BIOGRAPHIES: Syver EVERSON, Tappan Cooley, Trempealeau Co., WI

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** Posted for informational purposes only -- the poster is not related
to the subject of this biography.

Syver Everson, a pioneer of Jackson County, was born in Julberg, Solar, 
Norway, in 1832, and at the age of 20 he, with his brother Ole and one 
sister, Mrs. Andrew Olson, together with others from their neighborhood, 
left on June 22, 1852, for America.  They stayed at Christiania about two 
weeks before sailing.  Leaving Christiania they went on board the sailing 
vessel Incognito and were on the Atlantic ten weeks and four days, landing 
in New York on Saturday morning, September 4.  The following Tuesday they 
left New York, going to Wellsboro, Pa.  They then went to Coudersport, that 
state, and from there traveled on foot 60 miles to Bergen, settling one mile 
from that place in what was known as Ole Bull's colony.  The valley where 
they settled was called Oleann, and in time a town grew up.  The students 
who had come over on the Incognito and joined the colony soon became 
dissatisfied with the land they found and composed that well known Norwegian 
song "Oleanna."  That section of Pennsylvania was then only a wilderness, 
many of the trees being so large that it took three men to reach around a 
single tree.  It took Syver, with his father and brother, a whole year to 
clear an acre of land.  In 1853 Syver Everson was married to Helene Pederson 
Svenbykvernen, a young lady who had crossed the ocean on the same ship, and 
for five years they continued their residence in the colony.  On May 13, 1858, 
they left for Wisconsin and came to Trempealeau, from there traveling on foot 
34 miles to the home of Mr. Everson's cousin, John Koien, who then lived near 
the Trempealeau Valley church.  After remaining there one year, they moved, 
in April, 1859, to Ole Tappen's place in Porter Cooley, now known as Tappen 
Cooley.  Here they bought 80 acres of government land, moving onto it that 
fall and making a home, and later adding more land to the farm, where Mr. 
Everson resided up to the time of his death, Aug. 29, 1911, at the age of 79 
years and 14 days.  He was survived by his wife, Helene, and four children:  
Mrs. Cassandra Anderson of Superior; Ebert S. of Preston, Peter of Blair, Wis., 
and Mrs. Ole Dahl of Preston; also by a brother John, residing at White Earth, 
N. D., who is now dead.

--Transcribed from the "History of Trempealeau County Wisconsin, 1917", 
page 659