Peder Koppang

Peder Koppang was born December 27, 1831 at the place Robuknappen in Trysil commune, Hedmark fylke in Norway. He was baptizing in Osen church in Trysil commune, Hedmark fylke, Norway February 2, 1832.

In 1867 he travels from Oslo (at that time the city had the name Christiania) to Hull in Great Britain. From Liverpool he then sails with SS “City of Antwerp” to New York. He came to America October 1. 1867.

He first came to Chicago and work as a carpenter, but after 1 ½ year he travel up to Iowa. Her he meet a widow at a farm in Fayette, in Plesant valley section nr. 1, with the name Gunhild. After 6 month they got married

Peder and Gunhild got one child, August 16, 1873 and she was baptizing Anne Gurine Pauline Koppang.

His wife Gunhild Sveinsdatter born January 18, 1824 at the farm Trageton eie in Hol commune, Hallingdal, Buskerud fylke.

She was baptizing February 15, 1824 at Hol church in Norway.

She married Ole Halstenson Grøtt (in America Grøtt was change to Groth). Married in Hol church in Norway, May 31, 1845.

1849 Gunhild and her husband and two children immigrate to America and settled in Clayton County.

Gunhild, s husband Ole died in 1851 only 34 years old. Gunhild was sitting alone with tree children (two born in Norway and one in America) Svend, Halsten and Rachel.

In 1854 Gunhild meet a man Mr. Emerick Oleson and they got a child named Ole in July 9, 1855. I think they not were married because in on of the letter from Peder Koppang home to his father he said that his wife Gunhild had been married two times (not tree).

In 1857 Gunhild married man Stein Kittelson and they got their farm in Fayette County, in section 1, just to the border of Clayton county.

From this married it was born 5 children (Bergit 1857, Kittel 1860, Hans 1862, Paul 1863 and Louise 1866)

Also Gunhild, s husband Stein died young, in 1868/69 and was only 41 years old.

Then Peder Koppang came true and this was number fore of Gunhild, s men.

Gunhild died December 11. 1894 she was 70 yeas old when she died, (not 48 years old).

Then Peder meet Siri and they got married.

In the census 1900 you could fine Peder and Siri and they have her nephew Charles Nelson with her, born 1891/92. I have look at the original Census and that is the names.

This Charles was the son of Ole?, because in the book you sent me it says that Oles wife died in 1891, so I wonder if Siri took care of her brothers child.

But what happen to him?

I have made a little story of Gunhild and her life, but it is in Norwegian, if you want that and also part from the book about Peder Koppang, also this in Norwegian, I could sent it to you as a PDF file.

There are some maps showing were the farms are, and also I notice that the farms of the nelson family in Clayton is just beside the Groth and Kittelson families (Gunhild,s husbands families)

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Sara (Siri Anna) born in Norway �5th April 1857, died in Clermont, IA 27th June 1905.

Peders first wife, Gunhild, died 11th December 1894 only 70 years old. They got one child, Pauline Anne Gurine, b. 18th August 1873. We know her decendants.

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1880 United States Federal Census

about Peter Koping

Name: Peter Koping

Home in 1880: Pleasant Valley, Fayette, Iowa

Age: 47

Estimated Birth Year: abt 1833

Birthplace: Nor

Relation to Head of Household: Self (Head)

Spouse's Name: Gunnel

Father's birthplace: Nor

Mother's birthplace: Nor

Neighbors: View others on page

Occupation: Farmer

Marital Status: Married

Race: White

Gender: Male

Cannot read/write:

Blind:

Deaf and dumb:

Otherwise disabled:

Idiotic or insane:

View Image

Household Members:

Name Age

Peter Koping 47

Gunnel Koping 54

Hans Koping 17

Basil Koping 16

Louisa Koping 14

Anna G. Koping 7

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1900 United States Federal Census

about Peter Koppang

Name: Peter Koppang

Home in 1900: Pleasant Valley, Fayette, Iowa

Age: 67

Birth Date: Dec 1832

Birthplace: Norway

Race: White

Ethnicity: American

Immigration Year: 1867

[1818]

Relationship to head-of-house: Head

Father's Birthplace: Norway

Mother's Birthplace: Norway

Spouse's Name: Sarah

Marriage Year: 1898

Marital Status: Married

Years Married: 2

Residence : Elgin Town, Fayette, Iowa

Occupation: View Image

Neighbors: View others on page

Household Members:

Name Age

Peter Koppang 67

Sarah Koppang 43

Charles Nelson 7

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http://www.sharylscabin.com/Clayton/cemetery/eastclermont.htm

Iowa Cemetery Records

about Peder Koppans

Name: Peder Koppans

Death Date: 02 Apr 1905

Page #: 114

Birth Date: 1831

Cemetery: Lutheran

Town: Clermont

Level Info: Clay County, Iowa Grave Records

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http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?dept_id=130713&PAG=461&rfi=6&new...

Letters reconnect Roar Koppang with long lost American family

By: Meghan Powers, News writer July 30, 2008

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Roar and Aase Koppang of Oslo, Norway visit the grave of Peder Koppang.

When Roar Koppang was a young child in Norway he dreamed of finding his long lost American cousins. Two of his great grandfather's brothers left their small farm of Galager and lost touch with those they left behind.

     "When I was a young boy of maybe five or six, I had known about these letters," said Koppang during a recent visit to Elgin, Iowa and the surrounding vicinity. "Nobody knew anything about what happened after that. There was no contact."

