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Søndenå Farm

Here are photos of the signs designating the Søndenå farm.   Much of the area has been developed into residential homes, though a few farms still exist. Sign for Søndenå Farm area Sign for Søndenå Farm area

Sauda, Rogaland county, Norway

Here is a sign entering Sauda where the Søndenå farm is located.   The sign is used to designate the county (fylke) and municipality (kommune). Rogaland and Sauda signage

Søndenå farm, Sauda, Rogaland, Norway

Here are a few maps of the location of the Søndenå farm where Ole Olson Finnestad Sr was born and lived until moving southeast to the Nordskår farm.     Ole and family lived at Moen on the Søndenå farm. Søndenå Søndenå is just outside the village of Sauda in Rogaland county, Norway. Søndenå Søndenå Much of the original farm has been developed so there are few farms left today.    I do not know the exact location of the Moen residence on the Søndenå farm.

Death of Clara (Knutson) Nelson and daughter Ester

Edward Nelson, husband of Clara (Knutson) Nelson wrote about the death of his wife and daughter, Ester.    The letter was written in Norwegian and later translated by Eva Sorensen into English. Below is a copy of that letter. Edward Nelson's letter Clara was the daughter of Elizabeth (Finnestad) and Ole Andreas "Andrew" Knutson and granddaughter of Mari (Iversdatter Nord-Skaar) and Ole Finnestad. Thank you to Clara's great granddaughter, Laurel Armstrong for providing the letter as well as her help in connecting the Nelson family to the Finnestad family tree.

Mary Finnestad vs Rasmus Skaar et al

I originally posted information regarding a lawsuit filed following the death of Martha Iversdatter Nordskar Peterson's death.   The lawsuit was filed by her older sister, Mari Iversdatter Nordskar Finnestad, wife of Ole Olson Finnestad Sr. I thought I had posted information showing the location of the property in question at the time of Martha's death. Here is a current map of the location. Peterson Farm, Malta, Illinois Here is the 1892 Plat map for Malta township, Malta, DeKalb county, Illinois that shows the Peterson farm on the lower portion of the map. 1892 Malta township Plat map The property was sold to pay off the mortgage.    The proceeds were dispersed between the surviving family members as Peter and Martha did not have children.    The farm was sold to Michael and James Lynch.    By 1905, the Malta township Plat map showed the Lynch Brothers as owners of the property.   The upper portion of the Peterson property was transferred to Margaret Lynch.

Sailing from Stavanger

I was reviewing the 1871 passenger list of the Nordens Dronning which Rakkel (Rachel) and Iverdine (Dina) Olsdatter Finnestad had traveled from Norway to America and found another family connection. Listed below Rakkel Olson Finnestad is Marthe Iversdatter Nordskaar.    Marthe (Martha) had not been married at the time she sailed to America.    The farm where she had lived in Norway. Nordskaar, was used as a last name.    Martha was the younger sister of Mari Iversdatter Finnestad and sister-in-law of Ole Olson Finnestad Sr. Martha passed away November 20, 1899.  Services were held at the First Lutheran Church in Lee County, Illinois.   Having left no heirs, a lawsuit was filed to distribute the proceeds left from her estate.

Carrie (Dirdall) Finnestad - passport application

I had posted Carrie's passport application in a previous post.    I found page 2 of the application: This page includes her passport photo from 1920. Carrie was married to Rasmus, the son of Mari (Iversdatter) and Ole Finnestad Sr.

1940 US Census - Olaf Finnestad

Below is the 1940 US Census for Olaf Finnestad.    1940 US Census - Olaf Finnestad Olaf was living at 1511 Lombard Avenue, Everett, Snohomish County in the state of Washington with wife Myrtle and daughters Gwendolyn and Carmen.     Olaf was employed as a fireman for the city of Everett. Olaf's father, Rasmus also resided in the home, but the census takers had listed him on a separate page (census record was posted yesterday).

1940 US Census - Rasmus Finnestad

Here is the 1940 US Census for Rasmus Finnestad, son of Mari (Iversdatter) and Ole Finnestad Sr. 1940 US Census - Rasmus Finnestad Rasmus was living at 1511 Lombard Avenue, Everett, Snohomish County in the state of Washington.    Rasmus was living with his son and daughter-in-law.    For some reason the 1940 census for a few households living on Lombard Avenue was amended and an additional family member (in this case, Rasmus) was listed on a separate sheet.

Update

I haven't been very active in pursuing my research the past few years and have noticed that my entries on the Opera blog website are no longer available to view.    I have deleted the previous link to the Opera blog.      I don't recall which entries I had posted so there are a few that will most likely be forever lost. With a little motivation I may post the backlog I'd accumulated since my Opera blog posts.