We have previously mentioned that Hans wasn’t the only emigrant in the Olsen family. We know about two brothers and one sister, and we also know about a sister of Margrete in the US. Her name was Anna, and she was married to Hans’ younger brother Lars Jørgen. They emigrated from Norway in 1883 and came to Lars’ brother Anders (Andrew) in Hercher, Illinois. Anders had been educated at the Lutheran Seminary in St. Louis and was the pastor in Herscher at that time.
The family of Reverend Anders Christian Olsen and Mrs. Anne Risetter Olsen in 1899, Herscher, Illinois. In front from left: Gertrude, Anne, Thomas J., Anders, Anna. In back: Sons Martin, Ole Tobias, Holden and Nils. Photo from Judy Imhoff.
Later, Lars Jørgen and Anna moved to Redwood County in Minnesota.
This family also changed their surname after coming to America. Their new name became Orfield after the name of a mountain near their homestead in Norway, Oertfjell (Ørtfjell).
The family commemorated the 100 years anniversary of the immigration in 1983. A granddaughter of Lars and Anna, Lois E. Johnson, wrote a booklet of her grandparent’s life. A Norwegian relative, Mr. Jens Kaasbøll, has made it available on Internett.
We have known about the booklet for some time. Jim Tate (of the Melia branch) has given us a couple of pages of it, and a Google search brought us in contact with Jens Kaasbøll, who kindly let us publish the story here.
It is a bit strange that the Lillejords are not mentioned in the booklet. Redwood and Renville, where the Lillejords lived, are neighbouring counties, so the distance between them was short. Probably there were some contact, but it is not mentioned in the booklet. The author do mention a sister of Anna, living in Sacred Heart, named Johanne. From Norwegian sources we can’t find that Johanne emigrated from Norway to the US. It might be that the sister in Sacred Heart really was Margrete.
Perhaps somebody out there have more information? Don’t hesitate to send us any relevant information about the issue.
Thank you.
Lillejord Descendent Reunion 
September 2, 2009 at 15:24
Reading all of these updates are enormously fascinating. One name that stands out to me is Orfield. Now I will back up a minute. My husband John is Arthur Lillejord’s son and the grandson, of course, of Nils and Birgit.
We live in La Crosse, Wisconsin but visit Lakewood Cemetary in Minneapolis (two and a half hour drive) very regularly. Certainly Birgit and Nils are buried there along with Arthur and Edna Lillejord, John’s brother Paul Arthur. and John and I will be buried there. Heartbreaking to say, we buried our youngest son Jacob Christian Lillejord at age 29 in the family plot. He passed on May 15, 2008. My how Jacob would have loved to have come to Norway and especially to fish.
As far as Orfield, somewhere in our personal library I have a well read/loved illustrated children’s book written by a
Didrick (sp?) Orfield. I will make a serious attempt to locate it this afternoon.
John has told me that he was a relative that he thought loved children but did not have any of his own. Interesting? Any more information from anyone about him?
I have taken recent pictures of course of the Lillejord headstone and markers. The real family history genius is Rob Raugland who in employed at the Lakewood Cemetary. He is the son of Joan and Bob Raugland. Joan is Martin Lillejord’s daughter. We celebrate with a big birthday dinner for her and my husband every April at a lovely hotel restaurant in Minneapolis.
If I remember this well, I believe that I did see the grave of Howard Lillejord, but I need to confirm that.
Forgive my rambling, I will gather some pictures. I would like to say I have never seen the ostrich picture and it is great. I think that Nils was very handsome, almost Paul Newman looking! And Birgit looked very much his partner.
April 9, 2016 at 16:36
With such a large family tree I know the different branches can be confused. My apologies if I miss read your write up under the picture above, but I just wanted to clarify for anyone who is trying to match up faces/photos with family tree diagrams, that the the family of Anders and Anne Risseter Olsen, of Hersher, Illinois, pictured in the photo above, never changed their names from ‘Olsen’ to Orfield, or to Lilleford, or to any other name.
As other writers on this site shared, the Orfield Clan is a branch descended from Anders’ brother(s) who established themselves in Minnesota for the most part. Some of these siblings, cousins, and nephews did stay at Anders’ home farm for a few years after they emigrated. Anders bought them their passages to the U.S. so in repayment they worked as farmers on Anders’ farm, or teachers (or students of English) in the Norwegian school that Anders established on his farm in Hersher Illinois.
Anna (a name you brought up) is a daughter in the photo, and went to school at the Red Wing Female Seminary where some of the Orfield female cousins attended school, as well. Perhaps Anna taught there for a short while but never established a permanent home in Minnesota. In the Olsen tradition, she studied at Columbia University in New York and became a college professor in Iowa. She also wrote cookbooks and edited one of the most popular and best selling cookbooks at that time in America. She never married. So, if I’m not mistaken, I think your passages above are referencing another Anna in the kinship.
Anna’s brother, Lars, died as a very young man of influenza when he was home on the farm after studying at Luther College. He never went to Minnesota to live.
The Hersher, Illinois, descendants of the Olsen family were a very accomplished group, as all the other branches seem to be, but they kept their ‘Olsen’ name. There are not many in Minnesota.
Thank you again for all the interesting material on our ancestors in Norway. I have used some of your material on my ‘Olsen’ family tree on Ancestry.com here: http://person.ancestry.com/tree/18987548/person/740663487/gallery?_phtarg=BTk399 . And I’ve given your information about the home farm to my daughter who will be visiting Norway this summer. Your work is much appreciated!
April 9, 2016 at 19:02
Dear Judy,
Thank you for commenting ‘Hans and Margrete had siblings in the US’. As you write, you might have misread the text. What is written about the Orfields relates to Lars Jørgen and his wife Anna. We have changed the caption into italics to prevent some more misreading.
Have a nice day.