Serine "Serena" Tormodsdatter Madland was born in the Bjerkreim parish south of Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway. She was the 6th and last child born to Tormod Jensen Madland and his wife Siri Ivarsdatter Seldal. As a young girl, she settled with her family in the city of Stavanger where her father obtained "citizenship" (borgerbrev) as a blacksmith to officially operate his business in the city. Her family became Quaker sympathizers which were not well tolerated in Lutheran Norway at that time.
In 1825 Serena age 11 emigrated with her parents and 2 sisters aboard the Norwegian Sloop Restauration (often called the "Norwegian Mayflower), making her a "Slooper". She married Jacob Anderson Slogvik, another Slooper, in 1831 in upstate New York where most of the Sloopers originally settled west of Rochester. Serena and Jacob had their 1st child at about the same time (1834) as the family moved to Fox River, Illinois. She had 6 more children while at Fox River. She moved with Jacob and her children to Pottawattamie Co., Iowa, in 1848. They had 10 children total, but most of them died young; only 3 of these children survived to become an adult and marry; only 2 daughters had children to continue this family line.
In 1854, while keeping ownership of the large Iowa farm, the family moved west to California by wagon train. Rosdail’s “Slooper” book* indicated that Serena then had 6 living children. This time the family settled south of the town of Napa in a community then known as Suscol (or Soscol). It was here in Napa County where she most likely had her last child Julia in May 1855. Only 9 years later, May 1864, her husband died which necessitated the liquidation of their large farming activities. Serena and her 22 year old son Andrew then “ran a road house called Soscol House. It was the only building ever erected at their crossroads, a place where teamsters stopped for their meals.”* Around 1866, when another child died (Jacob Jr.), Serena and her son Andrew and his new wife Melissa returned to their Iowa farm where “Andrew built a nice frame house” north of the Mormon Trail in the Wheeler Grove area. The original farm business was expanded and diversified and around 1880 Serena, Andrew and his wife moved a little north to the town of Carson, Iowa. By 1888 these three moved back to California, reportedly first to Amador County, then San Diego, and by around 1895 they settled on a large ranch in the Fruto area west of Willows, Glenn County. Again, according to the Slooper book,* “She died early in 1898 at Fruto, just six days past her 84th birthday. She was laid to rest ... beside her husband whom she had buried there thirty-four years before. The grandchildren always remembered Serena, who was short in stature, for the peppermint candy she kept in the long pocket attached to the seam in her dress."
Her burial notice appeared in "The Promoter," Willows, CA, Wed., 12 Jan 1898, p. 3, col. 3, and states:
"Buried in Napa
The body of Mrs Irene (sic.) Anderson who died at the residence of her son, A. J. Anderson at Fruto on Friday evening last, was shipped to Napa Monday for buriel (sic.). The remains were accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Anderson. The deceased was a native of Stavenger (sic.), Norway, and was 84 years old at the time of the death."
* Rosdail, J. Hart, "The Sloopers; Their Ancestry and Posterity; The Story of the People on the Norwegian Mayflower, The Sloop, 'Restoration'." Broadview, IL: Norwegian Slooper Society of America, 1961, p. 425.
To commemorate the life and achievements of Serena and her husband Jacob in their role as part of the first organized group of Norwegian immigrants on the historic sloop "Restauration" in 1825, a 2 ton Norwegian monument stone ("bautastein") was shipped to California and planted at the Napa grave plot in May 2004. Jacob and Serena were noted as having traveled and died farther from their native Norway than any of the others who came over on the Sloop.
For more on the "Slooper" story and the "Slooper Monument Project", see:
http://wheelerfolk.org/slooper/slooper_monument_project.htm
In 1825 Serena age 11 emigrated with her parents and 2 sisters aboard the Norwegian Sloop Restauration (often called the "Norwegian Mayflower), making her a "Slooper". She married Jacob Anderson Slogvik, another Slooper, in 1831 in upstate New York where most of the Sloopers originally settled west of Rochester. Serena and Jacob had their 1st child at about the same time (1834) as the family moved to Fox River, Illinois. She had 6 more children while at Fox River. She moved with Jacob and her children to Pottawattamie Co., Iowa, in 1848. They had 10 children total, but most of them died young; only 3 of these children survived to become an adult and marry; only 2 daughters had children to continue this family line.
