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| Amund Christopher |
Back another generation featuring great
grandparents, here are some interesting photos,
facts, and stories...and lots of missing history.
Amund was born near beautiful Voss, Hordaland, Norway March 29, 1828.
The family farm name was Graue.
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| Graue farm area |
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| waterfalls at Voss |
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| night winter at Voss |
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| Mountains near Voss |
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| Voss Lake |
They settle for a short time in Koshkonong, Wisconsin.
"By 1850, over half of the Norwegian immigrants in Wisconsin lived in the Koshkonong settlement,[5] known as Kaskeland in Norwegian."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Prairie_(town),_Wisconsin
Finally, they settled 40 acres near Spring Prairie, Leeds Township, Columbia County,
Wisconsin.Both parents died in there, Guri in 1851 and Christopher in 1854.
The first wife of Amund Christopher was Britha (Betsy) Johnson, from Moen, Voss,
Norway born on June 22, 1835. She came to this country in 1840. with her father,
Lars Johnson.
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| Betsy Johnson |
1) Martin Christopher, (April 10, 1854-1899) Leeds.
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| Martin Christopher |
2) Lewis Christopher (May 9, 1858-1943) Leeds
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| Lewis Christopher and Julia Charleson |
3) Edward John Christopher (September 25, 1866-1901)Emmet.
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| Edward Christopher and Bertha Halverson |
(born July 7, 1869-1949) Emmet
Amund moved to High Lake Township; Emmet County, Iowa,
in 1866, by covered wagon along with many Norwegian friends.
Britha died there in 1871 .
Amund's friend and neighbor, Charles Charleson died in 1872
from a horse and wagon accident.
Charles' wife was left with 4 young children:
2) Maren Guerina (Julia) Charleson, (1867-1941)
3) John Davis Charleson, (1869-1936)
4) Caroline Charleson, (1872-1959)
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| Caroline Charleson |
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| MaryAnn Charleson, Charley Olsen and family |
In 1875 Amund married the widow
Charleson and her four children joined his.
Amund and Kjestina Ingeborg Davis
(1841-1919) welcomed four more children
in the next eight years, all born in Iowa:
1) CARL LESTER CHRISTOPHER, (1876-1964)
(Married Inga Olsen, Karl Olsen's sister)
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| Carl Christopher and Inga Olsen |
2) BRITHA (BESSIE) LOUISE CHRISTOPHER,(1878-1958)
(Married Karl Gustav, Inga Olsen’s brother)
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| Bessie Christopher and Karl Olsen |
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| Oscar Christopher and Freeda Giles |
3) GEORGE CHRISTOPHER, (1880-1904) (Married Mollie Anderson)
4) OSCAR CHRISTOPHER, (1883-1967) (Married Freeda Giles)
Interesting fact: Lewis Christopher (Amund and Betsy's son) married Julia
Charleson.(Kjestina and Charles daughter) when they were a little older.
This helped unite the two families together. This "His, Hers and Ours" Family
stayed in close connection with each other throughout their lives
KJESTINA (CHISTINA) INGEBORG DAVIS was born in Numedal, Norway
on December 14, 1841. Her parents and six of her siblings traveled to America
in 1860 and settled in Linden, Columbia County,Wisconsin where 2 more Davis
children were born. George and Maria Davis' children are:
2) Ole Davis (1847-)
3) Ann S. Davis (1851-1880)
4) John Davis (1854-1907)
5) Margaret Davis (1856-1888)
6) Caroline Davis (1859-)
7) Martin Davis (1861-1929)
8) George D. Davis (1865-1918)
As you can see we have a lot more cousins than we thought. Most of my
correspondence and blog posts over the years have been with Carl and
Inga Christopher's children and grandchildren and Bessie and Karl Olsen's
children and grandchildren. For post about these relatives, go to "Older Posts"
at the bottom of this blogpost.
I met on line one of Oscar's grandchildren, Carol Kerr, so I will be sharing information
about Oscar's family history that I am learning from her, on the next blogpost.
I still have a dream that I can find and correspond with current relatives from the
Davis family, the Charleson four and the first four Christopher families.
I would also like to connect with relatives from Amund's sister, Anna's, family. She
chose to use Graue as her surname. She married Anton Nelson Meland, October 6,
1854. They stayed in Leeds, Wisconsin and they had six children, (some kept the
farm name, Meland, as their surname, some chose Nelson for their surname)
They later moved to DeForest WI and became one of the first settlers there
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| Anton Nelson Meland and Anna Christopherdatter Graue |
1) Anna Nelson (1855-)
2) Julia Nelson (1857-)
3) Betsy Nelson (1863-)
4) Edward Christofferson Meland (1866-1939)
5) Soffia Nelson Meland ( 1872-1954)
6) Tina Nelson (1877-)
Below is a photo of their descendants celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary:
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| Anton and Anna's 50 wedding anniversary in October 1904, Wisconsin |
Handwritten names of Amund Christopher and his father, Christoffer Amundsen,
appear in a Norse/English Bible that has been passed down since 1850 and now
belongs to Pastor Paul Christopher of Minnesota. We are fortunate that cousin Paul
has kept it all these years and has copied the few pages for us to view here. You can
see "Christopher Ammundsen New York July 1850" on the first page, and his initials
with his farm name on the second page. Amund's signature is on the third page.
Perhaps Amund's father bought this Bible when they first arrived in New York.
Iowa to Medina, North Dakota about 1903, close to the
time as Carl and Inga, Bessie and Karl moved there.
No doubt he loved to watch his grandchildren playing
while their parents developed their homesteads.
He passed away March 31, 1907, but Ingeborg continued
on and traveled with the Olsen family until she
passed on in Havre Montana on January 8, 1919.
Both are buried in the Olsen plot, Medina Cemetery.
Names on the Olsen Gravestone at Medina Cemetery:
Amund Christopher born Mar 29,1828 died Mar 31,1907
George Christopher born July 29,1880 died Jan 28, 1904
Raymond Norman Olsen born Mar 13, 1904 died Aug 17, 1908
Ingeborg Olsen Christopher born Dec 14, 1841 died June 8, 1919
George Christopher born July 29,1880 died Jan 28, 1904
Raymond Norman Olsen born Mar 13, 1904 died Aug 17, 1908
Ingeborg Olsen Christopher born Dec 14, 1841 died June 8, 1919
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