Tag: Torbleau
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The Torblå farm

(This post is a continuation from yesterday’s post about Anders Andersen Torblaa and Anna Nilsdatter Skeie of Ulvik) The Torblå farm (also spelled Torblao or Torblaa) is – like many Norwegian farms – actually a collection of several farmsteads rather than a single entity. The breaking up of farms into smaller and smaller parcels occurred…
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Trading fjords for prairies: the Torblå-Skeie family of Ulvik

My great-grandma Jessie Johnson Reiner’s mother was Julia Torbleau Johnson (1855-1940). Like her husband Albert Jens Johnson (1853-1934), Julia was born soon after her parents arrived in Wisconsin from Norway. Julia (who was called Guri in Norwegian) was the third of seven children born to Anna Nilsdatter Skeie (1824-1891) and Anders Andersen Torblaa (1826-1902). It’s…
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A visit to Ulvik kyrkje

I came to Ulvik to try to imagine how my ancestors might have worked, prayed, lived and died. And the town does not disappoint in this regard. There is clearly a certain reverence for the past here, and many old houses and farm buildings have been lovingly preserved and restored. And yet, Ulvik is not…
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The greats

During my formative years (i.e., the early 1980s), I recall a flurry of genealogical interest on multiple sides of the family. My paternal grandpa’s sister Carol (Rude) Luiso had been interviewing her father John Rude and other older relatives about the family’s early years in the US. She and her cousin Judi collected a wealth…
