The Ofstedahls - Our ancestry in Norway, their immigration to America - And the Patriarchs Anders and Agate in Norway and America

I descend from Anders Simonson (Flatekval) Ofstedal and Agate Lavik, who married in the Eksingadalen Valley in 1844, and established their family in the farms of Meland and Ovstedal. Together with their five sons and two daughers, Anders and Agate and their children all came over to America from Norway in the 1870’s.

Of Anders and Agate nine children, seven lived to adulthood. The oldest surviving child Simon lived in Polk County, Minnesota, married Kari Tuff (sister of the first wife of Rasmus Lavik – Agate’s youngest sibling) and had twelve children, ten of whom lived to adulthood. The second oldest child Andrew lived in both South Dakota and North Dakota by the state line between the two, married Maria (Johnson) Ofstedahl in Minnesota and had fourteen children, eleven living to adulthood.  The third oldest child Nils became a Lutheran minister, married Mathilde Lund, and died young, having had four children, with three living to adulthood.  The fourth oldest child Andreas was a Lutheran Minister of some renown.  His first wife died as did three young children by her.  His second wife was Matilde Markuson (sister of Anna the wife of John Ofstedahl) and they had seven children.  The fifth oldest child John was a Lutheran minister, married Anna Markuson and they had ten children - one of whom was my grandfather Carl Ofstedahl - and five children of which lived to full adulthood. The six oldest child Dorothy married Gullik Moen, had six children – one of whom died young, just weeks after her mother Dorothy died in Polk County.  The seventh oldest child Anna married Matthias Gronvold, had five children, four living to adulthood, and lived in Crookston in Polk County, Minnesota.

Our Ofstedahl Ancestry In Norway . . . .

This page describes the Ovstedal ancestry in Norway and details about Anders and Agate - in Norway and America. There are additional pages for each of the seven children of Anders and Agate - and their families. Some of them contain so much information, that they were divided into two pages. The pages for Nils, Dorothy, and Anna contain information about the lives of their children, as Simon, Andrew, John, and Andreas had many children between them and - while listed with birth and death dates and their spouses - it was too large a task to research each child.

I first started doing family history research for a period in 1966, while I was in high school.  My grandfather Carl Ofstedahl, along with my grandmother, had taken a trip to the Midwest – in what turned out to be the year before Carl died.  They had discovered that the youngest child of his mother’s family of fifteen children of Norwegian immigrants, Albert Markuson, was still alive and living on a farm in Minnesota.  Two of Albert’s older sisters - Anna and Matilda - had married the Revs. John Ofstedahl and Andreas Oefstedal, respectively.

I corresponded with Albert – in what turned out to be the last months of his life.  To get information on my Ofstedahl ancestors he contacted John Lavik, a cousin of my grandfather, who Albert had met decades before.  John Lavik wrote a letter with a brief paragraph on the makeup of the original Ofstedahl family and how they got to the upper Midwest, which was a helpful beginning to my research on my Ofstedahl ancestry.  That letter is shown below, and can also be found on the Rasmus Lavik page - as the letter also details Rasmus’ family.

My research was kept in a box that I didn’t touch for about twenty-five years.  Then, in 1993, I took a long trip to out of the country.  A former City Council colleague – herself from North Dakota – gave me a copy of one of the few pieces of Norwegian-American literature, “Giants in the Earth”. In reading the book I realized that the characters in this book were similar to my own family members. As a result, I picked up my family history research (now much broader than just the Ofstedahls!), and have never looked back.

Not long after resuming my research, I visited the Norwegian-American Historical Association at St. Olaf College in Minnesota.  When I first arrived, I met an archivist there, Forrest Brown, who referred to the Ofstedahl family as “the pastoral family”.  I was able to view the Norwegian-American Lutheran pastor directories there from 1914 and 1927, that included family members. I was able to see the local Norwegian family history books, Bygdeboks (more about that below), and I found a few Ofstedahl photos in their files.

During that period, I also discovered a wonderful Ofstedahl family directory – shown below and published by descendants of Anders and Agate – and was able to get in touch with Marion Matson, one of the authors. She was a descendant of Andrew Ofstedahl and even once attended my mother’s annual Ofstedahl family reunion. I cannot find a date on the directory, but it appears to be about 1990. There is a section on ancestry at the beginning - and then a comprehensive listing of descendants.

