Author tells of chasing ancestral roots in Norway
Ancestors immigrated to NU in 1856
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NEW ULM -- A California-based author, artist and intuitive talked of her journey tracing her ancestral history in Norway and the United States at the Brown County Historical Society Lunch and a Bite of History Thursday.
Robin Lysne's ancestors Ole and Anna Lysne immigrated to New Ulm with several small children in 1856. One of their sons, Jan Thomson, serving with the Leavenworth Rescue Expedition, was killed by Dakota warriors in the U.S.-Dakota War in August 1862, according to the Aug. 9, 1902 New Ulm Journal.
Lysne's other ancestors moved to other places in Minnesota and Canada.
She wrote three books on her Norwegian ancestors, "The Legend of Randine: Entering the Sisterhood; The Legend of Randine: The Laerdal Letters; and Kisti's Royal Garden."
Her journey includes a search for more of Ole and Anna's family.
Brown County Historical Society Executive Director Amy Johnson talked about Lysne.
"Robin has written more than 10 books. Her hope is inspire people to learn more about their ancestral settlement and share information about her family's immigration experience from Norway," Johnson said.
Lysne said she traveled to Norway after her mother died.
"I got a grant and moved to Bergen, Norway 27 years ago. Knowing little about my ancestral history, It helped me understand my mother and ancestors after going there," Lysne said. "I rode a ferry boat down the Sognefjord and Laerdal, about 150 miles inland. I met my cousins on a farm near Laerdal who invited me for dinner. I returned there the next summer for two family reunions and enjoyed incredibly beautiful mountains and waterfalls in their backyard."
Lysne said her cousin was very interested in family history.
Lysne did several years of research on what it was like to live in Norway in the 1820s and 1830s.
"I was fascinated by what it was like to be a woman back then when women had no profession except family," she said. "I learned to understand how my great, great, great grandmother met Ole when his fiance died in birth. The mid-wife brought the baby to her and she became the wet nurse (a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another's child, if the mother dies or she is unable to or chooses not to nurse the child herself) and how the couple began their life together."
Lysne said her book The Legend of Randine (Ole Lysne's first wife) is about understanding who she is beyond the social guidelines that were very strict at that time.
"I imagine she was pushed out of the church, pushed our of the family and her mid-wife took her in and helped her understand she had something to offer people," Lysne said.
Lysne said her first book about Randine, "Entering the Sisterhood" is about how she became a mid-wife, worked as an apprentice for several years and became the wet nurse of the child.
Lysne said she learned that Randine was alone with the baby and with Ole's family for six years because he was in the Army before they got married.
Ole and Randine had six children together, three of which died young. One stayed in Norway and one emigrated to the United States.
Lysne said her book The Legend of Randine: The Laerdal Letters" book is based on letters Randine wrote to her mid-wife. She said the Legend of Randine books are novels including her life story about having five more children as a full-time mid-wife for eight years before she died at age 29.
"My sense of their relationship was Ole fell in love with Randine when he met her because she was so beautiful, loving and kind to the child," Lysne said.
As a professional medium, psychic and energy medicine practitioner, Lysne said she offers clients safety, intuitive insight, compassion and mentoring.
Lysne founded a cooperative publishing house, Blue Bone Books which publishes poetry and works with a variety of Northern California authors.