Martha Lyseng Knudtson Biography

Picture: Footprints Along the Stoney p. 277

Martha Lyseng was born in 1833 at Clinton, Minnesota. She was the second child and oldest daughter of
Knut K. and Anne Lyseng. She received her education in Clinton and moved with her family to Canada
at the age of 19. In 1906, she married Eilert Knudtson.

In 1905, Eilert had immigrated to Canada and filed on a homestead five miles north of Donalda. Their first
home was a tar-paper shack 12 feet by 14 feet. Their mode of transportation was by wagon or by sleigh pulled
by oxen.

They belonged to Bethany Church north of Donalda and their school (Ibsen) was located one mile east of their
homestead. Eilert was an exceptionally large man and was very strong being able to lift weights of sever hundred
pounds.

The Knudtsons farmed at Donalda for many years and raised eight children. martha was a wonderful mother
and gave much of herself to her church - even though she was not very robust. In 1926, she died giving birth
to her ninth child, who also died and was buried along with her mother. Eilert died in 1969. Martha and Eilert
had eight living children: Sophie, Kenneth, Eileen, Inga, Hans, Gordon, Olga and Ruby.

Footprints along the Stoney p. 277.

P. 118 Fifty Years on the Coulee Rim