Trysil, Norway, Immigration to Clayton-Deer Park, Washington
NORWAY COMES TO USA. This Trysil Zion album is made possible due to two highly qualified historians. Namely,Tulla Froyen and her 3rd cousin Paul Erickson. HISTORICAL FACT- Paul Erickson furnished the following derived from "Norway Family.com" titled Norwegian Immigration. By 1840 only about 400 Norwegians had immigrated to the United States. In 1850 the number had increased to about 15,000. The immigration wave picked up again immediately after the end of the Civil War. In 1866 more than 15,000 Norwegian Immigrants made the journey. Before the outbreak of World War I, about 750,000 immigrants from Norway had arrived in the US. In addition and out of the blue appears Ken Westby. He too is a historian and genealogist, so he has taken charge of unraveling the Westby Web. Tom Olsen is still keeping the Olsen, Olson and Olssons straight in our minds. Now enters Mr. Clark Satre, Historian for the Satre family and plans to join Tulla & Paul on the Trysil Trek in August 2008.When Mr. Hilding Sponberg in Trysil, Norway, received word from Tulla Froyen of the existence of our website, Hilding responded with the following message:KKjaere Tulla: So many interesting information and links you sent to us. In particular the link to Deer Park #3 gave us a special and exciting adventure. The picture of Mynda Dahl in front of her home, the small farm, Jon-Dahl in Skjaerberget. Her name was actually Minde Dahl. She was not twin sister of Hannah Dahl. She was the youngest sister out of the family of ten children, Born 20/4 1869 and moved to Oslo. Hanna was born 14/8 1858, married 1878 with Lars Olsson (Swede) and immigrated later to USA with 5 children.Minde had a twin sister that was Ida Dahl who stayed in Skjaerberget all her life and died in 1944.Unni's home is just a few yards from Jon-Dahl farm. She remembers Ida well. In the background you see a tall building. Unni's parents lived there for some few years before they build their own house very close. Unni's elder brother, Einer, also remember Minde when she visited Skjaeberget in the summertime. He is by the way, born in the house in the background, named Ryskog. The building has been torn down, but I remember it so, fantastic interesting all those things that turn up during our work with the Utvandrerstevne...and I believe this is only the start.
Taken in 1903 by Tulla Froyen's Great Uncle Olaf P. Nordby while visiting Trysil. He then returned to North Dakota.
A painting of Trysil, Norway.
Some of the decendents are still sprinkled hither and yon. Two Westbys for sure, One Erickson although no Ericksons appear to be included in this photo. We will try to show the three in a later photo. (Paul Erickson, Minnie Westby Hayworth and Kenneth Westby)
Trysil Lutheran Church, located two miles east of Clayton on Spotted Road. The Church was organized in 1892. The building was built in 1901. The first child baptized was William Hansen, The second Lilly Johnson and third Harald Westby.
Paul Erickson, son of John Erickson. Dorothy Iverson Kincaid and Minnie Westby (Vestby) Hayworth. This is Minnie's High School Graduation picture taken in 1949.
We wish to introduce Tulla and Boots Froyen, our link between Norway and the US A. Thank youTulla for making it possible that these two nations are able to share each other.
This Historic photo recorded July the 8th 1914 of the Louis Olsen family. Left to right standing - John, Louis, James, Edward, Oscar, Hoakan, Olaf, Albert. Front row seated. Minnie, Clara (First born Trysil Norway) Mother Olsen, Hanna Johnslatter Nydel, Father Olsen, Lars, Lena yongest girl.
Mr. Olaf and Hannah (Dahl) Olsson. (year unknown) Please note difference in spelling. This is not uncommon between distant generations and countries as well. Five children were born in Trysil with 7 more following in Deer Park.
This is a photo of Mynda Dahl, twin Sister of Hannah Dahl of Deer Park, WA. It is believed this picture was taken in Trysil, Norway. A cousin of Tom Olsen believes it was taken at the Skjarsberget farm there. Hannah was born there and was Tom's Great Grandmother and Olaf Olsen's Mother.
The Foreston School. Back row. L to R. J. H. Heal, teacher, taught in 1888 & 1889. A.M. Fish, Edgar Anderson, Charles Anderson, Sam Fish, Lawrence Anderson. Middle row. Sena Anderson, Nelly Westby, Ella Lemke, Eda Lemke, Halvor Westby, Hokon Olson, Jim Olson, John Olson and George Fish. Front row. Olaf Westby, Otine Westby, Minnie Lemke, Albert Westby, Louise Olson, This Foreston School was located at the corner of Spo
Raising the flag on Syttende Mai ( Norwegian National Independence day) in the city of Skjaeberget located in the South Trysil area. The beautiful photo and information was furnished by Hilding Sponberg of Trysil, Norway.
The Trysil, Norway, Lutheran Church
The Trysil Church stands today as majestic and sturdy as it was when the above photo was taken over 130 years ago, a tribute to Scandanavian craftsmanship. Please take note of the many headstones where the Dearly departed rest.
