Elling Vebjørnsen Ohnstad, f. 1880, hva skjedde med han i USA?

[Jackie K Marler]

Elling's Norway visit in 1905 was remarked on toward the end of a letter from Knut Indrelid dated Aurland 29 Sept 1905 to the Decorah Posten published in October 1905

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/iahi/batch_iahi_jolteon_ver01/data/sn83045473/00340584661/1905103101/0662.pdf

[Asbjørn Ramsøy]

Thanks again! Interesting. These letters from Knut Indrelid from Aurland were published in the Decorah Posten over several years,

and is a very good source of daily life in Aurland not found elsewhere. Strange that Ellings death record is not found anywhere.

[Jackie K Marler]

Well, there are a number of possible alternatives. 

 

Even though Elling and his brothers seem very proud of themselves and their name, perhaps Elling completely changed his name and adopted an entirely "new" existence?

 

Maybe Elling moved to Canada?

 

Maybe John Edward Rasmussen's unexplained wealth came from bumping off people he judged to be at moments of transition that their relatives might not miss and absorbed their assets (a la Belle Gunness)?

 

Maybe Elling's business of "opening" banks was a bit on the shady side and made him enemies who took revenge in some way?

 

In spite of the huge amount of records online and open to everyone with a computer, perhaps Elling's fate is only to be found in records only to be found on the ground and not in the air?

 

 

[Lars Johannessen]

Kanskje et langskudd, men her er i alle fall litt mer om opphavet til Johan Edvard Rasmussen

 

Kirkebok for presten i Innvik. 4 : Stryns prestegjeld 1844-1900

Utflyttede 1877 

 

Anne Vebjørnsdatter var gift med Ole Olsen i 1828. Hennes far: Vebjørn Olsen.

Johanne  Olsdatter, moren til Johan Edvard Rasmussen, født 17. april 1845 i Stryn https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20050816010060

 

 

 

Endret Mai 8 av Lars Johannessen

[Lars Johannessen]

Et familietre på FS tyder på at Vebjørn-navnet stammer fra Hol i Hallingdal. Har funnet en Ingeleiv Vebjørnsdatter født 1749 i Hol, død 1806 i Aurland. Hun var gift med Erik Larsen, født 1748 i Hol, død 1804 i Aurland,  de var foreldre til Vebjørn Eriksen, stamfar til blant annet Elling. 

https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/pedigree/landscape/L7JS-Q1H

 

 

Endret Mai 9 av Lars Johannessen

[Asbjørn Ramsøy]

Takk igjen! Antyder vi her et slektskap mellom Johan Rasmussen og  Elling Ohnstad?

[Lars Johannessen]

5 timer siden, Asbjørn Ramsøy skrev:

Takk igjen! Antyder vi her et slektskap mellom Johan Rasmussen og  Elling Ohnstad?

Ikke nødvendigvis, jeg har foreløpig ikke funnet andre forbindelser enn at begges aner kom fra Hol i Hallngdal.

Så ser jeg nå at det familietreet jeg la ut er en forlengelse av det treet som Jackie har lagt ut tidligere. Her er et familietre som gjelder Anne Vebjørnsdatter

https://www.familysearch.org/no/tree/pedigree/landscape/M3D1-2T6

 

 

 

 

Endret Mai 9 av Lars Johannessen

[Jackie K Marler]

Verrrry interesting.....

[Asbjørn Ramsøy]

What do you think, Jackie? 

Fins der en måte å identifisere utvandrere på som totalt har skiftet navn, mon tro.

Jeg har f.eks. skumlest Lars Øyane sine imponerende elleve bind med gårdshistorie

og utvandring fra Luster og sett hvordan man har funnet igjen mange lustringer som

helt har skiftet navn etter en tid i Amerika.

[Jackie K Marler]

Today, I had access to Ancestry and looked into a few North Dakota records.  I looked for any person (but no names filled in)  in the N.D. Death certificates database going from about 1908-2007 and there were several 8 or so  who had 23 March 1880 for a birthdate, about half were male, but nothing further could be developed. 

