Ernest Ordell THOMPSON

Notes:

Ernest Ordell Thompson, 90 of Emmons, Minnesota, died peacefully at the Lake Mills Care Center on Monday, February 25, 2013, surrounded by his children. He had turned 90 years old just three days prior to his death.

A Celebration of Life Service will be at 1:00 PM Saturday, March 2, 2013 at the Silver Lake Lutheran Church in rural Northwood, Iowa, with Pastor Randy Baldwin and Pastor Bill Peters officiating.

Visitation will be 5:00-7:00 PM Friday, March 1, 2013, at Mittelstadt Funeral Home, 902 East Main Street in Lake Mills, and again one hour prior to the service at the church.

Ernest will be cremated after the service and inurnment will take place at Silver Lake Cemetery at a later date.

Ernest Ordell Thompson was born February 22, 1923, on the east side of State Line Lake, rural Freeborn County, the first born child of Selmer and Mabel (Larson) Thompson. He was baptized and confirmed at Silver Lake Lutheran Church. He attended rural country school until the death of his father in 1940 when he stayed home to help his mother on the farm. He married Dorothy Jean DeVries on June 7, 1953, at Salem Lutheran Church, Albert Lea, Minnesota. They were married 42 years until her death in August 1995. He was employed for many years at the Albert Lea Coop Creamery and later by Mid-America Dairyman as a milk truck driver. He was also a mail carrier for a time in Mankato, Minnesota.

He loved going “Up North” fishing with his children and grandchildren and in 2012 celebrated the 51st Annual Thompson Family Fishing Trip. He spent many years “going to the farm” to help his brother Si farm. He attended the Britt Draft Horse show and could pick the winner most every time. Ernie loved his flowers, creating his “flower tree” every year, and he loved decorating for Christmas. His outdoor lights won several local awards and a spot on television. At one time he had over 15,000 lights displayed. He was a master at lefsa making, enjoyed eating lutefisk every Christmas, and watching his birds in the backyard while having coffee with his neighbors, Tom and Kathy.



Ernie is survived by his four children: Debra (William) Georgia, Lake Mills; Barbara Thompson, Lake Mills; Donald Thompson, rural Northwood; and Victoria Zobel, Lake Mills; his eight grandchildren: Brandon (Blair) Zobel, Omaha, NE; April Zobel, Kansas City, MO; Nolan Zobel, Ankeny, IA; Holly (Toby) Reynolds, Tishomingo, OK; Kim (Andre) Vargas, Tacoma, WA; Eric (Julie) Georgia, Tacoma, WA; Eli Georgia (Anna), Northwood, IA; and Emily Georgia, Miami, FL; his 13 great-grandchildren: Tricia Melton, Michael Baldwin, William Baldwin, Grace Reynolds, Elisabeth Reynolds, Max Reynolds, Andrew Vargas, Zachary Vargas, Mariah Vargas, Celina Georgia, Kendra Georgia, Annabel Georgia, and Erica Georgia. He is survived by his sister Helen (Robert) Edwin, three sisters-in-law, Beulah Thompson, Ardyce DeVries, Phyllis DeVries and his friend Rose Henderson. He is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews.

Ernie was preceded in death by his parents Selmer and Mabel Thompson, his wife, Dorothy, his brother, Lauritz Thompson and his wife Betty, his sister, Mavis Nordaas and her husband, Haakon, his brother Siram, his brother-in-law, Darold DeVries, sister-in-law, Ruth Dagner, and his son-in-law, Douglas Zobel.

He will be greatly missed.

Ernest married Dorothy Jean DEVRIES on 7 Jun 1953 in Freeborn County, Minnesota. Dorothy was born on 2 Dec 1932; died on 23 Aug 1995; was buried in Silver Lake Lutheran Church Cemetery, Silver Lake Twp, Worth County, Iowa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 4 Jun 1893, Silver Lake Lutheran Church, Silver Lake Twp, Worth County, Iowa

Notes:

His birthdate is uncertain on his draft registration in June of 1917 in Freeborn County, Minnesota. He is shown as 24 years old and his birthdate as 10 February of 189-something. At that time he was single and employed on his father’s farm.