     What he refers to are 26 handwritten letters from Johan Koppang to his family back in Norway. Johan and his brother, Peder, left their home in 1865. From their native land, they took a boat to Liverpool, England then traveled across the Atlantic to Quebec, Canada.

     "Some years back I inherited the small farm from my family. These letters were hidden away in a drawer. They are so detailed that we knew their route from when they left the farm to when they settled in Elgin."

     The brothers traveled from Quebec down the Great Lakes to Chicago. From there they rode the train to Elgin.

     "This place looks just like Norway," said Koppang, "I feel as if I could be there right now."

     After discovering the missing clues to finding his lost family, Roar Koppang and his wife, Aase, have spent their retirement putting together the pieces. Roar was a watchmaker and Aase a registered nurse.

     When they discovered the letters four years ago, the Koppangs contacted the Elgin Echo via email and the East Clermont Lutheran Church looking for any information about what happened to their great great uncles and their families. This put them in touch with Debbie and Noel Knight of Elgin who serve as historians for the church.

     "Debbie and Noel have been such big help," he said. "They help us find a little here and a little there."

     Through the work the Knights did in finding marriage, death and birth records, Roar and Aase were able to piece together the lineage of the two brothers. They were also able to make contacts with third and fourth cousins they never knew.

     "It took us two years to find them," said Koppang. He and a newly found cousin from Rock Rapids, S.D. organized a family reunion over the July 4th weekend in Sioux Falls, S.D. Forty-five descendants of Peder and Johan Koppang attended the event to meet the family they never knew they had.

     Since discovering his new American family, Koppang has published a book about them and all the descendants of Paul Koppang, his great great grandfather.

     Paul Koppang was a sheriff in his local county in Norway. He had five children. Two were Peder and Johan and one was Olaus, Roar's great grandfather. The oldest of Paul's children was Ole, a Corporal in the Norwegian Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Ole was taken prisoner in Norway in 1814 and held captive in Stockholm, Sweden.

     Through his research, Roar discovered that after being set free, Ole enjoyed Sweden so much that he stayed and join the Swedish Army. There he retired with honors and started a new life and family. The Koppangs were able to make contact with the descendants of Ole who had always assumed they were Swedish.

     "I think it's very important to know who you are. Especially when you get a little bit older you need to know."

     Koppang said since studying his family tree he's noticed a trend in their professions.

     "It seems like some of the genes that ran through the family were music and teaching and doctors. These were very prominent in the line," said Koppang.

     Peder sang in the East Clermont church choir and Johan played the violin at weddings. Paul Koppang's brother Johan was a mayor in his local town and the president of the bank. Johan's son was a doctor for the Norwegian royal family. Roar's nephew is a well known violinist, his son is a surgeon and his daughter a producer for the BBC in London. She is making a documentary on her parents' journey to America and their search for their family.

     "I have done the family history but if someone else wanted to do further research such as about the genes, ff there was a special sickness in the family ... this will be the basis to find out more. If someone in the future would like to go more in depth."

     After the reunion in South Dakota, Roar and Aase traveled to Elgin to stay with the Knights. They said seeing where their great uncles lived and were buried makes them more real.

     "Like all the Vikings we know that they were a little thirsty," joked Koppang. "It took Peder a few years before he was actually admitted to the church because he might have had a slight drinking problem."

     Koppang knew of this experience through Johan's letters but was delighted when the Knights showed him the church records that verified the ordeal.

     "I didn't know if I should show them," laughed Debbie Knight.

     "Oh no, we laughed our heads off when you told us," said Koppang.

     The original church book was written in Norwegian which was still spoken at East Clermont until the 1940s. It was later translated to English. The Knights came across the documentation a week before the Koppangs came to visit them in mid July.

     From the East Clermont Lutheran Church's history dated 1871:

     "Peder Koppang, accepted after he had admonished to confess: 1. He had done wrong not to tell all about his wedding as he had promised the pastor; 2. He had shown a bad example to the congregation which he wished to join, in disregarding the Christian rules of the congregation, in that he had been married by a Methodist pastor who had spoken in the English Language, a language Koppang did not understand 3. And he had sinned and been a provocation by his drunkenness. He promised he would with God's grace abstain from the curse of drinking. After he had thus confessed and promised, he and wife and children were accepted as members. He was admonished to seek help from the Lord to withstand all sin so he as a member would not cause the congregation more disgrace."

     "It think it's so fascinating. It gives them flavor," said Koppang. He made copies of the passage to add to his book.

     The Koppangs spent their short time in Elgin sightseeing, and visiting locals they now consider part of their extended family. Some of the names they've added to their family tree are names that still can be found in the Valley community such as the Swensons, Kittelsons and Blockhuses. Willet Miller's mother was Gussie Kappan. Roar and Aase were able to determine that the name had been changed and was once Koppang, another leaf on their newly formed tree.

     The highlight for their time in Elgin was traveling to the East Clermont Lutheran Church. There they saw Peder's grave. Engraved in Norwegian are the words, "Here we lay in the earth but we will on the dooms day rise up and God gave us with his son, the beloved, that we may all rise with honor."

     Not a mile west, over the soft hills that reminded Roar of his homeland, lays the farmstead that once belonged to Peder. And no more than a few feet to the east are the graves of Torgrim and Kari Bilden whose great granddaughter, Debbie Knight, helped bring the letters and a little piece of Norway back to Elgin.