Nils Halvorsen Viken

  Research Notes:

Note: I have no family relationship with Nils Viken. But there is a family connection. Nils Viken's mother was Helene Halvorsdatter [Moe] and she was the second wife of Ole Persen Skaret, 1834-1913 and Ole was the father of my great-grandfather, Ole Olsen Skaret, 1869-1943. Ole Olsen Skaret and Nils Viken were not half brothers, since Ole Persen was not the father of Nils, nor was Helene the mother of Ole Olsen.

Nils Viken was born in 1858 and so he was about 11 yrs older than Ole Olsen Skaret. But with Nils' mother married Ole's father, Nils would have been 21 yrs old. It is likely that Ole Olsen and Nils Viken knew each other since they likely lived close by in the Ljørdalen area of Trysil parish. However, as I have indicated below, Nils Viken left Trysil for North America in 1880, and Ole Olsen Skaret would have been 11 years old.

The Norway Emigraion records [see below] note that he was going to Alexandria, MN. It is possible that he had stopped at Holmes City, Douglas Co [south of Alexandria] since he may have known about Oline Grambo and her husband Ole Sogaarden who had left Trysil in 1869. If he stopped at Douglas, he may of worked in the area or elsewhere.

According the submission for Ole O Skaret in the Østerdølenes Saga by K G Nilsen, image 362 [see Ole O Skaret's research notes]
[http://www.dxhansen.com/osterdolenes-saga.pdf], Ole had traveled in winter of 1892-1893 to Leeds, Benson Co, North Dakota and was inquiring about the whereabouts of Nils Viken. This implies that in the earlt 1890s that Ole likely had some type of correspondence that suggested the Nils Vikin was living someplace in Benson Co. The submission does not give anymore information on Nils.

There is a 1900 Census record for Nils in Towner Co, North Dakota, and he is working for a farmer in the area [Towner Co is just to the north boundary of Benson County - Leeds just south of the southern boundary of Towner Co]. This is most likely him, since the birth month and year and the emigration year are the same as Nil's record in Norway [see below]. However, I can not prove that this Nels and Nils Viken born 1858 in Norway are the same persons.

And it is here that the trail becomes cold. I have not found Nils Viken indexed in any other records in the US or in Canada or in Norway.
I do not know what happened to him. I have looked at US and Canada Census records, Evangelical Lutheran Church records, Findagrave, Billions of Graves, North Dakota Cemeteries [on Ancestry].

Rueben D Grue, 20 Oct 2024
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Norway, Emigration Records, 1867-1960 for Nils Halvorsen [Ancestry Collection]
Olso .... https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/61757/images/61757_b1059880-00072?treeid=&personid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=HSa83&_phstart=successSource&pId=498955

registered: 14 May 1880 ..... image 73 out of 478 ... line 15
Nils Halvorsen, age 22 from Trysil; designation: Alexanderia, MN


FamilySearch FT id M2CR-NZ3 .... only has his birth ... note:
The siblings Nils, Oline and Johanne emigrated to America, probably when the mother married a second time ... December 20, 2022 ... Rolf Ketil

maybe... a border crossing but probably NOT him since name is Nils Halvorsen
https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1075/images/m1464_336-0144?usePUB=true&_phsrc=JEe28&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=822822

2 Jan 2025 .. I found a birth record for Halfdan Halvorsen in the Trysil Parish register (official) no. 6, 1866-1873, p. 26, no 46
.. Halfdan, b 11 Apr 1868... parents: Halvor Nilsen Viken and Helene Halvorsdatter ..... this implies that there was a farm called
Viken in Trysil and chances are that this farm is/was near Ljordalen ????




1900 US Census, Towner Co, ND, Twp 157 Range 68

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4120524_00033?treeid=&personid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=JEe31&_phstart=successSource&pId=38540754

Nils Viken, born Apr 1858 in Norway, single, em 1880; farm labor [name spelled Nels],
... working at farm of Knute Westegard, b Jan 1873 in Norway, emigrated in 1892


possible: 1915 ND State .... maybe ??? .... dw/fam 30 / 34 ... Nels Viken, age betw 20-60; only person listed
Spring Brook Twp, Williams Co, ND

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89LJ-LD1Y?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQK9C-12KL&action=view&cc=2346284

1900 US census ..... probably not the right person - I had searched for Nils Halvorsen, b 1858 in Norwy=a
https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4120518_00878?treeid=&personid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=JEe29&_phstart=successSource&pId=50733767