I'm looking to find information on my line of the Gjerde family which I've tracked down to the Crookston area of Minnesota. My Father (Dale Gjerde) was born in Crookston, to Orvald Gjerde and Lila Mae (Larson) Gjerde. Orvald's father was Ole Gjerde, who moved to the area around 1906 (I found his Homestead application here on ancestry.com.) The family farm is located in what is now Warren, MN.
Unfortunately, very little is known about our family history, since Orvald (my grandfather) was an abusive drunk and my father and other family did not talk to him much at all (he passed away in 1993.) My father has told me that he believes Ole Gjerde came up the Red River from somewhere around Iowa to settle in Minnesota.
Ole Gjerde had several children, although the only two that I know of are Orvald and his brother Ed (who is alive and well, living in California, albeit extremely hard to get a hold of.)
If anyone here is a Gjerde in minnesota or knows of any of these connections, I would love to hear from you! please contact me at
egjerde@mn.rr.com if you have any information at all. thanks!