Romundstad - Madson


400 Years of Madson History:  1600-2000
 
 Nautenes Farm in the hamlet of Bossvika, Norway
&
Later:  the town of Risor, Norway
&
then a little later:
The New Land of America:
Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, & the Dakotas



The World & the Scandinavian Peninsula
     



The Story Over the Long Centuries

These pages tell the story of a family from the Land of the Midnight Sun
who for for 200 years -- 7 generations -- lived on the Nautenes Farm on a fjord
outside the hamlet of Bossvika, west of of the harbor town of Risor, Norway. 

Then, in 1866, one branch of this family joined the massive,
mid-1800's emigration across the Atlantic Ocean to America.

7 Generations on the Nautenes Farm, Bossvika, Norway on a fjord west of of the harbor town of Risor.  Inger Reiersdatter & Mads Hanson & Family - - Nautenes Farm & Risor, Norway, 1820's -1873 -- the last of this family to live at the Nautenes Farm before having to leave it and move into the town of Risor.

Risor, Norway

1862 photo from Risor, Norway: the Hans & Christine Madson Family Photo taken 4 years before they left Risor for America -- with 4 of their 5 Risor-born children.   Back row, standing beside father Hans is the oldest: Jorgen Madson, age 6, b. 1856. . Of Hans & Christine Madson's 10 Children: - 5 born in Risor, Norway, 1 died young in Norway, - 5 born in Sheboygan, 1 died young in Wisconsin. Of the 8 who lived to adulthood: - The oldest, Jorgen Madson. went to college in Iowa, then seminary in St Paul, then west to Montana -  7 married in Wisconsin and stayed there. Young Jorgen Madson

Hans Madson & Christine Jorgensdatter: Risor, Norway to Wisconsin, USA  Inger Reiersdatter & Mads Hanson's oldest son was Hans Madson (1830-1903).  In Risor, he and Christine Jorgensdatter married and had 5 children. 1866: Hans & Christine & family left Norway for America:  First to Milwaukee, then Sheboygan where they had 5 more children. 1884: To their final home: Wittenberg, Wisconsin 1866 & 1884:  Two of Christine's siblings and all of Hans Madson's siblings & mother also emigrated to Wisconsin. 1923 June, Wittenberg, Wisconsin:  Madson Family Reunion --  of Descendents of Hans & Christine Madson -- Held at Hans & Christine Madson's old farm -- at the time farmed by their son, Albert Madson. The reunion was held in honor of the visit from Absarokee, Montana of the oldest sibling, Jorgen Madson and his daughter, Dorthea Madson. They had come east for the Strum, Wisconsin wedding of Dorthea's brother Wilhelm Madson and Mildred Romundstad. Click on photo for a hi-rez version with identification of people

Helga Andrine Nayes & Jorgen Elisius Madson Life together from late 1870's - 1928 - til their deaths in 1927 and 1928. Jorgen & Helga Madson married in 1882, had 9 children, traveled widely, and ended up in the Big Sky Country of the American West. In Montana, Rev. Jorgen became a circuit-riding minister, with a "circuit" 450 miles east-to-west and 200 miles north-to-south. Helga Nayes Madson was very lonesome in Montana, and wrote poignant letters to her cousin back in the midwest, sorely missing the lovely days of her youth in verdant Wisconsin, surrounded by her Funner and Nayes extended family: Nayes Overview Page & Funner-Nayes Women's Letters, 1889 & 1900

Helga Nayes & Jorgen Madson's 8 Grown Children
February 1922:  Immanuel Lutheran Church, Absarokee, Montana
- -  taken at the funeral of the family's 6th child, Christian Madson, 29 (b. 1893), who had died of diabetes at a
tragically young age.  Christian's grandmother, Christine Jorgensdatter Madson, had also died of this.

       Left:  Helga & Jorgen & 8 remaining, adult offspring                         Right: with spouses & offspring - - to date
   
Click on each photo for a hi-rez version with identification of people




1938, October: Dedication Ceremony for the Monument
Honoring Pioneer Pastor Jorgen Elisius Madson
- - located across the road from the site of their home,
Fagerheim, rural Absarokee, Montana --

Click on photo for hi-rez version and identification of people --
including his namesake grandson, Jorgen Madson.

Grandpa Jorgen Madson with 2 grandchildren Romund Madson, age 3, & Charisma Madson, age 1. At Fagerheim ("beautiful home"), Jorgen & Helga's farm on the Rosebud River, south of Absarokee, Montana, Summer 1927

Romund Madson with 2 grand-nieces Melissa Kelsey & Shelly Lindberg. At the Sunday picnic lunch on the Borland Ranch on the Stillwater River, west of Absarokee, Montana.  Madson Family Reunion, July 1993

July 1993, Billings, Montana: Madson Family Reunion:  Group Photo
Descendants of 6 of the 9 children of Helga Nayes & Jorgen Madson:
-- of Harald Madson, Agnes Madson Melby, Wilhelm Madson,
Dorthea Madson Holm-Jensen Baker, George Madson, & Helga Madson Morley

Click on photo to see a hi-rez version with identification of people

1970 & 2000 : Two Visits by Madson Descendants to Madson ancestral sites in the Risor, Norway area 1970:  Lisa Lindberg's Summer hitch-hiking trip around Europe 2000:  Romund & Harriet Madson's driving trip around Norway during their 50th wedding anniversary Summer Nautenes Farm -- Bossvika, Norway

Risor, Norway

Montana

Our Montana Cousins A story by Lisa Lindberg, written 1998 for Ed & Rosemary Melby's 50th Wedding Anniversary. About the relationship of the descendants of the siblings Agnes Madson Melby & Wilhelm Madson. About the mythic role played by the Melby family in the Lindberg kids' imaginations as they were growing up in the Midwest : Knowing they had cousins in Montana was just MAGIC. 1927, Molt, Montana:  Melby's wheat field. The families of Agnes Madson Melby & of her visiting brother, Wilhelm Madson Photo by Mildred Romundstad Madson, 1927. Requested of Mildred's granddaughter, Lisa Lindberg -- and granted -- for use by Ken Burns' film company, Florentine Films, for use in his 2012 documentary, The Dust Bowl, and on the Episode Guide page of PBS's accompanying website -- for "Episode One: The Great Plow-Up (1890-1935)."