Originally published at Olsonboys.org circa 1999 — a site to share stories and culture of my family.
The Olsonboys trace their ancestry back to Norway where our surname was spelled Olsen. When grandfather Olaf left Norway at age 23 and arrived in Halifax the immigration people simply changed the spelling of his name.
The Olson family in Norway lived for at least the past 4-5 generations not far from Oslo the capital of Norway. The province is called Ostfold and the main place they lived was Sarpsborg. Locations named Tune, Skeberg, Gamlebyn and Helgebye are all in the same vicinity and are identified as places where births, marriages or deaths occurred.
Going back as far as we have on the patriarchal side it goes Mathias Olsen begat Ole Christian Mathisen who begat Thorvald Olsen who begat Olaf Olsen and a brother for Olaf named Harald. And Olaf begat a son Lorne Harold Olson on Dec. 1, 1941.
Lorne was raised primarily in Regina, Saskatchewan, attended Brigham Young University in Provo Utah and University of Oregon in Eugene. After marrying, he begat Robert Lorne Olaf Olson, David Aaron Thorvald Olson, Daniel Mark Mathias Olson, James William Christian Olson and Andrew Joseph Harald Olson.
The Mother of these Olsonboys is Lauralee Catherine Lucile Bannatyne Stevenson (Olson) now Elliott of Logan Utah. She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Feb. 17, 1944, the daughter of Robert Louis Stevenson, the rambling salesman, business consultant and traveler and Isobel Steel Bannatyne, born in Aberdeen, Scotland now living resting near in Logan, Utah with many cats.
