Person:Sylfest Ramstad (1)

{geni:occupation} Farmer and Horse Dealer

{geni:about_me} >Farmed gaard Ramstad south - the ancestral farm. The Skjåk Ættebok gives Sylfest's birth year as 1830. His son, Otto, always insisted that 1829 was the correct year. The censuses of 1865 and 1875 both list his birth year as 1829. This would bear out Otto's claim that Sylfest was almost 100 years older than his youngest grandson, Otto's son Philip, born in 1929.

The two censuses cited, 1865 and 1875, both spell the name Sølfest Pedersen Ramstad. Otto Ramstad spoke of his father's skill at wood carving. He carved toys for his sons. Mathias Ramstad had a wooden jewel box carved by his father. It is now in the possession of Philip Ramstad.

Olaf Ramstad wrote of his father that he was "one of the leaders in the settlement. Because he was so kind hearted, he was always the leader that took care of the poor and their wants." In his history, Otto Ramstad wrote: “The Ramstad places for centuries practiced and held to the traditions of self sufficiency. Father was the first Ramstad that owed on his place. He with O. E. Hagen, late Register of Deeds, Polk County, Minnesota, failed terribly in coop store in Skjaak in the late 1870s. (The Coop continued. Father recovered a little after 15-20 years. I recalled items were charged against his aktie - share. I knew nothing about this till I heard my brothers talking.) When I went to school in Crookston, I used to see Hagen often. I never spoke to him, rather, I never made his acquaintance.” >>

A biography/family history of Otto Ramstad, Poplar, MT, is included in "Montana, Its Story and Biography", Vol 3, page 946.

Otto was born, 5 Dec 1881, son of Sylfast P. Ramstad and Marit Hoven. Sylfast was farmer and horse dealer who spent his whole life in the area where Otto was born. Marit Hoven was of a wealthy agricultural family. Their children were: Peter, Olaf, Gudbrund, Sylfest, Anna, Mathias, Hans, Leo and Otto. All these became citizens of the US except Sylfest and Hans who were farmers in Norway. Sylfest became owner of the Ramstad estate that had been in the family for six hundred years.