Monona County IA Archives Obituaries.....Norby, Christian  January 4, 1932
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Carolyn Jarvey iandaz@cox.net December 6, 2009, 8:20 pm

Ada Wingate Norby collection
SOLDIERS OLDEST MAN PASSES			1932

CHRISTIAN NORBY OF SOLDIER VALLEY AND LARGE LAND OWNER, DIED ON JANUARY 4

Funeral services were held in the town church at Soldier by his pastor Rev. 
Johannes Hoifjeld on January 7th, and burial was made in the Soldier Valley 
cemetery.

	The passing of Christian Norby in Soldier marks the departure of the 
oldest citizen in the town of Soldier and the leaving of one of the old 
pioneers who have been long in transforming a wilderness into the well 
cultivated and beautiful Soldier Valley.  At his departure he was the owner of 
two of the finest farms in the community and his children are all well settled 
somewhere in the prosperous valley.  He will be remembered for his great 
industry, his kindly dispoistion(sic), and straight morals.
	In a conference with his pastor Rev. Johannes Hoifjeld, some time ago 
he related about his coming to this country from Norway.  He was married to 
Oline Amundsen in Urskogen, Norway and at the age of about 24 years he left 
Norway with his wife and three children and it took him 18 days to cross the 
Atlantic.  This young Norby newcomer family arrived at Onawa where he by 
chance, according to his own story, came into some kind Norwegians who 
received him well.  One of the earliest settlers from the Soldier Valley who 
was doing shopping in Onawa at the time, graciously offered the young Norbys a 
ride over to the community where he ever since remained, steadily improving 
his financial conditions.  Having a wife and three small children with him it 
was a fine thing to have relatives in the valley.  House accomodations(sic) 
were not so plentiful and brilliant at that time.  Practically every one lived 
in a dug-out or a sod house, and such a place was the first home of young 
Christian and his family.  He worked, to begin with, for his brother-in-law, 
Arndt Amundson, at a salary of 50 cents a day.  But the settlers in the 
community were all congenial and friendly and the newcomers felt at home at 
once.  It was his good fortune that the folks in the Soldier Valley district 
seemed to be from one and the same place in Norway and they soon had a little 
Norway over among the hills.  They came here, not to enrich themselves by 
fraud and graft, but by hard work and industry; and it is shown by the records 
that the Norwegian people came here to make good, build up their homes and 
their new land and remain here.  This is surely true about the Norwegians in 
the Soldier Valley whether they are from Urskog, Vadres(sic), or any other pace
(sic) in Norway.
	Christian Norby was born December 26, 1847, and died on January 4, the 
same date that he was baptized as an infant in Norway.  He owned one of the 
fine residences in the town of Sodier(sic) and made his home there after 
leaving the farm some years ago.  He wife preceeded(sic)  him in death four or 
five years ago.  Surviving are his children, Mrs. Jim McGee, Mrs. Pete Ness, 
Miss Emily Norby, Ole C. Norby, and Martin Norby; eight grandchildren, and 
five great-grandchildren and one sister in Norway.
	Funeral services were held January 7, and the pastor preached a sermon 
in the town church on the text Lev. 19:32.  Internment(sic) was made in the 
Soldier Valley church cemetery.
	For more than half a century Christian Norby belonged to the Soldier 
Valley Lutheran church.  Blessed be his memory.



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