Finnestad Ancestry

Mary Olsdatter Skåreflådå (Finnestad) Bell appeared as a witness in a murder trial that took place in Dixon, Lee county, Illinois from April 26, 1898 through May 5, 1898. The December 27, 1898 issue of the Dixon Evening Telegraph reported the initial details of the December 24th murder of Fred Tolsted on their front page.    From page 2 of the Wood County Reporter (Grand Rapids, Wisconsin) in their December 30, 1897 issue, the 'suspect' alleged the victim connected him 'unpleasantly' with the housekeeper (Mary Finnestad Bell). The local newspaper in the adjoining county, published a brief article on the murder on January 12, 1898 on the front page of The True Republican in Sycamore, DeKalb county, Illinois.     The Sterling Standard published the names of the law firm, prosecuting attorney and judge in the upcoming murder trial on page 12 of their January 13, 1898 issue. The trial began on April 26, 1898 as reported in the April 27, 1898 issue of the Dixon Evening Teleg

Yesterday I updated a post from September 27, 2011 due to inaccuracies in my original posts.      If you had read either of these entries in the past, please revisit them and understand the updated post is the most accurate. Back row:  Bert (born: July 18, 1861), Mary (born: January 19, 1859), Rasmus (November 20, 1863),  Ole Jr (June 4, 1856), Bertha (December 2, 1852), Serina 'Sarah' (July 5, 1846) Front row: Rachel (December 2, 1853), Ole Sr (February 14, 1814), Mari (July 5, 1823) and Elizabeth (April 10, 1844) I digitized the photo which was in the possession of Genevieve Fern (Olson) Berg so the person that wrote the names on the back of the photo may have been someone on her side of the family tree.

I just tracked down the death certificate for Elmer Levi Johnson.    I posted his burial information previously . This solves the mystery as to whether Elmer served in the military.    His leg was injured while in the U.S. Army and passed away in Freedom township, Palo Alto county, Iowa.     The death certificate lists his birthday as July 12, 1898.    The 1900 US Census states his birth month is August as does his World War I draft registration.