Mary (Finnestad) Bell - Death Certificate

I have been searching for the husband of Mary (Finnestad) Bell for quite awhile. Her death certificate from Snohomish county, state of Washington lists Mary as a widow. No name was listed in the space for her husband but "no one knew". That might apply to her actual birth month and day but I can only guess. Apparently her brother, Rasmus couldn't remember the name of his brother-in-law. I have yet to encounter a descendant of Mari (Iversdatter Nord-Skaar) and Ole (Olson) Finnestad Sr that does know his name.

I previously posted information on Mary's two burials hoping the original burial place would have more information on the name of Mary's husband, however, they did not have any additional documents.

At this point I believe the closest I will get to discovering Mr. Bell's first name will be the deposition Mary provided to the prosecutor's office during the trial in which she was a witness. The courthouse in Dixon, Illinois has a copy of the trial transcripts. I have yet to verify whether the prosecutor's file is also contained with the trial documents.

I do know Mary and her husband had a daughter, May Bell and Mary's husband was a clergyman who had died prior to the murder of Fred Tolsted on December 24, 1897.

The search continues....

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Rasmus Finnestad - death certificate

I had previously written two posts regarding the death of Rasmus Finnestad. Those can be found here and here . Here is his Washington state death certificate: The death certificate incorrectly lists his father as "Oluf". His father was Ole (Olson) Finnestad. His mother was Mari Skaar, misspelled as "Skaare" on the death certificate.

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

Mary Olsdatter (Finnestad) Bell: Witness for the Prosecution

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 ...

Finnestad Ancestry

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