So many times when researching the families before they emigrated, all we manage to come up with are names, dates and places, so I think we are very lucky if we find stories about their lives or ancestors. The drawback, as pointed out to me by one of my cousins, is the possibility of finding things you’d rather not know. I have two thoughts on this, the first being the fact that no matter who you are or where you come from, all families have skeletons in their closets. The second thought is the old adage that says "you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your relatives." Against my cousin’s wishes, I proceeded in my search and I came up with many stories that surprised me, and yes, although I was not looking for them, I did find the skeletons. This turned out to be a story involving riches to rags, manslaughter, mystics, artists, great tragedies and an unshakable faith and will to survive.

Thor Swenson was born May 25, 1823 in Vinje, Telemark, son of Svein Olavsson Fløythyl & Hæge Torsdatter Haukelid. The family later moved to Øykjelie, a lot under the Gugarden farm in Haukelid. It is located facing the sun at the great Øykjelidhylen in Kjela-aai (Kjela River). Children of Svein & Haege were Margit, Stor Ole, Eivind, Thor, Vesli Ole & Herbjorn. There also was a son, Aslak, from Svein’s first marriage.

The family of Hæge Torsdatter can be traced back to the Vasshus farm, along Totak Lake in Rauland Parish, Telemark when Herbjorn Torgjusson first took control of the property in 1493. The family was very prosperous and continued to live on the farm until it was lost by Olav Herbjornson in 1700 because he was unable to pay the taxes. According to Rikard Berge in "Vinje og Rauland", the family then went to Vinje and sat as peasants at various farms out there.

Rikard Berge tells that "there was much manslaughter in the Torbjornson family." Thor Swenson’s 2^nd great grandfather Olav Herbjornson was killed at a wedding at Vehus in Vinje in 1730, and Thor’s 4^th great-grandfather, Bjorn Herbjornson Vashuus, "himself using the knife and using some bad language, was killed at a wedding at Hoegetveit in 1671. Lidvaar Vasshus, brother to Bjorn, had done away with Svein Svalastogi and had to pay 16 Riksdalar for man-fine in 1632."

In his book, "Rosmaaling i Telemark, Vol. II", Øystein Vesaas describes Thor Swenson’s grandfather, known as ‘the mystic sergeant’: "About Tor Herbjornson it was said that he was more capable than most, and had scary and mystic abilities." Still today there are people around who may tell a few stories about strange things that took place when Tor Herbjornson was out roaming. (I’m still trying to find out what these stories are about.)

The most amazing thing I discovered about this family concerned their artistic abilities. I’d always thought Thor Swenson was just a typical emigrant farmer. As it turns out, he was a noted rosemaaler and is still today considered one of the finest brush virtuosos to come out of Telemark. Thor had come into contact with the noted painter Thomas Luraas as early as 1840 and was impressed with his work, but it was Hans O. Glittenberg who taught Thor how to paint and it is easy to see from looking at Thor’s work that he adopted Glittenberg’s rose style. Glittenberg was at Botnen in the spring of 1847 and they have found a "beginners" trunk painted by Thor in 1848 at Noristog-Vågsli. The trunk was painted with light colors on a red background and looked like an attempt to paint in the Glittenberg style by someone who still hadn’t mastered the technique. It would not be that long before he did master it.

The cabin where Thor grew up still stands today and the interior rosemaaling he did over 150 years ago remains intact. The vaulted ceiling is painted dark blue and on the blue molding he has painted a church and a row of white houses with red roofs. There are some rose twists and toward the corner there is a larger white house with a red roof and the letters TSS. To date, 27 trunks have been identified as being painted by Thor, all of them located in Norway. It is hard to say how many others were carried by immigrants on their long voyages to America. His trunks were always signed "TSS" (Tor Svein’s Son).

Among other artists discovered in this family was Thor’s uncle, Ole Olavvson who went by the name Ole Skraddaren. Ole was a woodcarver who is also talked about in the Rosemaaing i Telemark books.

Thor had a son, Herman, who was a carpenter by trade and made violins in his spare time. He also had a grandson, Theodore, who was an excellent woodcarver.

One of Thor’s brothers was named Eivind and his grandson was Bjorn Egeli, a noted portrait painter who was requisitioned to paint the official portraits of Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon, as well as Generals MacArthur and Kates to name just a few. Bjorn married the painter Lois Baldwin and they had 5 children: Peter, Cedric, Bjorn, Mary Lois & Carolyn. All make their livings today as portrait and marine painters. Peter Egeli and his brother Cedric married painters Elizabeth Stewart Wilkinson and Joanette Hoffman, respectively. The third generation of painters includes Elizabeth Lois & Arthur Bjorn Egeli.

Another of Thor’s brothers was named Stor Ole and his great grandson, Duane Thompson, is a landscape painter who lives in Minnesota. Duane’s sister Bobbie has had much acclaim for her rosemaaling technique.

In 1859 Thor was married to a young girl from Røldal by the name of Kristi Gunnardsdatter Kvile and they lived back at Vågsli. Stor Ole, the oldest brother, lived at Viki and was a good carpenter. Earnings were marginal and they decided to go to America. Vesli Ole would go with them too. All three brothers had families. Stor Ole had 4 children, Vesli Ole had 1 child and Thor had 1 son and one child on the way.

