Finnestad Ancestry

Here is the 1855 Norway Census for Ole Olson, before they moved to the Finnestad farm in 1863. Living at Skaareflaaden on the Nord-Skaar farm in Fister, Number 22 on the right side lists Ole Olson Søndenå at line 6, followed by wife Mari Iversdatter and daughters Elizabeth, Sarah, Iverdine, Bertha and Rachel. The last line (#13) isn't legible but looks like Magda Iversdatter (birth/farm name illegible).   This might be her aunt; sister to Mari's father, Iver Reierson. 

Bertha was the twin sister of Iverdine, born to Ole and Mari Finnestad. Bertha and her husband, Andrew Haaland are buried at the Union Cemetery in Lee County, Illinois. Bertha was born December 2, 1850 and died April 29, 1929. Unfortunately they spelled her name incorrectly as "Bartha" on her marker.

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.

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, Bertha Haaland and husband Andreas were living in the city of Rochelle, Flagg township, Ogle County, Illinois. (Bertha was the twin sister of Iverdine, both were daughters of Ole and Mari Finnestad)

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.

From the Hetland/Frue Parish records, Iverdine and Bertha were confirmed September 30, 1866. They are the first entries listed (#107 and #108). Note Bertha is also known as Britta.

According to the Hjelmeland/Fister parish records, Bertha and Iverdine were born to Ole and Mari on December 2, 1850 and baptized December 26, 1850. This is the first set of twins I have discovered born in the family.