Peder Tomason ELLESTAD

1836 - 1917  (80 years)

• Name	Peder Tomason ELLESTAD
  Birth	10 Jun 1836	Vestre Slidre i Valdres, Oppland, Norway
  Gender	Male
  Minnesota Death Certificate	1917-MN-003164
  Death	11 May 1917	Eureka Twp, Dakota County, Minnesota
  Burial	25 May 1917	East Christiania Lutheran Cemetery, Eureka Twp, Dakota County, Minnesota
  	“urarmia, atherosclerosis”
  Notes	Known as Peter Thompson after he settled in Minnesota (and from the 1860 census on). Lived in Christiania. Buried as Peter Thompson. “Life History of Peter Thompson Ellestad” by Thilda Marie (Thompson) Ruh Peter was not born under a lucky star with a silver spoon in his mouth. His troubles on earth have been many. When nine years old he was sent a Norwegian mile along the King's highway on an errand to the minister. This was in itself a great task and Peter tried hard to remember what to say. He was ushered into the preacher's presence who thundered at him, "Take your cap off when you come to see me!" This scared Peter out of a year's growth and left him in doubt as to preachers. At ten years old his father gave him a knife and a holster. This he was instructed never to lose. However, his first ramble in the mountains this disappeared never to be found and Peter feared the willow switch on spots most tender. Here he showed his resourcefulness in somehow obtaining a knife and holster which he carried and avoided the willow switch. At the age of sixteen years old came the great event in Peter's life. He was to emigrate...leave father and mother, sisters and brothers and go to the great and then unknown America. Great was the preparation for Peter's departure. The sheep were sheared and wool spun into yarn for stockings, mittens, scarves, and underwear. A chest full of flatbröd, spike|yot (sic), cheese and all good food was also packed for Peter's journey. We will pass over his leave taking of his people and on April 3, 1852 he started for Christiania via Drammen. Arriving in Christiania he found to his great dismay the boat he was to take had left. After a tiresome wait of four weeks the real ocean voyage began. Twelve weeks on the Atlantic Ocean in their sail boat they landed at Quebec via Montreal to Buffalo, NY. Now about the middle of August aboard the steamer "Atlantic" on Lake Erie Peter awoke about midnight amongst the wildest confusion. The steamer "Atlantic" had been purposefully run into by the "Ogdensburgh" (the captains were bitter enemies) and the "Atlantic" was bitterly cut in two. Peter alone and unencumbered managed to get to the deck and climbed the mast and jumped into a life boat just as the "Atlantic" sunk. Of the 830 passengers, more than 500 men, women, and children drowned. Peter was picked up by the enemy steamer, "Ogdensburgh" and landed in Chicago. All of Peter's possessions now were enough clothes to cover his body. The well-filled chest laboriously prepared went to the bottom of Lake Erie. Peter proceeded from Chicago to Milwaukee where the survivors were given $12.50 each. This was a great fortune and he went on to Koshkonong, Dane Co., Wisconsin on August 22, 1852, his journey's end. Here he met people of his Valdres and amongst them a beautiful blue-eyed maiden, Miss Barbro Olsdatter Noben, but Peter had his own to make. Note: Entire document handwritten. Margin note: "This was translated into Norwegian by Andrew Veblen and published in the Valdres Samband issue of November 1916." In the 1860 census, Peter Thompson, 24, his wife “Barber”, 21, and their son Thomas, 1, were living in Eureka Township. The value of their property is $200. In the 1870 census, the family is still in Eureka Township. The value of their real estate is now $3000. The family consists of Peter, 36, Barbara, 32, John, 9, Antonio 7, Lora, 4, and Walter, 2. In the 1880 census, “Peter Thompson,” age 44, is living in Eureka, Dakota County, with his wife Barbra, 42, and their children Anton, 17, Laura, 13, Walter, 11, Nels, 9, Tilda, 6, and Lilly, 3. Also living with the family is Peter Westenberg, a 40 year-old shoemaker. The Peter Thompsons’ neighbors are James and Helona Pool. Image 235A. In the 1900 census, Peter was farming in Eureka Township. The household consisted of Peter Thompson, 63 (born June 1836), a widower, Nels A., his son, 29 (born March 1871), single, and Lillie E., 23 (born April 1877), single. Nels is shown as a school teacher, Lillie as a housekeeper. (Nels is the census enumerator.) Peter is shown as having come to this country in 1852. Living next door was Annie Ellestad, 56, a single woman, born in Norway in August 1843 and having come to this country in 1887. Living a few farms away, and on the same census page, was Betsey Forstrom and her family. In the 1910 census, Peter is living in Eureka with his single sister, Anna Thompson, age 65. Peter is shown as having come to this country in 1852 and Anna, who is still an alien, in 1889. Anna is a housekeeper; Peter has his “own income.” Cemetery records note: Veteran of 2nd Minnesota Battery, Light Artillery (Civil War) Civil War records on Ancestry.com show Peter was a member of the 2nd Independent Battery of the Minnesota Light Artillery. He entered service and left service as a Private. From the History of Dakota County, Eureka Twp, published in 1882. Peter Thompson is a native of Northern Norway, born in 1836. Came to the United States at the age of sixteen years and settled in Dane county, Wisconsin, resided there three years. His education was acquired in Norway and Wisconsin. Coming to Minnesota in 1857, he took a claim on the site of his present farm, and has since made it his home. Has held the office of town supervisor, and has been re-elected town treasurer since 1878. Married at Eureka in 1858, to Miss Barbara Oleson, of Hastings. Seven children, four boys and three girls have been born to them. Mr. Thompson enlisted in 1864, in the Second Minnesota Light Artillery, and served until the close of hostilities; was discharged at Fort Snelling in August, 1865. From the History of Dakota and Goodhue Counties, published in 1910. Peter Thompson, of Eureka township, has the honor of having served as postmaster of Christiania post office for the long period of twenty-five years, and he would have been retained in service for a still longer period had not the rural free delivery been established and the office abolished. He has also been treasurer of the township for forty years, which covers nearly the whole time of his residence here. Peter Thompson was born at Ellestad, Lommen, Slidre, Norway, June 10, 1836, and came to America in 1852, settling in Wisconsin, where he remained until 1856. In the early spring of that year he pre-empted 160 acres of land in Eureka township, in sections 21 and 28. This he improved and prepared for cultivation, and has since made his home here carrying on general farming. At the beginning of the Indian uprising he went to St. Peter (Mendota) and joined a company, which was sent to the relief of Fort Ridgely. In the summer of 1864 he enlisted in the 2nd Minn. Battery of Light Artillery, going to Chatanooga, Tenn., where he remained until the close of the war after which he returned home to the farm. He was married May 18, 1858, to Barbara Olson, a native of Norway, who came to this country in 1851. To this union were born nine children, of whom six are living: O.J., now of Seattle, Wash.; A. N., now of Virginia, Minn.; Walter M., now of Duluth, Minn.; Nels A., now of Superior, Wis; Laura (deceased); Tilda M., now of Superior, Wis.; Lillie E., who is a trained nurse in St. Paul; Edward (deceased), who graduated from the state agricultural school; and one child who died in infancy. Mr. Thompson is a Republican in politics and the family are members of the Norwegian Lutheran Church. He is listed in “The Valdris Book”, a history of the Valdris Samband published in 1920 (available on Google Books) as Peder Thompson of Farmington. He was a member of the Samband between 1902 and his death in 1917.
  Person ID	I1941	Don Carlson's Tree
  Last Modified	25 Apr 2018

