TOR ANDERSON BREKKE AND RAGNHILD ANFINNSDATTTR SEIM

Endre Mikkelson Brekke was the son of Mikkel Endreson (Smidje) Brekke and Ragnhild Anfinnsdatter Seim.  Mikkel and Ragnhild also had a daughter, Kari, who married Lars Sjurson Hønsi.  Kari and Lars bought Brekke No. 5 when Endre and Anna emigrated to America.  However, Ragnhild was first married to Tor Anderson Brekke. Tor died in 1814, leaving Ragnhild with 6 children, including a newborn baby, to care for.  Those children were half-siblings to Endre and Kari.  Ragnhild had a farm, but she needed a husband.  Mikkel needed a farm and a wife. He decided to court the widow at Brekke No. 5 and it wasn't long before they were married. 

Tor Andersson Brekke (b. October 03, 1759, d. 1814) (son of Anders Endreson Brekke and Synneva Torsdatter . Sylvarnes) was born October 03, 1759 in Brekke, Vik, Sogn Og Fjordane, Norway, and died 1814. He married Ragnhild Anfinnsdatter Seim on June 24, 1797 in Vik, Sogn Og Fjordane, Norway, daughter of Anfinn Tollackson Seim and Gyrid Andersdatter Tenål.
CHILDREN OF TOR ANDERSON BREKKE AND RAGNHILD ANFINNSDATTER SEIM

1.  Synneva Torsdatter Brekke was born March 07, 1798 at Brekke, Vik, Sogn, Norway. She married Gutorm Anfinnson Midlang on 1823, son of Anfinn Gutormson Midlang and Marta Olsdatter Orvedal.  Their daughter, Marta, came with the families of her uncles, Anders and Endre, in 1853. She married Gutorm Olson Hønsi, son of Synneva Ivarsdtr. Hønsi and Ola Gutormson Tisdel of Hønsi Bruk no. 2. They lived in Bath Twp., Clarks Grove, Freeborn Co., MN.

  

2. Anders Torson Brekke was born 1803 at Brekke, Sogn Og Fjordane, Norway. He died in 1875 near Lake Mills, Iowa.  Anders Torson Brekke was 11 years old in 1814 when his father, Tor Anderson Brekke, died. By tradition, he would have taken over the Brekke farm when the time came.  But the death of his father changed that.  When Mikkel Endreson Smidje bought the Brekke farm, his son, Endre, became first in line to inherit the farm, and Anders Torson Brekke was left without a place.  Anders married Anna Hansdatter Føli Feb.10, 1829, Vik, and they raised a family at Føli.  But, in 1853, both Anders and Endre decided to emigrate to America.  Anders and Anna's son, Tor Anderson Brekke Føli, had emigrated to Boone Co. IL in 1844. Tor fought in the Civil War and was wounded in Battle of Stones River near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  He died as a result of his wounds on January 1, 1863.  Anders and Endre left Vik with their families in May of 1853. They crossed the ocean on the schooner, Hans Holmboe, and arrived in New York on June 29th.  Within a year or so of arriving in the US, Endre settled on land in Calmar Twp., Winneshiek Co., Iowa, a mile north of the little village of Spilleville. Anders and Anna lived in Chicago for some years.  During that time, Anna and one daughter died in a cholera epidemic and are buried in Lincoln Park Cemetery.  Anders and his sons moved to the Lime Creek area of Winnebago County, Iowa, where he died in 1875.
*FOLI, Thor  
Residence: Freeborn County, Minnesota. Born “Tor Andersen Føli” in Vik, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, son of Anders Torsen Brække and Anna Hansdatter Føli. Came from Vik to America in 1844, settling in Freeborn County, Minnesota. Civil War: Private. Killed in the war. Sources: (Ulvestad p282) (Naeseth ’44-1143) http://vesterheim.org/collections/civil-war-database/f/fol/

3. Gyrid Torsdatter Brekke was born August 1806 at Bruk 5 Brekke in Vik, Sogn, Norway, and died at Bruk 1 Holstad in Vik, Sogn Og Fjordane, Norway. In 1829 he married Jon Ellendson Holstad b. 1793. The son, Michael Jonson Holstad, emigrated with his family in 1867 and settle near Lake Mills, Iowa.

4. Eli Torsdtr. Brekke was born January 1809, at Bruk 5 Brekke in Vik, Sogn, Norwayand died date unknown.  Eli married Anders Jonson Nummedal. (1807-1856) Store Nummedal, bruk 2.  Her son, Jon Anderson Nummedal, emigrated to the US in 1864. He married Eli Olsdatter Orvedal, the daughter of Ola Johanneson Orvedal.

5.  Anna Torsdatter Brekke was born May 1811, in Bruk 5 Brekke in Vik, Sogn, Norway, and died 1849. She married Gutorm Larson Honsi  1831. Hønsi Bruk 28, Gard 1. Their daughter, Ragnhild, came to the United States with Anders and Endre aboard the Hans Holmboe in 1853.  She married Endre Sandager in Iowa.

6. Tor Torson Brekke was born October 9, 1814, at Bruk 5 Brekke in Vik, Sogn, Norway, and died 1847. He married Ragnhild Olsdatter Hopperstad on January 2, 1842. Tor Torson Brekke drowned in the Sognefjord leaving his widow and 4 children.  Their eldest daughter, Ragnhild, had emigrated in 1851 in company of her uncle, Jon Olson Hopperstad and family.  Ragnhild, Tor's widow, was a sister to Anna Hopperstad Brekke. She and her 3 remaining children, Margrete, Synneva and Tor, were aboard the Hans Holmboe in 1853.