Visitors from Norway make meaningful connections in Colfax

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By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX — After traveling all the way from Norway, the Sørslett family’s visit to Colfax was everything they had hoped it would be and more.

Bjørn Arne Sørslett, his daughter, Hanna Mæland Sørslett, mother, Sigrun Sørslett, and father, Gunnar Sørslett, began their visit with attending the worship service at Colfax Lutheran on August 6 and then attending the birthday party after the church service to celebrate Melvina Solberg Evenson’s 107th birthday.

“Our main objective was to visit Colfax to see the place where many from our family traveled to 170 years ago,” Bjørn said.

The family members all settled in the area around the Holden Lutheran Church. Later on, some of them moved into Colfax, some moved to Minnesota and some to Washington state and to California, he said.

“My grandmother visited here in 1971. She was in (the Colfax Messenger) back then, too, to visit Ruth Anderson,” Bjørn said, who noted that he and his family would be visiting the United States for 10 days all together.

Ruth Anderson was the postmaster in Colfax and retired June 27, 1969. She was appointed as postmaster to replace L.A. Fjelsted, whose commission expired in February of 1933.

A. Ruth Anderson was born in 1902 and died in 1990. She is buried in the Holden Church cemetery.

“The family has kept in contact for 170 years,” Bjørn said.

“My mother was born in 1944, and all her life she has heard the stories of Colfax, and I have heard the stories, too. I’ve always wanted to come here,” he said.

“Troy Knutson has been incredibly helpful in organizing things for us,” Bjørn said.

“I have been in touch with Troy for two years. He has been extremely helpful in our planning of this trip and his wife, Michelle. We have all read his books,” he said.

“From cover to cover,” Hanna said.

“Several times. He is such a kind person and so is Michelle,” Bjørn said.

In addition to being related to Ruth Anderson, the Sørslett family is related to Colfax native Dale Rostamo as well.

“We have had good conversations with Dale, and he has given us lots of useful information,” Bjørn said.

Regular readers of the Colfax Messenger will likely know that Troy Knutson has been a member of the Colfax Municipal Building Restoration Group for many years and is one of the town’s historians.

Troy and Michelle, in separate years, have both been recipients of the J.D. Simons Community Volunteer Award for all of their efforts in the Colfax community.

Holden Church

The Sørslett family had wanted to attend services at Holden Church since some of their family members are buried at Holden.

Unfortunately, there were no services at Holden on August 6 because Don Knutson, who is working toward earning Synodically Authorized Minister (SAM) certification and has been conducting services at Holden, was out of town that weekend.

So, Troy and Michelle Knutson invited them to attend church services at Colfax Lutheran.

An interesting part of the Colfax Rural Lutheran Parish history is that in addition to Holden, North Running Valley and Norton, Colfax Lutheran Church was part of the rural parish at one time, too.

Don Knutson was able to meet the family at the Holden Church on Monday evening, though, and to open the doors for them so they could see the interior and give them a tour.

The Sørslett family also was appreciative of Pam Arntson of Colfax, who also was able to meet them at Holden Tuesday afternoon and help them find the graves of their family members.

“Pam helped us find two graves that were particularly meaningful to us, Anders Frami and Ingeborg Frami,” Bjørn said.

Anders Anderson Frami was born September 4, 1816, and died August 23, 1898. He was born in Ringebu kommune, Oppland fylke, Norway, according to information posted on Find-A-Grave.

Ingeborg Andersdatter Frami was born in Norway in 1832 and died in 1914.

“They were born in Norway and came to Colfax in the 1860s. Seeing their graves was especially touching,” Bjørn said.

“We were always told they came to Colfax because it reminded them of Norway,” said Lori Eklund Quello, a relative of the Sørslett family who lives in Minnesota and came to Colfax for the day on August 8.

“Then in the 1880s, the Rostamos came,” Bjørn noted.

Colfax Free Fair

“We grew up going to the Colfax Free Fair when we would visit our Aunt Ruth,” Lori said.

“We even got to work at the fair at the Holden stand!”said Kari Eklund Logan, also a Minnesota resident.

“It’s pretty exciting when you’re 13,” Lori said.

