Anna Jordahl

West of the Moon and Norwegian Emigration

January 20, 2020 by Jill Holman

Cover of *West of the Moon* by Margi Preus

I found myself listening to West of the Moon by Margi Preus on a recent road trip and I really liked it. It is a good story and it won a Minnesota Book Award in 2015. She draws on Norwegian folk tales, so I felt I was getting in touch with my Norwegian heritage.

While this book is fiction, she was inspired to write it by her great-great-grandmother’s diary, where she describes coming to America in 1851. In particular, there was a girl alone on the ship in the diary which inspired Preus to write this story.

I have always been interested in emmigrant stories. What is that like to leave everything you know and endure a difficult journey in the hopes of making a better life somewhere new?
The author did a bunch of historical research and yet the book still has a timeless, fairy-tale quality. It is not just a children’s book either! There are some good philosophical questions in there as well.

Wait a minute, didn’t my Norwegian great-great-grandmother come to America as well? Did she come alone like the girl who inspired the story? Was she hoping to find her father like the girl in the story?

Pic of Fjerstads1940 — Anna with her son Pete and his daughter Fran and her son Boyd (Four Generations! circa 1940)

Here is what we know so far . . .

We find my great-great-grandmother, Anna, in an emigration database leaving Bergen, Norway 8 Apr 1885. I have not yet been able to document her complete journey through ships logs or border crossings. She has a lot of name variations.

Her father was already in America, but we don’t know that they kept in touch. She had been born out of wedlock, so she probably was looking forward to a fresh start. Her brother Amond emigrated later in 1905.

She got married to Lars Fjerstad in Minnesota on 22 Nov 1889. He had emigrated the year after Anna. I imagine they met here since they were from different Norwegian towns. They went on to have six children and 22 grandchildren.

They did have relatives around from Lars’ side of the family. His three siblings also came to America in 1892 and 1893. His mother came in 1893 after her husband died and we see her living with Lars and Anna at the time of the 1895 census. Brother Ole was living with Lars and Anna at the time of the 1900 census.

The White Bear from Kay Nielsen’s version of East of the Sun and West of the Moon in 1922

Additional Resources:

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The Fjerstad Breakthrough

January 20, 2013 by Jill Holman

Just what you dream of! A cousin in a far-away country contacts you and shares information you didn’t have! Hooray!

And I learned a lot:

Check out these two charts for a bunch of ancestors for Lars & Anna:

Lars had three siblings: Ole, Britha and Kristi (twins!) and all of them emigrated to America. Anna had a half-sister named Maria.
They come from Fjaerland Norway and here is a map:

Map of Fjaerland Norway Where Anna & Lars were born

And it is beautiful there! Check out these pictures:

The Farm Bjaastad — The farm nearest the fiord is Bjaastad, where Anna Olsdtr. was born

Historic Fjærland — Historic Fjaerland about the time when Anna Nilsdtr. Jordahl left Norway

A new resource I didn’t know (of course it is in Norwegian & my Norwegian is not so good) which has Lars’ baptism and Anna’s baptism
And there is a database for emigration that shows that Anna emigrated 8 Apr 1885, Lars emigrated 12 Apr 1886 and his mother Anna on 15 Jun 1893 (and that seems to solve my mystery of the older Anna in the 1895 MN census – it looks to be Lars’ mother). Anna’s father Nils also emigrated 4 May 1875.
One thing that might seem confusing is naming. Lars also used the name Lasse and then kept the name of the farm he left, which was Fjaerestad, shortening it to Fjerstad in America. Anna was born out of wedlock at the farm Bjaastad, but her mother later married and moved to the farm Jordal, so Anna used that as her last name in America, changing the spelling to Jordahl.

Please note that Ottar’s research is being shared with his permission. Thanks so much Ottar!

