Back Row: Ingebret, Nels, Martin, Knut, Ole. Middle Row: Carl, Elling, Marit, Andrew Front Row: Theodore.

Marit Engebretsdatter Lyseng                         Born: April 14, 1835 Skrautvål                         Married: Skrautvål                         Died: March 21, 1910 Dahlen, North Dakota                         Buried: Middle Forest River Cemetery,                         Dahlen, North Dakota              Elling (Erling) Nilson Dahlen (Dalen)                         Born: October 28, 1835 Skrautvål                         Died: March 15, 1920 Dahlen, North Dakota                         Buried: Middle Forest River Cemetery,                         Dahlen, North Dakota Picture: Anna Hong. Our Norwegian Ancestors p. 248

Middle Forest River Cemetery, Dahlen, North Dakota Photograph - Joanne Fritz

                                 
Marit and Elling were both born, raised, and married at Skrautvål, Valdres.
Elling was the owner of the Dahlen farms, however he sold the land to his
brother Ole and emigrated in 1865, with Marit and three young sons; Nels,
Ingebret, and Knut.

They left Bergen on the sailing ship Galathea that took 14 weeks for the
voyage to America. Marit's younger brother (Elling Lyseng) met them at
Red Wing, Minnesota with a team of horses and a wagon.

On the drive home to Elling's farm, he stopped at the homes of several fellow
veterans of the Civil War to report the sad news of Abraham Lincoln's assassination.

Marit and Elling were able to obtain a farm in Minneola Township, where several
friends and relatives lived. In 1872 they sold their farm and traveled by covered
wagon and settled near Montevideo in Chippewa County.

Nine years later, when the Dakota Territory was opened by the "Homestead Act",
Marit and Elling traveled 300 miles farther northwest to that free virgin prairie land,
so that he and his sons could take homesteads there.

After the official surveying was completed in Nelson County, one township was named
Dahlen, and a town was also called Dahlen. Elling soon organized a Lutheran Church
congregation and helped build a church with a parsonage.

Marit was the first president of the Ladies Aid. He was the first postmaster and served
as such for 12 years. Elling and Marit are buried in the Middle Forest River Cemetery,
near Dahlen, ND.

Anna Hong. Our Norwegian Ancestors. P. 246