The first child of Nels and Grace was Alphea born 21 Nov 1913. She married Homer Olson. They spent the World War II years working in consolidated Aircraft in San Diego building planes. After the war they moved to St. Paul, MN. Alphea retired from Montgomery Ward and Homer from Brown and Bigelow. They had no children.

The second child was Arnold Kermit born 23 Jul 1915. After attending rural schools and graduating from high school he attended Coyne School in Chicago, IL to learn refrigeration and electricity. He then worked for a time for MacArthur’s appliances in Decorah. During the war he too worked for Consolidated Aircraft in San Diego. In California he married Irene Kubik (15 Nov 1921) of Protovin, IA. They returned to Iowa after the war and started "Faldet Appliances” in Calmar. In the sixties they became co-owners of the Red Vest Restaurant and Hotel South Winneshiek in Calmar. They sold both businesses and retired in 1978. They have one daughter Lana (Faldet) Oyloe  who lives near Decorah. Arnold passed away 27 Jun 1993.

The third child of Nels and Grace was Melbourne (27 Jun 1918). He attended rural schools and graduated from Decorah High School in 1936. He taught in the rural schools for several years before going into the service Oct 1942. After basic training and radio and radar training he went overseas to join the 39th Bomber Group of the 20th Air Force on Guam. The 39th Bomber Group was bombing Japan nearly every night. After the war ended Mel returned to Decorah where he was hired by Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. Mel enjoyed most of the telephone work. He worked for them for 37 years and retired in 1983. Mel and Virginia had four children: Mary (deceased), Cynthia (m. Merlin Steines), Mark and David (m. Rachel Anderson).

The youngest of the Nels and Grace Faldet children was Dervin Bernell. He also attended rural schools and graduated from Decorah High School in 1940. Not long after this, he joined the U.S. Air Force. After cadet training, he was sent to England. From there he flew many combat missions as co-pilot of B-24 Liberator Bombers over Germany. After VE Day, he returned to Decorah and joined his brother Arnie in the Faldet Appliances business in Calmar. They had a very successful business and had many friends there. Dervin married Phyllis Knutson and they had three daughters: Julie (m. Jim Nordheim), Linda (m. Stanley Brandt) and Nadine (m. Roger Larson). The appliance business was sold and Dervin and Phyllis are enjoying retirement in Calmar.

Faldet, Ole and Cecilia (Spildo)

(Melbourne Faldet)

The local name Faldet comes from the family of Ole Ingebretson Faldet and played a notable part in the history of Folldal, Norway. Most of the information in this account is reported in a family history by David and Mel Faldet which was printed in 1992. The report entitled The Story of the Family of Ole Ingebretson and Cecilia Nilsdatter Faldet is available in the Decorah Genealogy Library, The Winneshiek Co. Archives, the Vesterheim Library and also the National Archives. In a publication Folldalsjul in 1990 a 21 year old Folldal resident Rune Alander followed the ancestry of Ole Ingebretson Faldet back through his father, paternal grandfather and paternal great-grandmother seventeen generations to Princess Agnes Haakonsdtr (b. 1292) the daughter of King Haakon V Magnuson who was the son of the previous Norwegian king who had himself descended from three successive Danish kings.

Ole I. Faldet was born on South Husom farm in the Folldal Valley 13 Nov 1836 to Engebret Engebretson and Mari Syversdtr Slette. Statsarkivet in Hamar informs us that he was baptized in Folldal by Iver Faldet, a layman, who probably performed the baptism at home because the baby was ill.

Ole's parents Engebret Engebretson Husom and Mari Syversdtr Slette (b. 1793 on Slette or Stetten farm) were probably humble people. When they were married 27 Jun 1824 they moved into a small log home just above the stream on South Husom farm. Their names and the date were rosemaled above the door dividing the eating and living room from the sleeping room. This house, the first home of Ole’s parents and Ole’s first home still stands in fine condition as a guest house on South Husom farm with the rosemaled door still intact. I have seen it and have it preserved in a picture. It has remained intact for 170 years. The cabin with its sod roof is rented out for the “holiday."

Ole was one of six surviving children in his family. Ole's parents and the children moved to the Faldet farm in 1842 when Ole was six years old. Ole kept his most recent farm name when he came to America.

Folldal is a farming and mining community in Osterdalen about 200 miles north of Oslo. This mountainous area is known as “Norges Tak" which literally means "the roof of Norway." Ole’s great-great-grandfa-ther, Ole Hansson Li discovered copper and sulfur deposits when looking for a horse in 1748. He scuffed some moss away with his shoe and noticed the soil below was green from the presence of copper. These deposits have been mined continuously to the present.

It is likely due to the overpopulation and less prosperous days in Folldal of 1870 that Ole decided to try life in a new land. He came to the Big Canoe parish north of Decorah, IA in 1871. In 1872 he was married at Big Canoe Lutheran Church to Cecilia Nilsdtr Spildo who had emigrated from the Granvin district of Hardanger, Norway in 1866. Their union was the source of the Faldet family still residing in the Decorah area. Their family played an important role in the Canoe Ridge area of Pleasant Twp.

Cecilia ((1845-1930) was the daughter of Nils Nilsson who was married to Synneva Jensdtr Folkedal in 1841. They lived at Spildo Nedre in Granvin, Hardanger, Norway. Nils was a jack-of-all-trades and good as a shoemaker, hunter, bear shooter and veterinarian but mostly as a workman. He “plowed” a quarter acre field per day and mowed with a scythe for two dollars a week. Cecilia’s mother came from the Folkedal cluster of farms. Synneva can be traced back on the farm records at Folkedal for eight generations. Cecilia was born 19 Feb 1845 and