Finnestad Ancestry

I had previously posted 12 years ago regarding the untimely death of Otto Bert Knutson.   Those posts can be found here and here .    I found another article about the incident that led to his death on page 1 of the August 3, 1895 edition of the Ogle County Press. This is the first time I'd encountered anything that included the name of the person that caused Otto's death.   A traveling man named 'Crall'.    Unfortunately the article did not include the first name or residence of Mr. Crall. While the July 31, 1895 edition of the Rochelle Herald reported that internment would take place at the Norwegian Cemetery near Lee, I later discovered his funeral took place at the First Lutheran Church in Lee county, Illinois.    Based upon the other listings in the church records, the burial appears to have taken place at Lawnridge Cemetery, Rochelle, Ogle county, Illinois.     Below is a copy of the parish funeral record. Otto's en...

Mary (Finnestad) Bell was placed in the International Order of Odd Fellows cemetery in Marysville, Washington at the time of her death in 1937.     The Marysville Cemetery is no longer part of the Order.  Following instructions of her brother, Rasmus, her body was disinterred in 1945 and placed at the Evergreen Cemetery in Everett, Washington next to her brother following his death. Mary was daughter of Mari (Iversdatter Nord-Skaar) and Ole (Olson) Finnestad Sr.     

I have long attempted to locate information on the husband and daughter of Mary (Finnestad) Bell.    Both Mary's husband and daughter had passed away prior to the 1900 US Census and little information was known about them other than her husband was a clergyman and their daughter died as a child. This summer I digitized the Finnestad family photo and on the back was written the names of those in the photo as well as a single line "married a preacher - one daughter - May Belle who died of pn" (pneumonia).     I recently located a death record for a May Bell from the First Lutheran Church* ledger in Lee County, Illinois. May Bell passed away February 21, 1900.    Based upon the church records, May was 10 1/2 at the time of her death, indicating her birth was approximately August 1899.   The last column seems to indicate the location where the decedent had lived; in this case it states "N...

Yesterday I posted the obituary for Ole and Mari Finnestad's step-great grandson, Stanley Harland Sanderson. Here is a photo of Stanley and wife Myrtle's grave marker which is located at Rose Hill cemetery in Shabbona, Illinois. Stanley was born September 23, 1892 in Milan township, DeKalb County, Illinois and died April 18, 1971 in DeKalb, Illinois. Myrtle Edna (Colby) Sanderson was born September 9 1893 and died January 18, 1979. Stanley and Myrtle were married September 25, 1913 in Kane County, Illinois.

Here is a photo of the grave marker of Ole and Mari Finnestad's great granddaughter, Lillian Rachel Sanderson. Lillian was born September 12, 1906 and died July 26, 1912.  She is buried at the Union Cemetery in Lee County, Illinois. Lillian was the 8th child born to Ellen Marie (Vallem) and Seward Sanderson, (though the 9th child born to Seward Sanderson who had previously been married to Martha Cody). Lillian's grandparents were Rachel (Finnestad) and Lewis Vallem.

Here is a photo of the grave marker of Ole and Mari Finnestad's great granddaughter, Anna May Sanderson. Anna was born July 21, 1900 and died February 24, 1902.  She is buried at the Union Cemetery in Lee County, Illinois. Anna was the 4th child born to Ellen Marie (Vallem) and Seward Sanderson, (though the 5th  child born to Seward Sanderson who had previously been married to Martha Cody). Anna's grandparents were Rachel (Finnestad) and Lewis Vallem. Anna's older brother preceded her in death, which I posted yesterday.

Here is a summary of the death certificate information for Ole and Mari Finnestad and their 11 children: Ole Finnestad Sr Mari (Iversdatter Nord Skaar) Finnestad Elizabeth (Finnestad) Knutson Sarah Finnestad Maria Olsdatter Iverdine (Finnestad) Travland Bertha (Finnestad) Haaland Rachel (Finnestad) Vallem Ole Finnestad Mary (Finnestad) Bell Bert Finnestad Rasmus Finnestad Barnel Finnestad Their burials can be found here .  The family trees can be found here.

Barnel Oluf Finnestad, the 11th and final child born to Ole and Mari Finnestad was born July 8, 1866 in Norway.    He died February 18, 1868, also in Norway, so I do not have a death certificate. Barnel was the second child of Ole and Mari to have been born while they lived on the Finnestad farm.

Here is the death certificate information for Rasmus Finnestad, the 10th child born to Ole and Mari Finnestad. Rasmus was the first child born to Ole and Mari while they were living on the Finnestad farm, unlike his preceding siblings who were born in a different parish, northeast of Stavanger. Rasmus was born November 20, 1863 in Norway and died September 5, 1945 in Everett, Washington. Ole Finnestad is misspelled as Olief and Mari Skaar is misspelled as "Skaire".

