Finnestad Ancestry

Here is a short history of the Union Cemetery where Ole Sr, wife Mari, daughter Sarah and granddaughter Dina Josephine are buried at 19 Perry Road, Lee County, Illinois. Oddly, Union Cemetery is only 7 miles from where I grew up at University & Keslinger Roads in DeKalb County, yet no one in my lifetime knew of this history regarding my great-great-great grandfather and grandmother.

The above plot map is a close-up of Ole Sr Finnestad's plot and indicates he is sharing space 71 with Bernie Knutson, on the lower right hand corner. It is my guess that the plot was shared with Bernie Knutson as he may have been related to Ole & Mari's eldest daughter, Elizabeth's husband, Ole Andreas Knutson. Above is an overall map of the plots located at Union Cemetery in Lee County, Illinois. Above is an index card for the individual plots located at Union cemetery, 19 Perry Road, Lee County, Illinois. I received these documents from the previous sexton, Mr. Jordal, who had been retired when I stopped by the cemetery in August 2008. Even though he is no longer the cemetery sexton, he had the documents at his house, which is just beyond the cornfield to the west of the cemetery. Since the only other proof that I had of the Finnestads being buried at Union cemetery was the CD I had obtained through Calvary Lutheran church, I decided to scan a copy o

Amazing what you can find on the internet. Were it not for the Illinois archives, I would probably have never been able to find this document, the death certificate of my great great great grandfather, Ole Finnestad. Again, documents have errors and the place of burial, Lawnridge was incorrect. The date of death also is one day different from the funeral records, but one day probably doesn't make too much difference with an uncommon name such as Finnestad. I guess when you want something done right, you need to do it yourself. Who knows where the person who wrote the certificate got the information, but if it weren't for the records that Unger Horner funeral home had, I would probably never have been able to track down Ole Sr's final resting place.

The first document above contains the log entry from the Unger Horner funeral home in Rochelle, Illinois, listing my great great great grandfather, Ole Finnestad Sr. Ole is listed by counting to the 17th position. The second document contains the log entry from the Unger Horner funeral home which helped me to track down the gravesite for Mari Finnestad. Mari is listed by counting to the 11th position. Spelling errors didn't help my search. Without Unger Horner's records, and their willingness to put up with my incessant calls over a 9 month period attempting to track down Ole Sr, I would never have been able to locate Mari and Ole Sr Finnestad. I guess having been an investigator for over 20 years was a big help in tracking down this information. Plus a keen interest in history and genealogy. Update: 9/26/2009 The "ordered by" indicates a "Mrs. Vallem". It wasn't until several months later I discovered that "Mrs. Vallem" was Ole and

Here is the log entry for the death of Mari and Ole Sr from Lutheran Calvary Church located in Lee County, 19 Perry Road. Mari (which I have also seen as Marie, Maren and Mary) died on November 1, 1905 in Rochelle, Illinois. She was 81 years, 3 months and 20 days at the time of her death, which would place her birth as July 12, 1824. Her maiden name was Iversdath Skaar, and I believe Skaar was the name of the farm from which her parents lived at the time of her birth. Ole Sr died on November 22, 1906, also in Rochelle, Illinois. He was 92 years, 9 months and 8 days at the time of his death, which would place his birth as February 14, 1814. Ole was born to an Olson. Unfortunately I have not been able to track down his father and mother. Both Ole Sr and Mari were buried at the Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee County, Illinois.

I had to take down the excel spreadsheet; it will be posted later this week.

Dina Josephine Finnestad died at the young age of 16, 2 months prior to her 17th birthday. Above left is a copy of the Lee County death certificate. She had tuberculosis in both lungs. At the top is a copy of the Calvalry Lutheran Church death records. Dina is listed under 1902, the last entry of the year. Dina was the eldest daughter of Ole Jr and Caroline, granddaughter of Ole and Mari.

From the Hetland/Frue Parish records, Maria (entry #68) was confirmed October 5, 1873. As of today, this is the last document I have been able to find from Norway, prior to the Olson family moving to the United States as the "Finnestad family".

From the Hetland/Frue Parish records, Ole Jr (entry #20) was confirmed on October 2, 1870.

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 Hetland/Frue Parish records, Rasmus (last entry) was born to Ole and Mari on November 20, 1863 and was baptized November 26, 1863. Rasmus confirmation records were previously posted on September 11, 2008.

According to the Hjelmeland/Fister parish records, Berthel (or Bert) was born to Ole and Mari on July 18, 1861 and baptized September 22, 1861. This is the last known birth of Ole and Mari in the Hjelmeland/Fister parish, before moving to the Finnestad farm at Hetland/Frue Parish. Please note the confirmation records for Bert were previously posted on September 11, 2008.

