Recently, I found an old Christmas letter sent to me by Uncle Lyle from 1993. Lyle used to write the BEST Christmas letters and would always include a bit of family history at the end. I wish I had saved all of them! Here is an excerpt that he provided after our last reunion in 1992:

Ole Arnehaugen was born in 1828 in the Oslo area of Norway, later served as a fireman on a steamship, and migrated to Wangs, Minnesota where he filed for land. He felt the name was too long, so he dropped the “Arne”.

Nels Haugen was born in Wangs, Minnesota on February 16, 1872. He had no middle name so he took the O from his fathers name for a middle initial. Ida Nelsdaughter was born February 22, 1874 near Lund, Sweden. At fifteen, she migrated with her mother, sister Anne and brother Edward to Battle Lake, Minnesota.

Nels and Ida were married in 1893 and filed on land in Tolgen Township, Des Lacs, North Dakota in 1901. Three children were born in Minnesota and five were born in North Dakota.

Footnote: I found some old notes in a family bible written in either Norwegian or Swedish that was given to me by my Aunt Josephine. The notes are written in Norwegian (I think) and there is a reference made to her grandfather: Ole Nelson Haugen son of Nels Arnehaugen of Vaug-Valdrees, Norway (Sogning). Also something written that looks like: Tommar Mand with double dots over the o and a.