wagon to the Muskego Settlement in Racine, Wi. There were 7 children in the family: Hans, Nels, Even, Soren, Peter, Rosina Marie and Inger Marie. Of these only Nels and his family stayed in Norway. However, they came to America 2 years later.

My grandfather, Evan Larson, was only 11 years old when he came to America. He liked to tell the story of his trip to his children. In 1854 he followed his older brother to Winneshiek Co. On 24 Apr 1854 he purchased 80 acres at $1.25 an acre for a total of $100.00. The school commissioner deeded another 40 acres to him 2 Jan 1855. Then he went back to Wisconsin. In 1860 he sent $50.00 to his brother to pay the taxes. His brother discovered that the transfer of the government land had been delayed and no taxes were due, so he used the money to purchase the other 40 acres. Evan then had a 160 acre farm. In 1862 he left Wisconsin with his parents and came to Winneshiek Co. to live.

In 1880 Even married Barbara Nordhus who came to this country when she was 15 years old. Even and Barbara had 3 children: Cora who died at age 23 in 1910; Louise (m. Hans Tiegen) of Lake Mills, IA. and Fridtjof Cornelius (b. in 1885). Fridtjof, my father, lived on the old homestead farm all his life with the exception of one two-year venture in homesteading. In 1910 he went to the northwest corner of South Dakota and entered a 160 acre homestead. By the fall of 1911 he returned to Ossian, IA. In 1917 he married Anna Serene Johnson.

Fridtjof and Anna had 5 children: Gerhard, Elsa, Victor, Albert and Dagne. Fridtjof bought the home place in 1920 shortly before the death of his father.

I, Gerhard, am the oldest in the family and grew up on the farm and had my schooling in a country school near the Stavanger Church. I graduated from Ossian High School. In 1940 I joined the U.S. Navy. About Aug 1940 I went aboard the U. S. S. Saratoga. I was transferred off the Saratoga in late summer of 1943 and served at the Naval Airbases in Washington and western Oregon. During May 1944 I was hospitalized because of an accident. While in the hospital the phone company was giving free calls home for patients and I was lucky enough to call home to my parents. By 1945 in North Bend, OR I had been married and had 4 children: Eric Gene, Anne Marie, Daniel Gerhard and Connie Louise. At present they live in different parts of the country.

Eric Gene is employed at the IRS in Kansas City. Ann Marie married Robert Kern 30 Jun 1979 at Minneapolis, MN. She is now the principal of Milaca Elementary School at Milaca, MN. Her husband is an accountant. Frances Louise is their daughter. Connie Louise married Chip Rubsamen on 29 Nov 1991 at Pasadena, CA. They are self-employed. Daniel Gerhard married Beth Beaumont on 27 Jul 1978 at Faith Chapel, Iowa City, IA. Daniel is an Air Traffic Controller in Columbus, OH. Beth is working as a dental assistant. They have 2 sons: Timothy Daniel and Mark.

In 1952 I went back to the home of my parents in Ossian with my 4 children. I farmed on my own for a while, drove truck for a number of years and finally decided to retire. I spent winters in warmer places. I did volunteer work during this time. The winter of 1985 I went to the Philippines to do volunteer work. I had been writing letters to a lady named Lilia F. Zulueta from Cotabato City, Philippines. I was able to meet her personally during my stay there. We were married 28 Apr 1991 in Quezon City, Philippines. Lilia had been a public school teacher in the Philippines for 28 years. She came to Iowa in Aug 1992. For a while she did volunteer work at the Cora B. Darling Middle School in Postville and South Winneshiek Middle School in Ossian. Presently she is employed as a part-time teacher at the Yeshiva Jewish School in Postville.

The surname 'Tinderholt” is derived from the word tinder which means point, mountain peak or top, and the word holt which means grove or small forest.

The Tinderholt farm has been in the same family for 3 generations: Even Larson Tinderholt, Fridtjof C. Tinderholt and Albert C. Tinderholt.

Tjostem, John and Karen (Voxland)

(John Tjostem)

Paul, David, John and Karen Tjostem. Jim, Allison and Ann Kephart.

John Leander and Karen Louise Tjostem came to Decorah in Aug of 1962 at which time John assumed a teaching position in the biology department at Luther college. John, son of Carl (b. 9 Feb 1902) and Linda (b. 14 Feb 1906) Tjostem, was raised on the family farm in Roberts Co., SD. The farm — founded by John’s grandparents, John (b. 7 Jun 1868) and Mollie Tjostem (b. 26 Dec 1878) in 1901 — is located on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Indian Reservation. The Reservation was opened for settlement in April, 1892, at which time John’s maternal grandfather, Leander Carlson (b. 25 Feb 1870), homesteaded a quarter section about 5 miles from John’s parental farm. The ancestral history of John’s maternal grandmother, Louise Carlson (b. 30 Oct 1881) includes an early tie to the Decorah area. John’s great-great-grandparents, Jakob and Ragnild Larsen and their 7 children emigrated from Hattfjelldal, Norway to Winneshiek Co. in 1868. Beret Kamrud came to Winneshiek Co. in 1870. Ingebret Jacobson, son of Jakob and Ragnild Larsen, married Beret Kamrud in 1874. Ingebret and Beret are John’s great-grandparents. (See Larsen/Jacobsen and Kamrud entry).

John has been an active member of Decorah Lutheran Church. He has served as a guide for Nordic Fest troll walks for many years. John has made a study of water quality in rural wells in northeastern Iowa. He has also made a surveillance study of Lyme disease in this corner