Yet in that directory the branch of my great-grandfather the Rev. John Ofstedahl, Carl’s father, was a “lost branch”.  Except for Carl’s brother Elmer – who remained in Grafton, North Dakota until his death in 1967 – every other relative of Rev. John Ofstedahl had long since left for the West Coast and had been out of touch with most of the other Ofstedahls.  Carl was one of the last to move west when he and his wife came to California from South Dakota about the time of the end of World War II.  The children of most of the other Ofstedahl immigrant siblings had lost touch with the descendants of John.  Only a few descendants of the Rev. Andreas Oefstedal were still in touch – in part because Andreas’ wife was the sister of Mrs. John Ofstedahl.

In 1997 I traveled to Norway to see the ancestral family farms in Eksingadalen and Ovstedal. While there, it was driven home to me that our immigrant patriarch – John Ofstedahl’s father Anders – was born with a different surname.  He was born, the son of Simon, on the farm of Flatekval – and under the patronymic naming system of the time – was known as Anders Simonson Flatekval.  Following his marriage to Agate Lavik, of the adjoining Lavik farm, he bought a farm in Meland, and took the name Anders Simonson Meland.  He sold that farm in 1857.  When I visited the Meland farm in 1997 one of the residents pulled out the original deed, signed by A. S. Meland, being Anders Simonson Meland - a deed shown below.

Anders then bought a farm in Ovstedal, which is next to Meland.  The first Ofstedahl boys immigrated just thirteen years later.  Anders, Agate, John and John’s two sisters Dorothy and Anna were the last to immigrate in 1878 – following the four brothers of John who had come over earlier in the decade – Simon, Andreas, Andrew, and Nils.  So, the surname Ofstedahl had not been in the family for more than twenty years.  And due to various spellings once the family did arrive in America – the name was spelled Ofstedahl, Ofstedal, and Oefstedal.  Rev. John Ofstedahl used the Ofstedahl version – which is how it was reflected in our branch.

Our Ancestors lived for centuries on farms in the Eksingadalen Valley . . . .

The map below - which is also shown as the header of this webpage - shows Lavik and Flatekval in the upper left - and then shows Meland and Ovstedal in the lower left - and tracks the movement of our ancestors. Voss at the bottom right is where John Ofstedahl attended teachers’ school.  The Markusons were from Balestrand on the Sognfjord – to the north of this map.

As mentioned, I was able to see the bygdebok for the area of Eksinadalen and Evanger, both of which I later purchased while visiting Norway. Bygdeboks are local history books for an area that compile the histories of the farms contained in that area. Many list the families on different branches of each farm, back for as many as three hundred years in some cases. The Evanger bygdebok, which covers the region of Evanger shown just above, includes the farms of Ovstdal and Meland. The Mo Bygdebok, includes the Eksingadalen Valley, and thus the farms of Lavik, Flatekval, and others whose residents we descend from.

The map above, shows the Valley of Eksingadalen where our ancestral family farms are located. The photo above, which is shown on the Ofstedahl introductory page on this website and is credited there, is a celebration of the road being completed through the valley as far as Flatekval, ca 1890. This is twelve years after Anders Simonson Flatekval Ofstedal arrived in America in 1878. We are probably related to many people in this photograph. It is a classic photo with the customs and dress of the period. Photo Credit: Fylkesarkivet i Vestland

In 1997, I visited Eksingadalen and visited Flatekval - where Anders was from when he married Agate just before they moved to Meland and Ovstedal. I was lucky to stop at the home of Reidun Flatekval. There was a chest of her great-grandfather Jacob Anderson Flatekval, born in 1835.

The Anders and Agate Ovstedal Family are shown in the Meland section of the Evanger Bygdebok below.  This shows that Anders Simonson Flatekval, who married Agate Andersdatter Lavik in 1844, bought the Meland farm in 1846 – and sold it in 1857 when he bought a farm in Ovstedal.  This record then lists the entire family, showing that two children died young – named Anna and Nils – and future children were also given each of these names. Andreas is listed as a second Anders, this is the one reference that lists Andrew’s (the first Anders above) wife as being from the Ovstedal farm – her marriage record in Mower County, Minnesota shows her surname as “Johnson”.  This record shows Nils, Andreas, and John’s wives as well, shows Andreas, Nils, and John as ministers, and lists the years that Andrew and Nils went to America. It also states the amount that Anders bought the farm for.