From the Hjelmeland/Fister parish records, Serina (listed as the second list #6), was confirmed October 14, 1860.

According to the Hjelmeland/Fister parish records, Maria was born to Ole and Mari on January 18, 1859 and baptized April 3, 1859. Note this is the 2nd Maria born to Ole and Mari, after the death of Maria #1 on May 15, 1851.

From the Hjelmeland/Fister parish records, Elisabeth (listed as #6), the eldest child of Ole and Mari, was confirmed in 1858. The month and day were not listed. Note that Lizabet or Lisabet was written, rather than Elisabeth.

According to the Hjelmeland/Fister parish records, Ole Jr was born to Ole and Mari on June 4, 1856 and baptized September 7, 1856.

Today I received in the mail a book from Carmen Hurd, the great-granddaughter of Ole Sr and Mari Finnestad, granddaughter of Rasmus and Kari Finnestad, and daughter of Olaf and Myrtle Finnestad. This book contains photos and helps complete the descendant information of Rasmus and brother Bert Finnestad. I will be updating the Finnestad family tree and adding information from the book in a sequential order. Again, to access the Finnestad family tree, click on the profile for this webpage (with the picture of my dog) which will provide a link to the worksheet.

According to the Hjelmeland/Fister parish records, Rakel Marie was born to Ole and Mari on December 2, 1853 and baptized March 19, 1854.

Entry #12 indicates that Maria Olsen died May 15, 1851. She was 3 years, two months and 8 days old at the time of her death.

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.

According to the Hjelmeland/Fister parish records, Maria was born to Ole and Mari on March 7, 1848 and baptized June 18, 1848.

According to the Hjelmeland/Fister parish records, Serina was born to Ole and Mari on July 5, 1846. She was baptized August 9, 1846.

Based upon US Census records, Ole and Mari had 11 children. I have only been able to track down 10 of those, leading me to believe one may have died during childbirth. According to the Hjelmeland/Fister parish records, Ole and Mari's first child was Elisabeth, born, April 10, 1844. She was baptized May 5, 1844. It can be assumed she was the first child since Ole and Mari were married 3 months later.

From the Rogaland County records of the Hjelmeland/Fister parish official records, a copy of Ole and Mari's wedding record. If you look under 1844, the 4th entry, you will find Ole Olson and Mari Iversdatter. It is difficult to read the gothic script but it appears that Skaar was listed after both of their names, leading me to believe that was the farm (document to the right, Nord-Skaar) that both may have lived on during the time of their marriage.

From wikipedia: Rogaland is a county in Norway, bordering Hordaland, Telemark, Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. It is the center of the Norwegian petroleum-industry, and as a result of this, Rogaland has the lowest unemployment rate of any county in Norway, 1.1%. Etymology Rogaland is the Old Norse name of the region - revived in modern times. (Until 1919 the name of the county was Stavanger amt.) The first element is the plural genitive case of rygir, the name of an old Germanic tribe (see Rugians). The last element is land n 'land, region'. Coat-of-arms The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1974). It shows the old stone cross in Sola, er ected in memory of Erling Skjalgsson after his death in 1028. Geography Rogaland is mainly a coastal region with fjords, beaches, and islands, the principal island being Karmøy. Boknafjorden is the largest bay, with many fjords branching off from it. The third largest urban area of Norway is located in Rogaland. Stavanger, along with

The Frue community was located within the municipality of Hetland. According to Wikipedia: Hetland is a former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It was created as Hetland formannskapsdistrikt in 1837. On 1 July 1922 Randaberg was separated from Hetland to create a municipality of its own. The split left Hetland with a population of 10.167. In addition, areas of Hetland were moved to Stavanger in 1867, 1879, 1906, 1923 and 1953. On 1 January 1965 the districts of Riska and Dale with 2.077 inhabitants became a part of Sandnes. The rest of Hetland, with 20.861 inhabitants, was incorporated into Stavanger. Randaberg is a municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway, located just to the north of Stavanger. Randaberg was separated from Hetland July 1, 1922. The northernmost conurbation of Stavanger/Sandnes can be found here. The name The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the farm Randaberg (Norse Randaberg ), since the first church was built there. The first ele

According to Wikipidia: Hjelmeland is a municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway. Hjelmeland was established as a municipality January 1, 1838. Two other municipalities were later separated from it: Årdal (1849) and Fister (1884) - but these were both again merged with Hjelmeland January 1, 1965. Hjelmeland is known for their fruit (apples, pears, plums, cherries and strawberries) and fish production. Salmon has been important for the fish industry in Hjelmeland for a couple of decades, but white fish such as cod and halibut has increased its value in the latter years. Hjelmeland is a very beautiful commune, with deep fjords, mountains, archipelago and good opportunities for outdoor activities, like fishing and mountain-trekking, Due to the want and need to develop the community, Hjelmeland has laid large areas open to industry. It is, however, sad to see that the industry is located in some of the prettiest parts of the commune, like Viganeset for instance. The crude-iron and

