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Bjorn Kvelve Anderson

 Bjorn Kvelve Anderson did not boast of close relationship with military nobility, nor was his name recognized for generations back in Norsk history. Yet, when our late eminent genealogist, Lester Welhaven Hansen, delved for over thirty years in family history, he found Bjorn's roots related to many famous names and with this incentive traced the family back sixty generations. While this pursuit may have little meaning or authenticity, it is still a remarkable accomplishment which Lester recorded for posterity in his three publications of 1951, 1956 and 1971.

Such names as King Harald Haarfagre, King Harald III Sigurdson, King Haakon IV and King Olaf Trygveson were linked to Bjorn's lineage. Lester also traced lines to Leif Erikson, Snorre Sturlason, Julius Caesar, William The Conqueror, Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, George Washington, Ole Bull, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Queen Elizabeth, Axel Munthe, Eric Sevareid and King Olav V. In a way, Bjorn's heritage seems more impressive than his wife's. However, even had this been known at the time of his marriage to Abel Cathrine, it probably would not have changed the von Krogh attitude toward the alliance. Bjorn and his more recent predecessors were of farming stock.

Bjorn's great-great grandfather, Rasmus Anderson Strand, was a prominent man in the Vikedal community. He was an official in Vikedal 's shipping industry and took a large part in the donation of an alter piece to the church of Sandeid. His name is to be seen engraved on this alter piece.

Bjorn's great-grandfather, Jacob Rasmusson Laerdal, was raised on the rich farming estate of Laerdal in Sandeid. Jacob married into the illustrious Heggebo family who had an ancestor on the Alliance Assembly of King Kristian IV at Oslo in 1591.

Bjorn's grandfather, son of Jacob and Brita Heggebo, Rasmus Jacobson Strand, was a prosperous land owner. He married Lisbeth Torrisdatter Rodne-Strand and they had ten children. One of these, Anders Rasmusson Strand Kvelve, was the father of Bjorn Kvelve Anderson. Anders had a brother named Rasmus who married Kari Zacheriasdatter Viland, taking over the Viland estate and changing his name to Rasmus Rasmusson Viland as was the custom. In 1814, when Norway declared her independence from Denmark, Rasmus Viland was a member of the First National Storting, and is remembered as one of Vikedal's illustrious sons.

Bjorn's father, Anders Rasmusson Strand Kvelve, was a cooper (carpenter - barrel-maker) by trade. He married Marta Oldsdatter Sondernaa and took over a portion of the Sondernaa estate known as Kvelve. Bjorn, born June 3, 1801, had a sister, Kristi, and a brother, Rasmus.