Berthel Finnestad, the ninth child of Ole and Mari Finnestad died in Saskatchewan so I do not have the death certificate information. Bert was the last of their 11 children to be born prior to moving north of Stavanger  in Norway where Ole bought a plot of land on the Finnestad farm. Bert was born  July 18, 1861 and died May 22, 1914 in Outook, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Here is the death certificate information for the 8th child born to Ole and Mari Finnestad, Mary (Finnestad) Bell. After moving to the United States from Norway, Mary married someone with the last name Bell, but I've not yet been able to locate their marriage information.   I do know that Mary and her husband had one child, and both the child and husband died prior to the 1900 US census. Mary spent most of her time in Lee County, Illinois after moving to America and sometime after 1930 moved to Washington, where her brother Rasmus and his family resided. No misspelling with Mary's father, but her mother, Mary Skaar was spelled as "Mary S Karre".

Here is the death certificate information for Ole and Mari Finnestad's 6th child, Rachel (Finnestad) Vallem.  Rachel's name was Americanized from "Rakkel" after leaving Norway.    Another interesting fact is that Rachel was born on December 2, the same month and day as her twin sisters, Iverdine and Bertha. Note the misspelling of and Mari Skaar as "Mary Scorr."

Here is the death certificate for Ole and Mari's 5th child, Bertha (Finnestad) Haaland, the twin of Iverdine. Bertha's married name was spelled incorrectly as Holland and her father's last name of Finnestad was misspelled as "Finnisted".    They also spelled the city of Stavanger incorrectly as Staevanger, though Bertha wasn't actually born there but in a much smaller community approximately an hour northwest of Stavanger.

Locating vital records in the 1800's can be hit or miss, but the United States used to have a mortality census, so I was able to locate the 4th child (or 5th as I do not know who was born first) born to Ole and Mari Finnestad, their daughter, Iverdine (twin of Bertha). This record lists Iverdine's name as "Dinah Travlin".    Dina or Dena is short for Iverdine and this is the first I've seen of the use "Dinah".    "Travlin" is spelled incorrectly; her married name was Travland. Iverdine was born December 2, 1850 in Norway and died November 3, 1879 in Milan township, DeKalb County, Illinois.     She succumbed to "the consumption" which we know today as tuberculosis.

The third child of Ole and Mari Finnestad was Maria Olsdatter who died as an infant before my great great great grandparents bought a plot at the Finnestad farm, so Maria never had the last name Finnestad. Because she died in Norway, I do not know whether they had kept death certificates in the 1850's. Maria was born March 7, 1948 and died May 15, 1851.

Here is the death certificate information for the second child born to Ole and Mari Finnestad, Sarah. This is one of the rare documents I've seen where Ole and Mari's names are spelled correctly (though Mari was also spelled Mary once they arrived in America).   The one error I see is that Sarah's birthday was actually July 5, 1846 and not July 8th.    Sarah was the only adult child of Ole and Mari that never married.

I posted a summary of Ole and Mari Finnestad's gravesite along with their 11 children. The next few posts will be of the information available of their death certificates. First up is their eldest child, Elizabeth (Finnestad) Knutson. Note the misspelling of Ole Finnestad as "Ole Flinnestead" and Mari Skaar as "Mary S...Aar".    Elizabeth's husband, Ole Andreas Knutson was spelled was "O.O. Knutson". Another error is Elizabeth's date of birth , which was April 10, 1844, not the April 17, 1843 listed.  Elizabeth's obituary can be found here .    I have not ordered the death certificate, but if anyone has a copy, please let me know.

Here is the death certificate information for Ole and Mari Finnestad's granddaughter, Clara Risetter. Clara was the third child born to my great great grandparents, Caroline (Quitno) and Ole Finnestad Jr. Clara was buried at the First Lutheran Cemetery in Lee County, Illinois, which I posted about a year earlier.

Here is the information available for the death of Ole and Mari Finnestad's grandson,  Ole Alfred Knutson.      Ole was the second son born to Elizabeth (Finnestad) and Ole Andreas Knutson, (unless the 10th child that I'm missing was a male). I don't know why Ole was sent to the the Watertown State Hospital, but he spent the majority of his life there until his death in 1934. Note the misspelling of Elizabeth Finnestad, which is listed as "Finnester".   Otto's father's first name, Ole Andreas is spelled incorrectly as "Oleander".

I came across this document a few weeks ago confirming a 4th child born to Edith Olivia (Knutson) and Charles Edward Ludwig. Their third child was never given a first name and died on the same day as his birth on October 24, 1927 in Rochelle, Illinois. This child's grandparents would have been Elizabeth (Finnestad) and Ole Andreas Knutson, great grandparents would have been Ole and Mari Finnestad.