Re: What does the name ersland mean?
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In reply to:
What does the name ersland mean?
9/01/01
Jon, as far as I know all the Erslands in the US descended from Peder Ersland, who was my grandfather's brother. My grandfather was Lars Andreas. They both grew up on a farm named Eritsland/ Ersland, on the island ofBømlo (just off the south-western coast of Norway -- opposite Oslo on the Atlantic side, near Bergen). The emigrated from Norway to the US together,in 1889. As was the custom in Norway, they used the patronymic "Pederson" which simply meant they were "sons of Peder". When they got to the US it was considered their surname. They both started out in Iowa. As my aunt Hilda wrote some time ago, " in Iowa there were so many Pedersons/Petersons & so on that their mail got mixed up. When Uncle Peder and Papa bought land in Minnesota they decided to use the name Eritsland -- the name of the farm they came from in Norway. Our cousins in Madison Wisconsin knocked the "IT" out of Eritsland and called it "Ersland".
So "Ersland" is simply a shorter way of saying Eritsland. The Norwegian cousins etc still use Eritsland, as do all of Lars Andreas's descendants in the US and Canada. We seem to have lost touch with the Ersland branch, though it is large as I can see! I'd be happy to exchange information with other family members.
More Replies:
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Re: What does the name ersland mean?
1/24/02
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Re: What does the name ersland mean?
John Olav Michelsen 3/10/03
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Re: What does the name ersland mean?