 

Then in another search in the d.c.s, there was only one with a father fully named Vebjorn or Webjorn.  That was the brother Andrew.  After that the search only picked up those whose father's name were initials W or V and there were many of them, too many for the time I had.

 

I searched for the words "body found" in the Brooklyn New York newspaper site at the Brooklyn public library, found quite a few but they were all identified, eventually.

 

I searched the Norwegian Consulate Records database 1922-1968 at University of North Dakota special collections website but found no Elling Ohnstad.

 

At NorwayHeritage we often have the impossible situation of an inexplicable name change: here is a link:

https://www.norwayheritage.com/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6903&SearchTerms=dylan

 

https://www.norwayheritage.com/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5964&SearchTerms=borre,johnson

 

https://www.norwayheritage.com/snitz/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3079&SearchTerms=christian,tromm

 

 

 

Endret Mai 11 av Jackie K Marler

[Asbjørn Ramsøy]

Thanks a lot for the effort, Jackie! I do not quite understand all this, e.g. what does "body found"

mean? And how do we use the NorwayHeritage stuff? Sorry for my lack of comprehending.

[Lars Johannessen]

https://www.ohnstads.com/TNG/getperson.php?personID=I131&tree=tree1

 

Jeg bet meg merke i denne formuleringen

 

Open

Kan være datter til Elling. http://people.mnhs.org/finder/bci/DC-53105

 

Lenken får jeg ikke åpnet, men mulig du kjenner til dette fra før. 

[Jackie K Marler]

"Body found" is a phrase often used by newspapers when a dead person has been found.  There usually is a procedure followed to identify the person and later reports of the findings of authorities.

 

The NorwayHeritage stuff were meant to be examples of research things to do when names don't match up between Norway and America, i.e. if a person decides to go missing or is missing due to foul play.  Merely examples of what's necessary in those kind of cases.

[Jackie K Marler]

8 minutes ago, Lars Johannessen said:

https://www.ohnstads.com/TNG/getperson.php?personID=I131&tree=tree1

 

Jeg bet meg merke i denne formuleringen

 

Open

Kan være datter til Elling. http://people.mnhs.org/finder/bci/DC-53105

 

Lenken får jeg ikke åpnet, men mulig du kjenner til dette fra før. 

I don't believe mnhs.org addresses are permanent.  However you do have as part of the link a certificate number and those can be searched for. Here is the info:

Ohnstad, Alma Ingeborg

Family name

Ohnstad

First name

Alma

Middle name

Ingeborg

Mother’s maiden name

Wangen

Birth date

1902-05-18

County

Polk County

Certificate ID

DC-53105

 

 

[Jackie K Marler]

This family tree identifies her as a child of an Edward Henrikson Ohnstad and Christina Loven Vangen:

https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/M9TV-9K8

[Asbjørn Ramsøy]

Kan her vere tala om "body not found" eller namneskifte til det ugjenkjennelege?

Eg må berre takke og bukke for alt det forumet har gjort for å kome til botnar i denne saka!

[Jackie K Marler]

The faddere for baptisms held in the ELCA pastoral records database at Ancestry, appear to not be included in the indexing done to make the database searchable.  So today. I went to the Zion Lutheran at Dahlen, North Dakota in the ELCA records in Ancestry to look through the baptisms there.  This congregation was the one which Elling's brother Andrew was a participant as fadder himself and later after he married the father of babies being baptized.    I did not find Elling as having been fadder to any baptism of Andrew's children in Zion's records 1911 and +.  I did find one baptism an Elling Ohnstad was fadder to.  It was of the baptism in 1900 of Selma Mathilde Engesather, the daughter of John and Solvei.  Selma later lived in Petersburg, North Dakota and died there in 1923.  So there was no advancing Elling's life after 1905 in the records. 

