Finnestad Ancestry

I had previously posted Bertha Haaland's trip in 1912 on the Lusitania. Ole and Mari Finnestad's great great granddaughter, Rose Kolberg had done some research that indicated Rachel had also been on the Lusitania. It appears Bertha and Rachel had traveled together on that particular voyage. I located the passenger record, (below) however, when I attempted to bring up the original ship's manifest with the passenger list, the S.S. Hamburg popped up instead and Rachel was no where to be found. I went through the passenger records where I found Bertha and on page 10, found Rachel Vallem (#28). Here is another photo of the Lusitania.

In 1930, Ole and Mari Finnestad's great grandson, Elmer Sanderson was living in the city of DeKalb, Illinois along with his wife, Evelyn and children Janice and Roger, along with Elmer's sisters, Lillian and Marion. Elmer was the son of Ellen Vallem, daughter of Rachel Finnestad.

In 1930, Ole and Mari Finnestad's great grandson, Lawrence Sanderson was residing in Mayfield Township, DeKalb County, Illinois along with wife Laura and children Dorothy, Lora, Robert and Edmond. Lawrence was the son of Ellen Vallem and grandson of Rachel Finnestad.

In 1930, Ole and Mari Finnestad's granddaughter, Ellen (Mary) Sanderson was living with her husband, Seward and 4 of their children, Lillian, Gorden, Ellen and Charles in Milan township, DeKalb County, Illinois. Ellen was the daughter of Rachel Vallem. While there were other Sandersons living near them during this census, I have not tracked their relationship, but most likely were related via Ellen's husband, Seward.

In 1930, Ole and Mari Finnestad's grandson, Olaf was living in Everett, Washington with wife Myrtle, daughters Gwendolyn and Carmen. Olaf was the youngest son of Rasmus Finnestad, who had moved from Norway to Illinois to Saskatchewan and eventually moved back to the United States.

In 1930, Ole and Mari Finnestad's granddaughter, Edith Ludwig was living in the city of Rochelle, Ogle County, Illinois with husband Charles and sons Charles Jr and Robert. Edith was the youngest daughter of Elizabeth Knutson, Ole and Mari's eldest daughter.

In 1930, Ole and Mari Finnestad's grandson, Ole Vallem lived in Marengo Township, McHenry County, Illinois, along with Ole's wife, Sofia and their children, Rosabelle, Gertrude, Violet, Lila, Ole Jr and Ella. Ole was the 2nd son born to Rachel Vallem and husband Lewis.

In 1930, Ole and Mari Finnestad's granddaughter, Mary Olson (daughter of Elizabeth Knutson) was living in the city of Rochelle, Ogle County, Illinois. Mary was living with her sons Orville, Elmer, Olaf, Stanley, grandson Marvin and daughter-in-law Ann. Because Orville is listed as a widower, Elmer and Olaf are listed as single and Stanley is listed as having been married only two years prior, it seems most likely that Ann's husband was William. I do not know why he wasn't living with his wife at the time, other than it was "The Depression" and he may have gone off to find work in another place.

In 1930, Ole and Mari Finnestad's daughter Rachel was living in Dement Township, Ogle County, Illinois with her son Elmer and daughter Linnie. Ole and Mari's grandson, Oliver (my great grandfather) was living just a few houses away with wife Mary, sons Burdette, Kenneth (my grandfather), Harlan, Oliver Jr, Verlis, Lois, Shirley and Robert. It would be another year before the birth of Oliver and Mary's final child, Alice.

Here is the 1930 US Federal Census record for Ole and Mari Finnestad's youngest daughter, Mary. Mary was living in Willow Creek Township, Lee County, Illinois at the time the census was taken. 1930 was the first census record that listed Mary Finnestad's married name, Bell. I had originally thought that this might be the same person as there was a "Mary" of the same age living as a servant for a James Kennedy in 1920 as well, but it wasn't until Ole and Mari's great-great granddaughter Rose confirmed that Mary had married someone named "Bell".

Ole and Mari Finnestad's first grandchild, Anna Knutson was born to their daughter Elizabeth and husband Ole Andreas Knutson on July 25, 1865 in the Hetland Frue parish of Rogaland County, Norway. Below is a copy the parish record. The farm name looks like "Dusevig". (Anna is entry #84.) The "official" parish record is more legible, listed below. (Anna is entry #112.)

This is the parish copy of Elizabeth Olson's marriage to Ole Andreas Knutson (#45) on December 8, 1864 at the Frue Parish, Hetland in Rogaland County, Norway. This is the "official" parish record, though the parish name was listed as the Frue, Randaberg parish in Hetland. (Elizabeth and Ole are listed as #21.) Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of Ole and Mari Finnestad and the first of their children to marry.

Several of the Finnestad family members were laid to rest at the Lawnridge Cemetery in Rochelle, Illinois. Two of Ole and Mari Finnestad's daughters are located there: Rachel Vallem and Elizabeth Knutson. Rachel's daughter Isabel Josephine, husband Ole Hall and Rachel's son, Elmer in Section B #21. There is also a "Hall" though I do not yet know who is buried there. Elizabeth's daughter Edith, husband Charles Ludwig and their son Robert, in Section B #22. I will post photos once I obtain them. Lawnridge is located in Ogle County, on 8th Avenue in Rochelle.