“Especially when the cute boys come around!” Kari said.

“Well, I wasn’t paying attention to that. I was serving. I was doing my duty,” Lori said with a laugh.

Lori and Kari were delighted to know the Colfax Free Fair is still going and that Holden Lutheran Church still operates the food stand at the fair, and in fact, built a new food stand a few years ago.

“Colfax continues to bring our family together for many different things. It has been an anchor for our family,” Lori said.

Sonnenberg farm

Prior to their visit to Holden Church, the entire group, which also included Kristin and Thomas Koop and Kristoffer Koop of Brainerd, Minnesota, and Patricia Dickson, also of Brainerd, visited the Roger and Deb Sonnenberg farm.

The Sonnenberg farm is several miles northwest of Holden church.

“Roger and Deb Sonnenberg welcomed us to their farm, which was previously our family farm,” Lori said.

“Our great-grandparents, who are buried at Holden, lived on that farm. They called it Framidalen,” she said.

Framidalen would translate to “Frami Valley” or “Frami Dale.”

“Roger took us all on his gator and drove us all around the farm. That was really fun. We took some pictures by the silo where the barn was,” Lori said.

“It was very grounding for us to be at the place where the start of the family was on my grandmother’s side. That was wonderful. Then we came here and looked for graves,” she said.

Municipal building

On Monday, August 7, the day before the Sørslett family’s visit to the Sonnenberg farm and to the Holden Church cemetery, Troy Knutson gave the family a tour of the Colfax Municipal Building.

The Colfax Municipal Building would have been a central part of life in Colfax at the time Ruth Anderson was postmaster, since the building houses the library, and in years past, the basement and the auditorium were used as meeting space for every group imaginable and for a variety of entertainment.

“Troy must have keys to the whole building, except the police department,” Bjørn noted.

They also were able to tour the Colfax Railroad Museum and to spend some time talking with Herb Sakalaucks, curator of the museum.

Denmark Dairy

In addition to touring the Colfax Municipal Building and visiting the Colfax Railroad Museum, the Sørslett family headed out to Denmark Dairy on county Highway B, owned by Mary and Dennis Kragness and Mandi and Karl Kragness.

“We were there for two and a half hours. They sat down with us and took the time, and we would like to thank them,” Bjørn said.

“We got to see a calf being born. I think that’s what my daughter Hanna liked the most. We were all fascinated,” he said, adding that it was amazing to see such a large dairy operation.

School tour

Troy Knutson gave the family a tour of the Colfax school district buildings, too.

Bjørn is a middle school teacher, and both of his parents are retired teachers.

“We were really impressed,” Bjørn said.

Hanna was particularly impressed with the focus on the positive.

The school “is filled with so much positivity. Posters that really focus on the well-being of the kids. We don’t have posters like that at the schools I went to. And that was very nice to see,” she said.

Since Michelle Knutson is a teacher and Bjorn is a teacher, “we plan to keep in touch and have an exchange online with our students,” Bjorn said.

Michelle teaches history at New Richmond High School.

Bjørn was also impressed that the Colfax school district has three basketball courts (high school gym, Martin Anderson Gymnasium and Colfax Elementary gym).

“My son is a basketball player. It’s all first class,” he said, adding that he had taken pictures of the basketball floors especially for his son.

Bjørn noted that Hanna has visited New York and Florida on other occasions.

“Americans are so friendly and welcoming,” she said.

During their visit to the United States, the Sørslett family also visited Decorah, Iowa, and toured several museums.

“People have been extremely kind,” Bjørn said.

The day after their visit to Holden, they were planning to spend time with Lori and Kari and their families in Minnesota for a couple of days.

When asked where they were from in Norway, Bjørn said his mother’s family, the Andersons, came from the municipality of Tromsø in Norway and that he and Hanna live in Oslo.

His parents, Sigrun and Gunnar Sørslett, live about a thousand miles north of Oslo.

“My impression is that most of the people who came to Colfax were from up north (in Norway),” Bjørn said.

“We are surprised at the attention to the Norwegian heritage in the Midwest,” he said.

“I expected it to be beautiful. But we have seen so many well-kept houses and farms and fields. We want to come back,” Bjørn said.