Walter Reigard and George Risetter

Walter Reigard, husband of Alice Marie Finnestad served in the military from September 20, 1917 through March 7, 1919, during World War I. The United States Congress declared war April 6, 1917. The war ended November 11, 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles was signed June 28, 1919.

A few months following the completion of his service in the military, Walter and his brother-in-law, George Risetter ran an automobile and tractor repair business in DeKalb, Illinois named Reigard and Risetter.

The opening of the shop made front page news in the DeKalb Daily Chronicle on July 8, 1919.

George Risetter was the husband of Lillian May Finnestad, sister of Alice Finnestad. Both Lillian and Alice were the daughters of Caroline (Quitno) and Ole (Olson) Finnestad Jr. and the granddaughters of Mari (Iversdatter Nord-Skaar) and Ole (Olson) Finnestad Sr.

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Kenneth and Lillian Finnestad obituaries

I have had previously posted the obituary for my great great grandfather Ole Finnestad several posts back. I have not yet been able to locate an obituary for my great grandparents Oliver and Mary Finnestad, though here are the obituaries for my grandparents, Kenneth and Lillian Finnestad.

Ole Finnestad Jr obituary

Here is the obituary for my great, great grandfather, Ole Finnestad Jr from the Dixon Evening Telegraph of July 9, 1928. Note the misspelling of his first and last name, though Finnestad was spelled correctly within the content of the article. You will also note that his brother Rasmus had moved from Canada to Washington by the time of his brother's death. Oddly, there is no mention of the sisters that survived him, leading me to believe they may have lost touch by the time of his death.

Finnestad Farm - Stavanger, Norway

It was customary in Norway to take the farm name as the family name. Prior to arriving in America, Ole Finnestad was known as Ole Olson. According to the Regional State Archives of Stavanger, in 1862, Ole Olsen bought a farm from Bjørn Larsen. The following link provides some farm information along with the family members in 1865: http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&sidenr=59&filnamn=f61126&gardpostnr=582&sokefelt=vis “Merknad 387b” now means property nr. 16 of the farm Finnestad. (Please keep in mind that accuracy of records is less than perfect - so ages and other information are not always correct) For more information on Stavanger and a map of the area, please go to the following wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavanger

Finnestad Ancestry

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