Marith Pedersdatter Gjerde was born March 25, 1841. She was the daughter of Peder Olsen and Marith Eriksdatter. She was a skilled seamstress and enjoyed Nordic (cross-country) skiing. She would often ski to the homes of neighbors and stay with them for a time at the beginning of each season, to help the women of the house sew clothing for the coming year. By the age of 25 when she went to work for the family of Iver and Ingeborg Donnum, she had dropped the H and was simply Marit.
This "Donnum Entourage" – Iver Donnum, his wife Ingeborg, their four young children and Ingeborg's friend and servant Marit Pedersdatter arrived in Chicago in 1868. Shortly after arriving, Ingeborg fell ill with cholera. Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused usually by drinking water contaminated by animal waste. It was a common infection in the days before plumbing.
On her deathbed, Ingeborg begged her friend to care her four children. Marit promised that she would. She and Iver were married in November, 1869 very soon after Ingeborg died. They took the children and moved to Wisconsin where two sons, Peder (named after Marit's father) and Hans were born. In 1871 they moved on to Minnesota where several other children were born. When Iver Donnum died in 1885, Marit was left to raise the children alone. From 1885 to 1890 she ran a boarding house in New London, MN. From 1890 until her death on Christmas Eve, 1907 she relied on her grown children until the last of her children (Ann Christina Dunhom Thoen) was born.
(Marit told these family stories and her memories of Norway to her children. Anna Christina (Donnum/Dunhom) Thoen, her youngest child passed them on to her daughter Viola (Thoen) Keller who is the source of this information.)
This "Donnum Entourage" – Iver Donnum, his wife Ingeborg, their four young children and Ingeborg's friend and servant Marit Pedersdatter arrived in Chicago in 1868. Shortly after arriving, Ingeborg fell ill with cholera. Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused usually by drinking water contaminated by animal waste. It was a common infection in the days before plumbing.
On her deathbed, Ingeborg begged her friend to care her four children. Marit promised that she would. She and Iver were married in November, 1869 very soon after Ingeborg died. They took the children and moved to Wisconsin where two sons, Peder (named after Marit's father) and Hans were born. In 1871 they moved on to Minnesota where several other children were born. When Iver Donnum died in 1885, Marit was left to raise the children alone. From 1885 to 1890 she ran a boarding house in New London, MN. From 1890 until her death on Christmas Eve, 1907 she relied on her grown children until the last of her children (Ann Christina Dunhom Thoen) was born.
(Marit told these family stories and her memories of Norway to her children. Anna Christina (Donnum/Dunhom) Thoen, her youngest child passed them on to her daughter Viola (Thoen) Keller who is the source of this information.)
Marith Pedersdatter Gjerde was born March 25, 1841. She was the daughter of Peder Olsen and Marith Eriksdatter. She was a skilled seamstress and enjoyed Nordic (cross-country) skiing. She would often ski to the homes of neighbors and stay with them for a time at the beginning of each season, to help the women of the house sew clothing for the coming year. By the age of 25 when she went to work for the family of Iver and Ingeborg Donnum, she had dropped the H and was simply Marit.
This "Donnum Entourage" – Iver Donnum, his wife Ingeborg, their four young children and Ingeborg's friend and servant Marit Pedersdatter arrived in Chicago in 1868. Shortly after arriving, Ingeborg fell ill with cholera. Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused usually by drinking water contaminated by animal waste. It was a common infection in the days before plumbing.
On her deathbed, Ingeborg begged her friend to care her four children. Marit promised that she would. She and Iver were married in November, 1869 very soon after Ingeborg died. They took the children and moved to Wisconsin where two sons, Peder (named after Marit's father) and Hans were born. In 1871 they moved on to Minnesota where several other children were born. When Iver Donnum died in 1885, Marit was left to raise the children alone. From 1885 to 1890 she ran a boarding house in New London, MN. From 1890 until her death on Christmas Eve, 1907 she relied on her grown children until the last of her children (Ann Christina Dunhom Thoen) was born.
(Marit told these family stories and her memories of Norway to her children. Anna Christina (Donnum/Dunhom) Thoen, her youngest child passed them on to her daughter Viola (Thoen) Keller who is the source of this information.)
This "Donnum Entourage" – Iver Donnum, his wife Ingeborg, their four young children and Ingeborg's friend and servant Marit Pedersdatter arrived in Chicago in 1868. Shortly after arriving, Ingeborg fell ill with cholera. Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused usually by drinking water contaminated by animal waste. It was a common infection in the days before plumbing.
On her deathbed, Ingeborg begged her friend to care her four children. Marit promised that she would. She and Iver were married in November, 1869 very soon after Ingeborg died. They took the children and moved to Wisconsin where two sons, Peder (named after Marit's father) and Hans were born. In 1871 they moved on to Minnesota where several other children were born. When Iver Donnum died in 1885, Marit was left to raise the children alone. From 1885 to 1890 she ran a boarding house in New London, MN. From 1890 until her death on Christmas Eve, 1907 she relied on her grown children until the last of her children (Ann Christina Dunhom Thoen) was born.
(Marit told these family stories and her memories of Norway to her children. Anna Christina (Donnum/Dunhom) Thoen, her youngest child passed them on to her daughter Viola (Thoen) Keller who is the source of this information.)
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