Ole Martin Olson

There's no bio for Olsen currently in the pages. Here's his information as given by his grand-nephew:

Ole Martin Olson was born in February, 1885 in rural Homer Township, Day County, Dakota Territory. His parents Ola (Ole) Birkenes Olson and Anna Jobsdotter Birkenes emigrated to America from Etne, Norway in 1883 and homesteaded in the Dakota Territory.

Ole M. was the oldest of nine children. His siblings were Anna Julia, Joseph, Martha, Serena (Sena), Severen, Andrew (Ander), Engebert (Bert) and Myrtle. As an adult he moved northward to a homestead in Broderick, Saskatchewan, about 60 miles south of the Province's Capitol, Saskatoon and just east of the Saskatchewan River. Ole would help with work at the local grain elevator in Broderick when not doing field work.

Following harvest, Ole used to spend the winter months with his family in Langford, South Dakota. However, 1911 was to be an exception. He decided to spend the winter visiting his grandmother, Anna Johannesen Birkenes and other relatives in the Sunnhordland region of Norway. Ole intended to be back in Canada in time to begin spring plowing in April.
 
Mr. Gowan,

I saw you in the recent Saving the Titanic with Bob Ballard program and am contacting you to ask if you have information regarding
my great great uncle Oly (Ollie) Olson. He was a steerage passenger en-route from Norway to Canada and perished during the sinking.
If you have any information in your files, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Sheila Field
 
Ole Martin Olson was my grandfather's first cousin. Born at Langford, South Dakota in 1885, he filed on his homestead north of Broderick, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1904, became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1907, and "proved up" on his homestead in 1908. By 1911 he had done well enough to purchase more land and to take a trip to Norway to visit relatives during the winter of 1911-12. Although Olson never married and had no direct descendants he still has relatives living in Saskatchewan (and elsewhere) today.

Bryan Tastad
Saskatoon, SK
 
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