Born: 4 Nov 1829, Tørborget, Trysil, Østerdalen, Norway
Married: 1) 17 Jan 1859, Trysil, Norway to Inger Pedersdatter
2) 29 Jun 1869, Trysil, Norway to Marte Halvorsdatter
Died: 13 Jun 1900, Wiser twp, Cass co, North Dakota
Buried: Nora Pioneer Cemetery, Cass co, North Dakota
Parents: Morten Larsen
Rangdi Mattisdatter
Lars Mortensen was born 04 November 1829 in Tørberget, Trysil, Hedmark, Norway to Morten Larsen and his wife Rangdi Mattisdatter.
Lars Mortensen married his first wife, Inger Pedersdatter 17 Jan 1859 in Trysil, Hedmark County, Norway. Inger was born 30 April 1830 in Trysil, Hedmark, Norway. Her father was Peder Andersen. Inger died 22 Jul 1862 at Trysil. Lars and Inger had three daughters.
Lina born in 11 September 1851.
Sina born 23 March 1856.
Raghnild born and died 08 May 1860.
In the 1865 census taken in Norway Lars Mortensen is listed as living with his parents, on the farm Mortens. He was 37 years old and a widower with two daughters: Lina, age 15 and Sina, age 10. Lars was listed as a shoemaker. Andreas and Rikhard, brothers of Lars, are also listed as living in this home.
On 29 June 1869 Lars married the widow Marte Halvorsdatter who was the daughter of Halvor Olsen. Marte’s first husband was Ole Mattisen Tørberget and they had two children.
Bertha Olsdatter born 26 April 1856.
Halvor Olsen Bergh born 17 June 1860.
Together Lars and Marte had five more children while living at Trysil, Norway.
Oluf Arthur was born 27 August 1869 and he died 9 June 1878 at the age of eight in Wiser Township, Cass County, Dakota Territory.
Marthin was born 17 May 1871 and he died 6 June 1881 at the age of 10 in Wiser Township, Cass County, Dakota Territory.
John was born 15 December 1872 and he died at Gardner, North Dakota on 15 October 1942.
Ragnhild was born 01 April 1874 and died in May of 1874 in Trysil.
Karen Oline (called Carrie) was born 23 May 1875 and she died 21 July 1952 at her farm home in Wiser Township, Cass County, North Dakota. Carrie and her husband’s, (Nels Swenson) farm home was just one-half mile west of her parent’s homestead.
It is interesting to note that of these ten children born to them only two had families. They were Lina and Carrie.
On 7 July 1876 Lars and Marte left Norway sailing out of Oslo Harbor on the Angelo Line with Moorhead, Minnesota as their destination. The children accompanying them were Oluf, Martin, Johan, Karen Oline and Sina.
On the ship’s passenger list Lars’s occupation was listed as “gaardbrgr.” (farm owner). On the records when he and Inger married, he was listed as a tailor. His granddaughter Stella Swenson Reierson also told that he was a tailor in Norway. She had a few “pattern” pieces that were made of very thin wood that she said were used in the tailoring business. In the 1865 census he was listed as a shoemaker and tools from this trade were also at Stella’s. On Sina’s baptism record Lars is listed as a cabinetmaker. He seems to have been a man of many talents.
Lars homesteaded land along the Red River in the northeastern part of Section 2, Wiser Township, Cass County, Dakota Territory. President Grover Cleveland granted him this land on 15 February 1887. It was on this location that Lars built a log home for his family. The home stood many years after Lars’s death. Later the farmers living there had used it for a shop. In the late 1950s the log house was bulldozed down. In 1953 Lester Lerud (Lina’s grandson and Lars’s great grandson) moved to this farm and in the early 1960s when he went into the turkey raising business a big turkey barn was built near the site where the log home had once stood.
Lars requested that he and his family should become members of the Trysil Congregation. When the church board met 16 September 1877 the following were “accepted into the congregation: Erik Pettersen Lie, Paul Mathiesen Galaasen, Martin Schou, Olaf Haraldsen Overland, Lars Mortensen Berg.” Later at a special congregational meeting on 12 December 1885 the church’s name “Trysil” was changed to “Nora.”
Lars died 13 June 1900 at the age of 70 and is buried in the Nora Pioneer Cemetery located about a half mile south of his home. He is buried there with his wife Marte and sons Oluf and Martin.
~ Material contributed by Adele and Don Reierson with research help from Leroy Madsen. Don Reierson is g-grandson of Lars Mortenson Berg.