Hefte Family History

This Hefte family history book was published in 1981 and covers the generations of the descendants of Ole Olson Hefte (Gofa) and Ingrid Oldsdatter Kinneberg who emigrated from Norway in 1853. There is history and genealogical information for eight generations (into the 1980s) in chapter form as well as in a family timeline at the end. There is also information about the Hefte family reunions of 1939 and 1953 as well as reminisces written in 1981 by John Edwin Stenehjem, fourth son of Andreas and Gunvor Stenehjem, about a century of progress. It is 192 pages long.

Biographical Note

Ole Olson Hefte (Gofa) was born in 1794 in Reinli, Valdres, Norway. At age nineteen he fought in the 1814 war between Norway and Sweden. In 1819, he married Ingrid Oldsdatter Kinneberg, who was born in 1795 to Ola Ivarson Kinneberg and Gunhild Endresdatter Steinsrud. Ole and Ingrid had six children. They lived at the Hefte farm in Norway and became titled owners in 1820. In 1853 Ole, about age 58, with his wife and four of his children as well as in-laws Ole Olson Hefte, Ingeborg Hefte Haugen, Knute Haugen, Ole (Lame Ole), Inger Storre, and Nels Gefte, all embarked from Oslo and immigrated to America. Ingrid died on the voyage and Ole never remarried. He made his home with his son Ole (Storre) until his death on 11 December 1881 at age eighty-six in Wilmington, Houston County, Minnesota. The Hefte family helped build and organize the Wilmington Congregation Church in 1855. Most of the Hefte descendents went to school at School District 85 in Wilmington, which opened in 1857.

The descendents of Ole and Ingrid Hefte divided by generation:

Generation II: Ingeborg Hefte-Haugen (b. 1823 d. 1900), second child of Ole and Ingrid Hefte, married Knute Haugen (b. 1823 d. 1900). They had four children. Ole Olson Hefte (Storre) was the first child of Ole and Ingrid Hefte. He married Ingri Blekstad. They lived on the “ Hefte Homestead” in Minnesota. Ingri died with the birth of their first child and Ole remarried to Sigri Engen. They had eight children together in addition to Ole’s first child. “Halte Ole,” (lame), fourth child of Gofa Ole and Ingrid Hafte, married Kari Herbranson. They moved to Mora, Minnesota, and had four children. Nels O. Hefte, fifth child of Gofa Ole and Ingrid Hafte, was born in Hallingdal, Norway, in 1833. He was one of the organizers of the Wilmington Congregation in 1855 and served as trustee for many years. Nels owned the land the School was built on. Nels married Ingri Sigurdson in 1859. They had nine children. Bergitte (Bergit) Olson Hefte Bye, daughter of Ole and Ingeborg Hefte, was born in Gol, Norway, in 1836. She married Peter O. Bye and they had seven children.

Generation III: Gunhild Hefte Grangaard Grant, third child of Ole and Ingrid Hefte, married Ole Grangaard (Grant), who died in Norway. She was left a widow of six children and was able to join the family in Houston County in 1870. Ole O. Grant (Big Ole), third child of Gunhild Hefte Grangaard Grant and Ole Grant, married Tommine Samuelson (Mina). They had thirteen children. Ingri Grant (Inger) (b. 1858), fourth child of Gunhild Grant, married Haakon Olson. She died in childbirth, leaving six young children. Ingeborg Grant, fifth child of Gunhild and Ole Grangaard Grant, was born in 1861. She married Colbjorn B. Gilbertson. They had seven children. Ole T. Grant, the sixth child of Gunhild Hefte Grangaard Grant, was born in 1864. He married Kirsten Laurine Olson. Ole T. was chosen Sergeant-at-arms of the House of Representatives and elected on the Republican ticket to the House in 1906 and re-elected in 1908. He and Kirsten had eight children. Guri Hefte Buxengard, daughter of (Storre) Ole Hefte by his first marriage, married Knute Buxengard. She had six children. Ole (Ono) Hefte, the second child of Sigri Engen and (Storre) Ole Hefte, was born in 1861. He married Ingeborg Marie Doely. They had seven children. Inger Hefte Goldberg-Bye, the second child born to Sigri Engen and Ole Hefte, was born in 1862. She married Peter Goldberg. Peter died in 1895 leaving her a widow to their six children. She remarried in 1914 to Nels D. Bye. They had two children together. Olaus Hefte, third child of Ole and Sigri Engen Hefte, was born in 1865. He married Marie Haugstad. They had five children. Maria Hefte, seventh child of Nels and Ingri Sigurdson Hefte, was born in 1873. She married Peder Dille and farmed in Solway, Minnesota. They had nine children.

Generation IV: Olga Natalia Hefte, daughter of Olaus and Marie Hefte, was born in 1893. She married Walter Gottlieb Linde. They lived in Taber, Alberta, Canada, and had four children.