Trysil Historielag

Born:     17 Feb 1844, Nordli, Trysil, Norway

Married: 1880, Minnesota

Died:     10 Apr 1927, Clearwater county, MN

Buried:   Lutheran Free Church cemetery, Zerkel, Clearwater Co, MN

Spouse:  Martine Vola

Parents:  Peder Jensen Nordli (Jens på Østby)

Gullaug Embretsdtr. Østby (Pers)

John Pedersen Norlie (also Norley, Nordlie, etc) was usually referred to as “Jens”. He usually signed his name as “J P Norli”. He was born the 4th child of seven children to Peder Jensen Nordli (Jens på Østby) and Gullaug Embretsdatter Østby (Pers) at the farm Nordli, located some 9 km south west of Østby.

In 1867, he sailed for America in the same group as the Engebret P. Lobeck family and the Embret E. Østby family, arriving in New York aboard the ship City of Paris on 6 May 1867. Lobeck and Jens had known each other while living near Østby and got along well so Jens continued to Holmes City, MN where the Lobecks settled and worked for them as a hired hand for a few years.

By 1874, Jens had moved to Colfax twp, Kandiyohi County, MN to homestead 160 acres.

Martine Vola immigrated from Trysil, Norway in 1880 and Jens and Martine were married that same year. They continued to farm on Jens homestead. In 1884, he sold his homestead to his brother Gjermund and moved near Sisseton, SD where he obtained federal land and established a second farm. Four children were born to Jens and Martine but when living in South Dakota, Martine left Jens and the children.

Jens returned to Minnesota in 1900 and lived in Beltrami county, MN for a while. He and his sons owned farms in Clearwater county between Zerkel and Bagley.

He died in Clearwater County on 10 April 1927 and was buried in the church cemetery in Zerkel. His wife, Martine, returned when old, blind and senile and the family took her in. She is buried next to Jens but with no gravestone — as intended. Jens’s children are buried in the same cemetery and in a second cemetery just north of Zerkel.

~ information from Paul Nordlie