Born: 2 Feb 1806, near Meråker, Nor-Trøndelag, Norway
Married: 17 Oct 1830, Trysil, Norway
Died: 13 Jan 1896, Harwood twp, Cass Co, ND
Buried: Trysil-Bethesda cemetery, Holmes City twp, MN
Spouse: Halvor Olsen Strandvold
Parents: Hans Olsen Tuven from Elverum
Marte Olsdtr Lordalen
Marie and her twin sister Mette were born February 2, 1806 at Ferstangen gaard. In the early 1800s, people were hungry and looking for work. Marie’s father, Hans Olsen Tuven, was the 10th child in his family and had no inheritance or land. To support his family, he and many others went north to Trondheim and beyond to find work in the fishing or timber industry.
Twins, Marie and Mette were baptized in the Levanger church in Nor-Trøndelag on Palm Sunday 1806. The father was listed as Hans Olsen Ferstangen because now the family lived at Ferstangen. Ferstangen lies at the outlet of lake Feren. It is a lake aobut 30 km east of Levanger near the Swedish border. The area belongs to Verdalen (Stiklestad Parish).
Marie’s father worked for a Swede, Peter Stalin, who had a sawmill. . Hans and the family lived in a small house at Ferstangen working as an inspector and supervisor for Peter Stalin. Peter Stalin was apparently a very despotic person, a “slave-driver” and his workers were not happy. In 1811 a “short-headed man, Little Herman” set fire to the stored lumber and the sawmill as an act of revenge. The sawmill was gone. Peter Stalin died that fall. Hans was again left with no livelihood. And to make matters worse, his wife, Marte Olsdatter Lørdalen had died, leaving him with four children. The two older sons were old enough to be on their own, but what of his 5-year old twin girls?
Hans made a desperate decision. He would take the twins back to Trysil to be raised in the homes of their mother’s family. Because he was so poor, the only mode of transportation was to pull them on a sled and travel in winter over frozen terrain — a distance of about 300 miles as we know it. Had he made the trip in better weather, the soft ground would not allow a sled and he would have had to go a different, further route carrying the children. That would have been impossible! So Hans probably packed the sled with some food and supplies, bundled the girls up warmly and tucked them on the sled. He picked up the harness strap, slung it over his head so it looped over his left shoulder and under his right arm, bowed his head into the weather and began the long trek through snow and over ice pulling his little girls through sometimes mountainous and sometimes uninhabited terrain. Some time during the journey, one of the little girls fell off the sled and it was sometime later before Hans discovered she was gone. The panicked father retraced his steps fighting the fear that he would find her frozen to death or attacked by bears. He found her cold and fretful, but alive and well. The journey must have taken about six weeks. They would not have been able to travel every day since they would have needed rest and replenishment. Hans succeeded in bringing his little girls safely to Trysil. This story has been told in Trysil by the descendants of Marie’s twin, Mette; told in America by the descendants of Marie and told in Nor-Trøndelag by the descendants of Marie’s brothers. Because of the conditions of the journey, it is a heroic story. Almost equal to Nansen’s journey across Greenland.
In 1868, Halvor and Marie settled in Holmes City township, Douglas Co, MN with many of their family around them. They were very instrumental in helping others who came from Trysil, Norway, in those early emigrant years. When the church was to be established, Halvor and Marie gave all the money to build the church. Halvor died in 1877 after only nine years in the new country and then Marie made her home with her youngest daughter, Mette Knudsen. When this daughter died and left eight motherless children, she stayed with them until her son-in-law married again. In 1885, when the Nordby family came from Norway, they settled in Harwood township, Cass Co, ND, just north of Fargo and Marie went to live with them.
Marie Strandvold was an upright, courageous woman, sympathetic and kind to those who sought her help. She never turned away anyone emptyhanded who came to her in their need. She had been poor herself and understood what it was to be hungry.
In January 1896, Marie died in her sleep with her hand under her cheek like a child, a couple weeks before reaching her 90th birthday. She is buried in Trysil cemetery beside her husband Halvor.