I have reason to belive that an uncle to my father came to Trempealeau in 1882. On records found in Norway his tickett to USA was payed for in Eau Claire by someone unknown to me. In records on the FamilySearch homesite I have found one man with name Lars Olson. He was 17 years old, working as a farmhand. The farm owner is registred with name Purgenson. In Familysearch site his census place is: Town 23, Range 7, Hale, Trempealeau. Family History Library Film 1255448. NA film number T9-1448, page nr. 78A.
If someone has any information about this man I would be very pleased to have this information of course. Maybe I have found the rigth man.

Are you looking for the name of your father's uncle, or the man who paid his ticket? It's not clear from your query which one was named Olson and which one was named Purgenson. Clarifying your question might help someone answer it for you. Olson is of course a very common name in Trempeleu Co., being a very common Norwegian name. I've never run into Purgenson. Have you looked at the 1885 WI census? If he came in 1882, chances are he was still there in 1885. This census is helpful even though you have to browse through it. There were so few people in the county then that it doesn't take long to check it out. Doris

Dear Doris Waggoner
I'm sorry that my query was not so clear, and my english is not so good. Here is more information: Lars Olsen (Olson in U.S.A) is the man I'm looking for. He was born i Verdal, Norway, June 15. 1864. He left Norway Mars 18. 1882. And his ticket was payed for in Eau Claire. And I think that was all taken care of before he left Norway. But that is not a big point in this matter. All I want is to try to find Lars Olson. The name Phurgenson is written on a record i found, but I think this is a misspelling. I guess that if it's a Norwegian name it would be Jørgenson or Jorgenson in U.S.A. The reason for this query is that my grandpa once was visiting his brother so we had pictures and names and adresses. But there was a fire in my grandpa's house in 1960 and everything was lost. I was only nine years old then and did not care much for ancestors in U.S.A. And my grandpa was four years younger than Lars so he was and old man at that time. So I have been thinking about this relationship in the last 30 years, and with this opportunity the Internett is given us I think I give it a try. So I will be very pleased for any information. I'm not so good when it comes to look into those records you have in U.S.A, beacuse I have some problems navigating around and find the rigth places.
Best regards from
Trond Olsen

I don’t know anything about your Olson or Jorgenson/PPhurgenson but I know the frustration of using the Internet to find data! But here is one place to start to looking. Try www.FamilySearch.org It’s a site of the LDS (Mormon) church, and they do a good job. When you click on this site, click on “Family Record Search.” Then scroll down to the map and click on North America. You will get a list of the collections they have. For your use, the 1900 census is a good place to start. First enter Lars Olson, with his birth date and his birthplace of Norway. With his name you will get several hits, and pick the one closest to the right birth year. Then click on the tiny handwritten pages, which will enlarge. If you are lucky, it will be the actual census page recording where he lived in 1900, with a family if he had one by that time. Be sure to record all the data, including the town (you may have to go back to page 1 to find it), and the roll and all the data recorded at the top of the page, including the name of the person who took the census (if you can read it). Then do the same for Jorgenson/Phurgenson. If the 1900 census shows them living in Wisconsin, try it again for 1885 and 1895, and even 1905. You will have to browse those, in the counties the 1900 showed him living in, since they aren’t indexed as the 1900 is. If he’s not in Wisconsin in 1900, hope that there is an off-year census in the state he’s in. Not many states did that. Other Wisconsin resources can be found in http://www.cyndislist.com/wi.htm and more general resources in http://searches.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ I hope this helps, without being too overwhelming. Doris

Lars Olsen in Trempealeau,age 17 referenced at FamilySearch:
This information appears to be taken from the June 1, 1880 Census for Trempealeau County, Wisconsin.
When looking at the photo of the handwritten document the head of household is Borrie Jurgenson, from Norway - Farmer and family, along with farm laborer Lars Olson, 17 yrs. old, from Norway.
Unfortunately this can not be your Lars Olson if he immigrated in 1882.