Finnestad Ancestry

Here is a photo of the marker for Ole and Mari Finnestad's great grandson Robert Ludwig. Robert was the grandson of Elizabeth (Finnestad) and Ole Andreas Knutson and the second child born to  Edith (Knutson) and Charles Edward Ludwig. Robert was born March 5, 1924 in Rochelle, Illinois and died April 21, 1992 in Sycamore, Illinois.   He is buried at the Lawnridge Cemetery in Rochelle, Illinois.

Here is the grave marker for Mary Ellen (Vallem) Sanderson and husband Seward Oscar Sanderson. Mary Ellen (Vallem) Sanderson was the 4th child born to Rachel (Finnestad) Vallem and Lewis Vallem.    She was born April 29, 1879 in Alto township, Lee County, Illinois.   Mary Ellen died May 24, 1968 in Rockford Illinois and was buried at Union Cemetery, Lee County, Illinois. Seward Oscar Sanderson was born April 15, 1873 and died March 12, 1942. Mary Ellen was the granddaughter of Ole and Mari Finnestad.

Here is a photo* of Ole and Mari Finnestad's great granddaughter, Carshon (Richardson) Johnson, the daughter of Carrie Evelyn (Finnestad) and Charles Richardson.   Carshon was the granddaughter of Caroline (Quitno) and Ole Finnestad Jr.    This photo was taken in 1962, apparently at Christmastime. * Photo provided by Ole and Mari Finnestad's great great granddaughter, Jill (McKay) Clinton.

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 the 7th (and first son) of Ole and Mari Finnestad's children, my great great grandfather, Ole Finnestad.  No spelling errors in my great great great grandparent's names, though they did misspell Stavanger as "Slavanger" and Ole's wife was Caroline Quitno, not "Caroline Irut". Below is his death certificate with a misspelling of Mari Skaai, rather than the correct spelling of Mari Skaar.    The informant was his daughter, Clara Risetter.  

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 obituary for Ole and Mari Finnestad's grandson, Oliver Finnestad, my great grandfather. Oliver was born October 28, 1887 in Lee County to Caroline (Quitno) and Ole Finnestad Jr.    He died September 29, 1952 in Creston, Illinois. Last year I posted photographs of his grave marker.