TORGERSEN (FAGREBAKKEN), Ole 1819-1873

TORGERSEN, FAGRE, FAGREBAKKEN, HANSEN, PEDERSEN, ENGEBRITSDATTER, QVISLE, NELSON

Posted By: Deidre Badker (email)
Date: 11/20/2012 at 11:58:35

Ole Torgersen (Fagrebakken) was born October 14, 1819 at Sigdal, Buskerud, Norway, to Torger Pedersen and Kristie Hansen (Hansdatter), one of seven children. Some of his siblings were:
Peder (born August 26, 1804),
Hans (born January 18, 1807),
Ole (November 22, 1816-September 17, 1818) and
Christen (born August 1, 1823).

Ole was baptized October 31, 1819 at Sigdal, Norway. Birth/baptismal record at the Norwegian Digital Archives on line for Sigdal in Sigdal, Buskerud, Norway 1816-1835, page 38, bottom entry #32. Ole was confirmed also at Sigdal, Norway on November 9, 1834. Confirmation record at Norwegian Digital Archives for Sigdal in Sigdal, Buskerud, Norway 1816-1835, page 682, entry #2; 15 years old.

Ole left Norway to emigrate to Wisconsin in 1852. He met and married Kjersti Engebritsdatter Qvisle Nelson also in 1852, probably in Wisconsin. They had no children.

From the "Story of Mitchell County, 1851-1973", written by the Mitchell Co. Historical Society about Ole Torgerson Fagerbakken, one of the first permanent settlers in Cedar township, Mitchell County, Iowa. He came with a Norwegian group from Wisconsin in the spring of 1853 with the Rev. Clausen party. Ole settled near White Oak Grove, along Rock Creek. Ole also went by the name of Ole Fagre or Fagrebakken and Ole Torgerson.

From the 1911 Mitchell County Atlas, section 2 page 18: In June, 1853, Helge Johnson (father of Ole Johnson) and Ole Torgerson, natives of Norway, came from Wisconsin and purchased White Oak Grove on Sections 16 and 17, Township 97, Range 17, from a man who had claimed it a few months previous, paying $16.00 cash, two swarms of bees and some hay for same. Ole Torgerson was married to Christie Nelson. Both lived and died on Section 16, leaving no children.

In the 1911 Atlas, there is a cemetery shown to be located on Ole's land. Ole was one of the founding members of the First Lutheran Church in St. Ansgar, Iowa. After the Rock Creek Lutheran Church congregation was formed, Ole was a founding member of Rock Creek Lutheran at Meroa, Iowa.

Found in the 1860, 1870 censuses living at Cedar, Mitchell, IA:
1860: Ole Torgersen 40, Christie 30. $2000 value of real estate, $300 personal assets.

1865: Tax assessment for owning 6 pigs X $10 per pig = $60 tax owed.

1870: Ole Torgersen 40, Christie 40. $2000 value of real estate, $500 personal assets. Writing is very faint, almost illegible, birth years & age obviously wrong.

Ole Torgersen died Feburary 26, 1873 at Cedar, Mitchell, Iowa and was buried at the Rock Creek Lutheran Cemetery, Meroa, Cedar, Mitchell, Iowa.

Ole's wife, Kjersti Engebritsdatter Qvisle Nelson born May 23, 1830 at Kvisle, Sigdal, Buskerud, Norway to Ingebret Nelson and Ingeborg Nielsdatter, married a second time (after Ole's death) to Guul Hansen on April 20, 1877 at Mitchell, Iowa. Kjersti died October 3, 1903 Cedar, Mitchell, Iowa.