Using these bygdeboks, researchers can then construct an ancestral chart - which I did. I was able to look for the birth location of each - in this case Lavik and Flatekval - go to the sections on those farms, and see who the parents of Anders and Agate were. Then I could repeat that for the preceding generations, enter them into my file, and put together their families. In a few cases, I could find matching church records, which list the births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths of family members. There were a few early Norwegian censuses, and I could find the relevant families in those censuses. Some of those records are below for our family members.

Below is the pedigree chart for Anders Simonson Flatekval Ovstedal. Anders is my great-great-grandfather, and those listed on the lines at the far right are my sixth great-grandparents - some born in the 1600’s. Their names tells us the farms they lived on, such as Yksendal, Flatekval, Mo, Otterstad, Straume, Steinsland, Fjellanger, and Lien. Pedigree charts for both of Agate’s parents are posted in the Lavik ancestry page on this website and show a similar listing of different ancestral farms. Those charts show ancestry from the following farms in that area: Ovre Helland, Straume, Nygard, Bergstad, Steinsland, Kjenes, Namdal, Romarheim, Bjorgo, Brekke, and Otterstad. Therefore, Anders and Dordei both had ancestors from the farms of Straume, Ovre Helland, and Namdal, although it does not appear that there are any common ancestors for each from those farms.

Below are the 1801 Norway census entries that include Anders’ parents - Simon Andersson Flatekval and Anna Middelsdatter Fjellanger. In the first of the two entries, that of Anders’ father Simon, shown as age ten. In the same entry is his father Anders Ivarson Flatekval (Simon’s mother Agate died the year before the census). Also in the entry was Simon’s grandfather, Ivar Larson. Simon, Anders, and Ivar are all shown in the above chart, and their ages in the census match the ages in the pedigree chart.

The second 1801 Norway census entry below is that of the family of Anna Mikkelsdatter Fjellanger and her parents. Anna is shown as six, and her parents are shown as Mikkel and Brita. Their ages match the pedigree chart above. They are shown on the same census page as the father of Dordei Vetlejord, Anders Lavik’s wife. It’s a statement as to how all these farms in Eksingadalen are near by each other, and how men and women from those farms intermarried for generations.

Anders and Agate’s move to Meland . . .

Anders and Agate were married in 1844. In 1846 their first child was born, and in the same year, they moved to the farm in Meland. Anders became Anders Simonson Meland. During my 1997 visit to Norway, the man in the middle in the photograph below, Oygind Teigen – who was leader of the Voss Historical Society at the time – accompanied me to a visit to Ovstedal and Meland.  Mr. John Meland, who lived at the historic Meland farm, is on the right.  As I recall, during the visit he said he had a deed that was my ancestor selling the Meland farm to his ancestor and went and dug it out.  A copy of the deed was made for me and is posted below the photo.  As shown above in the bygdebok entry, Anders Simonson Flatekval purchased the Meland farm – then sold it to be able to purchase the Ovstedal farm. Additionally, he gave me a copy of a photo of a Meland family standing in front of the house then - the house that he said the Ofstedals lived in before they moved to the Ovstedal farm - and that photo is shown below as well.

The photo below was of the old Meland farm, with a Meland family pictured in front of it, and is also posted as the footer of the introductory Ofstedahl page on this website.  This photo copy was given to me on my trip to Norway in 1997 by Mr. John Meland.  The foundation of this house was still visible when I visited.  The Ofstedahls would have lived in this house when they owned the property.  Mr. Meland gave me two photos, one taken in 1902 and one taken ca 1934.  This is probably the 1902 photo.  He stated that the house was dismantled, and the some of the wood saved.

Below are the two deeds that Mr. Meland gave me during that visit. The first one is two pages of the 1846 deed, and the second are the pages of the 1857 deed.

In the body of the first page of the above deed is mentioned Anders Simonson Fladequal (sic) - using his original name as he purchased the farm. By the time he sold the same land in 1857 below, he is referred to as Anders Simonson Meland.

Anders and Agate’s move to Ovstedal . . .

