In 1889 a Norwegian named Henry Kjelstad settled in Ohop Valley. He married another Norwegian, Olava and this is a picture of their farm years later.
The farm moved through the generations:
• Olava and Henry’s son Matt and he and his wife Velma lived at the farm,
• They were followed by Matt and Velma’s daugther Caroline and her husband Steve Burwash. Steve still lives at the homestead today and farms.
Photos courtesy of Steve Burwash.
Click on images to enlarge.
Eatonville To Rainier 
7 responses to “Kjelstad Farm”
[…] Henry Kjelstad settled in Ohop Valley and married Mrs. Herman Anderson’s younger sister, Mrs. Herman Anderson’s younger sisters, Olava Hansen, who had come to this country with her sister and the two older Anderson children from Norway. Mrs. Kjelstad is pictured on the front porch of her valley home. Her son Matteus is standing on the rail, while the little girls are, left to right Edith Swanson who lived with the family and the Kjlestad daughter Martha. […]
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[…] believe these shots, provided by the Kjelstad family, are at the Eatonville Lumber Company camp — in part because there were other photos of the lumber […]
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[…] colorized version of Ohop Valley early 1900s — taken I think from the Kjelstad farm looking toward Mt. Rainier. It looks like there’s a lake in the middle, but if you’re […]
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[…] 1889 a Norwegian named Henry Kjelstad settled in Ohop Valley. In 2014 the farm, which had stayed in the family was sold to the Nisqually […]
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I love these pictures. We were at the farm a few summers ago with Matt and Judy Kjelstad along with cousin Sigmund Bjørnevik and his wife from Norway. All of us are cousins. Our great great grandfather was Amund born in 1846 and died in 1946. He lived his entire life in Kjelstali Norway. Amund was Henry’s brother.
My Mother Charlotte Kjelstad Pearson middle name was Olava. She was named after her great aunt Olava.
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This is GREAT. Thank you so much for sharing!
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Hi
I am also a relative of Henry and Olave Kjelstad. My mom is Bertha Kjelstad and her father was Amund Kjelstad. Bertha is a sister to Matt Kjelstad mentioned above. I am thankful for all the history research you have done on the Kjelstads. I am in the process of tracing our line back to Norway and creating a family history album I can pass down to our future generations. Thank you again. I love this website.
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