By Julie Huebel, Pierce County Historical Association
ELMWOOD, WI – After posting about this family originally on the Elmwood, Wisconsin History Facebook page, a descendant reached out stating they had extensive research they’ve done on this family and have also visited Drammen, Norway where their family came from. I’m so glad to finally have a Norwegian family to highlight. Descendants, Ann (Nelson), Siegel, cousin, Jeff Nelson and his wife, came to visit me at the PCHA History Center in Elmwood to share their research and some old family photos. I love when these stories open up this line of sharing.
By now you would have guessed that N is for Nelson … the dynamic duo of “Glen-Dor” … Glenn and Dorothy Nelson is well known in Elmwood. Glenn was born in 1923 in Spring Lake Township. He attended school in Elmwood, graduating high school in 1941. He began at the River Falls Teacher’s College, but his schooling was interrupted by WWII and Glenn enlisted in the Army in 1942. Serving in the Pacific Theater. His hopes of being a pilot were dashed due to being color blind. After the war, he and Dorothy Reinkey were married in 1946, and he went on to receive his bachelor’s degree in Agriculture and Biological Science in 1948. For several years he taught evening courses in Agriculture to WWII veterans, his primary occupation was a dairy farmer.
Glenn’s parents were Gustav Nelson and Inga Thompson. Gustav was born in 1889, Inga in 1890, they married in 1915 and had four children: Ruth, Esther, Galen, and Glenn. After Inga passed away in 1927, Gustav married Marie Johnson and they had one child together, John. Per Gustav’s WWI registration card says he was born in “Drammen, Buskerud (County), Norway” and that he was still a citizen of Norway at the time and not of the U.S, also that he was working as a blacksmith. He was recorded as being a naturalized citizen by the 1920 census.
From here, I had to do a lot of digging, including census and church records in Norway. In the right town, right name, right date of birth there is a baptism record on Ancestry that matches with the baptism date of May 5, 1889. That record lists Gustav’s parents as Nils (Nels) Gulbrandsen (Gulbronson) and Severine Thorsen. Research that Jeff shared during his visit, confirmed them as Gustav’s parents. Common Norwegian naming conventions is for males’ surnames to be their father’s first name with “son” at the end. It was common for Norwegian Americans to change “Nils” to “Nels” due to pronunciation and assimilation into the English language. So, Gustav Nelson is what would be expected if his father’s name was “Nils Gulbrandsen”.
There is a Nels (1858-1925) and Severine Gulbronson (1861-1934) buried in Our Saviors Lutheran Cemetery. At the time I first researched this family there were two children linked to them on the Findagrave website, Jenny Christiansen and Sigurd Gulbranson and I wasn’t 100% certain I had the right parents for Gustav. Now, with new information that has come in, I was able to link two more children on Findagrave, Trygve and Gustav. I found a marriage record for Severine Thoreson/Syversen (b. 10 Aug 1862) and Nils Gulbrandsen (b. 5 Dec 1857) in Bragernes, Buskerud, Norway which is the same area as where Gustav reported being from, his parents married on 12 March 1886. Severine’s father is named Thore Syversen.
On the 1900 census in Norway, Nils and Severine are living in Buskerud County with children Torleif, Gustav, Iver, Ingrid, Sigurd, and Signe. The age listed for Gustav matches what we know about him. Nils/Nels and Severine and son Sigurd are shown on Norway Emigration records from 1910 as emigrating to Wisconsin on July 4th of that year. Norway has wonderful records! They tracked as each person left the country, this helps immensely as the US immigration records are lacking. Severine and Nels are on the 1920 census living in Ellsworth Township with 24-year-old son, Sigurd. This was enough evidence to convince me initially; however, it was very helpful to have the family confirm this for me.
