The Homestead Next Door: 52 Ancestors 2022 Prompt “Landed”

The Cousins Next Door: Ragnhild Olsdatter Vee Syverson’s Nephews Ole and Anders Olesson Vee

Ole Olesson Vee: 1850-1917
Anders Olesson Vee: 1853-1903

When I received an email from Ancestry notifying me of a DNA match to a cousin with the surname Vee, I wasn’t too surprised. I recognized the surname from my tiny hometown, Hanska, Minnesota. I was distantly related to a lot of people in the area. However, I was surprised to see how closely I was related to this cousin—we were possibly second or third cousins. Luckily, my cousin had a public tree, and Ancestry had identified a possible shared ancestor between the two of us: my great-grandmother Ragnhild Olsdatter Ve Syverson’s parents. The Vees were descended from one of Ragnhild’s siblings. This was a new connection for me—I hadn’t realized any of Ragnhild’s family members had left Norway, and had no idea they landed in the Hanska area.

My research revealed that Ragnhild Syverson, born in 1848, was the youngest daughter of Ragnhild Ve and Ole Gulbrandon Geithus. She had a much older sister, Gjoran Olsdatter Ve, born in 1826. Obviously, Gjoran was out of the house with a family of her own shortly after Ragnhild was born. Gjoran married Ole Torresson Havaardshaugen in October 1850, and they had their first son, Ole Olesson Vee, August 12, 1850. This meant that Ragnhild was only two years older than her nephew, Ole.

Ragnhild married Ove Syverson in Norway in the mid-1860s. Some trees claim they married as early as 1865, but I suspect it was a year or so later. Their first child, also named Ragnhild, was born January 9, 1868, and was baptized that April. The church records show that Ragnhild’s sister Gjoran and husband Ole Thoreson Ve were godparents to little Ragnhild, along with a couple with the surname Moen.

Ragnhild Olsdatter Ve's baptism record. Ole Thoreson Ve and wife Gjoran listed at far right

The young Syverson family set sail for America the next year, arriving in 1869—this arrival year appears on the 1900 census. Their second child, Syver, was born October 23, 1869 in Wisconsin. The family then moved to Linden Township in Brown County, where their third child, Ole, was born in 1871 or 1872.

Ragnhild and Ove must have described their life in America in positive terms when they wrote letters to family back in Norway, for her nephew Ole Olesson Vee and wife Sigri soon followed them to America. According to the information the Vees reported on the 1900 census, they arrived in 1872, and their first child, daughter, Julia Sirina, was born in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin on June 30, 1872. They relocated to Minnesota at some point around 1880, appearing on an 1885 state census living just a few farms away from Ragnhild, who had been widowed just three years earlier.

1885 Minnesota census with Vee brothers' families

Another of Ragnhild’s nephews also appears on that census. Ole Thoreson Vee’s brother Anders Olsson Vee followed his brother and aunt to America in 1882. Anders and his wife appear on the census on a farm between Ragnhild’s and Ole’s properties. Perhaps Ole and Anders settled near Ragnhild in order to help her hold on to her homestead after her husband Ove died; her sons were too young to be of much help with farmwork.

Whatever their motivation, both Vee families acquired land in the Hanska area. By the time the 1905 plat maps were generated for Brown County, Anders and Ole Vee have good sized acreages, and Ragnhild’s son Ole Syverson has taken over the Syverson farm. Ole Vee’s land abuts Ole Syverson’s, so they were next door neighbors. I’m sure the young cousins all grew up together.

1905 Linden plat map. Ole Syverson property in blue, Ole Vee property in orange

From landing in America to becoming landowners in Minnesota, the Vee brothers quickly became part of the Norwegian community in Brown County’s Linden and Lake Hanska Townships. The opportunity to own their own land drew them to America, and they achieved their dream: they “landed”.

1905 Lake Hanska plat map showing Anders Vee property

As for my relationship with my Vee DNA match, his grandfather was Ole Olesson Vee’s youngest son, Theodore Vee, born in 1888. His father was Theodore’s youngest son, Arvid Vee, born in 1926. My cousin was born a year after my birth, so we are close in age. I never knew him because we attended different elementary schools, and never shared high school classes. The DNA prediction of our relationship was fairly accurate: we are actually third cousins once removed.