Lars Mæl

1851 - 1930  (78 years)

• Name	Lars Mæl  [1]
  Born	17 Aug 1851	Mel, Balestrand, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway   [2]
  Christened	Abt 10 Sep 1851	Balestrand, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway
  Gender	Male
  Died	26 Jun 1930	Volga, Brookings, South Dakota, USA
  Buried	30 Jun 1930	Sinai, Brookings, South Dakota, USA
  Person ID	I769	Mehl and Styve
  Last Modified	5 Apr 2020

  
  

  Father	Anders Mikkjelson Mæl,   b. 1809, Balestrand, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway
  Mother	Kristi Ivarsdatter Husebø,   b. Abt 1811, Leikanger, Norway
  Married	1838  [3]
  Family ID	F241	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Marta Hatleli,   b. 29 Sep 1857, Fresvik, , Sogn og Fjordane, Norway ,   d. 11 Jul 1930, Volga, Brookings, South Dakota, USA  (Age 72 years)
  Married	22 Sep 1883	Lake Campbell Ch, Volga, South Dakota, USA
  Children	1. Cora Josephine Mehl,   b. 5 Oct 1884, Volga, Brookings, South Dakota, USA ,   d. 30 Jun 1886, Volga, Brookings, South Dakota, USA  (Age 1 years)   2. Peter Oliver Mehl,   b. 1 Apr 1886, Volga, S. D., S. D. ,   d. 13 Nov 1966, Brookings, South Dakota, USA  (Age 80 years)   3. Albert Marvin Mehl,   b. 7 Jan 1889, Volga, Brookings, South Dakota, USA ,   d. 25 Sep 1965, Dearborn, Michigan, USA  (Age 76 years)   4. Oscar Clarence Mehl,   b. 15 Feb 1892, Volga, Brookings, South Dakota, USA ,   d. 5 May 1970, Washington D. C., USA  (Age 78 years)   5. Martin Ludvig Mehl,   b. 14 Aug 1897, Sinai, Brookings, South Dakota, USA ,   d. May 1898, Sinai, Brookings, South Dakota, USA  (Age 0 years)   6. Mathilda Rigina Mehl,   b. 14 Aug 1897, Sinai, Brookings, South Dakota, USA ,   d. Sep 1897, Sinai, Brookings, South Dakota, USA  (Age 0 years)   7. Clara Josephine Mehl,   b. 26 Mar 1895, Volga, Brookings, South Dakota, USA ,   d. 17 Dec 1928, Volga, Brookings, South Dakota, USA  (Age 33 years)
  Last Modified	28 Jun 2011
  Family ID	F509	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Died - 26 Jun 1930 - Volga, Brookings, South Dakota, USA Buried - 30 Jun 1930 - Sinai, Brookings, South Dakota, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  «b»Norwegian:«/b» Drog til Amerika saman med brødrene. «b»English (from Milton Sunde):«/b» Lars Mehl (Mel) learned the shoemaker trade in Bergen Norway and after completing the military training, he migrated to America in 1875 and lived in Madison WI and Dane County for 4 years. However he did go to the Dakota Territory in 1878 and after looking at Sinai Township, he went to Brookings and filed a "Preemption" north of Brookings. He harvested wheat on the present State College site and spent the winter with a friend in a soddug-out where the business district of Brookings is now located. He discovered that some of his property was disappearing. He sold his preemption after his brother Ivar and other Wisconsin acquaintances moved to Dakota and filed on the NW 1/4 of Section 2. and also got a "tree claim" on the 80 across the road. He married Martha Hatelie on Sept 22 in 1883 and moved into a sod house. They lived in the sod house until about 1885. He suffered from kidney and "othrtroubles"and spent a few weeks in the hospital. His wife Martha passed away July 11, about 2 weeks later. She suffered from anemia. She too, had been in the hospital for "some weeks". They lived on the farm until 1918 when they ;moved to Volga. Funeral services were again held in Volga (Rev Kildahl) and in Sinai (Rev Halvorson) where she was buried. It was always of interest to me why the Mehl,s and the Boyums were so closely involved. The farm east of the Mehl farm was always called the "Boyum quarter". Apparently two Boyum boys, Ole and Hans had homesteaded the land. They were batchlers and had came from the same area of Norway as my grandfather. One day Hans went to the pasture to get the cows. He didn' t come back. Finally the cows came home. Ole went to look for him and found that the bull had gored him to death. His knife was near his hand and the bull had some cuts around the head. After a few years, Ole came to my grandfather and said, "Why don't you buy my land. I am homesick and lonesome and would like to go back to Norway to my family. Lars bought the land. I suppose around 1900.

  
  

• Sources

  [S26] From relative - Milton Sunde, e-mail 17/11-2001 (Reliability: 3). [S24] Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane: Kyrkjebøker, folketellingar m.m., (Internet). [S2] Balestrand Bygd og Ætter, Jon Laberg, (Bergen 1934 AS John Griegs Boktrykkeri), 437 (Reliability: 3).