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- Fånig. Flyytade till Västanås fattiggård.
- Nils Kristensen was born in Eidskog, Norway in August 1815 to Christen Hansen and his mistress, Olia Hansdatter. Anne Hagensdotter was born in Eda, Varmland, Sweden in 1812. Nils worked most of his life as a woodsman, but earlier in his life he was a soldier. During his service, the Crown-Prince Carl came to inspect the army. Carl later became Carl XV. The prince asked the Norwegian general if there was a soldier he could wrestle with. So the general called upon Nils. Nils was a tall man over 6 feet. He went up to the prince and saluted him and then they began to fight. Nils backed off of his strength at first, and the prince asked Nils to wrestle as he would with his other friends. So it was not long before the prince was floundering on the ground. When he got up, he told Nils, "That was good my boy!"
Nils died in Eidskog after a fight on December 23, 1848, leaving Anne with four little boys, ages one to seven, and they were very poor. After some time, Anne and the oldest son, Hans, began work at the Eda Glasbruk just over the border in Sweden. The other boys were left to spend all day alone at home. When they turned seven, the other boys were allowed to work at the glass factory as well. All four boys (Hans, Christian, Anders and Olaf Nilsen) turned into Master Glassbowers at Eda Glasbruk (Glassworks). They added the "Kraft" to their name at Eda because of all the other Nilsens at the glass factory.
Anders Kraft left Eda to become the Master Glass Blower at Skruf Glassworks in 1897. Hans and Christian stayed at Eda where they raised their families.
We know that Olaf and his family came to America on August 12, 1887 arriving in Pittsburgh, PA on the ship the SS Angelo. Traveling with him were his wife, Selma; daughter, Elen Aurora Dagmar; son, Albert Franz Napoleon; and son, Richard Kristen Isador. Selma died en route and was buried at sea. Elen, just fourteen years old, was separated from the family at the dock in New York and was never reunited with her family.
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