Hello all:
In the 1865 census of Ramnes, Norway (now called RE, SW of Olso), the Olaus Syversen family consisted of his wife Elen Marie Mathisdatter (d. 1870) and six kids born in either Ramnes or Botne: Anders Christian Olausen (b: 1851); Ole Olausen (b:1854); Syvert Olausen and twin sister Ollette Emilie Olausdatter (b: 1858); Thorvald olausen (b: 1861); Elise Olausdatter (b: 1864). Thorvald wrote in a bio in 1903 that he was one of 10 siblings. I found in Ramnes parish records another girl: Stine (b: 1867). This still leaves 3 kids missing, but the records list only live births.
When Martin M. Lian and his family (wife Ingeborg and daughter Olava) came to the U.S. in 1884, he was part of a party of 8, including Ole Lian (30), his wife Anna (26) and their two girls (Elen 4.5 and Helza 3). This could be Thorvald's older brother and the age is right, but my early research hasn't found him or this family in later census records. There is an Ole Renhowe in Wisconsin that I found in the 1900 census, but I have no proof that he's the or same man and his wife's (Ella) maiden name is not Renhowe.
I did find a 1884 church confirmation record of Olava and it names her father as Martin Mathisen living on the LIAN farm. One family member mentioned that Olava and Thorvald were cousins and the name "Mathisen" appears in some of the other birth records. An article on Norwegian naming practices says that a lot of immigrants used their "farm" names for surnames, resulting in siblings ending up with different last names.
I'm trying to make sense of all of this. If you have further questions or comments, contact me.