Torgals Johannessen & Kari Andersdatter Fosse

FOSSE BORSHEIM

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 8/27/2010 at 23:25:02

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Fosse, Torgals Johannessen and Kari Andersdatter Borsheim
By L H Michaelson

Although neither Torgals nor Kari lived in Woodbury County, they did have three of their four children living at Sergeant Bluff. This Norwegian family came from two close farms at Strandebarm which is on the Hardanger Fjord in Norway. Many of their cousins still live in and around Strandebarm today. The Fosse farm is still occupied by a descendant of that family and one of them still builds the Hardanger fishing boats by hand. The Borsheim farm is owned by another family and the post office is located in part of the original house. Torgals and Kari were married in 1849 and on the 4th of October of that year their first child, Christi, was born a Nedrevaage, Strandvik. (See Hans Michaelson in this book.) They were living with Kari’s sister in a beautiful area sitting right on the edge of the fjord. The next five children were born at Knappane which is a high hill overlooking the Bjonafjord. The old house and some of the outbuildings are in use as a summer place for a family from Bergen. Anna Christine was born May 3, 1852 and married Ole B Olson on October 4, 1875. (See Ole B Olson in this book.) Their third child was Samson Johannes, called John in the United States. John married a widow in Winnebago County, Iowa. Kari, born in 1858, lived only two weeks and Brita, born on January 12, 1859, died the next day. The only written record of Kari was found in a Lutheran Liturgy for Sundays and Holidays owned by the family. Elen Marie was their last child and she was born on April 25, 1860.

Encouraged by relatives who had already emigrated to the United States, the Fosse family left Norway for Iowa and according to Anna, it took seven weeks to cross the ocean. Elen was only nine years old when they made this trip. On December 9, 1877, Elen married Ole L Foss at the Congregational Church in Osage, Iowa. One of the witnesses to this marriage was her brother-in-law, Hans Michaelson. Ole Foss came from a nearby farm at Fosse, Norway on the Hardanger Fjord, the same place as Elen Marie, so the family had to have known him prior to their coming to the United States. When he came to the United States he dropped the ‘e’ form Fosse and went by Foss. On the U S Census of 1880 he is listed as a tailor in Algona, Iowa. An advertisement for tailoring appears in the local newspaper at Algona for men’s and women’s tailoring. Also, in that paper was an article written by Ole on playing chess.

On the U S Census of 1900 he claimed to be a citizen of the U S and born in Iowa. Some time after 1900 he left the U S and returned to Norway. The local people we visited at Fosse mentioned that he was a very strange fellow and that he slept with a pistol under his pillow. Ole and Ellen Marie had five children. Unfortunately, we really do not know much about this family. Lewis was born in 1879 or 1880. The second was Roy, born July 23, 1883 and died in January 1966. Alvin was born in August 1889. We do know that Roy lived in Sergeant Bluff and was never married. He apparently was thought of as one of the town characters. Alvin lived in South Dakota and two sons. Elen and her son, Roy, lived in Sergeant Bluff for many years and she is buried in the cemetery there.