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Notes for Peder Olsen Korsmo: (In 1968 Rev. Orrin Kosmo and his wife Shirley traveled to Norway in search of the family homestead. The following is a reprint of the letter he wrote after returning from that trip)
When Shirley and I left Kennedy Intl. Airport in New York City at midnight Tuesday, July 9, 1968 we had a rather vague idea as to how we would be able to locate the homestead from which Grandmother Maren and Grandfather Peder Kosmo had immigrated to America from Norway and how we would locate any descendents. Scandinavian Air Lines provided excellent transportation and we were in Bergen, Norway in about six hours flying time. After seeing the delightful Bergen area and the magnificent fjord country, we traveled over the mountainous, scenic region by railroad to Oslo. We spent several pleasant days seeing this lovely city. Then came the time to make plans to discover the gaards whence our grandparents came and any descendents. We made our decision to make Kongsvinger our headquarters for this search. Kongsvinger is about 125 miles northeast of Oslo.
I guess most of the early Norse immigrants to America were too busy getting settled and making a living in this new land to carefully preserve the records of where they came from for posterity. Also, many of them were peasant folks who had little education and were unable to make such records. Growing up my older brother Percy and I slept and had breakfast frequently with Grandmother and Aunt Minnie until I went away to college. But I never recollect anything being said as to where our grand folks came from in Norway. I do remember Grandmother saying that there was a most kindly lady who was close to her as a young girl. I remember Grandmother reading her Psalm Book but I cannot recall her ever doing any writing. If she had any writing to be done or any business to be taken care of she always had my Dad take care of that. It wasn't until after I was in St. Olaf College and had a year of Norse, which was compulsory, that I had the wit to ask Aunt Minnie where our grandparents came from. She mentioned two places, Brandval and Solar. But beyond this she could tell me nothing; however, I vowed to remember those two places because I had a pride about my Norse ancestors and because I hoped someday to be able to visit this spot.
The busy years had flown by and I hadn't gotten to Norway. In fact I hadn't given the idea much thought. But now, with a new wife who was travel minded, we teamed up and planned the journey to the Fatherland. I told Shirley that I didn't know whether I could get her into Norway inasmuch as she didn't have a drop of Norse blood in her (she is made up of Scotch, English, Irish, French and American Indian). But she looks so wholesome and the Norse are so magnanimous that she had no trouble getting in. So, here we were in Oslo.
We, or I as Shirley isn't too much on maps, had studied the maps and found Brandval. Solar, I discovered, is the name of the district in which Brandval is located. The nearest community of any size, where we would put up is Kongsvinger, and that is why we boarded at the electrified train for this city. I do recollect Grandmother saying once when she and some Norwegian ladies were having coffee in the kitchen back in Eau Claire, rather condescendingly, that a neighbor lady, Mrs. Vinger, came from Kongsvinger. Well, it might not have been very impressive when Grandmother Kosmo left but when we arrived we found it to be a busy and delightful place. I would like to say here that the trip up was delightful, for all of Norway is scenic and travel on the trains is so pleasant and clean. There is not soot or dust, the train windows are large and clean and the attendants are most courteous.
We put up at the leading hotel, the Grand Hotel. At the desk was an attractive young lady. I decided to seek out her help for our next move. Back home before we left for Norway I had written a letter to the minister of the Brandval parish, inquiring about our grandparents. I couldn't give him much information except that Grandfather's name was either Peter Olsen or Korsmo, and that Grandmother's maiden name was Maren Mellum, and that it must have been about 1874 that they left Norway for America. In two weeks I had a letter back that amazed me with the information it provided. It came from the Regional State Archives of Hamar Diocese as all church records of the 1870s had been transferred there. Mellem and Korsmo were small farms and place names not only in Brandval but also in the neighboring parish of Grue, rather near the Swedish border. From these records they found information that Peder Olsen Korsmo and his wife Maren Olsdatter and two children, Olivia and Otto, had emigrated to American in April 1874 with others of the relationship.
I asked the young lady at the hotel desk whether she knew the pastor at Brandval. To our pleasure she not only knew him because he had taught her religion at high school, but she would call him and ask him to receive us. The state archivist had said there would be no doubt he would be able to tell us where the gaards were. The pastor said that we might come at 5 p.m.
Full of anticipation we took the bus from Kongsvinger riding along the lovely countryside until the driver told us where to get off. There wasn't much sign of habitation, but the bus driver asked a young lady who was also getting off to take us to the pastor's parsonage. We chatted pleasantly as this young lady led us to the parsonage where the pastor stood waiting for us.
