Notes for Hans Christian OLSEN

Notes for Hans Christian OLSEN Doug & Nancy Russell's Homepage

Notes for Hans Christian OLSEN

-----Original Message-----
From: Norman Kolstad [SMTP:nkolstad@@prtel.com]
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2000 6:27 AM
To: nanruss@@icehouse.net
Subject: Re: Hi!
Nancy-
I was in the process of composing a letter to family members when I received
your note. Anyway here is what I have so far in the way of genealogy news.
1 Oct, 2000
To: Kolstad family and descendants of Hans Kolstad.
I have located the Kolstad farm in Norway. I recently received confirmation
that the Kolstad surname is derived from the Kolstad farm in Eidsberg parrish,
�stfold fylke, Norway. It is located in the southeast corner of Norway about 40 km.
southeast of Oslo, just south of the village of Mysen. The farm is listed in the census as
g�rd nummer 107 and has coordinates of: Lat: 59.53 N. and Long: 11.27 E. It is there that
the brothers Johan Olsen and Hans Christian Olsen were born to husmann (cotter; tenant
farmer) Ole Eriksen and his wife Gunhilde Andersdatter. Ole and Gunhilde apparently
never owned that farm but later may have owned a farm at Vardehytten, which is now part
of Opsal, where Ole died in 1860 at age 68.
During the 19th century Norwegians were encouraged to abandon the patronymic
system ( __sen or __datter) and to choose a surname. Most people chose either a
farm name which was part of their address or kept the patronymic. In the case of Hans
and Johan, they chose to use their birthplace as a surname. The name Kolstad means
simply "Koll's place", a man's name. The farm was probably named Kolstad centuries ago.
There are more than 80 places in Norway named Kolstad, Kolstadplads, or
Kolstadhus etc.
Johan Olsen (Kolstad) can be found in the 1865 census living in the kommune
of Id, �stfold, with his wife, Anne Johnsdatter, and Hans Arnesen, a 20 year old
seminary student. His occupation is listed as Kirkesanger, or minister's assistant.
Four years later, in the emigration record from Oslo, he lists his occupation as a
schoolteacher in Fredrikshald (now Halden) with a destination of Madison, Wisconsin.
The 1865 census finds Hans Christian Olsen as a barberer (barber) in
Christiania (Oslo) along with his wife, Mathea, and children Kristian, Hanna, and Hermand
They emigrated to Minnesota in 1880.

| HOME | EMAIL | SURNAMES |