He died from congestive heart failure brought on by rheumatic heart disease (mitral stenosis).

Birth:
Minnesota County Birth Records on FS. As Selmer O Thompson, birth registered on March 9th. Selmer’s death certificate says 10 Feb 1894.

Selmer married Mabel O LARSON on 12 Jun 1921. Mabel was born on 1 Jan 1902 in Silver Lake Twp, Worth County, Iowa; died on 1 Nov 1990 in Iowa; was buried in Silver Lake Lutheran Church Cemetery, Silver Lake Twp, Worth County, Iowa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She was the informant for her husband’s death certificate.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 12 Mar 1854, Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway
• Confirmation: 13 Jun 1867, Iowa

Notes:

In the 1875 Minnesota state census, Henry, 21, and Viljer, 19, along with his parents (Ole, 73, and Ingebor, 64) and his sister Belle, 17, live in Martin Twp, Rock County, not far from the farm of Nels and Randa Iverson.

In the 1880 census, he and Isabel S. J. live in Silver Lake Twp, Worth County, Iowa. They have no children.

In the 1885 Minnesota state census, he and his wife and two children (Syrine and Alfred) live in Nunda Twp, Freeborn County.

In the 1895 Minnesota state census, he and his family are still in Nunda Twp, Freeborn County. Their five children are Albert O, 11, Sarine N., 13, Inger T, 6, Edwin T, 4, and Selmer, 2.

In the 1900 and 1910 censuses, Henry and Isabella and family are farming in Nunda Twp, Freeborn County, Minnesota.

From the Hills Crescent, courtesy of Katherine:

January 28, 1926
Mr. & Mrs. Iver Wangsness of Sioux Falls, Iver Iverson of Montrose, SD and Mrs. Anna Jenson of Hills left last Sunday for Lake Mills, IA to attend to funeral of their uncle.

Katherine has this life story of Henry (originally posted by Shirl2sg):

This is the life of Henry O. Thompson. Henry O. Thompson, native of Valders, Norway, came to the new world with his parents in the early '50s, when he was a lad of five years, the voyage being made in one of the old-time sailing ships which was nine weeks upon the water ‘ere anchor was dropped in the harbor of Quebec. They made their way westward by way of the Great Lakes to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and for a short time were residents of that state, but Iowa proved their ultimate destination. They located in Decorah, Iowa, where they remained for a year, and then traveled across the country with ox teams to Silver Lake township, Worth county, where they purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land. It was a wild tract, entirely destitute of buildings or improvements of any kind. A log cabin was built and the family began life in true pioneer style, sharing in all the hardships and privations incident to settlement on the frontier. After a time the grandfather sold the property in Worth county and removed to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, there purchasing a farm upon which he lived for a number of years. He afterward took up his abode in Munda township, Freeborn county, Minnesota, where the grandparents died at the home of their son, Henry Thompson. The latter was a youth of seventeen years when he started out in the business world on his own account. He left Silver Lake township, Worth county, to make his way to the territory of Wyoming, traveling partly by rail and partly on foot. At length he reached Cheyenne, where he was employed as a cook in the government mess house for eleven months. He afterward returned to Silver Lake township and was married to Miss Velger Olson. He next removed to Rock county, Minnesota, where he took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres of government land that as yet had not known the touch of the plow. Upon that place he built a sod house, which he occupied for two years. He then returned to Silver Lake township and his wife soon afterward became ill and passed away. Later Mr. Thompson wedded Isabel Johnson and bought a farm in Silver Lake township comprising ninety-one acres, upon which he lived for three years. He then traded that property with Ryer Johnson for his present farm of two hundred and forty acres in Munda township, Freeborn county, Minnesota, where he still makes his home. He has devoted practically his entire life to general agricultural pursuits and is still engaged in the cultivation and development of his farm. He has reached the age of sixty-seven years, while his wife is now sixty-four years of age.

