Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of Peder Johan (Pederson) Ersland

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Descendants of Peder Johan (Pederson) Ersland

Generation No. 1

1. PEDER JOHAN (PEDERSON)⁴ ERSLAND (PEDER³ OLSEN, OLA² LARSSON, LARS HANSON¹ SIGGJARVÅGEN) was born 07 Jan 1872 in Eritsland/Ersland [farm], NORWAY [Finnås parish, near Bremnæs, on Bømlo ]^1,², and died 06 Aug 1945 in Madison, WI, USA. He married SOPHIE LORENTZE GJERAGER³ 11 Apr 1905 in Bethel Lutheran Church (Madison, WI), daughter of LARS GJERAGER and ABEL ENNIGEVIK. She was born 11 Apr 1878 in Liksund, Norway ⁴, and died 16 Dec 1960 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA⁴.

Notes for PEDER JOHAN (PEDERSON) ERSLAND:
Came to US in 1893 (emigration record found by Carol Wait.) His name given then was Peder Johann Pederson Eritzland.

" I remember seeing a reference about Peder and Lars working for farmers in the Marshalltown, Iowa area right after they came to the USA. Later, Peder was living in Decorah, Iowa for awhile. " email from Ron George, husband of Peder's granddaughter Gail (ie Violet's son-in-law) May 2002)

According to his daughter-in-law Berniece (Arthur's wife), Peder went back to Norway and returned to the US a second time, meeting Sophia Gjerager on the boat (and married her in 1905).

Carol Wait found his May 1904 emigration record (when he returned to the US) -- he travelled with 2 cousins, Lars Larson and Jens Ersland. This time his name is given as Peder Pederson Ersland, his home as the state of Minnesota, and his occupation as farmer. His destination is given as Louisberg Minnesota. (As far as we know, he did not farm again on returning to the US -- moved to Madison and worked in town thereafter.)

Peder anglicized his name later in life, to Peter John Ersland: this is the name on his gravestone in Madison WI.

His obituary says he "settled in Madison and lived there 42 years."

"Peder worked at a cemetery and for Madison-Kipp, in Madison. Madison-Kipp was noted for building automatic oilers for machinery." - email from Ron George.

We haven't yet determined what he did between 1893 and 1904. How long did he stay in the US that time, where did he live, what did he do? Why and when did he return to Norway, and for how long? Where did he live there (presumably Bomlo) and what did he do? Why did he decide to come back to the US? All unanswered questions.

The obituary says he "quietly slept away from this world" on August 6, 1945, after several months of illness.

More About PEDER JOHAN (PEDERSON) ERSLAND:
Burial: 08 Aug 1945, Rose Lawn Memorial Park, Madison ⁵
Emigration: 26 Apr 1893 ⁶

Notes for SOPHIE LORENTZE GJERAGER:
[email from Iris Nast, March 2002]: " I met Peder's wife (our great-aunt Sophie) in Madison in August 1954.. She was quite elderly and bedridden at the time, but she was very pleasant. [Note: she would have been 76 at the time.] I was attending summer school in Chicago, and I drove to madison with Oscar & Mildred Eritsland and little Esther, Harry & Larry Macheroux to visit with these relatives for the day. Some of Peder Ersland's children were there: son Leif (married to Bea - we coresponded for a while afterward); also anther son (Oscar Bernard); and another daughter was there (Violet] I visited with them later in their home in one of the Quad cities) One daughter [Borghild Arlene] had died leaving behind small children, but her husband was there with his second wife -- it was nice to see her welcomed so warmly into his first wife's family. And there were lots of [Sophie's] grandchildren present, too!"

The image from the Gjerager family bible (image provided by Ron George) gives her children's names. It lists Peter Lawrence as "Lorentz", so her second name ("Lorentse") must have been a female version of the same name.

Some family members appear to call her Sophia. Others Sophie. The family bible page spells it Sophie.
"Whenever Grandma Ersland's formal name was mentioned (the one other than "Grandma")....it was Lorentze rather than Sophie. And as Peter has recalled, her name on her headstone at Rose Lawn Cemetery in Madison, Wisconsin is inscribed S. Lorentze Ersland with only the initial used for her first name. " (John Ersland, email May 2002)

Children of PEDER ERSLAND and SOPHIE GJERAGER are:

2.	i.	PETER LAWRENCE⁵ ERSLAND, b. 1906; d. 1989.
3.	ii.	LEIF JOHN ERSLAND, b. 1908; d. 29 Jan 1971, heart attack.
4.	iii.	VIOLET ELIZABETH ERSLAND, b. 1910; d. 1980.
5.	iv.	OSCAR BERNHARDT ERSLAND, b. 1912; d. 1990.
	v.	BORGHILD MARIE ERSLAND, b. 1914; d. 1916 ^7,⁸.

More About BORGHILD MARIE ERSLAND:
Cause of Death: pneumonia

	vi.	ARTHUR NORMAN ERSLAND, b. 1917; d. 1918, in worldwide influenza epidemic ⁹.
6.	vii.	BORGHILD ARLENE ERSLAND, b. 1920; d. 1953, of diabetes.
7.	viii.	ARTHUR INGVALD ERSLAND, b. 1922; d. 1985.

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