Johan Evensen HUSEBY (1798-1853)

Hveberg (305) states that Johan was born in 1798 and the Grue parish records confirm this showing his baptism on 2 Dec.


SAH, Grue prestekontor, Ministerialbok nr. 4, 1792-1805, s. 140.

Johan married Marte Johannesdtr Sander, daughter of Johannes Evensen Sander (Hveberg: 305), on 29 Apr 1824. We know from her gravestone (see below) that Marte was born on 11 Dec 1803 and from the Grue parish records we can determine that she was baptized on 18 Dec 1803.


SAH, Grue prestekontor, Ministerialbok nr. 4, 1792-1805, s. 218.


SAH, Grue prestekontor, Ministerialbok nr. 6, 1814-1830, s. 215.

Johan and Marte had eight children: Arne (b. 1824), Johannes (b. 1827), Eli (b. 1829), Marte (b. 1832), Johanne (b. 1835), Maren (b. 1837), Martin (b. 1841), and Ole (b. 1845).

On 15 Apr 1853, Johan, his wife Marte, and their children, Johannes, Marte, Johanne, Maren, and Martin, left Norway for America. Arne, their oldest son had already left in 1851, and their youngest, Ole, sadly had passed away in 1847. As of this time we don't know what happened to Eli.


Detail of Hedmark fylke, Grue, Ministerialbok nr. 8 (1847-1858), Inn- og utflyttede 1853-1857, side 372. Image courtesy of Digitalarkivet.

For a long time what had happened to Johan was a mystery. Over the years Vince and Verla Williams had looked in cemeteries throughout Winneshiek County for his gravestone. Recently I uncovered a memoir written in 1916 by Kjersti (Lovbraaten) HUSEBYE, the wife of Johan's son, Johannes. In it she mentioned that his family had arrived in Chicago in 1852. (I assume she probably meant 1853.) Several were ill with fever. Johan died and was buried there. The location of the grave is unknown. The remaining family soon after moved to Winneshiek County.

On 8 Apr 1862 Marte remarried Niels Hansen Katterud (b. 24 Jun 1798, Lier, Buskerud, NOR).


Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Records, 1875-1940 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Image courtesy of Ancestry.com.


Portrait. Niels Hansen Katterud and Marte (Sander) HUSEBYE Katterud (bef. 1875). Image courtesy of Georgette Lommen.

Niels passed away on 18 Jul 1875 and was buried beside his first wife, Live, at Washington Prairie Lutheran Cemetery, southeast of Decorah, Iowa.


Gravestone. Niels Hansen Katterud (1798-1875). Image courtesy of Iowa Gravestone Photo Project.

Kjersti HUSEBYE stated in her memoir that Marte moved to North Dakota in 1884 to live with them. Marte passed away shortly after that on 13 Jul 1885 and was buried in the Norman Cemetery in Cass County, ND.


Gravestone. Marte Johannesdtr (Sander) HUSEBYE Katterud (1803-1885). Images courtesy of Findagrave.com.