Not a solitary soul is stirring at this early hour in downtown Trysil, Norway. But come August of this year 2008 the streets and the home town residents will be filled with excitement and anticipation as long ago friends and loved ones join together for their long awaited reunion. This will be an unforgetable episode in your lives and it behooves one not to miss a single moment of it.
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This is almost the same view of Trysil, Norway, taken by Tulla's cousin in about 2006.
The magnificent interior of the Trysil, Norway, Lutheran Church.
This estate is where it all began for the Westby (Vestby) family. And with a life changing decision they left the security and solitude of home. They struck out on an 8000 mile journey that culminated in a wilderness 30 miles north of Spokane, Washington, USA. Our community is much obliged for their courage and farsightedness.
The Zion Lutheran Church today. It was moved from its original Spotted Road location to Crawford Street in 1950. The interior of this church leaves absoluly no doubt its architecture spawned from Trysil, Norway.
The Sanctuary of the Zion Lutheran Church in Deer Park, WA, seems to be a copy of the Trysil, Norway, Lutheran Church as shown above.
The Pedigree of Paul Erickson. Prepared by the talented Tulla and Boots Froyen.
The article above, appeared in the Deer Park Tribune. Mr. John Erickson and his loving wife Kathryn spent their lives together sharing their love. The rigors of WW II followed, andsoon a family they raised to be perfect examples of the children we all hope for. One being Paul, first impressions of a person only happens once. Paul Erickson starts out high and goes up from there. Thanks, I am sure to his Mom & Dad. Paul by the way has much Norwegian blood and seems to be related to more than his share of folks still remaining in the Area. He is heading for Norway this August for the Great Trysil Reunion. He will meet Tulla above the Artic Circle. Oh, by the way, they are cousins.
On May 22, 2008, Tulla Froyen wrote, "Hilding has been to 'Jon- Dahl' today for coffee with his Brother in law and took these fabulous pictures of where the Dahl's and Louis Olsson's wife Hannah was born. You can compare one of the pictures with the one on the website and see exactly where Minde was standing in the old photo. How neat. Enjoy!" Tulla So now Hilding being a true Gentelman chimes in, "Hei Tulla: Unni og jeg har I Skjaerberget pa kaffe hos Unni's bror Einar og hans kone Inger. Jeg gikk en tur bort til jondahl og tak noen bilder som jeg sender leggar ved. Her sier og skriver vi bare "jondahl." I wish I had said that. Then Hilding continued in English.
Hilging continued, "The houses are original from the time of Hanna was living here apart from the new entrance on the north side. As you can see, the landscape is more narrow now as there is no cultivation anymore and there are no animals to eat the birch trees. On the other picture you can imagine Minde standing between the cow house and the main building with Rydskog in the background where Unni's parents lived before they built the new house that you see here. Enjoy this beautiful place and imagine the life that existed here after the second world war. Today Jon Dahl uses it as a holiday resort. I also included a picture of Minde that I downloaded from the Zion website for you to compare. You can send the pictures to the Dahl people so they can see their "roots" of today. It is perfectly okay if they want to put the pictures on the home page. Thank you so much Hilding for the personal touch. It just doesn't get any better than this RAC.
The rigors of just one Immigant family that had the courage to make a gigantic decision when they approached a cross road. Western Comedian Will Rogers said "When you come to a cross road. Take it"
The Westby boys about the year ? ( 3 familys ) L to R. Otto, (OA), August, (OA), Kap,(EK), Harald, (OT), and Albert, (E), Front row. Einer, Olaf, (OA), Halvor, (OA), Oscar, (E), Pete, (OT), and Torvald (OT)
This Panorama was taken from the east fence surrounding Zion Hill/Trysil Cemetery. Sitting on a knoll there is a good view in all directions. You can see the nearest farm and just to the right is where the Trysil Church sat. To this day, two of the old pioneer Westby homes stand in the immediate area. It is said that during funerals some one stood guard in the Church Belfry and when he recieved signals from the Cemetery they rang the toll bell at the appropriate time.
This is the Ole T. Westby home as it looked in 2009.
This is the Erling K. Westby Homestead today. Directly across spotted Road from the Ole T. farmhouse. This is the farm that sat adjacent to the Trysil Zion Lutheran church.
Please let me introduce our Webmaster, Robert Clouse and his wife Mary. He is 3/4 German and 1/4 Swede. His being Webmaster has nothing to do with computer talent. The very first CDPHS meeting he attended, our President, Bill Sebright asked for a volunteer to be Webmaster. All Bob did was move just enough to scrach his brow, and Bill said, "Thanks for volunteering Bob." His trial and error ways have allowed him to bluff his way so far. Bob admits, "It's the best move I've made in a good long while." "Strangers are only friends I haven't met." This is one of his mottos and has brought many strangers into our lives who can now be called FRIENDS!
A SWEDISH BICYCLE RACK. If you will note, I confessed to being 1/4 Swede in the caption above, so I'm sincerely hoping this buys me a little wiggle room. R.A.C. PLEASE NOTE. TRYSIL ZION CONT. Will display as many Headstones as possible.
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