Person:Ole Haugen (5)

Ole was born in Valle, Norway, came to Porters Mills, Wisconsin in 1888 to Stanley in 1891. He married Marie Stene in name only to take care of his children, it is understood that this marriage ended in divorce, in 1920. His name was Ole Ch ristianOlsen which he was obligated to change in 1888 because there were so many Scandinavians living nearby with that name that it was difficult to conduct business or get his own mail He derived his new name from his grandfather's farm in Vaale, "Haugestad" At age 13 he was an orphan, his mother having died shortly after his birth, and his father dying in an accident aboard ship. the state place him in a shoemaker's home as an apprentice where he was treated unkindly. After a year he ran away to sea where he obtained a position as cabin boy on a Norwegian freighter. For about five years he worked extremely hard, then was shipwrecked in a tropical storm, and became critically ill with malaria in British Guiana. He returned to Norway to convalesce, and used that time to study navigation. He enrolled in t he Maritime Academy at Horton and graduated at the top of his class, passing the examination for ship's captain at the age of 24. He continued on at the school and taught navigation for several years.

During this interval, in 1882 , he married Maren Evensen of Larvik. Ther had a son, Oscar, born that year, and a daughter, Emily, born in 1885. Their second son, Anton was born in Wisconsin in 1891. At age 28 he signed on a Norwegian freighter s first mate. During the voyage he became captain when his predecessor died of yellow fever. The entire trip was such an ordeal that Mr. Haugen resolved to find some way to spend the rest of his life on land. Consequently, when the ship landed in New York city in 1888 he left the ship and went to Porters Mills, Wisconsin where his friend fro mnLarvik, Carstn Olsen, was working. Her found employment with the Northwestern Lumber Company and eventually developed a contract with them to pile their lumber. He was able to send for his wife and children in 1889 and they arrived in Porter's Mills in June. Their trip was u nforgettablemainly because the train from Philadelphia passed through countryside devastated by the Johnston Folld. When the lumber company moved it's operations to Stanley, Wisconsin, MR. Haugesn continued on with them as the lumber-piling contractor.

About 1900

he bought eighty acres of fine farm land north of Stanley on which he built a large housie and several modem farm buildings, and in 1907 he established the Otter Creek lee Company. In 1899 his wife, Maren Evenson, died. She was the first person buried in Evergreen Cemetery on land given by him to the church. Three years later he married Oline Hansen, a widow with two small daughters, Astrid(Pinkie) and Hanna. Three so ns were bom to this marriage, Chiistian, Einar, and Melvin. Oline died in 1910. A third marriage to Mrs. Marie Stene ended in divorce in 1920.

Two happy events for the Haugen family were the weddings in Our Savior's Church of Emfy with Jessler Quammen in 1906, and Oscar with Mathilda Johnson in 1910.

written by Norman L Haugen, M.D. for Our Saviors Church, Stanley, WI centennial 1985