In 1854, while keeping ownership of the large Iowa farm, the family moved west to California by wagon train. Rosdail’s “Slooper” book* indicated that Serena then had 6 living children. This time the family settled south of the town of Napa in a community then known as Suscol (or Soscol). It was here in Napa County where she most likely had her last child Julia in May 1855. Only 9 years later, May 1864, her husband died which necessitated the liquidation of their large farming activities. Serena and her 22 year old son Andrew then “ran a road house called Soscol House. It was the only building ever erected at their crossroads, a place where teamsters stopped for their meals.”* Around 1866, when another child died (Jacob Jr.), Serena and her son Andrew and his new wife Melissa returned to their Iowa farm where “Andrew built a nice frame house” north of the Mormon Trail in the Wheeler Grove area. The original farm business was expanded and diversified and around 1880 Serena, Andrew and his wife moved a little north to the town of Carson, Iowa. By 1888 these three moved back to California, reportedly first to Amador County, then San Diego, and by around 1895 they settled on a large ranch in the Fruto area west of Willows, Glenn County. Again, according to the Slooper book,* “She died early in 1898 at Fruto, just six days past her 84th birthday. She was laid to rest ... beside her husband whom she had buried there thirty-four years before. The grandchildren always remembered Serena, who was short in stature, for the peppermint candy she kept in the long pocket attached to the seam in her dress."
Her burial notice appeared in "The Promoter," Willows, CA, Wed., 12 Jan 1898, p. 3, col. 3, and states:
"Buried in Napa
The body of Mrs Irene (sic.) Anderson who died at the residence of her son, A. J. Anderson at Fruto on Friday evening last, was shipped to Napa Monday for buriel (sic.). The remains were accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Anderson. The deceased was a native of Stavenger (sic.), Norway, and was 84 years old at the time of the death."
* Rosdail, J. Hart, "The Sloopers; Their Ancestry and Posterity; The Story of the People on the Norwegian Mayflower, The Sloop, 'Restoration'." Broadview, IL: Norwegian Slooper Society of America, 1961, p. 425.
To commemorate the life and achievements of Serena and her husband Jacob in their role as part of the first organized group of Norwegian immigrants on the historic sloop "Restauration" in 1825, a 2 ton Norwegian monument stone ("bautastein") was shipped to California and planted at the Napa grave plot in May 2004. Jacob and Serena were noted as having traveled and died farther from their native Norway than any of the others who came over on the Sloop.
For more on the "Slooper" story and the "Slooper Monument Project", see:
http://wheelerfolk.org/slooper/slooper_monument_project.htm
Serine "Serena" Tormodsdatter Madland was born in the Bjerkreim parish south of Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway. She was the 6th and last child born to Tormod Jensen Madland and his wife Siri Ivarsdatter Seldal. As a young girl, she settled with her family in the city of Stavanger where her father obtained "citizenship" (borgerbrev) as a blacksmith to officially operate his business in the city. Her family became Quaker sympathizers which were not well tolerated in Lutheran Norway at that time.
In 1825 Serena age 11 emigrated with her parents and 2 sisters aboard the Norwegian Sloop Restauration (often called the "Norwegian Mayflower), making her a "Slooper". She married Jacob Anderson Slogvik, another Slooper, in 1831 in upstate New York where most of the Sloopers originally settled west of Rochester. Serena and Jacob had their 1st child at about the same time (1834) as the family moved to Fox River, Illinois. She had 6 more children while at Fox River. She moved with Jacob and her children to Pottawattamie Co., Iowa, in 1848. They had 10 children total, but most of them died young; only 3 of these children survived to become an adult and marry; only 2 daughters had children to continue this family line.
In 1854, while keeping ownership of the large Iowa farm, the family moved west to California by wagon train. Rosdail’s “Slooper” book* indicated that Serena then had 6 living children. This time the family settled south of the town of Napa in a community then known as Suscol (or Soscol). It was here in Napa County where she most likely had her last child Julia in May 1855. Only 9 years later, May 1864, her husband died which necessitated the liquidation of their large farming activities. Serena and her 22 year old son Andrew then “ran a road house called Soscol House. It was the only building ever erected at their crossroads, a place where teamsters stopped for their meals.”* Around 1866, when another child died (Jacob Jr.), Serena and her son Andrew and his new wife Melissa returned to their Iowa farm where “Andrew built a nice frame house” north of the Mormon Trail in the Wheeler Grove area. The original farm business was expanded and diversified and around 1880 Serena, Andrew and his wife moved a little north to the town of Carson, Iowa. By 1888 these three moved back to California, reportedly first to Amador County, then San Diego, and by around 1895 they settled on a large ranch in the Fruto area west of Willows, Glenn County. Again, according to the Slooper book,* “She died early in 1898 at Fruto, just six days past her 84th birthday. She was laid to rest ... beside her husband whom she had buried there thirty-four years before. The grandchildren always remembered Serena, who was short in stature, for the peppermint candy she kept in the long pocket attached to the seam in her dress."