Anders and Agate moved from Meland to Ovstedal ca 1857 - and the name Ovstedal was first assigned to a family where that name was carried to the United States and held among hundreds of descendants. The family of Anders and Agae was listed in detail above, in a listing in the Evanger Bygdebok with their time in Meland. The entire family was not listed in the Ovstedal section. However, the Ovstedal section of the Evanger Bygedbok has two references to Anders in property transactions. It’s clear the first one was in 1857 - when they moved from Meland. The other one mentions an earlier date of sale than their trip to America in 1878, but does mention them leaving for America. Also significant is that Anders and Agate sold their land in Ovstedal to Knut Andersson Lavik - Agate’s brother - who became Knut Andersson Ovstedal. He later moved near Voss for the rest of his life. In the Lavik photo collection in the Lavik section of this website, there is a photograph of Knut and Ingeborg. Both the bygdebok references are below.

Below are the 1865 and 1875 Norwegian census entries for Anders and Agate and their children from the Ovstedal farm. All seven children are shown with them in 1865. By 1875, the older four children had immigrated to America - and John, Dorothy, and Anna were still in Norway. However, Dorothy does not appear in that entry - and I am not sure where she was enumerated in that year - as she did immigrate with her parents in 1878. The heading for the 1865 census is included below, and in the 1875 entry I included the heading, and a different family between the heading and the Anders-Agate entry.

School in Norway. In reviewing the biographies and obituaries of the Ofstedahl brothers, and their uncle Rasmus Lavik, there is no Norwegian school listing for Andreas and Nils. However, Rasmus is shown to have attended school at Stord Seminary and then taught at Laerdal School just before immigration. John is listed as having attending Voss Teachers college just before his immigration, but his obituaries provide the added fact that he attended Sogndal High School before hand.

Visiting Ovstedal. In 1997 I visited Ovstedal. As shown above, I went first to Meland, and then went on to Ovstedal where Astrid Ovstedal welcomed us to her home. I recall some stories from my 1997 visit and checked my notes.  Mr. Meland mentioned that when he was younger, men had to dedicate forty days a year to the construction of the road – seen in the background here – through Meland to Ovstedal.  This was incredibly significant because there were only four months of good weather, and that work commitment took local residents away from farming in that window.  Mr. Meland also said that before the road and bridge came in, the area was isolated and winters were particularly hard - and I recall him saying something about this isolation protecting residents from the plague.  There was a school between Meland and Ovstedal, and Mr. Meland said that it was brought by fjord and land from Eksingadalen.  If you look at a map, it looks like there are trails between Eksingadalen and Ovstedal – but it is a dramatic height, and it’s hard to imagine anyone hiking that, much less carrying anything of substance on that hike.

I have posted three photos below from that visit:

When I visited in late April 1997, it was one of the latest season snow storms. The view of the bridge to Ovstedal was from Astrid Ovstedal’s house. She came out to say goodbye - and I took a photo of the road sign to Ovstedal. Two of these photos are shown on the cover page for the Ofstedahl portion of this website.

The Ofstedahls Immigrate to America . . . .

Between 1870 and 1878 - Anders and Agate and all seven children immigrated to America. Joining them were Agate’s brother Rasmus Lavik, and their sister Tjorborg Lavik. It is important to understand the background for Norwegiqn immigration to America. While inidividuals and sailors might have ended up in America before the 1830’s, the first group immigration from Norway to America happened during that decade. As the Upper Midwest opened up for settlement, and various economic challenges existed in Norway, Norwegians flocked to America. Knute Markuson and Martha Reppen - parents of the wives of Andreas and John Ofstedahl - arrived in the Koshkonong settlement just outside of Madison, Wisconsin ca 1855. They moved to Goodhue County, Minnesota just before Anna’s birth in 1860.

Odd Lovoll’s book “Across the Deep Blue Sea”, the cover of which is posted right below, chronicles the Saga of Early Norwegian Immigrants. His major theme in the book was about how ships - beginning in 1850, would bring large groups of Norwegian immigrants west from Norway - and return to Norway with lumber and products from Canada. This happened in large numbers until 1874 - when large commercial ships replaced these sloops as the primary route for immigration, and the immigration shifted from Canada more to ports on the East Coast of the United States. This matches the Ofstedahl immigration. Andrew, Simon, Andreas, and Rasmus Lavik came by sloops to Quebec in 1870 and 1871. By the time Anders and Agate and the last three children - John, Dorothy, and Anna - came in 1878, they came on the State Line to New York City. The mother-in-law of John’s son Carl Ofstedahl, came with her family from Denmark to Quebec in 1872 along the same immigrant trail.

