One more Sinrud day August 13

Sorry you non Sinrud people, but we had another family day on Monday August 13. We drove from Hamar (Sinnerudstanden farm) to Eidsvoll, about an hour south. Eidsvoll is where Norway's constitution was signed in 1814 on May 17, Norway's day of celebration when they broke away from Denmark. Cousin Thorbjørg (age 88) lives in Eidsvoll. Her brother Ola is the family historian who has written 3 books on the Ørbæk family. He lives north of Hamer in Moelv and was in town for a family gathering. He just turned 80. Thorbjørg and Ola have 5 other siblings all living in the area. Ola is a retired English teacher. Thorbjørg still teaches Norwegian, German and English. We had a wonderful meal at Thorbjørg's home after Ola gave us a tour of family sites in the area. Thorbjørg had US and Norway flags flying from her home to greet us, just as she did in 1994 when Lennis and Ruby visited her.

Ola has traced the family back to the 1500's and we visited the Lynes farm where great great great great great etc etc grandfather Gunder Lynes lived in about 1540. Like the Norway tradition, the descendants were Halvor Gunderson (Gunder's son), Gunder Halvorson (Halvor's son), Anders Gunderson, Ole Andersson, Halvor Olson, Anders Halvorson, Jens Anderson (get the pattern here?). OK, pay attention here because this is how we are related. Jens Anderson married Mari Nilsdaughter Ørbeck so that's the connection to the Ørbeck side. (Ruby has Ola's book on the Ørbeck family that also lists the descendants including all of us Sinruds out there). Jens and Mari had 4 boys including Anders Jensen Ørbeck and Lars Jensen Aasgaard. As was also the custom, they sometimes took the name of their farm as a last name. So Anders ended up owning the Ørbeck farm (located in Ørbeck north of Eidsvoll overlooking beautiful Lake Mjosa). His brother Lars Jensen Aasgaard apparently moved to the Stange area (I wonder if he knew Peder and Pernille) and lived on the Aasgaard farm. He married Marthe Christine Olsdaughter Brodhaug from Eidsvoll. Not sure how many children they had, but Ruby's grandmother Karen Laura Aasgaard was born in 1865 in Stange. The family left Norway for America in 1869 and lived in the Pigeon Falls area. (Pigeon Falls is where Grandpa Pete was born.) Lars and Marthe died in 1901 and are buried in Hale Wisconsin. Ruby, Ruth, Connie and Ken visited the grave site in 2005. Karen Laura then hooked up with Anton Pedersen Sinrud (Ruby's grandfather) and died in Ashland, Wisconsin in 1938. Anton and Karen Laura were Grandpa Pete's parents (and of course parents to Aunt Mildred, Olga, Clara, Della, Alfred, Edwin , Gretchen and Leslie). Uncle Ed was Ruby's cousin Elaine's father. Elaine and her daughter Kathy Ramsted have made several trips to Norway and visited Ola and Thorbjørb in the past and know all this family history stuff but it was fun to see it for ourselves. Ola and Thorbjørg have also visited Elaine and Kathy in Minnesota in the past.

Ola took us to the farm where Lars' wife Marthe was born and raised in the 1830's and the Fremming farm where Ole Andersson lived in 1655. We also visited the farm where Ola and Thorbjørg were born and raised and is still owned by their brother Gunnar. We also visited the farm his Great Grandfather Anders Jensen Ørbeck lived on (Ørbeck upper farm ) from 1821 and the farm his mother and grandmother lived on (Ørbeck southern farm). Our heads were spinning a little after all this, but we felt a real connection with the ancestors and their stomping grounds.