The family of Halvor & Anne:

Family Notes...

Date: 11 Sep 1998
From: Stelplatt@aol.com

Dan,

Your web page looks great. I have not been to that part of Norway, but hope to one of these days. My brother, cousins, and I talk about going, but we don't seem to get it done. Where did you find the map? I would like to get one for the book I am putting together. I found a picture of the Bonsletten farm in the Stjørdal farm book and will have to borrow the book again to scan it. According to the Stjørdalsboka, the Bonsletten farm is part of the main farm of Kil and under Øvre Bonsletten (Br.nr. 5). I would like to be able to find it on a map before we ever do go there.

We just returned from a 10-day trip to Tulsa, OK, via Sioux Falls. I spent a little time at the Lutheran Church and the cemetery in Dell Rapids, but had a friend with me so didn't want to take too long. There were a few pieces of information that came from the trip, however. We looked in several old church books--very interesting as they were obviously printed in Norway and were the same as the tapes I have borrowed of Norwegian church records.

I found the marriage of H. T. Osterkil and Anne O. Sylte 18 Aug 1902, so they were not married in Norway but in Dell Rapids, St. Peter's Lutheran Church. Witnesses were Mrs. Ingeborg Sorkilmo and T. P. Sorkilmo. I think T. P. Sorkilmo was a nephew, son of Peder T. Sorkilmo, Halvor's brother. Irene Rosalie Osterkil was born 26 Aug 1903 and baptized 8 Nov 1903. Witnesses were Mr. & Mrs Lorentz Thoreson, Ole Tralstad, and Anne Pederson. Do these names mean anything to you? I also found the death of Ingeborg Osterkil in 1897. This was probably Halvor's first wife, Ingrid, as I haven't found any other Osterkils in Dell Rapids. I did not find her grave in the Dell Rapids cemetery. We stopped at a farm next to the cemetery, the home of an elderly man who is the "keeper of the books." He told us there weren't any Osterkils, but he did find Peder T. Sorkilmo and went to the cemetery to show us his grave.

I looked at the Surnadal web page before we left on our trip and there were a number of Øie names, obviously a farm there. Next time I am at the local FHC I will look at a tape they have of farm names to see if there is an Øie farm anywhere else. I think there is a good possiblity that they met on the boat.

Stella