Jacob Olsen Fagerlie

Jakob Olsen Fagerlien, as he was known in Norway before he came to "Amerika", is, or was, the main character in our family's move to America. He was born on the Storrusten farm near Dovre, Oppland, Norway to Ole Jacobsen Fagerlie and Ragnhild Guttormsdtr. Skåre. He was the oldest of six sisters and one brother in the family. The others were Kari, Marit, Anne, Gilbert (aka Guttorm) Guri, Ragnhild and Oline. All came to America except for the three youngest girls. They went north in 1873 to Bodo where they married farmers and fishermen. Ragnhild, their aged mother, left the farm in 1878 to join them.

Jacob assisted his father on the farm until he finished high school and then he became a school teacher for the next eight years. He then returned home to aid in support of his family when his father died in 1860. He worked on the railroad to supplement the farm income, which was meager.

On June 10, 1867 he married Inger Marie Engenbretsdtr in the Lutheran Church in Sel/Vågå, Oppland, Norway. She was from Ostre Toten and they had met when she was a cook on the Skibladner, the oldest running passenger vessel on Lake Mjosa running from Lillehammer to Eidsvol. This vessel is still carrying passengers and freight and has been since 1856.

Jacob and Inger Marie lost their first born son in 1868 and had a second son, Ole, in 1870.

They withdrew from the Lutheran Church on June 10, 1870 to go to Amerika. On August 5, 1870 they boarded the SS Albion out of Christiansund for Hull, England. There they boarded a train to Liverpool where they boarded the SS. Moravian that took them to Quebec, Canada, arriving on Aug. 21, 1870. They traveled with fourteen others from Dovre to Quebec where they obtained passage on the Great Lakes to Milwaukee. From there they traveled south to McGregor, Ia. where they crossed the Mississippi River and turned north to Rushford, in Minnesota.They wintered in Rushford and in June of 1871 they obtained a ride on a wagon pulled by two oxen taking them to Audubon, Minn. on June 15, 1871.

Jacob obtained homestead rights in section 36 of Audubon Township and built a log house.

He worked on the Northern Pacific Rail Road at the Oak Lake Cut for two years. In 1871 their second child, Minna Rosina, was born. Inger Marie was sick with tuberculosis and she died in December 1873 and was buried on New Year's day 1874. At the time of this writing it is unknown where she was buried, as Jacob buried her on the farm pending a cemetery being developed by the Lutheran Church. The two children, Ole and Minna, were cared for by their aunts, Olaina Knudson and Guri Sorum, who were neighbors .

In 1881 Jacob married Ingeborge Kjæstad on December 29th, 1881 who arrived from Kvam, Norway on June 17, 1881, with her two sisters, Anne and Kari. Anne married Jacob's brother Gilbert and Kari married Andrew Jensen, both farmers in the area.

Jacob went on to have nine more children with Ingeborge and in 1913 he passed away leaving Ingeborge on the farm north of Audubon to finish raising the family. Ingeborge lived until Sept. 13, 1940. In 1970 the combined ages of their living children were 698 years. Jacob became ill in November of 1912 and died March 17, 1913 at age of 75.

Ingeborg died in 1940 as the result of a fall in the stairs at my home on the Reep farm. She had been staying with our family for some time and was the only Grandma I knew. I'll never forget her long snow-white hair that she wore in a single braid that ran way down her back. Russ.

The following is an article published in 1975}. I'll quote it here for your review:

Jacob Olsen Fagerlie with his wife Inger Marie and son Ole J. Fagerlie arrived at their homestead South of Audubon, Mn. on Section 34 in Audubon township on June 15, 1871 via cover wagon towed by a pair of sturdy oxen, having been drawn to Northern Minnesota by available homestead land. They had arrived in the United States the previous year from Sel, and Toten Norway. Mr. Fagerlie cleared land of brush and small trees for his first home with his only tool being a jackknife.

A daughter, Minnie (who became Mrs. Ole Sletmoen) was born on this homestead in October 30, 1871 on Lake Minnetonka, which was named after her.

In 1873, Inger Marie died, and Aunt and Uncle Olianne and Lars Knudson raised Ole and pioneer neighbors Guru (Lars's sister) and Andrew Sorum raised Minnie.

Mr. Fagerlie supported himself and his children by working at the then thriving Oak Lake development, N.P. RR, and as a farm laborer. Later he clerked for several years at (probably) Ole Orstad's, his bro-in-law's, an early Audubon general-merchandise store. He also purchased a farm in section 9 in Audubon township a mile and a half northwest of Audubon on Oct. 5, 1881, where he erected a small home, and on Dec. 29, 1881, he married Ingeborg Kjested of Kvam, Norway. Her sister Anne came with her from Norway and married Jacob's brother Gilbert, who lived on a farm near Jacob's original homestead. Nine children were born to them.

Ole, the eldest son, who came over from Norway with his parents, was an Audubon farmer and also worked construction crews erecting grain elevators in parts of Minnesota and throughout North Dakota. In later years he hauled the U.S. mail from Audubon to Cormorant. He owned and operated the second Maxwell automobile in Becker County. Minnie Sletmoen and her husband, Ole, for many years owned and operated the very fine Audubon Hotel where she was widely known as an excellent cook. (As a point of interest, when the hotel was torn down, the workmen found a meal ticket for 21 meals total costing $3.00.)

Jacob Fagerlie gave financial support for many immigrants to come to the United States and if it had not been for the generosity and kindness of his wife and himself, many could never have been able to make the trip. In return for advancing their fares, he let then re-pay him in farm labor on his expanding farm operations. For many years he was a ticket agent for one of the early steamship lines between Europe and America.

As Becker County became more populated and developed, Jacob Fagerlie took a active part in many civic and community activities. He was a store clerk intermittently in his early farming years; he helped found the first Sunday School at Audubon Lutheran Church and was one of its' first instructors; for 34 years he was Audubon townships assessor; he was agent for LakePark and Cuba Fire Insurance company; and for many years he was president of Audubon School Board.

In addition to Jacob Fagerlie's surviving children, there are also 39 living grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren and many great-great-grand children. (This was written in 1975 by Minnie and Julia Fagerlie).