Katherine has this obit for Henry (originally posted by Shirl2sg). As Katherine clarifies: “There is another Henry Thompson of the same birth year resident near Lake Mills who is married to a Betsy Leikvold. This may be the source of the confusion.”

OBITUARY: Henry O. Thompson, Worth County, Iowa Henry O. Thompson [1854- aft 1920] HENRY O. THOMPSON was born January 12, 1854 to Ole and Ingeborg Ellingboe Thompson. He came to America in 1858, landing in Quebec on July 4th. He came to Dane Co., Wisconsin where he lived two years, then moved to Winneshiek Co. two years and to Worth Co. in 1862. He married Loine Lakevold in June of 1874. In May, their baby girl, Loine, was born and lived only three months. In January 12, 1877, his wife died, and he married Ingeborg Haugrud in June of 1879. They moved to Freeborn Co. in 1883. They were parents of twelve children (five deceased: William, Inga, Eden and Melinda died in infancy and Evelyn who died at nineteen years); Mrs. H.O. Bendickson, Silver Lake; Olando, Northwood; Mrs. J.A. Oakland, Twin Lakes; Eddie, Glenville; Selmer and Henry at home; Mrs. P.K. Kloster, Portland, Oregon. They moved to Lake Mills in 1920, living near the schoolhouse. Funeral was held at Salem with the Rev. O.R. Sletten in charge and again at the Silver Lake church where he was interred. He is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Nels Iverson, Hills, MN and Mrs. H.L. Larson, Colton, SD.

According to Rootsweb’s Worth County Marriage Index, Henry Thompson married Betsey Lakevald on 10 Mar 1879.

His Find A Grave entry, created by Katherine Howard, says that he was also known as Endre Olson Ellingboe, the name used for him in the ELCA church records.

Henry died from stomach cancer.

Confirmation:
As Endre Olsen Ellingboe. Ancestry’s indexing of the ELCA records puts this event at Sion in Shell Lake, Iowa.

Endre married Isabell S JOHNSON on 9 Jun 1878 in Silver Lake Lutheran Church, Silver Lake Twp, Worth County, Iowa. Isabell (daughter of Syvert JOHNSON and Inger) was born on 14 Mar 1857 in Iowa; died on 18 Feb 1951 in Iowa; was buried in Silver Lake Lutheran Church Cemetery, Silver Lake Twp, Worth County, Iowa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

She is Isabelle S. J. Haugerud, I9855, in Jim’s Ellingboe tree. No information on her parents other than their names: Sever J. Haugerud and Inger Olson.

She is called Ingeborg Haugrud in her husband’s obit.

In the 1860 census, she is the two year-old “Engebra” Johnson living with her parents and siblings in Bristol Twp, Worth County.

In the 1870 census, the 13 year-old Isabel Johnson lived with her parents, Syvert and Inger Johnson, and her siblings, in Silver Lake Twp.

In the 1900 census she had had 11 children, 8 still living (and all still at home). Those numbers are 12 and 8 in the 1910 census.

In the 1930 census, she is a 73 year-old widow living with her son Henry and family in Nunda Twp, Freeborn County, Minnesota.

Died of heart disease. Lived 6 miles northeast of Lake Mills in Silver Lake Twp.

Her obit, from Elaine Bergen on Find A Grave entry maintained by Katherine Howard:

Isabelle Johnson Thompson (93) died February 18, 1951 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Hans Bendickson. Isabelle Johnson Thompson was born March 14, 1857 in Hartland Twp., to Sever and Inger Johnson Haugerud. She was born in an old sod house, fourth white child in Worth Co. When one month of age, the family moved by covered wagon to the Sever Haugerud farm where she lived until she was 21 years old. Her father was a soldier in the Civil War when she was eight years old.

