Ritland History in Norway

Ole and Sarah Ritland immigrated to the United States from Norway in 1855 with their seven children, one of which was John (Jens) Ritland who would grow up to fight in the Civil War, and later write the memoirs that are featured on this web site. In 2001, my cousin Karen researched the Ritland family history in Norway, and prepared this narrative.

Click here to read the history of the Ritland family in Norway

Photos of the Ritland Farm in Norway

In March 2003, Eric and Brenda Ritland traveled to Norway, and visited the Ritland Farm. Eric is the son of Gerald David Ritland, and grandson of Hubert Oliver Ritland, great grandson of Osmond Ritland, and the great great grandson of John (Jens) Ritland. The following is an excerpt from Brenda’s account of the trip:

... In addition to driving over 1000 miles and seeing the incredible fjords and Norwegian landscape, we had the opportunity to visit the farm where Eric’s great, great, great, great grandmother was born near Hjelmeland, Norway. With the help of our wonderful Norwegian bed and breakfast hosts, The Sorensens, we located the farm and a few of Eric’s blood relatives still living in the area. There are no accessible roads so we hiked for about an hour reaching an area of magnificent vistas with the Ritland farm house up on the hill overlooking a river and the mountains beyond. Eric’s ancestors were Siri (Norwegian for Sarah) who was born on the Ritland farm and Ola (pronounced Oula) who was from a nearby farm. We planned to hike to Ola’s birthplace as well but lost the trail which gives us a good excuse to return! The Sorensens tell us that scientists think the area where the Ritland farm is located was created by a meteorite that hit the earth 3-4 billion years ago. Several researchers from the U.S. and Norway will be staying with them in June to investigate this theory. Kari, Sven and Bjort Sorensen could not have been more welcoming and helpful in researching the Ritland history and even gaining permission from the current Ritland owner for us to visit the farm and providing a good map! I don’t think it will be long before we return.... Much love, Brenda & Eric

Here are a few photos from their trip to the Ritland Farm. Click on the image to view it larger.

Descendants of Ole Olson Ritland (1808 - 1893) and Sarah (Siri) Jensen (1805 - 1887)

A few years ago, Ken Rohr, the late husband of my cousin Christine also researched the family history. He prepared this listing (running 11 pages) tracing the descendants of Ole O. Ritland, along with the listing below tracing the descendants of Trond Rasmussen, and also the chart showing the ancestors of Osmond E. Ritland. We are all indebted to Ken for his efforts.

Click here to view the PDF of the descendants of Ole Olson Ritland