| the family of Gina Voldsness (Grandma Martinson) Part I Matson - Garson Genealogies | Home | Page Index | Pictures | Reports | E-Mail Fred Matson |
| The Family of Gina Voldsness (Grandma Martinson) Acknowledgement: thanks to Mary Olson Berg, my second cousin on my mother's side, who is married to David Berg, my first cousin on my father's side, and her sister, Martha Solfest. I thank Mary for allowing me the opportunity to use her information to develop and share this story with my family. My Grandmother, my mother's mother, was Gina Voldsness. I knew her as Grandma Martinson. Gina had three husbands: Henry Kuhl, Louis Fisher, and Ed Martinson. My Mother, Blanche Marie, was a child of Gina Voldsness and Henry Kuhl. A brother, Gordon, was born of the same parents. Blanche married twice during a short life that ended with an inoperable malignant brain tumor before age forty. Her first husband was Laverne Washington Rockwell; her second husband was Roy Harold Matson. Gordon Kuhl married Louise Ulness. My older brothers, Jimmie Laverne Matson and Richard Gordon Matson are children of Blanche and Laverne "Rocky" Rockwell. My younger brother, Erik Christopher Matson, and me are children of Blanche and Roy Matson. Roy Matson adopted Jim and Dick upon marrying Blanche. Sometime after Henry Kuhl left Gina and her two children, Gina married Louis Fisher. Louis's wife, Hattie Davis had died and he had Lucille to care for. She was three (3) years old. Another sibling of Lucille's, Henry Louis Fisher, was old enough to be on his own by then. So, three children were brought to this new union of Gina and Louis: Blanche Kuhl, Gordon Kuhl, and Lucille Fisher. Gina and her second husband, Louis Fisher, gave birth to Mary Jane Fisher. Mary Jane married Chester Frisbie; and Lucille married Clarence Johnson. Gina and Ed Martinson, whom I knew as Grandpa, did not have additional children. Gina’s parents were Gust Voldsness and Maria (Marne) Olson. Their parents were: Ole Hermanson (born 1819) & Ella Enger (born 1816)(Gust Voldsness’s parents); and Christ Olson & Anna Brootven (Marne Olson’s parents). Gust Voldsness was born June 1, 1850 in Norway to Ole Hermanson and Ella Enger. Marne Olson was born February 17, 1850 in Norway to Christ Olson and Anna Brootven. We believe Gust married Marne Olson in Norway, the year is unknown, but probably before the birth of their first child in 1872. Gust and Marne both, and with children, came to America in 1886 and settled on a farm in the Trempealeau County, Chimney Rock Township area south of Eleva, Wisconsin. Based on birth dates, it is assumed that children, Ole Olson (b. 1872), Iner (b. 1878), and Marne (b. 1879), were born in Norway; Gina (b. 1887), Annie (b. 1891), and Henry (b. 1893), were born in America. According to 1865 norwegian census information recently received, by Mary Olson and Martha Solfest, from a new found relative, Gust had at least five siblings: Haakon Olsen (age 21), Tosten Olsen (age 19), Karen Olsdatter (age 14), and Olia Olsdatter (age 7). He may have had other older siblings that lived elsewhere, and younger, yet to be born. This census record shows the siblings that in 1865 resided with the parents, Ole Hermansen & Eli Tostensdatter, on the Voldsness Farm in Gruel, Solar, Norway. Continued at The Family of Gina Voldsness, Part II |