 

There were two other Ellings who participated as fadder in Zion's records:  an Elling Bakke in 1916 (for Ivar Quam son of Jens Quam) and Elling Dahlen.  Elling Bakke was likely this neighbor appearing in the 1915 census:

 

"North Dakota, Census, 1915", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9C-5R57 : Sat Jan 18 23:04:20 UTC 2025), Entry for Thora Bakke and Hans Bakke, 1915.

 

Elling Dahlen was most likely this person: 

Last Name: DAHLIN

First Name: ELLING

Middle Name: N

Gender: MALE

Death Date: 1920-03-15

Birth Date: 1835-10-28

Death Age: 84

Death State: North Dakota

Death County: Nelson

Resident State: North Dakota

Resident County: Nelson

Place of Birth: ZZ

 

The 1915 census is basically a list of names, very little useful information there.  And with each of these possible other named individuals why doesn't Elling show up in the 1910 US Federal census?

 

 

[Jackie K Marler]

Okay, I looked through the faddere for baptisms of the 3 Lutheran churches whose addresses were given as Cooperstown from abt 1900-1910, Rugby in 1900 but found no service by E.W. Ohnstad, Ed Ohnstad or Elling Ohnstad or Elling Vebjørnson.  I found no  Lutheran parish in Richland, Baker county, Oregon, to look through. 

[Asbjørn Ramsøy]

Thanks again, Jackie!

Apperently this is a smart way of revealing "actions" from Elling, if any. I would never have thought of such possibilities!

If there ever was criminal action involved, would looking for newspaper articles be an idea? Unfortunately, I have no

experience in such sort of investigation. Or, if things should have turned out the way you imply above, "no body found",

nobody will know.

[Jackie K Marler]

There are roughly 40,000 unidentified dead persons right now in US going back a few decades.  These cold cases can sometimes be solved using advanced forensics techniques or DNA if available.  Most of these cases begin with an actual dead but unidentified body that probably was buried as a "Jane Doe" or "John Doe" or some other nickname into which someone might take an interest.  But Elling's case is different.  There is no body that we know of.  Although, for cases of "foul play" there is no statute of limitations for murder, but the evidence degrades over time, or gets thrown away, or destroyed etc and can play into things never being discovered. 

 

There was another Elling Ohnstad in North Dakota, located in Walsh county which borders Nelson and Grand Forks counties.  Even the faddere search of Zion, where Elling's brother was a member, even that Elling might be the other one.  Won't know until you know.

 

 

 

[Asbjørn Ramsøy]

Thank you, Jackie! I can not follow you in the last two lines ....

[Lars Johannessen]

15 timer siden, Jackie K Marler skrev:

There was another Elling Ohnstad in North Dakota, located in Walsh county which borders Nelson and Grand Forks counties.  Even the faddere search of Zion, where Elling's brother was a member, even that Elling might be the other one.  Won't know until you know.

Dette er vel Elling Henriksen Ohnstad født i Ådal i Buskerud (1870 - 1958), gift med Kjerstine Marie Underdal født i Aurland (1883 - 1971)

Her er et familietre på FS https://www.familysearch.org/no/tree/pedigree/landscape/GD78-WM4

[Lars Johannessen]

Elling Henriksens foreldre og søsken (inkludert Edward). Mange av disse endte opp i Walsh i North Dakota.

 

 

Og her er  fyldig omtale av denne familien i Utvandrerhistorier fra Ringerike (side 71 ff. )

 

https://www.nb.no/items/dd7b3a2adcca02bfb805023ac7c36ed1?page=73&searchText="henrik nitter ohnstad"

Endret Mai 20 av Lars Johannessen

[Asbjørn Ramsøy]

Takk Lars! Men dette er vel en annen Elling?

[Lars Johannessen]

6 timer siden, Asbjørn Ramsøy skrev:

Takk Lars! Men dette er vel en annen Elling?

Dette er den Elling Ohnstad som Jackie fant i North Dakota, det er altså ikke Elling Vebjørnsen Ohnstad.