Biography of Anders Pedersen Solem

Anders Pedersen Solem was born on October 18, 1862 in Soknedal, Norway. He was orphaned as a young child and raised by his grandparents. He completed the required public education of the day, which was the age of confirmation in the Lutheran Church (generally fourteen or fifteen years old). When Anders was 16 years old, he was encouraged to immigrate to America with an older neighbor who was leaving with a group from the same area. Former neighbors had already immigrated to the Eau Claire and Menomonie area. With only four percent of Norway's land being arable, the rural culture had a dismal future to offer its youth. Moreover, Anders was the youngest of his siblings and his oldest brother inherited the farm in Norway. The family legend also notes that the grandparents were concerned because of the interest that Anders had expressed in their young servant girl. It was improper for a farm-owners son to marry from the class beneath him. However, it should be noted that the girl, Marit Larsen Oien (1862-1926), immigrated to Eau Claire three years later and she and Anders were married on September 29, 1883 in the parsonage of the First Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Andrew sailed from Trondheim, Norway on May 6, 1879 to Hull, England on the ship Tasso, took a train to Liverpool, leaving for the United States on May 17 on the ship Ohio. He landed in Philadelphia on May 28,1879 and was in Eau Claire by May 31. Anders worked at sawmills and lumber camps his first ten years in this country. He was then employed by Phoenix Manufacturing. After the manufacturing of traction vehicles for the lumbering industry came to a standstill, he worked as a chauffeur and gardener before obtaining employment at A. A. Cutter Co., which made shoes and boots. Anders and his wife were very anxious to learn English and, shortly after arriving in America, Anders began signing his name by the American version, Andrew, and Marit by the American version, Mary. He and Marit had nine children, born between 1884 and 1902. After Marit died in 1926, Andrew moved in with his eldest daughter, where he lived until his death on April 26, 1945.

Biography of Elling Andersen Sende

Elling Andersen Sende, the son of a farmer, was born in 1832 in Vaerdal, Nord-Trondelag County, Norway, about forty miles north of Trondheim. He married Guruanna Johannesen (1839-1914) on July 12, 1864. They had six children, the oldest dying at six months and another at six years. Although Elling had inherited a small farm in Norway, he decided to follow his wife's brothers and sisters and immigrate to Wisconsin. Elling and his eldest daughter, Anna (born July 18, 1867), departed from Trondheim, Norway on May 11, 1880 and travelled to Hull, England on the ship Tasso. They took a train to the other side of England, where they boarded an American or English ship bound for New York. They arrived in Jackson County, Wisconsin in June of 1880 and resided with a brother-in-law in Osseo. In August of 1880, Guruanna, their two sons, Karl (1871-1902) and Gustav (1874-1890), youngest daughter, Emelie (1876-1883), Guruanna's sister's family and mother all made the trip to Wisconsin. By October of 1882, the family had purchased a house at 725 Water St. in Eau Claire. Elling worked in the sawmills in the summer and in the lumber camps in the winter. By 1890, the family had Norwegian immigrant boarders in their house who worked in the sawmills. Daughter Anna married George Hagen, one of the roomers at her parents' house, on October 22, 1887 in Eau Claire. They were the grandparents of the donor, Harold 0. Hagen.

Biography of Anders Lian/Andrew Lee

Anders Lian, nephew of Elling Andersen Sende, departed from Trondheim, Norway in April of 1890 on the steamship Hero. He travelled from Hull, England to Liverpool by rail. On April 25, 1890, Anders travelled from Liverpool to New York, via Chrocston, Ireland, on the ship Arizona. Upon his arrival on May 6, 1890, he travelled by rail, via Sault Ste. Marie, arriving in Eau Claire on May 9, 1890. He initially lived with his Uncle Elling at 725 Water St. until he went to work in the lumber camps that September. By January of 1891, Anders began referring to himself as Andrew Lee. Besides working in the sawmills and lumber camps, Andrew spent some time, beginning in 1891, working on a farm in North Dakota and for the railroad in Montana. A month before the war ended, in July of 1898, Andrew enlisted in the Spanish-American War, drilling near Minneapolis. By the year's end, Andrew was in Augusta, Georgia for training. By the end of 1899, he had been discharged and was back in Wisconsin, working in the lumber camps.