Peter and Julia Olson

The story of Peter and Julia Olson begins in Norway. Peters’s parents Ole Olson and Christine Olson (Johnson) lived in Bergen, Norway at the time of his birth. Very little is known about Ole and Christine or their ancestors, including whether or not they had any other children.

Julia’s family has been traced back three generations to Erik Olson Hylland who was born in Aurland, Sogn, Norway. He married Ollegaard Larsdatter Vindal. Their son Ole Erickson Hylland was born in 1782 in Aurland and died in 1869 in Vossestrand, Voss, Norway. He married Britta Jonsdatter born in 1795 and died in 1887 Vossestrand. Their daughter Anna Olesdatter Jordalen and her husband Jon Jonsen Naasen were Julia’s parents. Anna’s sister Thora Seaver (Olesdatter) immigrated to The United States and raised a large family on a farm near Julia and Peter’s own farm. Julia had several brothers and sisters, one of whom also married into the same Seaver family as Thora. It is unknown when and where Peter and Julia were married.

Like Sweden, Norway had many Jonsens, Olsens, and Andersens, etc. Families added the name of the farm to their first name and surname in order to distinguish one family from another due to changing surnames each generation. When the father was Ole, his sons took Olsen (Ole’s son) as their surname and the daughters took Olesdatters (Ole’s Daughter). Anna’s farm was Jordalen and Ole’s farm was Naasen.

The earliest Church records in America identified the couple as Peder Olsen and Guro Olsen (Johnsdatter). Note the alternate spelling of the last name and the incorrect spelling of Guro’s maiden name, Jonsdatter.

According to information provided by the family on various records as well as in the 1900 Census, the first three Olson children, Susie born 1871, Christine born 1873, and Ole born 1875, were each born in Bergen. Ole was only six months old when the family immigrated to the United States in September of 1875. 

The earliest located record of the family in the United States is the baptism of the fourth Olson child, Anna born 1877. She was baptized on April 27th, 1877 at the Jefferson Prairie Lutheran Church on Bergen Road in Boone County, Illinois. Originally, Jefferson Prairie Lutheran Church had an East and a West Church located on the state line only a few miles apart. In 1903, the two churches united and a new church was built on Bergen Road. In the early days, these were Norwegian speaking churches due to the number of Norwegians living in the area. Many members of the Seaver family, including Thora and her husband Knudt are buried in the East Jefferson Prairie Cemetery on the site of the former Church. Corner stones remain in the cemetery marking the location where the church once stood. 

In January 1878, Peter “Olsson” bought 85 acres of land from Edward Parker for $1500 in Manchester Township, Boone County, Illinois. It was located on the southwest corner of the intersection at North Boone Road and Beaverton Road just south of the state line. Peter and Julia started a family there and farmed the land for about the next 10 years. 

The 1906 Blaine & Hunter Historical Records, A Complete History of the Pioneer Life in the Townships of Leroy and Manchester, Boone County, Illinois described Manchester as “one of the most fertile spots in the state of Illinois.” The homes are described as “beautiful”. The people of the northern part of the township are described as “kind and generous”, “hard-working”, “industrious”, and “intelligent Norwegians” with “unsurpassed” hospitality. The people living in the northern part of the Township “have succeeded in building up a little colony”, and support “one of the finest churches in the state”.

Along with Anna, the next six children, Bessie born 1879; Mattie born 1881, Oscar born 1883, Henry born 1885, Edward born 1887, and Edith born 1889, were each baptized at Jefferson Prairie Lutheran Church. 

The only birth record found so far is for Edward in 1877, which recorded the family living in the Wyman Estate in Bradford Township, Rock County, Wisconsin. The absence of birth records is not uncommon because births were not required to be reported until about 1916.

In June of 1888, Peter sold the farm in Manchester to John Peterson for $2000. The family then relocated to Rockford, Illinois. 

The earliest record of the family’s arrival in Rockford, Illinois is their tenth child Edith’s baptism in September of 1889 at Trinity Lutheran Church which was recorded as Ida Julia instead of Edith Julia. By this time, Guro had begun calling herself Julia. When they arrived in Rockford, Peder Olsen had become Peter Olson. Only Edward retained the original spelling of Olsen throughout his life even though his headstone at St. Mary’s / St. James cemetery displays the Olson spelling. 

It is unknown where the family lived after arriving in Rockford around 1889 due to the lack of an 1890 Census. Although a Census was conducted, a fire in Washington DC tragically destroyed every single page of it. There is no listing for them in the available Rockford City Directories of this time.

No baptismal records have been located for the last two children, Alfred born 1892 and Dolly born 1897. Because of the large span of time, around 26 years, between the birth of the oldest and youngest children, there was more than a generation between them. When the first grandchild was born, the youngest child was not quite a year old.

In the 1892 Rockford City Directory, the family is found living at 1311 Greenmount Street, at the eastern border of Cedar Bluff Cemetery and Peter is working as a finisher for Skandia Furniture. According to subsequent city directories, Peter later worked for Hess and Hopkins Leather (1903),  Rockford Malleable Iron Works Company (1905), the Rockford and Interurban Street Railroad (1909-1912), and the Rockford Desk Company (1914-1916). The family remained at the Greenmount address until 1912 when they sold the lot to the Cedar Bluff Cemetery Association for $1,800. The association offered the home along with six others on adjoining lots for purchase by sealed bids and removed them from the property. 

After the sale of their home, they moved to Grand Avenue and Wilson Avenue north of the city. In 1916, they moved to 527 N. Prospect. Some time between 1917 and 1920 they moved into a home at 2221 S. 5th St with their daughter Dolly, her husband David Stenholm, and their daughters Phyllis and Elwilda. During this time, Peter developed what was referred to as senility at the time of his death. 

Julia was active at Trinity Lutheran and as a member of the Royal Neighbors of America. Royal Neighbors was founded in 1895 and is now headquartered in Rock Island, Illinois as a women-led insurer.  As with some long-standing insurance companies, Royal Neighbors started as a social organization for women. The name Royal Neighbors of America was chosen by the women because of their belief in the Bible proverb 27:10 “Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father, and do not go to your brother's house when disaster strikes you—better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.”

Julia continued to live with Dolly on 5th Street after Peter’s death from Myocarditis and Chronic Bronchitis in 1925 until her death eleven years later from a stroke (apoplexy). In the intervening years, she was celebrated with large New Year’s gatherings for her January first birthday in 1927, 1931 and 1933 where she danced among 60 to 70 of her family and friends. Among them, Julia’s 28 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. She had outlived her first child born in America, Anna, who passed away at age 48 of pulmonary tuberculosis within a month of Julia’s mother and Anna’s namesake who was still back in Norway. 

Peter and Julia were buried at Cedar Bluff Cemetery in block 12, lot 004, graves 5 and 6, only a few steps from where they made their home for more than 20 years on Greenmount Street.

Written by Jeff Nuckles, some excerpts adapted from the research of Harriet Liljegren Ross, 1999