Storla Family History

Contains three booklets. One lists the addresses of the Storla Family as of August 1960. Another is a booklet entitled “Mr. and Mrs. T.O. Storla” commemorating their fiftieth and sixty- sixth wedding anniversary with stories and the history of their lives covering the wedding, pioneer life, joys and sorrows, journeys, life in South Dakota, Missouri, and Canada, as well as poems, song lyrics, words of congratulations from grandchildren and great grandchildren, and copies of their homestead certificate and timber-culture certificate. Another is entitled “Storla Family History 1790-1960” and contains information about Hallingdal, Norway, Stave Church in Norway, the Storla Family in Norway, pioneers in America, the Paint Creek Settlement in Iowa, and genealogical information as well as pictures.

Biographical Note

The Storla Family came from Gol, Hallingdal, Norway. The earliest known ancestors are Ole and Kari Storla, both born in the 1700s. Their son, Ole Olsen Storla, was born in 1790 and married Kirsti (Sevatsdatter) Traelvaerk. They had eleven children. One of these children, Ole O. (Middle Ole) married Thora (Olsdatter) Lee in Norway and they immigrated to America in 1849. Halvor O. married Mari (Herbrandsdatter) Bing in 1844 and they immigrated to America in 1844, founded their home in Buena Vista County, Iowa, in 1862 and then homesteaded in South Dakota in 1881. Ole O. (Little Ole) married Marit Kjornes Rudlang in Norway and they immigrated in 1862, settling in Buena Vista County, Iowa, and then homesteaded in South Dakota in 1881. Ragnild married Ole Endersen Helsa in Norway in 1850 and they immigrated in 1862, settling in Buena Vista County, Iowa. Haavel remained in Norway and married Margit Tufte.

In 1849 Ole O. (Middle Ole) Storla became one of the founders of the first permanent settlement of Norwegians in Allamakee County in Iowa. He settled at the Paint Creek township with his family in May 1850. Ole was born on 7 January 1817 at Gol, Norway. He and his wife immigrated in 1849 to Rock Prairie, Rock County, Wisconsin, and lived there with family until moving to Iowa. He was a leader in the community and very active in the founding of a school and the church. He also was instrumental in founding and supporting Luther College at Decorah, Iowa. He was also a progressive farmer. Ole and Thora had eleven children, five of whom died at birth. Ole died on 11 August 1886. His wife, Thora, was born in 1824 and died in 1891.

Ole O. Storla (Little Ole) was born on 5 July 1823 at Gol, Norway. He was the seventh child of Ole Olsen and Kirsti Storla. Ole married Marit Kjornes Rudland, who had two small daughters. Ole and Marit had two sons. Little Ole immigrated to America in 1862, stopping at Rock Prairie in Wisconsin, and then moving on to Paint Creek Township where Middle Ole lived. Ole and Marit and their children ended up settling at Sioux Rapids in Buena Vista County. Ole’s son, Thor, was the earliest pioneer to file on land in Belford Township in the Dakota Territory. He married Astri Stenerson. They had eleven children. They later moved to Appleton City, Missouri in 1907. In 1913 they moved to Star City, Sask., Canada. Thor died there in 1948 at age 91. Astri died in 1949.

Ole E. Hesla and Ragnild Storla were married in Norway in 1850. They came to the United States in July 1862, during the Civil War. They homesteaded in Buena Vista County and farmed. They had eleven children.