She married Henry O. Thompson in 1878 at the Silver Lake Church, by the Rev. Tosdahl. They bought the Christy Sorenson farm where they lived four years, after which they bought the farm near State Line Lake and she lived there the rest of her life. The farm is now occupied by her son, Henry. She made her home the past ten years with her daughter, Mrs. Hans Bendickson. They were parents of twelve children, with six preceding her in death. Her husband died 26 years ago. She is survived by her children, Orlando, London, MN; Eddie, Glenville; Henry, Emmons; Mrs. Hans (Serena) Bendickson, Lake Mills, Mrs. Jake Oakland, Glenville,; Mrs. Mac (Etta) Macpherson, Portland, Ore; 31 grandchildren and 41 great-great grandchildren. The funeral was held at Silver Lake Church, with the Rev. J.M. Haaland officiating.

During 1950, she pieced five quilts without the aid of glasses. She recalled her parents telling of the Sioux Indians coming from Mankato and northern parts, of how they left all their possessions and took only their children and fleeing across the river at Northwood where they went into hiding, equipped with guns and ammunition. The Indians didn't come, however. Her mother often gave bread and supplies to the Indians.

Notes:

Married:
This date is the date from the church book for Endre Olsen Ellingbö and Engeborg Syversdatter. Some sources say, quite erroneously, 25 May 1878, or June of 1879.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Birth: Abt 1806, Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway
• Baptism: 28 Sep 1806, Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway

Notes:

Vang C, p. 331.

Jim calls this person Ole Trondsen Ellingbøe, I5827, in his Ellingboe tree.

Jim calls this person Ola Trondsen Tørstad (Bunde) (Ellingbøe), I1856, in his VS.

The researcher finneylinda on Ancestry calls him Ole Thompson Ellingbo.

Listed right before Ole Evensen (#3683) in the Vang churchbook birth records.

On 6 Jan 1838 Ole Tronson Torstad, 32, married Ingebor Andersdatter Ellingboe, 23, in Vang. His father was Tron Olssen Torstad and her father was Anders E. Ellingboe.

He is called Ole Thronsen Torstad in the birth records of all of his children except Ingeborg. For her he is called Ole Thronsen Tvedt. He is called Ole Thronsen Torstad in his family’s emigration record.

The Vang church book shows that Ole, 53, and Ingeborg, 45, emigrated from Vang with their children in March of 1858. The children leaving with them are: Marith, 18, Sigrid, 16, Anders, 11, Randi, 8, Endre, 4, and Ingeborg, 3/4. (Sigrid must have changed her mind or else the scribe got confused. Sigrid did not emigrate. Nor did Marith.)

In his letter to Norway in 1866 (see Jim Ellingboe’s site), Ole offered to pay for Helge Olsson’s (#6218) passage to America by guaranteeing any loan that Helge had to secure. Helge never emigrated. In the letter, Ole Thronsen signed his name Ole Throndsen Ellingböe.

In the 1870 census, he, as Ole Thompson, and his family are farming in Silver Lake Twp, Worth County, Iowa. Ole’s real estate is worth $1500 and his personal property $860. The family consists of, Ole, 68, Isabel Thompson, 57, Andrew Thompson, 22, Rachel Iverson, 19, Nels Iverson, 22, Henry Thompson, 16, Isabel Thompson, 13, and Nels Anderson, 9. Everyone had been born in Norway.