The first Norwegian immigrants came to certain places in America - one being the Madison, Wisconsin area mentioned above - others being in Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Illinois, northern Iowa, and eventually, Dakota Territory. The Lovoll book has a map which contains roughly seventy settlements in those states where Norwegians settled. Within a generation, there was an Ofstedahl extended family member that had lived in at least fifteen of the locations shown. My own ancestor, Rev. John Ofstedahl, lived in one of these locations in his entire American life - as Northfield MN, Winchester WI, and Grafton ND are each shown on that map.

As I present the history of the Ofstedahls in the different pages on this website, it is clear that other Norwegians, as well as the early Ofstedahls, would arrive at one of these beachhead settlements - and then the next wave of immigrants would join them there. These early beachheads were the road maps for further immigration. In Norlie’s “The History of Norwegian People in America”, he had a list - shown below - of the Norwegian population in American counties in 1890 to show where the immigrants lived. On this one page are the counties that virtually every Ofstedal lived in in the time between their immigration and 1890, as well as many counties where many Ofstedahls would live after 1890. The Norwegians originally clustered together after immigration. In the John Ofstedahl section on this website, in 1908 he is quoted at one meeting advocating for the continuation of the Norwegian language and customs in homes of the period. His own Grafton Lutheran Church conducted services and records in Norwegian until the early 1920’s. In the biographical section on Rasmus Lavik, one of his North Dakota congregations looked for the next pastor after him to be able to conduct services for the first time in English - and this was ca 1913.

The actual passenger records. The Ofstedahls immigrated with these trends in the background. The first two to immigrate were Andrew and Simon, who arrived in Quebec in late June, 1870.  Andreas came next, along with his uncle Rasmus Lavik, arriving in Quebec in August, 1871.  Nils was shown in his Lutheran pastor biography to have immigrated in 1872, but he is the one Ofstedahl for whom I have yet to find a passenger record. In 1878, Anders and Agate came, with John, Dorothy, and Anna – as well as Agate’s sister Thorbjorg (Andersdatter) Lavik – arriving in New York.  Rasmus and Thorborg immigrating with the Ofstedahls show how close they were - and this is relfected in the Lavik photo collection elsewhere on this website. The ship passenger records for each of these voyages are shown below.  Additionally, by the time that Anders and his family came over the 1878, the Bergen police compiled exit records.  That record is shown here as well, along with all the found passenger records.

Shown below is the eleventh and last page of the 1870 passenger record for the ship Harmonie, arriving in Quebec on June 25, 1870.  On the top line is Anders Anderson Ofstedal, age 20, and on the eleventh line is Simon Anderson Ofstedal, age 22.  They are shown as having boarded in Bergen, and were farmers.

Below is the top portion of a page of the Hibernian Ship Log, filed when arriving in Quebec on August 28, 1871.  Rasmus Lavik is shown as age 30 and a laborer, Andreas Anderson [Oefstedal] is shown as age 16 and a laborer – in entry #5060. An image of The Hibernian is shown below the passenger record. The photograph is from the Norwegian Heritage website – which contains a searchable database of passenger records, and information about the ships.  I got the passenger records from microfilms in Salt Lake, but this photo from the website.

In 1878, Anders, Agate, John, Dorothy, and Anna - along with Agate’s sister Tjorborg Lavik - immigrated to the United States. Two things were different by the time of this immigration, compared to those of 1870 and 1871 when Andrew, Simon, Andreas, and Rasmus Lavik immigrated - as shown above. In 1870 and 1871, the ships came to Quebec. By 1878, that service had ended, and passenger lines coming into ports like New York were a more likely route for Norwegian immigrants. And secondly, the Bergen Police started recording exit records in 1874. So immediately below are the Bergen police exit records. The first image is the heading, and the second image is the entry for Anders Ofstedal and his family. The police records show their names, ages, and occupations. It also shows that John Ofstedahl had twenty kroner - an amount that I have been unable to this day to quantify in current money.

