Harald Evensen Gulset

Utreist med/Emigrated on: "CLAUS THOMMESEN", departed from Skien May 25th to New York. Arrived Aug 11, 1849 with 158 passengers.

Utreist til/Emigrated to: Oconomowoc township, Waukesha Co, Wisconsin.

Harald  was the son of Even Eriksen Gulset and Gunhild Haraldsdatter, who also emigrated on the same ship. He was born June 24th 1824, probably in Lunde parish i Telemark, as he moved to Gjerpen from Lunde with his parents in 1837.
He was married to Karen Gurine Eriksdatter on Dec 10, 1847 in Gjerpen, and he seems to have settled in a house on the part of Skien/Gjerpen called Brekkejordet, which at this time belonged to Gjerpen, but was only minutes from the city of Skien. They had a daughter, Gunhild Annette, born there on August 14, 1848. She emigrated with her parents.
In 1845 Harald lived on Gulset with his parents. He was a painter. His wife Karen Gurine also lived on Gulset, where her parents Erik Helgesen and Anne Pedersdatter had a farm called Nyhus u/Gulset. They also emigrated in 1849.

When Harald, his wife Karen Gurine, and their daughter arrived in America in August of 1849, they settled in the Pine Lake area. They are listed in the Oconomowoc township in Waukesha County in the 1850-census, and at that time they were living next door to Karen’s parents, the Helgesens. By 1850, they also had a son named Edvardt, who was apparently born after they arrived in America and whose name is listed in the census. Karen’s parents both died by November 1852, and evidence shows that the Harald Evensen and his family moved to Scandinavia township around 1854. His family was among some of the original settlers in that area. They lived on a 120-acre farm just south of the present-day village limits of Iola. They also took with them to Scandinavia, Karen’s two youngest siblings, Carl and Anne Karine, who had been orphaned by the parent’s deaths.
The Evensens can be found in the census of 1860 (and all censuses thereafter) in Scandinavia township. They had a total of 11 children, 6 who died young or as infants. The couple also raised Karen’s two youngest siblings, Carl and Anne Karine (who have

From left: Henry, Edwin, Clara, Joseph and Edward. In front Harald and Karen Gurine.

confirmation records in the Scandinavian Lutheran church.) The Evensen children were:

1. Gunhild Annette, b. Gjerpen Aug 14, 1848. Dead before 1854)
2. Edvardt, b. Febr 7, 1850. Died Nov 3, 1860.
3. Edwin, b. 1850.  He was an educator and moved to the Seattle area before the Great Depression and was reported to be a college professor there. He also invested in real estate and he and his sons managed some of the expensive real estate in what is now known as the downtown Seattle financial district.
4. Gunhilde Annette, b. 1854. Dead 1855.
5. Anna Georgine, b. 1856. Dead 1860.
6. Gustav Adolph, b. 1858. Gustav Adolph began study for the ministry, but died in 1885 before he finished his studies.
7. Adam, b. ca 1859. Dead 1860.
8. Edward, b. 1861. He married a Jaastad-girl from the Iola area and they moved to Tomahawk, WI where they operated a business catering to tourists.
9. Henry, b. 1862.
10. Clara Henrietta, b. 1864. She married John Frogner, who was partner with his brothers in a lumber mill and electric company in downtown Iola. The Frogners also owned a Case car dealership for a short time, before the car company folded.
11. Joseph, b. 1867. He married his first cousin, Sara Helgesen (Henry’s daughter) and took over the family farm agter his parents died. He also owned and rented several cottages at the Chain of Lakes, but some poor business dealings let to Joseph eventually losing the farm to the bank in the 1930’s. The farm was later purchased by Edgar Johnson, who was one of Anne Karine’s grandsons (Alfred’s son), and it remained in that family for many years – so the Hohnson family owned the two adjacent farms. Joseph died in 1941.

Most of the Evensen family members are buried in the Scandinavia Lutheran Cemetery on Country Road G north of Scandinavia.
Harald Evensen died March 20, 1907, and Karen Gurine died July 3, 1910.

 

 



2003 - Skien Genealogical page - by Jan Christensen