The next few entries I will be revisiting the areas of Norway where the Olson/Finnestad family had lived prior to moving to America. The family of Ole and Mari started in the county of Rogaland, municipality of Hjelmeland, community of Fister. Based upon documents I have found, Ole and Mari lived in Fister from at least the time of their marriage, July 4, 1844 until November 3, 1862 when they purchased a farm in the county of Rogaland to the municipality of Hetland, community of Frue, where the Finnestad farm was located.

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of Dina Josephine's confirmation class. Here is the ledger with the classmates listed from the Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee, Illinois. Dina was confirmed May 12, 1901. She was 15 at the time of her confirmation. In attendance were her parents, Ole and Caroline Finnestad.

Here is the baptism record from Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee, Illinois for Clara Rose Finnestad, (listed as #2) daughter of Rasmus and Carrie Finnestad. Clara Rose is the granddaughter of Ole and Mari Finnestad Sr. Clara was born April 4, 1894 and baptized May 30, 1894. In attendance were her parents and 3 other unknown individuals.

Here is the baptism record from Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee, Illinois for Marie Alice and Carrie Evelyn Finnestad, (#18 & #19) daughters of Ole and Caroline Finnestad, and Charlot Finnestad, daughter of Bert and Ceclia Finnestad. All three are the grandchildren of Ole and Mari Finnestad Sr. Marie Alice Finnestad was born June 24, 1893 and baptized June 20, 1897. Carrie Evelyn Finnestad was born September 1, 1896 and baptized June 20, 1897. Charlotte Finnestad was born February 12, 1898 and baptized April 10th, 1898. In attendance for Marie's baptism were her parents and Mr and Mrs Christopher Quitno, possibly Caroline's grandparents and 3 other unknown persons. In attendance for Carrie's baptism were her parents and Mr and Mrs Jacob Quitno, unknown relation to Caroline and Carrie's aunt and uncle, Bert and Celia Finnestad. In attendance for Charlotte's baptism were her parents and aunt and uncle, Rasmus and Carrie Finnestad, along with a few other unknown i

Here is the baptism record from Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee, Illinois for George Finnestad, (listed as #3) son of Bert and Celia Finnestad. George is the grandson of Ole and Mari Finnestad Sr. George was born June 11, 1894 and was baptized August 12, 1894. In attendance were his parents along with Ole Finnestad and spouse. As there is not a listing for the spouse's name, it is unknown whether it is Ole Jr or Ole Sr.

Here is a photo taken by a photo-blogger named Tanty Blåtind in Stavanger, Norway. Here is the link to her Stavanger photo blog: http://stavangerphotobytanty.blogspot.com/ Her comments in reference to the above photo: Finnestad is an area just North of Stavanger. It used to be a few farms there but now a lot of the area is taking by private homes and companies. Especially towards the sea there is a harbour for North Sea use, Risavik Base. There is still a lot of farm lands in this area, and this is one of them.

Here is the baptism record from Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee, Illinois for Goodwin Cornel Finnestad, (#19) son of Rasmus and Carrie Finnestad and Oscar, (#32) son of Bert and Celia Finnestad. They are the grandchildren of Ole and Mari Finnestad Sr. Goodwin was born June 7, 1892 and was baptized July 31, 1892. In attendance were his parents along with Rasmus' brother and sister-in-law, Ole and Caroline Finnestad and another person with a name difficult to read. Oscar was born September 12, 1892 and was baptized November 13, 1892. In attendance were his parents along with Bert's brother and sister-in-law, Rasmus and Carrie Finnestad, along with other names I do not recongize.

Here is the baptism record from Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee, Illinois for Mabel Finnestad. She is the daughter of Rasmus and Carrie Finnestad, granddaughter of Ole and Mari Finnestad. Mabel was born January 1, 1891 and baptized March 15, 1891. In attendance were her parents, unknown other individuals and Rasmus' brother, Bert.

These confirmation records of 3 Finnestad ancestors are located on this document from Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee, Illinois. Andrea Elizabeth Knutson, daughter of Ole Andreas and Elizabeth Finnestad and granddaughter of Ole and Mari Finnestad was confirmed May 19, 1889. She was 16 at the time of her confirmation. Rasmus Finnestad was confirmed March 4, 1890. He was 25 at the time of his confirmation. Bert Finnestad was confirmed December 25, 1891. He was 30 at the time of his confirmation. Both Rasmus and Bert were the sons of Ole and Mari Finnestad.