Ole’s agricultural holdings are recorded in the 1870 census’s “non-population” schedule. He owns a total of 115 acres, 30 of which are “improved.” The cash value of his farm is $1500 and, for its implements, $200. He has four horses, 2 “milch” cows, 1 other cattle, 9 sheep, and two swine, the total value of which is $550. For the year ending June 1, 1870, he produced 259 bushels of spring wheat, 100 bushels of Indian corn, 80 bushels of oats, 35 lbs. of wool, 50 bushels of Irish potatoes, 100 lbs. of butter, 30 tons of hay, and 8 gallons of molasses. The value of animals slaughtered or sold for slaughter was $40 and the total estimated value of all farm production was $480. This value was neither particularly high nor particularly low when compared to other farms on the same page of the Silver Lake Twp census schedule.

Katherine locates Ole and Ingebor Thompson in Rock County in the 1875 Minnesota state census. The family lives in Martin Twp, not far from the farm of Nels and Randa Iverson. Ole, 73, and Ingebor, 64, are living with Henry Thompson, 21, Viljir, a 19 year-old female, and Belle Thompson, 17.

In the 1880 census, Ole, 87, and Isabelle, 67, are living in McCook County, South Dakota, with their daughter Isabelle, 22, and next to or with their son Andrew and his family.

In the 1885 Minnesota state census, he is probably the 84 year-old Ole Thompson living with or next door to H O Thompson in Nunda Twp, Freeborn County.

The following was originally prepared by Katherine and can be found at Find A Grave:

Ole Thurston Trondsen & his wife Engeborg Andersdatter both lived at Vang in Valdres, Norway. He worked as a farm hand and at the carpenter trade in this area.

In the month of June 1858, Ole and his family sailed from Christiana (Oslo) to America. The children who made the trip were Anders (Andrew), Henry, Rachael and Engeborg. A daughter Mary remained in Norway. Their sail ship furnished its passengers only with water and no fires for cooking were permitted, so all food had to be cooked or prepared before boarding and was eaten cold. When they arrived at Milwaukee, WI, via Quebec, the St Lawrence river and the Great Lakes, their food and money was all gone and the parents had to work at anything and for what they could get to sustain the family. The entire family walked by stages to Calmer, Iowa, working for food as they journeyed.

At Calmer, Ole found steady work and here they remained until in 1869, when the family moved by oxcart to Worth County Iowa, near the Minnesota line and northwest of the present village of Northwood, Iowa. Ole took up a claim on government land. It is near that farm that the Silver Lake Lutheran Church is located and the family were probably charter members of the original church.

The children in the family decided that they needed a more Americanized name so they called themselves "Thompson" from their fathers "Trondsen", while Ole took the name Ellingboe from the estate in Norway from which he came. This was often done by Norwegian immigrants on the premises that it helped identify them with others from the same area and also added some importance to the bearer of the name.

About 1874, the family moved on to Rock County (Hills), Minnesota, in the southwestern part of the state. Here Ole bought a farm and remained until his death. Henry Thompson remained in Iowa where he became a prosperous farmer with lands and elegant farm home near Northwood, Iowa.

Ole was over six feet tall and a large boned powerful man. He had curly dark brown hair and blue eyes. He was an easy going, pleasant and always helpful individual. 

Birth:
The (very incorrect) date on his gravestone is 16 Aug 1799. Jim has him born on Bunde 97/1, Høre parish.

Died:
Find A Grave has his death location as Hills, Rock County, Minnesota

Buried:
as Ole T. Ellingboe

Ole married Ingeborg Andersdatter ELLINGBOE on 6 Jan 1838 in Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway. Ingeborg (daughter of Andris Eivinsson ELLINGBØ and Dordi Endresdatter HOLIEN) was born on 24 Apr 1814 in Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway; died on 17 Mar 1905 in Hills, Rock County, Minnesota; was buried on 21 Mar 1905 in Silver Lake Lutheran Church Cemetery, Silver Lake Twp, Worth County, Iowa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Baptism: 1 May 1814, Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway
• Confirmation: 10 Aug 1828, Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway

Notes:

There are many erroneous statements of her birthdate. One source says 11 Sep 1812, her obit said that she was born April 24, 1812, and her gravestone says April 22, 1813.

