Ole Elias Stendahl

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Ole Elias Stendal was born in Trondhjem, Norway’s most famous city, June 4. 1857. In 1861, he came to America with his parents, Tosten and Johanne Stendal. They landed in Quebec and lived in Canada about six months. In the fall of the same year, they came to LaCrosse County, Wisconsin and settled not far from Holmen. In 1877, they came to Fitch Coulee, this county, and since that time this has been the home of the deceased. April 4, 1884, he married Nettie Amlee, from which union eight children were born all of whom are living except Jennie, who died at the age of ten years. The living are: Theodore Stendal and Walter Stendal, Whitehall; Oscar Stendal and Archie Stendal, Pigeon; Abbie Simons, Hammond, Indiana; Lillie Christopherson, LaCrosse; Amy Christianson, Arcadia. His wife survives him. His last sickness became clearly manifest about the first of March 1930 and from that time on till July 13, when he finished his course, there was a steady decline, and undoubtedly much suffering although he never complained. Funeral services were held on July 17, in the lower Pigeon Falls church, Rev. Orke officiating. All his children were present and also his widow. Many relatives and friends from distant points and a host of neighbors and acquaintances from the community in which he had spent all manhood years. Mr. Stendal’s life was a life of great physical activity. I am told he spent 18 seasons in the woods and on the river in the lumber industry. After he quit the woods, he engaged in threshing which he followed many seasons. Then there was the farm always. He took over the farm from his parents in 1887, on the condition that he was to support them both until death. His father was at this time totally blind and his mother in such crippled condition that she could not walk. Perhaps this double burden fell quite heavily on his wife as it did on him, for he was then in the prime of life, strong and hopeful and not worried over the dark tomorrows. Mr. Stendal was of a sanguine impulsive temperament. His disposition was extremely generous and often outran his better judgment. When he met “small” men, exact men and men who walked by rule, he was apt to be impatient and sometimes harsh and nasty in his judgments concerning them for he hated everything that looked like “meanness” more than anything else. I first met him on a Sunday afternoon in the fall of 1887, where several men and boys had chanced to gather just to pass the time. Mr. Stendal was turning somersaults, hand-springs and performing other athletic stunts which attracted by attention to him as a superb athlete. But in this as in his work, he was wasteful with his strength. He was then 20 years of age. He felt the throb and ripple of his muscles, calling for action. He felt the swift current of his blood which seemed to flow from youths immortal fountain. Exercise was a joy - the more violent, the greater the joy. Decay, exhaustion and death were forgotten in the pleasure of intense living. But the gods of time laugh at the antics of mortals chasing fame, wealth, pleasure or even the mere necessaries of life, for they know the many destroyers along the path of life. In the story of Thor wrestling with an old woman our Scandinavian ancestors, with grim humor, show that they have a true conception of the futility of man’s opposing himself to the course of nature. But in every heart a spark of admiration is kindled when we see men braving the elemental forces of life even when we anticipate failure or disaster. Mr. Stendal’s sympathies were always with the common man - the poor and the toilers, and his judgment of other classes was often tinged with bitterness. Thus, does love often cause mental astigmatism. Now the music of his voice is still. His hand with its strong touch is vanished. Another link in the family chain lies dim and broken in dust. I think I knew the whole Stendal family. There was the father with unseeing eyes, conning day by day for years his failures and successes. There was the mother, whose brow might have borne with honor a diadem, confined for years by promethean chains. There were Oluf, Andrew and John as fine up-standing men as ever gladdened a mothers eyes. There were Mrs. Haugen and Mrs. Parker, both women of great charm. All gone. There is pathos in these memories which stirs my imagination until I can almost hear the calling waves of Oblivion’s seas, where I soon must follow. But this comes it soon or late, is only another transition in the Great Designers plan. A change departed welcomed, for he was weary. Sleep brother, sleep! Though thy beloved weep. Their tears shall catch the hues, Of sunlit morning dews. Written by H.A. Anderson, August 3, 1930. THE WHITEHALL TIMES - AUGUST 7, 1930

Ole T. Stendahl, proprietor of the Fair View farm of 200 acres in sections 13, 14 and 23, Pigeon Township, was born in Trondjem, Norway, June 4, 1857. His father, Thortson Stendahl, was born in Norway December 10, 1822, married Johanna Berg, who was born October 5, 1827, brought his family to America in 1861, lived in La Crosse, Wisconsin 15 years, and in 1877, settled in Pigeon Township, this county, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying September 4, 1897. Mrs. Thortson Stendahl died in Pigeon Township January 20, 1911. Ole T. Stendal was brought here by his parents, attended the district schools and was reared to farm pursuits. For eighteen winters he engaged in lumbering as woodsman and riverman. For the past twenty-four seasons he has engaged in threshing. His farming operations, since he assumed charge of the home place, have been most successful, his good herd of high grade Holstein cattle net him a satisfactory income, and his whole farm presents a neat and thrift appearance. Mr. Stendahl was married April 4, 1884, to Nettie Amlee, born in Hammer, Norway, September 25, 1859, daughter of Gilbert and Elizabeth (Bokalrud) Amlee, the former of whom was born December 1, 1818, and died in Hammer, Norway, September 4, 1877, and latter of whom was born in Norway, April 14, 1837, and died February 4, 1904, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. O. Madson, in Menomonie, Wisconsin. Mrs. Gilbert Amlee and children came from Norway in 1880 to Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Mrs. and Mrs. Stendahl have had eight children: Theodore is a farmer of Pigeon Township; Oscar also farms in Pigeon Township; Jennie L. died at the age of nine years; Archie is at home; Abbie married Knelland Simons of Whitehall; Lillie, Walter and Amy are at home. SOURCE – HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY – 1917