  
  

  Father	Tomas Knudson TØRSTAD,   b. 1795, Tørstad, Vang i Valdres, Oppland, Norway d. Aft 1865 (Age > 71 years)
  Mother	Berit Johannesdatter ELLESTAD,   b. 30 Jul 1796, Slidre i Valdres, Oppland, Norway d. Aft 1865 (Age > 70 years)
  Marriage	1 Aug 1819	Vestre Slidre i Valdres, Oppland, Norway
  Family ID	F1270	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Barbro Olsdatter NOBEN,   b. 1838   d. 5 Jan 1897 (Age 59 years)
  Marriage	1858	Eureka Twp, Dakota County, Minnesota
  	by Reverend John Brown according to his family bible
  Children	1. Thomas Edward THOMPSON,   b. 18 Feb 1859, Eureka Twp, Dakota County, Minnesota d. 6 Mar 1872, Eureka Twp, Dakota County, Minnesota (Age 13 years)   2. Olai Johannes THOMPSON,   b. 1860, Eureka Twp, Dakota County, Minnesota d. 10 Dec 1951, Washington (Age 91 years)   3. Anton Norman THOMPSON,   b. 31 Mar 1863, Eureka Twp, Dakota County, Minnesota d. 4 Apr 1916, Duluth, St. Louis County, Minnesota (Age 53 years)   4. Bertha Laura THOMPSON,   b. 1866   d. 1896 (Age 30 years)   5. Walter Melangton THOMPSON,   b. 18 Sep 1868, Eureka Twp, Dakota County, Minnesota d. 14 Apr 1914, Black Mountain County, North Carolina (Age 45 years)   6. Nels Arthur THOMPSON,   b. Mar 1871, Minnesota d. 9 Apr 1930, Duluth, St. Louis County, Minnesota (Age 59 years)   7. Thilda Marie THOMPSON,   b. 1 Nov 1873, Eureka Twp, Dakota County, Minnesota d. 6 Dec 1963, Hennepin County, Minnesota (Age 90 years)   8. Lillie E THOMPSON,   b. 17 Apr 1877, Dakota County, Minnesota d. 24 Feb 1924, Ramsey County, Minnesota (Age 46 years)   9. Thomas Edward THOMPSON,   b. 1881, Eureka Twp, Dakota County, Minnesota d. 4 Mar 1907, Eureka Twp, Dakota County, Minnesota (Age 26 years)
  Family ID	F1398	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	18 Nov 2009