Additionally, there is one item that I had not clearly understood until recently. Traveling with them was Lars Oleson Aldal. Aldal was a farm not far from Ovstedal - although it’s not on the map earlier in this section. Lars was shown as 22. In the Evanger Bygdebok, there is a section for Aldalen - and Lars Olson Aldal is shown as born in 1856 - which matches the name and age here in the immigration records. He is shown in that entry to have immigrated to America, married Carolina Helson in 1885, and been a farmer in Lausing (sic - it is Lansing) Minnesota. His mother was shown as an Ovstedal, although not from our line. Lars is shown in the entry as graduating from school in Voss in 1876 - which would have been when John was teaching there. So there was a connection, and Lars was likely travelling with the Ofstedahls. Lansing, Minnesota - where Lars and Carolina are shown in the 1900 census with a rather large family of ten children - is the same general area that the Johannes Ofstedal family lived, he being the father of Maria Johnson Ofstedal - who married Andrew Ofstedal in Mower County in 1875. Andrew is shown above as immigrating with his brother Simon in 1870.

Below is the passenger record from New York of the S. S. State of Virginia from the State Line, arriving August 14, 1878. [The Norwegian Heritage Ship website states that the Virginia left Glasgow on August 2, 1878 and arrived in New York on August 13, 1878.] The front of the record is right below, and then the entry containing the Ofstedahls is shown right below it. The record shows that the ship came from Glasgow. The Bergen Police exit records above show that the Ofstedahls were exiting Bergen on the State Line. So the Ofstedahls went on the State Line all the way through from Bergen to New York by way of Glasgow. It is unclear from these records if the S. S. Virginia is what they took from Bergen to Glasgow. The ship passenger record lists name, age, gender, occupation - and Lars Aldal and Anders Simonson are listed as farmers. In the Bergen record above Anders is listed as Anders Simonson Ofstedal, and then all the rest are listed below him with Simonson as his surname. In the ship passenger record he is just listed as Anders Simonson and his family members are listed with ditto marks. In researching the passenger records for different family members - where I might have had to go through a number of passenger lists for a period when and where I think the family might have travelled, it was always good to be aware of the different ways they could be listed by name. I found the passenger record before I searched for the police record - so I had to be on the lookout for the name Simonson as well as Ofstedal.

Anders and Agate Lived Out Their Lives in Minnesota . . .

As is shown just above, the patriarchs of the American Ofstedals – Anders and Agate – immigrated to America in 1878, and also shown above is the story of them and Anders’ ancestors in Norway.  Agate’s ancestors are shown on the Lavik ancestry page.

After immigrating to America, they lived in Minnesota with their family members. When most family members moved to Polk County, Minnesota in the mid-1880’s, they moved there with them. They filed for a homestead, and Anders died in 1892, and Agate sometime after her appearance in the Minnesota 1905 state census.  Agate appeared in three census entries and at least one news article after Anders died.

She is not shown with Anders in Faaberg Cemetery near Rindal in Norman County, where their son Simon and many of his family members are also buried.  It is quite likely she is buried there but not marked. I visited the grave in the mid-1990’s, and the cemetery is almost on the county line across from Polk County – where many Ofstedals lived.  It is possible that among the over three hundred Lavik photographs is a photo of Anders and Agate – but it is not identified so I can’t determine that for sure.  Given that many of the photographs are pre-1900, and that there are even a few taken in Norway, it is possible. The few records of them in America are posted chronologically below.

above is a full page from the Kenyon, Goodhue County, Minnesota 1880 census.  Near the bottom of the page is Anders (Andrew) Ofstedal and his family - with Anders Simonson and Agatha listed with them. Anders is age 66 and a farm laborer; Agatha is age 59 and keeping house.  Everyone on this census page is of Norwegian ancestry.  Albert Markuson, youngest brother of Anna Markuson Ofstedahl and Mathilda Markuson Oefstedal – lived his last years and died in Kenyon in 1967, indicating a long family link with this area.  There are photos of unidentified people from Kenyon during this period of this census in the collection of Lavik family photos.

Above is a page from the 1885 Minnesota State Census, with Anders and "Gaty" in post office Rindal, Garden Township, Polk County, Minnesota - the census being taken after the move of family members from Goodhue County to Polk County.  The Ofstedals are in the upper part of the page, Anders shown as 64 and "Gaty" as 63, shown by themselves in an entry.  Their daughter Dorothea, and her husband Gullik Moen, are shown in the next entry.  The last entry on the previous page is of Simon Ofstedal and his family – with Agate’s sister Torbjorg with them in that entry.  It is significant that the post office of Rindal is listed.  The actual community of Rindal is in Norman County, but this indicates that people used the Rindal post office while residents of Polk County – which Garden Township just across the County Line from the community of Rindal.  Anders, Simon, and others are buried in Faaberg Cemetery in Rindal, just across the county line into Norman County. Once again, a great number of people on these pages were of Norwegian ancestry.

