's children I was able to track down, I have been unable to locate the whereabouts of Ole and Mari Finnestad's daughter, Mary for the 1910 US Federal Census. I imagine getting 100% accuracy of all US residents is quite a difficult task. She does pop up in 1920 which I will post at a later date. Bert and family were already living in Saskatchewan by 1910. Maria, as I had stated in a previous post, had died at the age of 3 in Norway. The twins, Iverdine and Bertha, along with Rakel I have been unable to trace and do not know whether they left Norway, following their siblings and parents.

In 1910, Ole and Mari Finnestad's eldest daughter, Elizabeth and her husband, Ole Andreas Knutson were living in Flagg township, Ogle County, Illinois. Also living with them at the time was Elizabeth's younger sister, Sarah. A grandson is listed by the name of Albert Johnson who was 11 at the time of the census, born in Iowa. I have not been able to locate his parents names and proceed with locating all of the descendants of Elizabeth and Ole Knutson as of this post. If I do, I will be updating the Finnestad family tree spreadsheet.

Ole Jr and wife Caroline were still living in Alto township, Lee, Illinois by the time of the 1910 US Federal Census, along with their children, Oliver, (note they indicate "Olive" - another example of errors and inaccuracies one encounters when trying to research history), Alice, Evelyn, Lillian and Frances. Ole and Caroline's daughter, Clara, had married a year earlier and was living with her new husband, Christopher Risetter in Willow Creek Township, Lee, County, Illinois. Also living with them in 1910 was a hired hand by the name of George Walker.

I meant to post chronologically, so forgive the step back in time. By the time the 1910 US Federal Census came around, Rasmus and Carrie Finnestad, along with their children Mabel, Goodwin, Clara and Oluf had left Illinois and were living in Fenton Township, Kossuth County, Iowa. Above is a copy of the census record. Rasmus was the youngest child of Ole and Mari Finnestad.

The above photo was taken of the confirmation class of 1911 at Calvary Lutheran Church on Perry Road, Lee County, Illinois. Carrie Evelyn Finnestad is seated in the middle row, 3rd from the left. To her right is Reverend Eittreim. She was confirmed August 27, 1911. In attendance was her father, Ole Jr Finnestad. Carrie was 14 at the time of her confirmation. She is the daughter of Ole and Caroline Finnestad and the granddaughter of Ole Sr and Mari Finnestad. Note the spelling of Eveline, which is either a spelling error or another way of spelling Evelyn.

The above record from Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee County, Illinois indicates the youngest daughter of Ole and Caroline Finnestad was baptised rather late in life. She was baptized at the age of 8 on February 15, 1909 the same day as her older sister, Lettie was married. Note the record lists her middle name as Julina, which I have also seen on documents as Julia. In attendance for her baptism were her brother, Oliver Finnestad, and Jane, Coral and Herman Quitno, possibly cousins.

The above news article appeared February 2, 1909, announcing the pending marriage of Ole and Caroline's daughter, Clara Lettie Finnestad to Christopher Risetter. Clara and Christopher were married February 15, 1909 at the Calvary Lutheran Church on Perry Road in Lee County, Illinois, according to their log entry. Clara was the first child of Ole and Caroline to be married. Listed in attendance were her brother, Oliver, Jane Quitno, most likely a cousin, and her father, Ole Jr.

Alice Marie Finnestad, granddaughter of Ole and Mari Finnestad, was confirmed at Calvary Lutheran Church on November 3, 1907. She was 14 at the time of her confirmation. In attendance was her father, Ole Finnestad (Jr). In the photo above, Alice is in the second row on the far right.

The first photo above is Ole and Mari Finnestad's son Berthel (or Bert) and wife Sikke (or Celia). Bert was the first Finnestad to head out of Lee County, Illinois and moved to Saskatchewan, Canada in 1904, according to the history (see middle photo above). Younger brother Rasmus and family eventually followed via a short stint in Iowa. The bottom photo shows the home where Bert and family resided in Canada.

The above photo is Oliver Finnestad, my great grandfather. According to Joan Bay's description on the back of the photo, Oliver was 16 at the time of the photo, which was probably taken in 1904. (He was born October 28, 1887). Oliver is the son of Ole Jr and Caroline Finnestad and grandson of Ole Sr and Mari Finnestad.

The above photo was taken in 1904 of the confirmation class of 1903 at Calvary Lutheran Church on Perry Road, Lee County, Illinois. Clara Lettie (Olette) Finnestad is seated in the middle row, 3rd from the left. Clara was confirmed December 6, 1903. In attendance was her father, Ole Jr Finnestad. Clara was 14 at the time of her confirmation. She is the granddaughter of Ole Sr and Mari Finnestad.

Today I received in the mail several photos which I will be posting. These are the first photos of my great, great grandfather and grandmother, Ole Jr and Caroline Finnestad and my great grandfather Oliver Finnestad. A million thanks to Joan Bays for taking the time to copy and mail these photos to me. Joan is the: - great, great granddaughter of Ole Sr and Mari Finnestad - great granddaughter of Ole Jr and Caroline Finnestad - granddaughter of Oliver and Mary Finnestad - daughter of Lois (nee Finnestad) and Donald Allen

Ole Sr, wife Mari, daughter Sarah and granddaughter Dina Josephine's headstone was installed this past Sunday, January 4, 2009 at the Union Cemetery, located at 19 Perry Road (corner of Perry Road and County Line Road) in Lee County, Illinois. Here are the photos, provided by the Unger Horner Funeral Home of Rochelle, Illinois.