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Finnestad Family Tree update

About a month ago, with the assistance of a real live Norwegian who was able to decipher some of the Norwegian gothic script from the parish wedding document of my great great great grandparents, Ole and Mari Finnestad, I learned where Ole was born.

Once I was able to confirm that Ole Olson (Finnestad) was born at the Søndenå farm, in Sauda, Rogaland County I was able to track back the Finnestad family as far back as 1390.

Considering the Black Plague was in 1350 AND documents in the middle ages are rather rare, I am not sure whether I'll be able to go much further. I have yet to list these "pre-Ole Olson Finnestad" ancestors on my spreadsheet but will try to do so in the next few weeks.

Also, with the recent help of Rose Kolberg, the great great granddaughter of Ole and Mari Finnestad, I was able to add additional Vallem names and their descendants to the family tree.

Rose also had provided me with the married name of Bertha, one of my great great grandfather's twin sisters, Iverdine and Bertha. Bertha and husband Andrew did not have any children so their branch ends with them.

Today, while searching online, I came across what I believe is Iverdine's married name and the children from that marriage, along with several of the descendants of that branch.

In just the past week, I have added probably close to a 100 new family members. At this point the Finnestad family tree is pretty extensive and rather time consuming to take it all in.

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Kenneth and Lillian Finnestad obituaries

I have had previously posted the obituary for my great great grandfather Ole Finnestad several posts back. I have not yet been able to locate an obituary for my great grandparents Oliver and Mary Finnestad, though here are the obituaries for my grandparents, Kenneth and Lillian Finnestad.

Ole Finnestad Jr obituary

Here is the obituary for my great, great grandfather, Ole Finnestad Jr from the Dixon Evening Telegraph of July 9, 1928. Note the misspelling of his first and last name, though Finnestad was spelled correctly within the content of the article. You will also note that his brother Rasmus had moved from Canada to Washington by the time of his brother's death. Oddly, there is no mention of the sisters that survived him, leading me to believe they may have lost touch by the time of his death.

Finnestad Farm - Stavanger, Norway

It was customary in Norway to take the farm name as the family name. Prior to arriving in America, Ole Finnestad was known as Ole Olson. According to the Regional State Archives of Stavanger, in 1862, Ole Olsen bought a farm from Bjørn Larsen. The following link provides some farm information along with the family members in 1865: http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&sidenr=59&filnamn=f61126&gardpostnr=582&sokefelt=vis “Merknad 387b” now means property nr. 16 of the farm Finnestad. (Please keep in mind that accuracy of records is less than perfect - so ages and other information are not always correct) For more information on Stavanger and a map of the area, please go to the following wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavanger