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All of my parents ancestors came from Norway around the middle of the 19th century. The Frøylands and Frøilands from Rogaland (Hommersåk), the Gaarders from Hedmark (Grue), the Moes from Sogn and Fjordane (Hafslo, Lusterfjord), and the Gjerdes from Møre and Romsdal (Hjorundfjord).
From my parents Halmar and Audrey Moe Froiland I developed not only an interest and some knowledge and understanding of my families' background, but also a feeling of some pride in how our immigrant ancestors had gone through. I grew up studying the Froiland booklet and listening to my Grandpa tell of homesteading with his family as a small boy in eastern South Dakota. Mom's Jerde relatives were forever getting together, it seemed, and I grew up looking at the painting of the Riise family farm in Sæbo on the living room wall in Great-grandma Jerde's house. Maybe the Moes were a little taken-for-granted, as there were a number of large families in communities not too far distant from each other, but too far, nevertheless, to make contact without a deal of bother. Anyway, we knew where they came from: Mt.Horeb WI! Mother had a Bible with the Hafslo name in it and remembered meeting a famous (or infamous) Norwegian woman missionary when she came to Dawson to visit both the Great-grandma Jerde who supported her African mission, AND the Moes she was closely related to.
Within in the last five years or so, we have come to know so much more about the families we left behind in Norway. A Jerde grandson worked on the Riise and Jerde sides, a Froiland grandson learned much about the Froiland family, and I was pleased to be the one who discovered how we were related to the present Moes in Hafslo. Five years ago, it was painstakingly slow for me to search for them in the Digital Archives online, but find them I did, and enjoyed returning to Norway with a much better grasp on the family background. It was a real treat to hear personal stories told about the people I knew primarily by name, date, and farm.
Right now I am concentrating on the Grue people and the Menes family from Balestrand (Ingeri Menes married Lars Moe.) Plus, my husband and I are working on his family now. We will put up a website for that group also. My name is Irene Froiland Matz and my husband's name is Duane Matz.
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