Family Notes...
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998
From: Stelplatt@aol.com
I just received some information from your web page sent by Barry Dahl and tried to access your site, without success (probably due to the time of day). I will try again tomorrow.
Halvor Osterkil was the younger brother of my gr grandmother, Margrete Torsteinsdatter Bonsletten Osterkil. I found him and his daughter, Ida, living with my gr grandmother in the 1900 census of Dell Rapids and am so pleased to have more information about him. I have a copy of the Lutheran Church of Dell Rapids centennial publication, and in it is a picture of a Sunday School class taken in 1897 with Halvor Asterkil (?) as one of the teachers.
Margrete and Halvor had a brother, Peder Torsteinson Sorkilmoe, who also lived in Dell Rapids and a sister, Johanna, who lived in the country near Baltic, SD. Johanna married Ingvald O. Brende, I believe her second husband.
Would be happy to exchange more information with you.
Stella
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998
From: Stelplatt@aol.com
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your reply. I could not access your web page this morning either, but I found it by doing a search. The address that Barry gave me was different from the one you just sent. I also found Jon Erickson's message and several others. An interesting morning!
Actually, of Halvor's family there were four brothers and three sisters living in the Dell Rapids area in the early days. I just mentioned the ones whose names I know. This information is in a letter written by my uncle Peter Anderson (Margrete's son) in 1946. I am sorry now that I didn't ask him or my mother about them when they were both alive. From the "Stjørdalsboka" the children were: Margrete (b. 1829, d. young), Peder Sørkilmoplass (1833), Johanna (b. 1837), John (1839), Margrete (1841), Lars (1844), Beret (1846), Johan (1849), and Halvor (1855). According to the 1900 census, Halvor emigrated in 1875.
Do you have the ancestors of Halvor and Margrete? I have them back to the late 1600s from the Stjørdalsboka. If you want to send me your snail-mail address, I will mail you a pedigree chart as well as a copy of the picture.
Margrete and her husband, Anders Jacobson, had eight children, the youngest born in SD in 1886, the year after they arrived. My grandmother, Beret, had eight children; Anders (next to the youngest) moved to Canada and had 10 children; Mikal (the youngest) had four children but no grandchildren; and the rest either didn't marry or had no children. A second cousin in Canada and I have been trying to track them all down.
Is your Aunt Irene in good health? Would she be able to visit with me? I live in Rapid City and get to Watertown occasionally. I was in Dell Rapids over Memorial Day doing some research and would like to get back there soon. Any questions you have about Dell Rapids or the family, please let me know.
Hope to hear from you again!
Stella Hughes
