Born: 27 Apr 1832, Trysil, Norway
Married: 15 Apr 1850, Trysil, Norway
Died: 14 Mar 1887, Holmes City twp, Douglas Co, MN
Buried: Oscar Lake Lutheran cemetery, Holmes City twp, MN
Spouse: Engebret P. Lobeck
Parents: Ola Persen Støa Lordalen
Kersti Olsdtr Østby (Ronningen)
Children of Inger and Engebret
Per E.
Ola E.
Kari E.
John E.
Engebret E.
Inger E.
Inger married widower, Engebret (Embret) P. Lobeck in 1850 in Trysil. They lived at Løvbekksetre, the mountain farm which Engebret had inherited with his first wife, Ingri Halvorsdatter Opset. Løvbekksetre is situated east of Trysil, between Østby and the Swedish border.
In Norway, she gave birth to five children. Little Inger was born after the arrival in America. In 1867, she and Embret made the decision to leave Norway. They were in a group of the first to leave Trysil. In May 1867, the Lobeck family arrived in Holmes City and found shelter that summer with the family of Gunder Knudson while they built a little home before the first winter. Times must have been lonely and hard those first few years. The first Christmas in Holmes City, she and her family sat around the crackling stove and talked of all their family and friends in Norway. Son Engebret E. wrote about that Christmas many years later. The following year, several more emigrants came from Trysil and in 1870, her sister Kari and her husband Embret Støen came from Norway and settled just down the road from Inger and family.
Inger and Embret provided a loving, happy home for the children despite hard work and circumstances. In 1875, tragedy struck when the oldest son Per was killed by an accidental gunshot. The family worked hard and were very involved with church activities. They joined the Oscar Lake Lutheran congregation which was affiliated with the Swedish Lutheran synod since Embret has dissented from the Norwegian Lutheran church while still in Norway. However, they often attended church at Trysil and other nearby Lutheran congregations.
Inger died in March 1887 after being quite ill for a time. She was very much missed by her children, husband and friends and relatives. She was buried at Oscar Lake Lutheran cemetery, one mile north of the Lobeck home.
Son Engebret E. Lobeck wrote a poem about his mother, published in 1894. It was written in Norwegian and translated by Connie Lobeck Kahl, daughter of E.E. Lobeck. Part of the poem follows:
Remembering Mother
Towards the north on a high hill
Where a white painted church stands
Resting under green sod
Is the dust of my tender mother.
O mother, I would your memory
Have again, you are gone
Quiet tears often run,
I miss you more and more.
I have lost my tender mother
She rests in the grave
Do not judge me harshly, brother
If I think that it is hard.
My heart in its innermost
Secretly hides my mother’s image
It will be like a twinkling star
Shine like a holy fire.
Oh, the dear mother’s glance
And the dear mother’s lap
Will I never forget.
Nor either mother’s name,
I have so many memories
From my shining childhood’s time,
When she patted my cheeks
O, how gently she smiled.
She often took me in her arms
Called me her “little son”
Pressed me warmly to her bosom
Prayed for me so many prayers.
She taught me to pray
To my God and Creator
So that He would lead me
Home to heaven’s beauteous land.