The Basic Facts:
Lars (Lasse) Johannesson FJERSTAD
b. 2 Oct 1864, Fjaerland Norway
d. <1920
& Anna Nilsdtr. Bjaastad JORDAHL
b. 13 Sep 1866, Fjaerland Norway
d. 7 Jun 1950, Minneapolis, Hennepin, MN
m. 22 Nov 1889, Arendahl, Fillmore, MN

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A Brief Timeline for the Fjerstads

A Brief Timeline for the Fjerstads

September 24, 2012 by Jill Holman

Here is the draft of what I have so far – I haven’t been able to find out a great deal about this part of the family yet, but I still hope it is useful to someone! Here are facts and their sources:

Oct 1864 – Lasse born Norway (1900 census)
13 Sep 1866 – Anna born Norway to Louis & Marie (death cert, 1900 census)
1885 immigrated (1920 census)
22 Nov 1889 – Lasse Fjerstad & Anna Jordahl married Arendahl, Fillmore, MN (marriage cert)
1895 – Lars & Anna & baby Johan are with brother Ole & a 65-year-old Anna in Fillmore (census)

Pic of Fjerstads1922 — Amanda, her son, her husband, Anna holding Fran & Atchie circa 1922

2 Oct 1895 – Pete b. Fillmore MN (grandma, death cert, draft card)
2 Sep 1898 – Claire Fjerstad born Staples MN (funeral card, death cert)
1900 – Lasse & Anna with 4 kids & brother Ole in Arendahl, Fillmore, MN (census)
1910 – Louis & Anna with 6 kids in Brookings SD (census)
1915 – Anna owned land in Hansonville (plat book)
1917 – Pete farmed in Hendricks MN (draft card)
1919 – Claire & Pete married Hendricks MN, she worked in a bank at the time (Fran & Margaret)

1920 – Pete & Claire in Toronto, Deuel SD, he worked in a restaurant (census)
1920 – Anna & 2 sons in Hansonville Lincoln MN (census)
23 Jan 1920 – Frances Fjerstad born to Peter and Clair Deuel SD (birth cert)
1930 – Pete & Claire in Yellow Medicine MN with 7 kids, he’s a car mechanic (census)
1934 – Anna is in Mpls at 3853 44th Ave (city dir)
16 Feb 1937 – Glen and Fran married in Milbank living in Ortonville MN (marriage cert)

1940 – Claire has 8 kids in Lac qui Parle MN (census)
1948 – Anna is still in Mpls at 3853 44th Ave (city dir)
7 Jun 1950 – Anna dies Hennepin MN (death cert)
30 Aug 1951 – Claire dies St Paul MN, marriage box says separated (funeral card, death cert)
23 Jan 1968 – Glen Holman dies Hennepin Co MN (death cert)
2 Aug 1974 – Pete dies Hennepin MN (death cert)
17 May 2002 – Fran dies Hennepin Co MN (death cert)
(As always, there are no details about living descendants to protect their privacy.)

Pic of Fjerstads1941 — “Fjerstad Brats August 24, 1941”
(that was written on the back)
L-R back: Fran, Robert, Margaret, Lorraine
front: Paul, Mary Ann, Dick, Dean, Jody

*Funny thing – the birth in the Fillmore records for 2 Oct 1895 for Lars & Anna says Alfred Benjamin not Peter Ole! What is up with that?
*In case you were confused, Lars, Lasse & Louis are the same person! He was rather flexible about his name.
*Where was Pete in 1940?
*Who was the older Anna in 1895?
*Who knows more about Lars & Anna’s parents? I am so curious about them.

The Basic Facts:
Lars J. FJERSTAD
b. Oct 1864, Norway
d. & Anna N JORDAHL
b. 13 Sep 1866, Norway
d. 7 Jun 1950, Minneapolis, Hennepin, MN
m. 22 Nov 1889, Arendahl, Fillmore, MN
Peter Ole FJERSTAD
b. 2 Oct 1895, Amhurst, Fillmore, MN
d. 2 Aug 1974, Robbinsdale, Hennepin, MN
& Claire (Clara) ATCHISON
b. 2 Sep 1898, Staples, Todd, MN
d. 30 Aug 1951, St. Paul, Ramsey, MN
m. 1919, Hendricks, Lincoln, MN
Evelyn Frances FJERSTAD
b. 23 Jan 1920, Toronto, Deuel, SD
d. 17 May 2002, Brooklyn Center, Hennepin, MN
& Glen Oliver HOLMAN
b. 18 Jun 1915, Odessa, Big Stone, MN
d. 23 Jan 1968, Minneapolis, Hennepin, MN
m. 16 Feb 1937, Milbank, Grant, SD

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Anna Jordahl

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