Stor Ole was a peasant under Osmund Vågsli and since he owed Osmund 10 daler he would not let Ole travel. Bjorgulv Vågsli paid the money on behalf of Ole to which Osmund said "That was strange that you would let out the 10 daler for that poor one". Bjorgulv replied "It would be stranger that we should be of a nature to let Ole stay in Viki to be suffering from and tormented by Osmund Vågsli". After this Osmund and Bjorfulv were no longer friends. Bjorgulv later received a letter from America containing the money from Stor Ole.

On April 16, 1861 the brothers got their papers and were going to America. Their 70 year-old mother also traveled with them. Their father, Svein, had passed away in 1854. This family was not alone on their journey, for noted in the church records that same day were the names of 161 others that were leaving for a new life in America.

In 1861 the newspaper "Correspondenten" wrote about the journey: "The ship left Porgrund and arrived in Quebec Jun 11^th. Among the emigrants on board the ship were 198 persons arriving in Quebec without owning a single cent. Their journey across the ocean had taken quite a long time, and had been hard. The poorest of the passengers ran out of supplies and had to buy from those who had brought enough. This was given as a reason for why they did not have any money when arriving in Quebec. This could not have been the only reason, as they had not bought supplies for more than 4-5 Spd while at sea, and the fee for the passage had not been more than 12 Spd. for adults and 6 Spd. for children. Of the 598 passengers, 19 children and 3 adults had died while the ship had been drifting among the icebergs north of Scotland. It is said that they did not die due to the low temperature, but from an outbreak of fever. 2 to 3 persons had died every day."

Among those who died were Thor and Kristi’s little one year old son Svein. Later on the journey Kristi gave birth to her second child, and it too died on the voyage. The memory of those little bodies being put into the ocean was one that would haunt Kristi for the rest of her life.

The large group of emigrants traveled from Quebec to Toronto to Detroit to Chicago, traveling part of the way sitting on benches in railway cattle cars that were ankle deep in manure. In Toronto they were told they would have to pay $100 to get to Chicago. They managed to pull together $97. In Detroit the large group was told by their interpreter that the railroad wanted $100 extra to get them to Chicago or they would use their baggage checks as bail. They all turned over their baggage checks. When they arrived in Chicago they stayed at the railroad station, supported by Norwegians living in the city who brought them what they needed to survive. Iver Lawson, the city marshall, and a shopkeeper named Jens Olsen Kaase collected about $100 for the people. The railroad would not give the people their luggage until the $100 had been turned over to them, at which point Lawson said the railroad would just have to take all of the people back to Detroit. The plan worked and the railroad gave them their baggage without receiving the additional money. Another railroad, the Galena-Milwaukee-and Northwestern Railroad Company, took the people the rest of the way to Stoughton, Madison and LaCrosse for free.

The three Sveinson families all came to settle in Koshkonong, although it is not known exactly how many of them survived the journey. Thor and Stor Ole bought land in Deerfield Township and Vesli Ole remained in the area for some time, as reflected in the baptism records for the Koshkonong Church. It is unknown what happened to 70 year-old Haege Torsdatter.

Stor Ole died in 1901 and is buried at Liberty Cemetery in Deerfield. Of his 4 chidren I have only been able to track one, a son named Osmund Olson Vik. Osmund was a farmer and carpenter and lived his entire life in the Deerfield area. His children used the name Vick. By 1880 Vesli Ole had died and his widow and children were living in the Sun Prairie area, using the name Swanson.

The land that Thor and Kristi bought was heavily wooded and Kristi used to talk of having to follow the sound of Thor’s axe to find him and give him his lunch. They were invited to stay at the farm of Andrew Swan and his wife Julia Gilderhus as they were clearing their land and building their home.

Thor and Kristi had 11 more children after they settled in Deerfield. Martha (b 1860-died before 1886), Helen (1863-1941-Mrs Martin Gilbertson of Deerfield), Bessie (1865-1893-Mrs Walter Gericke of Lake Mills), Svein (1866-1866), a stillborn baby (b 1867), Svein "Gustav" (1869-1950-married Hannah Hagen of Milan MN), Simon (1872-1902, died of TB), Carl (1873-1946, married Claudine Hendrickson of Deerfield), twin Herman (1876-1946, married Jennie Borgersen of Mjøndalen Norway), twin Clara Sophie (1876-1913-Mrs John Rodby of Deerfield) & Alfred (b 1878, died young).

It appears that farm life did not allow extra time for Thor to resume his rosemaaling. Or it could be that once in America there was no call for it. Regardless, I have been unable to find any evidence that Thor did any painting after he came to the US. Thor died in 1882 after being run over by a runaway team of horses pulling a wagon loaded with hay. He is buried at St Paul Liberty Cemetery in Deerfield.

After Thor’s death, Kristi was left with a farm to run and 8 children to raise, ranging in age from 4 to 19. The 2 oldest daughters worked as dressmakers to make income for the family and the brunt of the farm work fell on 13 year-old Gustav, with help from 10 year-old Simon and 9 year-old Carl. With hard work and determination Kristi was able to hold on to her farm. When all of the children had grown to adulthood, Kristi turned the farm over to Gustav and moved into a little house in Deerfield.

Kristi’s faith, like countless other immigrants’, had to be great considering all the hardships she had suffered. She went on to be a founding member of the Deerfield Lutheran Church. She died at the age of 91 and is buried at the Deerfield Lutheran Cemetery.