New Family Discovery

So I have been putting off posting about this because I had a book I am trying to get published, but now that it's been edited and sent on its way, I wanted to write this up for everyone.

When I first got Nana's mom's family tree, it only went as far back as Oline's parents, so I have been spending a great deal of time trying to piece together the generations before them. Census records, birth records, anything that would give me the information I needed. Oline's mother was one of the first I found a record for—a birth record in the place of birth I had recorded for her.

Maren Sofie Olsen was born in 1855 in Slots-Bjergby, Denmark to Ole Larsen and Birthe Marie Schrøder. As I learned about her story, I got bits and pieces as I continued to research her. It seems her father left for America, and never sent for her and her mother. I also learned that her mother had been married before and had two daughters, only marrying again after her first husband died. Which meant that he'd left all four of them behind.

Well, a few weeks ago, I discovered a new record for a child for Ole and Birthe Marie—a son by the name of Lars Christian Olsen. A son who was three years older than Maren Sofie. I researched him more, and discovered another record for him—in America. So apparently Ole hadn't completely left his family behind. Though apparently Lars hadn't come over until after his confirmation. He was fifteen when he came to the US. Eventually, I also found a marriage record for him. And then a census record with his family.

I'm going to digress here a bit to put things in context now. The reason we had the family tree for Oline's side of the family was because my grandmother and her siblings had gone looking for information about their mother's family because of her death when my grandmother was only nine. In learning the information about their family, they discovered that their mother's younger brother was still alive, and went to visit him. Their uncle Hans told them many things about his life and their early lives. One of the things he told them was that he had come and worked for his uncle Oscar on his farm in Minnesota. So I have always had Oscar listed as a brother of Ole in my family tree, with a child also named Oscar, and a daughter named Tina.

When I looked at the census record, I was shocked because I recognized the names there. Lars and his wife, but also Oscar and Tina. Apparently, Hans hadn't fully understood the connections between himself and the people he worked with when he first came to America. So now I have the family properly mapped out.

> Ole and Birthe Marie had two children: Lars Christian and Maren Sofie.
> Lars Christian married Anna Elisabeth Johnsen and they had two children: Oscar Martin and Tena Marie Bergithe.

According to family story, neither had children, so that was the end of that line.

I also learned something else as I did research. Apparently Birthe Marie died in 1858, when Maren Sofie was only three. So this is likely why Ole never sent for them—by the time he was able, Birthe was probably dead, and he probably had no way to find out where the children were. Of course, there is also a story about a vase that was sent to Maren by her father, and that after, she never heard from him again. But whatever happened, Maren made her way in the world, and had a lovely family, and I will never forget what she and her mother went through; that without them, we wouldn't be here at all.