In the 1885 Minnesota state census, she is probably the 74 year-old Isabell Thompson living with her husband Ole with or next door to H O Thompson in Nunda Twp, Freeborn County.

According to the 1900 census she had had 9 children, 6 still living. In that census, she was an 86 year-old widow living with her son Henry and his family in Nunda Twp, Freeborn County, Minnesota.

Worth County is the Iowa county adjacent to Minnesota’s Freeborn County.

From the Hills Crescent, courtesy of Katherine:

March 23, 1905
Mrs. Ingeborg Thompson, mother of Mrs. Nels Iverson, died at the home of her daughter, southeast of town, Thursday, March 17, 1905, of old age. Mrs. Thompson was born in Norway April 24th, 1812 and was therefore nearly 93 years of age. She was not well known here outside the circle of her immediate relatives, having come here from Albert Lea only about two years ago. Mr. & Mrs. Iverson left Lester Saturday morning with the remains for Albert Lea where interment will take place. **(buried Silver Lake Lutheran Cemetery, Worth Co., IA)

The following was originally prepared by Katherine and can be found at Find A Grave:

Engeborg was the youngest of eleven children. She was a strong willed person and probably instigated the family migration to America. She was a tall thin woman with auburn or reddish hair and blue eyes. Lee G. Larson (Lewis Larson's son) remembers that when she was over 90 years old, she smoked a pipe and wore a white cap. Lewis Larson (son-in-law) once commented that Engeborg was quite forceful and sometimes petulant in manner.

Rachel Thompson married Nels Iverson and after Ole's death, Engeborg lived with the Iversons near Hills, Minnesota, until her death. Engeborg and Andrew Thompson went to South Dakota, where they both took up claims near the village of Montrose. Here Engeborg married Lewis "Lars" Hanson Larson; and Andrew, after losing his wife and two young daughters (interred at Montrose cemetery) moved to Spokane, Washington, remarried and raised a new family.

Birth:
Jim has her born at Ellingbø 33/1 Nigarden. The incorrect cemetery record says her birthdate was 22 April 1813.

Died:
per Katherine

Buried:
burial record says death date was May 17th; “buried with Thompson”

Notes:

Married:
as Ole Throndsen Tørstad and Ingeborg Andrisdatter Ellingbøe.

Notes:

From his entry in Find A Grave:

Birth: 
Mar. 22, 1825
Death: 
Dec. 26, 1920


JOHNSON, Sever
IA 15th Infantry Co H.... .

Residence: Hartland, Iowa.

Born 22 Mar 1825 in Vikers parish, Aadalen, Norway.

Married Inger Olsen Hareviren in 1848 (or 1850).

Came to US in 1850 (or 1852).

Civil War: Age 44. Drafted.
Enrolled and mustered 15 Oct 1864.
Private.
Mustered out 24 Jul 1865, Louisville, Kentucky.

Post war: After the war he became Sever J. Haugrudaccording to Worth County WPA records.

He lived at Silver Lake Township in Worth County. Haugrud's daughter called herself Isabel Johnson.

He died 26 Dec 1920.

"Hougrud, Sever J." "Haugrud, Sever J." 
 
In the 1900 census, he was the 78 year-old (May 1822) Syver (indexed “Syres”) Haugru living in Silver Lake Twp with his wife Inger (b. Jul 1822). They had been married 49 years. He and Inger are living on the same farm as their son Ole Haugru and his family. The farm household includes Ole’s in-laws.

In the 1910 census, he was the 85 year-old widower Syver Johnson living with his son Ole A S and Anne Haugrud.

In the 1920 census, he was the 94 year-old widower Sever Haugerud, father, living with Ole and Anna Haugerud in Silver Lake Twp.

Syvert married Inger. Inger was born about 1823 in Norway; died after 1900 in Iowa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In the 1900 census, she was shown as having had 8 children, 4 still living.