Re: Family of Peder Ersland
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In reply to:
Family of Peder Ersland
11/10/00
Ron, I believe your Peder Ersland was the brother of my grandfather, Lars Andreas. They immigrated to the US together in 1889, I believe. As was Norwegian custom at the time, they used the patronymic Pederson (which was treated as their last name when they arrived in the US -- Norway didn't exactly use last names: this simply meant they were the sons of Peder) but apparently they discovered there were so many Pedersons that their mail got mixed up. My aunt wrote in a letter about them before she died, " When Uncle Peder and Papa bought land in Minnesota they decided to use the name "Eritsland"--the name of the farm they came from in Norway. Our cousins in Madison Wisconsin knocked the "IT" out of Eritsland and called it "Ersland".
I have a lot of information about Lars Andreas Eritsland's descendants in the US and Canada -- he had 10 children, and we are now at about the 5th generation down from that -- but nothing on Peder Ersland's descendants. (There seem to be a lot, though -- I keep seeing "Erslands" in US databases!) I DO have quite a bit of information on their ancestors in Norway, their aunts & uncles & cousins. One of their first cousins is still living -- Kristoffer Eritsland -- he is now 83 years old. He apparently visited the US about 3 years ago so I wonder if he hooked up with your family?Feel free to contact me at [email protected] to exchange information. -- Lis Angus