Here is the baptism record from Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee, Illinois for Oliver Finnestad, (2nd from the top) and Clara Olette, (7th from the bottom) son and daughter of Ole and Caroline Finnestad. They are the grandchildren of Ole and Mari Finnestad Sr. Oliver was born October 28, 1887 and baptized July 1, 1888. In attendance were parents, Ole and Caroline, Ole's brothers, Bert and Rasmus Finnestad, Ivar Skaar (which may be a relative of Mari Finnestad - Ole's mother), Nellie Quitno, (I believe this is Caroline's sister-in-law), and Caroline (last name difficult to read). Clara Olette was born April 5, 1889 and baptized June 23, 1889. In attendance were parents, Ole and Caroline and Sam Quitno (Carrie's brother) 4 others that I am unable to read clearly, nor do I know their relationship to Ole and Caroline, and Nellie Quitno (Caroline's sister-in-law).

Above is the baptism record for Ole Alfred Knutson, son of Elizabeth Knutson and Ole Andreas Knutston. He is the grandson of Ole and Mari Finnestad Sr. He was born March 13, 1882 and baptized July 2, 1882 at the Calvary Lutheran Church in Lee County, Illinois.

The earliest known record of the Finnestad family belonging to a church was the Calvary Lutheran Church located at 19 Perry Road (at the corner of County Line Road) in Lee County, Illinois. Above is the baptism record for Bert Otto Knutson, son of Elizabeth Knutson and Ole Andreas Knutston. He is the grandson of Ole and Mari Finnestad Sr. This document records Bert's baptism as January 16, 1881, a couple of months after his November 14, 1880 birth. One of the attendees was Ole Finnestad, brother of Elizabeth. Attendee Serina Olson listed below Ole Finnestad may actually be Ole and Elizabeth's sister. I have been unable to confirm whether Serina took on the name "Finnestad" prior to the 1900 Federal census.

Without making a trip to Ogle County's library for a township plat map, I am unable to pinpoint where Rasmus and family had lived in 1900. Listed above is a 2000 map of Ogle County, Illinois. Flagg township is bordered by Gurler Road on the south. Lee County is directly south with Alto township (home of Ole Jr & Ole Sr) to the southeast and Reynolds Township (home of Rasmus) just west of Alto township.

According to the 1900 United States Census, Ole Sr's son, Rasmus and family lived in Flagg Township, Ogle County, Illinois. Flagg township is located on the southern border with Lee County. Rasmus and family would have lived just north of his brother Bert to the southwest of Flagg township and father Ole Sr, brother Ole Jr to the southeast of Flagg township.

Based upon census records and the 1900 Reynolds Township plat map in Lee County, Illinois, Bert and family lived somewhere in the northwest corner. The records fail to provide sufficient information in which to pinpoint the exact location of where they lived. I believe it would have been somewhere within the quandrants 1, 2, 12, 11, 13 or 14. The above listed quandrants are formed by E S Line Road on the east (border of Reynolds and Alto township, running east/west than curving north/south). Gittleson Road running north/south two miles west of E S Line Road. The southern border of the above quandrants would be Perry Road. The northern border of the above quandrants would be a Gurler Road and E S Line Road. Intersecting this 6 mile square area would be Elva Road running east/west and Highway 251 running north/south. Reynolds township adjoins and is east of Alto township where the Ole Sr and Ole Jr families resided in 1900.

According to the 1900 United States Census, Ole Sr's son, Bert and family lived in Reynolds Township, Lee County, Illinois. Reynolds township adjoins and is east of Alto township where the Ole Sr and Ole Jr families resided in 1900. You will note the inaccuracies of census records by looking at the lower page, 1st entry on the top, which represents Bert's daughter, Selma Bertha Finnestad, who was born May 3, 1900. The census records list her as "no name" born in May of 1899, with an age of 0/12.

The top photo shows the location of Ole Sr's home. As of August 2008, the house no longer exists and is a field. It is located approximately 1/2 mile south of Gurler Road on the east side of Woodlawn Road in Lee County, Illinois. The middle photo is the site of Ole Jr's father-in-law, John S Quitno, as of August, 2008. The home is no longer in the Quitno or Finnestad family. It is located approximately 6/10ths of a mile south of Gurler Road on the west side of Woodlawn Road in Lee County, Illinois. The bottom photo is the site of Ole Jr's home. As of August 2008, the house no longer exists and is a field. It is located approximately 9/10ths of a mile south of Gurler Road on the west side of Woodlawn Road in Lee County, Illinois.