This deed, posted in two parts above, is from Anders and Agate Ofstedal to Simon Ofstedal, and is dated December 2, 1889.  The deed is for 160 acres in Polk County. The notary is listed as from Norman County.  They son Andrew A. Ofstedal was one of the two witnesses.  There is a small part of the deed that is not included, as the full first page could not scan completely.  It is also significant that Anders had to sign with an “x”, but Agatha did not.  No “x” was used in his deeds in Norway, and at that time I thought he was literate.  It is possible that he was literate in Norwegian, but not in English. The original homestead record for this land follows.

Finding the copy of the deed above led me to check the Bureau of Land Management Tract Books for Minnesota.  In Volume 8 - Range 43, Township 147, and Section 35 - the reference for 160 acres that is included in the deed above from Anders and Agatha to Simon is located - I found the entry and it is posted above.  It states that “Andreas” Ofstedal had completed the payment for 160 acres in this section on February 5, 1889, ten months before the deed that transmitted the land from Anders and Agatha to Simon.  Simon is also listed as having received his final certificate for 160 acres in the same section in July 1888.  Given the census entries, this land must have been in Polk County in Garden Township.  It meant that after the 1889 land transaction, Simon should have had 320 acres in this section.  Andrew (the son) had homesteaded his own land in Dakota Territory. And it is clear that the reference “Andreas” applies to Anders, since he was the grantor in the above deed for the same land.

Above are the death (burial?) records for the Faaberg Church in Rindal. Anders Ofstedal is listed as having died on May 7, 1892 and buried on May 12, 1892. His parents are shown as Simon Flakoll and Anna Fjillanger. His wife is Agate Andersdatter. Some of this is hard to read, but those are the basic items that are included. Anders is in the death index for Polk County - and a hand-copy of his index listing, along with Agate’s and other members of the Ofstedal family - is shown below after the 1905 Minnesota census, the period in which Agate passed away.

Shown above is Anders Simonson tombstone in the Faaberg Cemetery in Rindal, Minnesota. The base of the stone reads “Ofstedal” and his name is above with his birth and death dates in 1817 and 1892. Also listed on the stone is Simon’s daughter Ingeborg who died in 1888.

In January 1956, Rudy Lavik - son of Rev. Rasmus Lavik, and nephew of Agatha Lavik Ofstedal, wrote a letter to his child and grandchildren about family history. In that letter, he recalls “Tante Tjorbor”, and the fact that she lived with his family for a year at the turn of the century. He allowed as to hour she was not a pleasant person, and that “Later Tante Agate visited us and I remember how surprised we were at the difference”, intimating that they liked Aunt Agate. And it’s confirmation that in the last years of her life, Agata, visited Rasmus and his family in North Dakota.

Shown aboe is the 1900 census for Garden Township, Polk County, Minnesota entry for Simon Ofstedal  and his growing family (ten children are shown in the entry - there is a photograph of the Simon family in this period as Item #314 in the Lavik photograph collection.).  Agate Ofstedal is shown – mother to Simon, age 77, widowed, having had eleven children with five living in 1900, born in Norway with both her parents born in Norway, and having immigrated in 1878.  Everything matches – except the bygdebok and other records record nine children.  This seems to indicate that there were two more children that died very young in Norway.  By 1900, Dorothy and Nils – two children who had lived to adulthood and immigrated – had both died in Minnesota.  The five children living in 1900 were Andrew, Simon, Andreas, John, and Anna.  As shown above, Anders the father had died in 1892.

The 1905 Minnesota State Census for Garden Township of Polk County is shown above.  The second part of Simon Ofstedal's entry is shown at the top of the previous page.  Included is Agathe Ofstedal, 84, born in Norway with her parents born in Norway, a resident of the state for 26 years and for the enumeration district 22 years and 6 months. 

The Polk County death index shows that Agatha died on November 20, 1907. The handcopied death records of family members - from my 1995 trip to the Polk County Courthouse, is below. It includes Agatha, as well as Anders. There are also children and grandchildren of theirs. Knute and Martha Markuson were the parents of John and Andreas Ofstedal’s wives.

Thank you for reading! There are more pages for the children of Anders and Agate . . . .