Carrie married Ole Olson Espe in Illinois, and the couple had three sons. Sadly, Ole died, and Carrie was left to raise their three boys: Ole, 10; Martin, 8; and Albert, 6. In 1872, Carrie and her young sons moved to southern Humboldt County, Iowa, to start a new life.

“Carrie was about 30 years old by then,” said Mary Anderson, Carrie’s great-granddaughter. “After arriving in Humboldt County, she bought 160 acres of land in Norway Township for $6 an acre.”

By 1873, Carrie married a fellow Norwegian, Halvor Larson. She and Halvor had two daughters, starting in 1874, although one of the girls died in infancy in 1875.

Then Halvor Larson died in 1876, leaving Carrie a widow for a second time. Carrie had her faith to carry her through, however. Not long after arriving in the area that would become Thor, she invited other settlers to attend Lutheran church services in her home. This laid the foundation for what would become the Ullensvang Lutheran Church, which still serves the community and celebrated its 150th anniversary in August 2022.

Carrie’s land passed to her son Ole (a bachelor farmer) and later to her son Albert.

“Albert was born in 1866 and didn’t marry until 1906, when he was 40 years old,” Anderson noted. “His wife, Margaret, was 30 when they married.”

The couple had five children, including three girls and twin boys, Johan (Anderson’s father) and Carl, who were born in 1909. “During the winter of 1909-1910, my grandparents often kept the boys covered in blankets in a box behind the cook-stove to help keep them warm,” Anderson said.

Anderson’s father and his twin started school in 1915 in an old country schoolhouse called “Central School” in Norway Township. They later attended school in Thor. “Because farms were so self-sufficient back then, my dad didn’t learn about money until he went to town school,” Anderson said.

While Johan and Carl had to drop out of high school around 1926 to help full-time on the family’s farm, Johan did keep an essay he wrote in high school. “I was born among the old, sturdy pioneers of Iowa,” he stated. “I’ve become acquainted with farm life and have always respected it.”

In 1942, Johan married Gertrude Peter, whom he met at a dance in Fort Dodge. “While my mom came from German heritage, we grew up eating the traditional Norwegian foods like lutefisk, lefse and lingonberries,” said Anderson, who has two brothers and a sister.

The Olsons farmed with Farmall and Minneapolis-Moline equipment, since there was a Minneapolis-Moline dealer in Thor. Livestock were also part of the farm, including hogs, beef cattle, sheep and chickens. “When I was about 11, Mom wanted 100 roosters, so that became my 4-H project,” said Anderson, who was a member of the Norway Patriots 4-H Club. “I ended up with 99, so that was pretty good.”

Anderson attended school through eighth grade in Thor.

“There were about 10 or 12 students in our class, and we got to go to Treloar’s restaurant in Fort Dodge after completing eighth grade,” said Anderson, a 1961 Eagle Grove High School graduate.

Anderson and her husband, Larry, a fellow Norway Township native, and their son, Mark, continue to farm their family’s Heritage Farm, which is a mile and a half southeast of Thor. “I liked growing up on the farm,” Anderson said. “We feel blessed to have this farm heritage.”