Pastor Solum proved to be a delightful man and it was he who solved our problems. He read the archivist's letter. He said he would have to consult a man who had lived all his life in the area and likely would be able to advise us where the Korsmo and Mellum gaards were located. The man wasn't home. Meanwhile the pastor introduced us to his attractive daughter who was home from the University at Oslo where she was studying music. She entertained us with coffee and Norse delicacies as we chatted so amiably. The conversation turned to the famous Norwegian composer Grieg. The Pastor asked if we would like to hear some Grieg whose home we had visited in Bergen. Of course we would. He played beautifully for us. He also presented us with a book he had just written about the hundredth anniversary of one of the two churches of which he is pastor. He inscribed the book so beautifully on the front page to mark the occasion of our visit.
Now the man who would know where to take us was home. Pastor Solum took his daughter, Siri, and us to the home of Magne Skaare. He and his wife were so gald to meet us. All through this my Norwegian, such as it was, was a great help. First he took us to a small place which had been Grandfather Kosmo's homestead or gaard. A widow was living there, her husband having lost his life when a tractor overturned on him two years before. From all the information that Mr. Skaare had this would be the Korsmo gaard, but there were no descendents. We sadly said goodbye to the widow who was not a descendent.
Now Mr. Skaare and Pastor Solum took us several miles, somewhat off the main road, to a delightful place. There a smiling, attractive lady named Dagny, about 35, met us. When the men explained their mission Dagny said she didn't know whether this could be the place, but she said there were two photographs that she had carefully kept and we might be able to tell whether these were our ancestors. We went inside and when I beheld the photograph I must have almost shouted for joy for here was the familiar photo I had seen frequently at 414 Williams St., Grandmother Kosmo's. There were our grandparents and their six grown children -- Aunts Lena, Martha and Minnie and Uncles Henry and John and my dad. The other photo had the corner missing where there was some embossing, but there was enough to make out Eau Claire, and it showed Aunts Lena, Martha and Minnie when they were young ladies dress in the costumes of the day. I was overjoyed.
The next day, Saturday, July 7, Dagny and her brother had all the relatives at the Mellum gaard, where grandmother Kosmo came from, to welcome us and to meet us. When we arrived at Mr. Skaare's place nothing would do but that we come in and have coffee. This turned out to be a sumptuous spread in this baronial manor. This large place had been in the family name for 600 years and you might call the Skaares the aristocrats of the area although they were so hospitable and democratic. Their home was beautifully furnished with many choice pieces and exquisite china. After thanks all around we returned to our hotel quite tired.
We had learned from the state archivist that there were such places as Korsmo and Mellum gaards but we hadn't learned whether there were any living descendents. Now we had learned that there were descendents and we were very excited about meeting them. While we were saddened to learn that there were no more Korsmos after our Grandfather around we were happy that there were Mellums. Now we were to meet them. Let me tell you a little about each of them as we got acquainted at the Mellum gaard.
Let me begin with Dagny and her brother Torbjorn who lived on the gaard, farmed the place and were our hosts. I would say that Torbjorn was a couple of years younger than Digny. Neither were married. They seemed to manage things so nicely that I wonder whether either will marry. Their place is 60 acres and Torbjorn works another 50 acres, mostly grains, such as oats. There is a fine barn, erected in 1939, but no animals. A tractor does the work around the farm, so there are no horses.
I guess I had better get on to Olav Mellon, as he is the historian of the family and hasa good memory. As he explained, Grandmother Kosmo had a brother who ran the gaard and when he died his son ran the place. When the son died about 10 years ago his offspring, Dagny and Torbjorn, took over and are running the place.
To go back to Grandmother's brother, he must have seen somewhat younger than Grandmother, for his offspring are still living with the exception of the one who ran the gaard, Dagny's father. There are three sons and one daughter. The oldest of those is Olav who is very spry at 84. He rides his bicycle into Kongsvinger, a distance of five miles, to visit his brother three times a week. He lives near the gaard. He and his wife have no children. He explained how hard his brother had worked to build up the gaard. The house was very small when he grew up there as a boy. Times were hard. He showed us the corner in the now remodeled and enlarged house where the baking oven was located. It was the only baking oven in the entire neighborhood; so, on each day some neighbor took turns to bake bread in it. They brought their own wood. They didn't pay anything. And the oven baked 14 loaves at a time. Talk about primitive times. This accounted for the large immigration to America. Pastor Solum told us that of 2,000 people in the parish 800 had emigrated to America. A large addition has been added to the house to provide a modern kitchen on one side and another addition on the other side to make a living room. Olav showed us the tiny space where he as a boy he slept on a double decker bed under the stairs.
