Olina Peterson Strom

Olina and her sister Karen (Carrie)  sharing secrets?

Olina and Steven, Olina and children, Olina and Marie

Olina Strom's keepsakes; quilt she pieced in later years

Olina Strom was my greatgrandmother on my mom's side.  She has always been a source of interest for me since I started collecting material for family geneology.    Olina lived with my mom and her parents for about 10-12 years in Ashby, Mn but I never learned very much about her other than she was quite tiny, was a widow for 50 years and raised three children on her own.  Sometime between 1875 and 1880, according to the state and federal census, Steven apparently died.  He was 35 years old in 1875 and Oline 29.  They had one child, Carl, age 2.  In 1880 Olina is a widow with Carl 7, Henry 5, and Mary (Marie B my grandmother) 2.  Years ago I copied a plat showing the Strom and Larson's Addition to Lake Crystal, Mn. With Steven and Olina listed with others, as owners of property in that community in the year 1875.  I have searched many other records, including cemeteries but have never found anything about Steven. My mom, in annecdotal stories said that he died of a sun stroke while working for the railroad.   How Olina managed to keep her family together in the 1880s and raise them to become successful adults, I cannot imagine.  Carl became a lawyer and my grandmother, Marie, a teacher.  Don't know about Henry.  According to Olina's obituary, she was born in Modem Norway 1845, came to America with her parents in 1868 and settled in Lake Crystal.  Married to Stephen Strom who came from from Sweden.  She was survived by two brothers and a sister and at one time I received  family history from their descendents.  But I do have some little treasures that belonged to her and so her memory lives on through the possessions she cherished.  My grandsons have a dresser so they are the 6th generation to honor her.   Olina is buried in Pelican Lake Cemetery in Ashby, Mn. overlooking a small wooded ravine and I often stop to remember with her.