It's been some time now since I'd tracked down all of my great great great grandparent's children. Ole and Mari Finnestad had 11 children (7 girls & 4 boys). Maria and Barnel died as infants in Norway. Bert died in Outlook, Saskatchewan. The rest of the Finnestad siblings died in the United States. I have posted photos of all of the headstones except for Maria and Barnel in Norway, Elizabeth and Rachel (those will be forthcoming) and the twins, Iverdine and Bertha. While I know the dates Iverdine and Bertha passed away, I've been unable to locate their final resting place. However, the other night I decided to go through the Calvary Lutheran Church records and located confirmation of Bertha's burial. According to the church records, Bertha's husband, Ole Andreas Haaland handled the burial on April 30, 1929. While funeral services may have been held at the church, I am waiting on confirmation from the Union Cemetery sexton (next door to the church...

13 years after traveling on the Lusitania, Bertha and Ole Andreas Haaland went on another trip to Norway in 1925. Here is documentation of their trip from Stavanger. They left on August 12 1925 and arrived in New York on August 25, 1925. They are listed as # 14 and 15. Note the misspelling of Rochelle as "Rochields, ILL". This document also includes three other travelers that lived in or near Rochelle: Shabbona, Malta and Rochelle, so it's possible they were traveling as friends. There are also two Finnestads listed just above Bertha and Ole; they were most likely were friends or neighbors that had lived at the same Finnestad farm in Stavanger, unless their ancestral name was Olson. The Stavangerfjord, a Norwegian American Line ship was built in 1917 and in 1925 carried only 3rd class passengers. Below is a postcard of the ship.

Here is a entry document into the United States. The port of entry is Portal, North Dakota. When I obtained the document, the year indicated was 1909, though I looked through the document and didn't see the actual date. Elizabeth (eldest daughter of Ole and Mari Finnestad) and husband Ole Andreas Knutson had come through Portal on their way back from Outlook, Saskatchewan. If you look closely, on the right side (line 25 and 26), the form indicates they were visiting Ole Knutson's brother-in-law, Berthel Finnestad (Elizabeth's younger brother). While I can't read the final columns due to a smudge, it most likely indicates Rochelle, where they were living at the time. I also am assuming they took the train to Canada and back to Illinois. (You get used to making assumptions when encountering documents that lack detailed information.) As I had stated in a previous post, Bert Finnestad and wife Celia had moved to Saskatchewan in 1904. While the document doesn...

Here is a passenger list of the Lusitania, September 7, 1912 sailing from Liverpool arriving in New York on September 14, 1912. This document shows that (# 19 and 20) Bertha and husband Andreas Haaland (note the incorrect name used - Andrew) became naturalized citizens in Lee County, Illinois in 1899 and were residing in Rochelle, Illinois at the time of their travel. Here is a postcard of the Lusitania. For those that have forgotten or did not know, the Lusitania was sunk by the Germans on May 7, 1915 which led to the United States involvement in World War I. I found this interesting for a few reasons. One, that an ancestor had actually sailed on the Lusitania, not just because of the history, but also because the Titanic also sank just 5 months early, April 1912.

Extensively searching through the Norwegian digital archives , I came across Bertha Finnestad's marriage documentation. Bertha was the twin sister of Iverdine. (Ole and Mari's 4th and 5th daughters.) I knew that the Norwegian archives contain duplicate sets of records; one official, the other a copy. However, not having copy machines back then, they were copied by hand so if you encounter a document that is illegible, you can try to locate the other and hope that the handwriting is better. In this case, the first document I came across (above) looked like it belonged to Bertha, but I wasn't sure, so I located the second document and it confirmed I had the correct person. Bertha married Andreas Larson on January 14, 1875 in the Hetland/Frue parish of the county of Rogaland, Norway. I had noticed on a few American documents that Andreas' name was spelled Andrew L. Holland. It was this document that helped confirm the correct name of Bertha's husband....

In 1920, Ole and Mari's grandchild, Ole Vallem was living in Dement Township, Ogle Illinois with his wife Sophia (Sofie), and their children Rosabell, Gertrude, Violet, Lila, Ole Jr and nephew Perry who was the son of Ole's older brother, Peter Vallem. Ole Vallem was the second eldest son of Rachel and Lewis Vallem.

In 1920, Ole and Mari Finnestad's great-grandson, Stanley Sanderson, wife Myrtle and son Lyle were living in Milan township, DeKalb, Illinois. Stanley was one of Ellen Marie (Mary) Vallem's children. There are other Sanderson's on this page and as they lived in the township as other family members, they are probably all related in some way.

The extended branches of the Finnestad family tree really took off as can be seen by the 1920 US census. Ole and Mari Finnestad's daughter, Rachel Vallem had 9 children. Rachel's second eldest daughter, Ellen Marie (Mary) and husband Seward Sanderson had 14 children. In 1930 they were living in Milan township, DeKalb County, Illinois with their children Elmer, Walter, Anna, Violet, Marion, Charles, Lillian, Gordon and Ellen. Living next door was their son Lawrence, his wife Nora and daughter Dorothy.

In 1920, Ole and Mari's granddaughter, Mary Olson was living with 4 of her children, Marnie, William, Oluf and Bernice. They lived on 8th Street in the city of Rochelle, Flagg Township, Ogle County, Illinois. Just reminder, Mary was the daughter of Ole and Mari Finnestad's eldest daughter, Elizabeth Knutson.