My maternal grandfather was Ole Norman Wahl, who died long before I was born. The oldest child of Nick and Johanna Wahl, Ole was born in Superior, Wisconsin, on August 22, 1891. He was first married to Hilma Niemi, and they had two children: Jeanne Marie Wahl (b. December 20, 1914; d. December 21, 1932) and Owen Norman Wahl (b. October 12, 1916; d. April 9, 1945). Hilma contracted tuberculosis and died August 25, 1921 at the Pokegama Sanatorium near Pine City, Minnesota.
Shortly after his first wife’s death, Ole married Florence Osmundson, my maternal grandmother, and they moved to Milaca, Minnesota. They had one child, my mother, Dorothy Mabel Wahl, born February 23, 1923. After Ole’s death on April 8, 1936, Florence ran the Coca-Cola bottling company he had begun.
After Ole, my great grandparents, Nick and Johanna Wahl, had three more children: Ruth, Cecil (Susie), and Harvey. Nick and Johanna lived in a number of locations prior to settling down in Milaca, Minnesota. Among the many locations in which they lived were Superior, Wisconsin; Vallers Township in Lyon County, Minnesota; Cottonwood, Minnesota; and Sioux City, Iowa.
Nick and Johanna Wahl were both born in Norway and came to America in 1886 and 1887, according to census records. Nick was born August 15, 1866 on one of the Vold farms near the village of Varhaug in southwestern Norway. Christened Nikolai Olsen, he was the youngest child of Ole Knudsen and Sissel Gundersdatter. Their three older children were Berthe, Knud, and Gunnar.
Nick’s wife, Johanna Hansdatter, was born October 4, 1860, near the neighboring village of Vigrestad. She was the oldest daughter of Hans Asbjornsen and Ragnhild Nielsdatter. Hans had previously been married to Oline Olsdatter, and they had five children prior to her death in 1856: Ole, Kirsten Amalie, Asbjorn, Jonas, and Oline.
Johanna had a younger sister named Grete Nilsine who immigrated to America in 1885. She married Emil M. Brenne, and they lived in Sioux City, Iowa.
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