Olav explained that when Grandmother was a girl there was no such thing as a school, but that the school master came around and lived at the farm house for one week in the winter and was glad if he could teach the children to write. This of course would account for the fact that Grandmother Kosmo didn't do any writing although we did see her reading her Psalm book. Food and fish were hard to come by in that day for peasants, but all that is changed now because Norway is prosperous with her abundant water power and electrification even to the smallest farm today. Splendid trains bring tourists in great numbers to see Norway's beauty and meet the cordial people. The country also has a giant fishing industry and is the leading shipping nation of the world.
I told how there was much heavy drinking by Norse immigrants when I was a boy and Olav said that was the same in Norway at that time, but when I said that is all gone in America he said it has disappeared in Norway too. Olav said that Grandfather Kosmo wrote letters frequently but then the letters stopped. Grandfather died about the turn of the century (Peder died in 1900). This was the time the letters stopped. Evidently Grandfather had learned to write somehow. Grandmother couldn't write so there were no more letters. In Norway they wondered what had become of the Kosmos in America. Now they were overjoyed after this long lapse to learn that there were Kosmos and now to meet one of them.
Then there is the next brother, Albert Mellum. It was Albert and his wife Margit who live in Kongsvinger who came to the hotel and took us out to the gaard for the gathering. I would say that he is in his early 70s. We had come at the time when he had just received a medal from King Olav for his service during the recent war, when he had to live in Sweden and do secret service work. We saw the medal that night and read the inscription, and we can grasp why he and his wife felt so proud. After finishing a career in government service he finished his public life serving as sheriff of the Kongsvinger area, an office that is held in high esteem in Norway.
A third borther, Dagfinn, who lives in Oslo, was vacationing some miles away at his summer home. Torbjorn made the long drive to fetch him. I would say he is close to 70 and a fine looking man. He is a high officer in the electrification program of Norway. He is both an electrical engineer and a lawyer. I suppose you would say he is the intellect of the family. He is married and I believe that he has grown children but in the excitement and with so much to do I didn't get this accurately.
Then there was Fru Marta Kaknes. As the Norse was flying around I gathered that she is the one sister. She helped Dagny put on the meal that had several courses. I guess it would take a page to tell about this alone. Marta presented Shirley with a lovely hand embroidered tablecloth.
Finally we were taken to the church in Brandval which is on the beautiful Glomma River and which was the important center in Grandmother's day, but recently the population center has changed to Roverud . Here we chatted, visited the cemetery and at last had to say goodbye with thanks for the wonderful hospitality. Alfred and Margit drove us away and I couldn't help but sing a few bars of the Norse national anthem as I waved farewell. Nothing would do but that we should see Albert-Margit's beautiful new home, also on the River Glomma, and come in for refreshments. Here we visited and ate into the night. The last we saw our descendents was when Albert and Margit left us at the hotel and waved a fond farewell.
So the Mellem name goes on in Norway even if the Kosmo name does not. They are all fine people and they couldn't have been nicer to us. Albert had told me how they all work together. There is a good spirit among them. I do not know what will come of this discovery of our relatives, but at least this contact has been made and we know they are there and that they are splendid, worthy folks. The address of the gaard, Dagny and Torbjorn Mellem (parenthetically the name is spelled um, om, em at the end, and Dagny spells it em) is Hokaasen, Roverrud, Norway. Perhaps some of you will take up where we left off. In closing let me venture to say that I feel our grandparents would be happy about this good news. The rest of our travels in Norway, Sweden and Denmark was so enjoyable but that is another story. Perhaps someday I shall be able to show you our slides including the Mellem Gaard.
Sincierely, Orrin and Shirley Kosmo July 1968
More About Peder Olsen Korsmo: Fact 1: April 15, 1873, Left Brandval with Olivia & Otto.255, 256 Fact 2: Relatives Ole Olsen Mellem and Helvar Korsmo also left Norway.257, 258 Fact 3: Stayed in England about year before coming to US.259, 260 Fact 4: Started a feed mill on Madison St. hill in Eau Claire.261, 262 Fact 5: Feed store burned.263, 264 Fact 6: owned shoe store on N. Barstow St..265, 266 Fact 7: In 1865 census was living in Korsmoe section of Hokaasen, Norway.267, 268 Fact 8: In Norway farm was near city of Kongsvinger.269, 270
More About Peder Olsen Korsmo and Maren Olsdatter Mellem: Marriage: February 13, 1870271
Children of Peder Olsen Korsmo and Maren Olsdatter Mellem are:
+John Kosmo, b. 1874, Eau CLaire, Wisconsin271, 272, d. 1948, Eau CLaire, Wisconsin273, 274.