Brown County MN Archives Biographies.....Thordson, Guttorm 1846 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 27, 2014, 5:55 pm

Source: See Below
Author: L. A. Fritsche

GUTTORM THORDSON.

    Realizing that conditions have changed since the days of the first settlers,
Guttorm Thordson, farmer of Lake Hanska township, Brown county, is an advocate
of twentieth century methods of agriculture and is therefore successful. He was
born on May 31, 1846, in Waldres, Norway, and is a son of Thor and Carrie
(Lavors) Thordson. They came from the farm known as "Omsrud." The father was a
farmer by occupation and followed farming all his active life. In 1852 the
family came to the United States, first locating in Rock county, Wisconsin,
among the early settlers, but they never purchased land there, coming on west
five years later, making the trip in old-fashioned prairie schooners, drawn by
oxen, arriving in Brown county, Minnesota, July 17, 1857, locating on a tract of
land on the northwest side of Lake Omsrud in Lake Hanska township, where the
father pre-empted a good farm, which he developed and on which he established
the home of the family, however this was considerably less than a full claim. On
this he spent the rest of his life. The first home here was a small log cabin
with a sod roof and the bare ground for a floor. There was no window, and the
door was made of oak boards which he split from logs and hewed down with an ax,
then hung it with wooden hinges. Later a small window, containing four panes of
glass, was inserted in one side of the cabin. This shack served as a home for
several years, and in the early sixties a hewed-log house was built, which is
still standing. These were the boyhood homes of Guttorm Thordson in Brown
county. The first school in this district was established some years afterward
in Linden township, being held in Thor Olson's house and was taught by Tom
Armstrong. Guttorm Thordson was one of the pupils for four months, which was all
the schooling he received in America. He remained at home, assisting with the
work on the place, until about 1864 when he purchased about one hundred and
thirty-five acres of Ed Casey who had preempted it and later joined the Union
and went away to the war, so he sold his entire place for four hundred and eight
dollars. At that time St. Paul was the nearest market and when the Thordson
family came to this country there was not a railroad in the state. Later they
did their trading at New Ulm, as soon as a town was started there. They received
their mail every three weeks after they had spent several years in this country.
During the Indian troubles, Ole Thordson, a brother of the subject of this
sketch, met with the misfortune to have his house robbed and plundered by the
savages, but none of his family were killed. The Thordsons were among those who
went to Linden township in the summer of 1862 for protection during the Sioux
raid, the settlers having gathered there in a log cabin. However, they were not
molested, but they would have been practically helpless had they been attacked,
for there was not one good gun among them. Rena Omsrud, an aunt of Gfuttorm
Thordson, was also among those who went to Linden township in the summer of 1862.

     Guttorm Thordson was married in Lake Hanska township, on April 9, 1872, to
Rena Olson Palmer, who was born in Norway, and was the daughter of Ole Palmer.
By this union one child was born, Carrie, whose birth occurred on July 31, 1874.
Carrie married Siver Hanson, and to them six children were born, Gilbert,
Richard, Silver, Hazel, Jessie and Carl. Her dea+h occurred on December 25,
1912. Mrs. Rena Thordson passed away on March 7, 1876. On August 10, 1878, in
Madelia, Waterman county, Minnesota, Mr. Thordson married Julia Paulson, who was
born on October 22, 1860, in Norway, and was a daughter of Paul and Pernile
Olson, who immigrated to the United States in 1874. Ten children were born to
this union, nine of whom are still living: Lewis died when twenty-two years old;
Petra married Peter Bakhen and has four children, Gilbert, Joseph, Leonard and
Adeline; Thomas married Bertha Thorson, a native of Stavanger, Norway, has two
children, Joseph and John M.; Paul married Emma Bjertsen and they have one
child, Gilmore; Carl, Iver, Rena, Gilbert, John and Annie all live at home,
however, the last named is now away at school.

     Guttorm Thordson had four brothers: Tidemond Thordson, born on May 27,
1842; Levord Thordson, May 26, 1840; Iver Thordson, January 7, 1850; Ole
Thordson, already mentioned.

     Mr. Thordson has been a successful farmer, and he has added one hundred and
twenty acres to his original place, the latter being railroad land, and he also
pre-empted forty acres of government land. He and his family are members of the
Norwegian Lutheran church, he having been a charter member of the first church
of this denomination established in Brown county, the first services of which
were held under a large tree in the woods owned by him. He was formerly a
Republican, but has supported the Democratic ticket since 1903. He has held some
minor public offices in his community.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY MINNESOTA
ITS PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS

L. A. FRITSCHE. M. D.
Editor

With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Old Families

VOLUME II
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana


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