Sunday, July 15, 2007

One Hundred Fifty Today

It's Nils Olai Hansen's 150th birthday. Since he's not a famous man, not many folks are celebrating the milestone and not many know anything about him. He was my grandmother's immigrant father. Happy Birthday, old guy.

He was born in Magisaas, Salangen, Norway, on July 15, 1857, and died at 80 on March 30, 1938 in Burnett County, Wisconsin. His father was Hans Nilsen, his mother, Berit Marie Samuelsdtr. His father died by drowning at age 47 when Nils Olai was 5 years old. Nils married Jacobine Sorensdtr in 1887 in Norway. They had three children, all born in Norway: Jakob, Aminda, and Hansine (my grandmother, born in 1895). They came to America in 1903. He wrote a diary during the Atlantic crossing describing the adventure.

This is Nils Olai Hansen in about 1925.


This is the family in Wisconsin in about 1908. They had a farm in Burnett County, Wisconsin, between Webster and Danbury.


This is Nils Olai and Jacobine Hansen with their grandchildren in about 1930. The older children are offspring of Hansine, their youngest daughter, and her husband, Richard Anderson. The others are children of Jake, their son.


Nils Olai Hansen is buried in the Oakland Township Cemetery near his home.

Nils is older than the state of Minnesota, which celebrates its Sesquicentennial next year.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great post. Happy birthday old guy, indeed. And takk for alte, as well. Makes me want to visit Norway again. SS