Her burial notice appeared in "The Promoter," Willows, CA, Wed., 12 Jan 1898, p. 3, col. 3, and states:
"Buried in Napa
The body of Mrs Irene (sic.) Anderson who died at the residence of her son, A. J. Anderson at Fruto on Friday evening last, was shipped to Napa Monday for buriel (sic.). The remains were accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Anderson. The deceased was a native of Stavenger (sic.), Norway, and was 84 years old at the time of the death."
* Rosdail, J. Hart, "The Sloopers; Their Ancestry and Posterity; The Story of the People on the Norwegian Mayflower, The Sloop, 'Restoration'." Broadview, IL: Norwegian Slooper Society of America, 1961, p. 425.
To commemorate the life and achievements of Serena and her husband Jacob in their role as part of the first organized group of Norwegian immigrants on the historic sloop "Restauration" in 1825, a 2 ton Norwegian monument stone ("bautastein") was shipped to California and planted at the Napa grave plot in May 2004. Jacob and Serena were noted as having traveled and died farther from their native Norway than any of the others who came over on the Sloop.
For more on the "Slooper" story and the "Slooper Monument Project", see:
http://wheelerfolk.org/slooper/slooper_monument_project.htm
In 1825 Serena age 11 emigrated with her parents and 2 sisters aboard the Norwegian Sloop Restauration (often called the "Norwegian Mayflower), making her a "Slooper". She married Jacob Anderson Slogvik, another Slooper, in 1831 in upstate New York where most of the Sloopers originally settled west of Rochester. Serena and Jacob had their 1st child at about the same time (1834) as the family moved to Fox River, Illinois. She had 6 more children while at Fox River. She moved with Jacob and her children to Pottawattamie Co., Iowa, in 1848. They had 10 children total, but most of them died young; only 3 of these children survived to become an adult and marry; only 2 daughters had children to continue this family line.
In 1854, while keeping ownership of the large Iowa farm, the family moved west to California by wagon train. Rosdail’s “Slooper” book* indicated that Serena then had 6 living children. This time the family settled south of the town of Napa in a community then known as Suscol (or Soscol). It was here in Napa County where she most likely had her last child Julia in May 1855. Only 9 years later, May 1864, her husband died which necessitated the liquidation of their large farming activities. Serena and her 22 year old son Andrew then “ran a road house called Soscol House. It was the only building ever erected at their crossroads, a place where teamsters stopped for their meals.”* Around 1866, when another child died (Jacob Jr.), Serena and her son Andrew and his new wife Melissa returned to their Iowa farm where “Andrew built a nice frame house” north of the Mormon Trail in the Wheeler Grove area. The original farm business was expanded and diversified and around 1880 Serena, Andrew and his wife moved a little north to the town of Carson, Iowa. By 1888 these three moved back to California, reportedly first to Amador County, then San Diego, and by around 1895 they settled on a large ranch in the Fruto area west of Willows, Glenn County. Again, according to the Slooper book,* “She died early in 1898 at Fruto, just six days past her 84th birthday. She was laid to rest ... beside her husband whom she had buried there thirty-four years before. The grandchildren always remembered Serena, who was short in stature, for the peppermint candy she kept in the long pocket attached to the seam in her dress."
Her burial notice appeared in "The Promoter," Willows, CA, Wed., 12 Jan 1898, p. 3, col. 3, and states:
"Buried in Napa
The body of Mrs Irene (sic.) Anderson who died at the residence of her son, A. J. Anderson at Fruto on Friday evening last, was shipped to Napa Monday for buriel (sic.). The remains were accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Anderson. The deceased was a native of Stavenger (sic.), Norway, and was 84 years old at the time of the death."
* Rosdail, J. Hart, "The Sloopers; Their Ancestry and Posterity; The Story of the People on the Norwegian Mayflower, The Sloop, 'Restoration'." Broadview, IL: Norwegian Slooper Society of America, 1961, p. 425.
To commemorate the life and achievements of Serena and her husband Jacob in their role as part of the first organized group of Norwegian immigrants on the historic sloop "Restauration" in 1825, a 2 ton Norwegian monument stone ("bautastein") was shipped to California and planted at the Napa grave plot in May 2004. Jacob and Serena were noted as having traveled and died farther from their native Norway than any of the others who came over on the Sloop.
For more on the "Slooper" story and the "Slooper Monument Project", see:
http://wheelerfolk.org/slooper/slooper_monument_project.htm
Inscription
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord
