alike. On a trip to the Lansing mill to grind wheat for flour, Nels met the Esten Lassessen family and invited them home to stay until their own place was ready on Waterloo Ridge in Allamakee Co.

The Kjommes prospered in Iowa. Nels provided the first school in Highland Twp in his home. Margit served as midwife in the area. They were members of Big Canoe congregation. Margit died 22 Dec 1878; the church records indicate the cause of death was poison.

Nels Nelson Sr. was married again in 1881 to Bergit Halvorsdtr, daughter of Halvor Larson Valle and Viel Olsdtr Landsverk, also from Rollag Parish. She was the widow of his first cousin, Ole Olsen Bergan, and the sister of Ola Halvorson Valle, one of the first Norwegians west of the Mississippi. She and her family had settled in 1850 near St. Olaf in Clayton Co. Ole 0. Bergan died in 1866. Bergit came with her brother's family to Springwater in the 1870's and there she again met Nels Kjomme. Little is known about their short life together. Nels Nelson Sr. died at his home 24 Oct 1882, and was buried at Big Canoe. Bergit returned to Clayton Co where she died in 1887 and is buried at Norway Lutheran Cemetery with her first husband.

The children of N.N. Kjomme and Margit Andersdtr were: Nels Nelson Kjome Jr.; Andrew Nelson; Ingeborg (m. Andrew T Thorson); Joran (m. Nils Larson); and Ole Nelson Kjome.

Klegseth, Esten and Berit (Aasum)

(Barry M. Dahl)

Klegseth family siblings. Left to right: Olga, Melissa, Albert, Emma and Ida.

On 9 May 1870 a son was born to Ingeborg and Esten Olsen on the Klegseth farm just south of Selbu, Norway, a small town in the county of Sor Trondelag. His name was Esten Estensen Klegseth. The farm is now called Kleset-haugen. Esten was baptized and confirmed in the Selbu church. In 1887, Esten emigrated to the United States. He was only 17 years old. He came over with his mother, Ingeborg Johnsdtr Kleset, and a young couple by the name of Gunder Pedersen Ronsburg and Sophie Olsdtr Velve. Esten and his mother and two young friends left for America on 5 Apr 1887 and landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on 24 Apr 1887. From there they proceeded to Fillmore Co, MN. Five years after he came to the United States he married Berit Marie Aasum. They were married 2 Jun 1892. Their first home was about 2 miles north of Mabel, MN.

Berit was born 7 Sep 1861 in Stod, Nord Trondlag, Norway. Her parents were Ole Storkersen and Anna Martha Larsdtr (Wennes) Aasum. They owned several farms there. In 1864 the Aasum family emigrated to the United States, Berit was 3 years old. She nearly died of a bout of whooping cough while aboard the ship. The family settled on a farm east of Hesper, IA, near their uncle Erik Larsen Wennes. Berit was baptized in Stod and was confirmed in the Hesper Lutheran Church by the Rev. H.A. Stub. Berit and Esten lived north of Mabel for two years, when they purchased a farm 6 miles south of Hesper.

Esten E. Klegseth and his wife Beret Marie Aasum on their wedding day, June 2, 1892.

Five children were born to them: Ida Mathilda (b. 26 Oct 1892 in Fillmore Co) married Edwin K. Erickson on 19 Nov 1934 at Locust, IA. Olga Louisa (b. 17 Sep 1894 in Fillmore Co) married Martin J. Folstad on 23 Jun 1915 in Decorah, IA. Emma Belinda (b. 10 Sep 1900 in Hesper-Twp) married Myron E. Welch on 14 Feb 1923. Inga Melissa (b. 26 Jul 1902 in Hesper Twp) married Lawrence O. Korsness on 4 Sep 1929 in Decorah. John Albert (b. 2 Aug 1905 in Hesper Twp) married Sarah Myrah on 5 Jun 1926. The children all attended the Rotvold school southeast of Hesper.

Berit and Esten raised their children on that farm south of Hesper, and after 35 years retired from farming and moved into the village of Hesper in 1929. Twelve years later, Esten passed away on 1 Jul 1941 at age 71. He had been helping out haying in the field. Even in his retirement he could not stay away from the hard work that was his life for so many years. He was buried in the Hesper Lutheran Cemetery.

Berit lived on in Hesper until around 1955 when her home burned down and she went to stay with her daughter and son-in-law, Emma and Myron Welch at their farm a mile south of Mabel. Visitors at her home in Hesper were usually treated to freshly baked donuts. She was a stern woman, perhaps because she spoke very little English. Later when Myron and Emma moved into Mabel, she would say she wanted to go home, though it was always spoken in her native Norwegian language.

At the age of 98, she passed away at the Myron Welsh home in Mabel on 26 Oct 1959. She was buried next to her husband Esten in the Hesper Lutheran Cemetery.