When a Norwegian immigrant named Ole Kolbjorn Livdalen built a crude log cabin near an oak grove 150 years ago, he had no idea as to exactly where he was. All he and his wife, Astri, and her 2-year-old daughter, Chersti K. Quarve, knew was that their nearest neighbors were several miles away. They may have thought this new home on the prairie was on the very edge of the State of Iowa.

In reality, the Livdalens had located their home in May 1853 just a half mile north of the state line in what was then the Territory of Minnesota. By doing this, they became the first white settlers in what later evolved into Freeborn County. The Livdalens also became the first farm family in the county and the parents of the county’s first white child, a son named Kolbjorn Ole Livdalen, born on Nov. 28, 1854.

In the spring of 1856 the Livdalens decided to move. They sold the log cabin and seven acres of cultivated land to William Beighley for about $300. The new owner removed the sod roof and replaced it with oak shingles. Also, the cabin’s height was raised by several more logs and Beighley installed several windows. As a result, the log cabin attained its present status of having the combined kitchen and living/dining room on the first floor, and sleeping quarters for the entire family on the second floor. One door and three windows still comprise the cabin’s exterior decor. Bathroom facilities were in a separate building (better known as an outhouse).

The Livdalens were actually squatters while in Freeborn County. They moved to Winneshiek County, Iowa, likely in the area between Cresco and Decorah. In later years, Ole Livdalen moved to a farm near Glenwood, Minn., where he died in 1884. His wife Astri later became known by her maiden name of Mellem. She lived in Norway Township, Winnebago County, Iowa. Astri Mellem died on March 12, 1897, and is buried in the Lime Creek Lutheran Cemetery west of Emmons.

Beighley purchased the property actually developed by the Livdalens at a government land sale in 1858. He reportedly sold the property to a Mr. Ranny in 1863. Two years later the farm was sold to Peter J. Miller.

Through the years the log cabin was also occupied by the families of Sam Miller, Wesley Hawk and B. G. Odden. In fact, the cabin was continuously occupied by those families until 1904. During those 50 or so years a total of 13 children were born in this pioneer home.

In 1909, the Territorial Pioneers Organization recognized the historical importance of this building and had it moved to the north end of the Freeborn County Fairgrounds. In 1957 the cabin was moved again and became part of the Historical Village where it’s being preserved for future generations.

The original site of the Livdalen cabin is in the southwest quarter of Section 33 of Shell Rock Township, about a mile southeast of Gordonsville. To reach this site, go east on County Road 1 (110th Street), then south about a half mile on County Road 106 (813th Avenue). On the east side of this gravel road near the home of Bruce and Dorothy Buchanan is a small granite marker at the original site of the cabin. This marker was dedicated on May 17, 1953, by Albert Lea’s Normanna Lodge 52, Sons of Norway, to honor the county’s first residents who built the log cabin just a century earlier.

(Note: In some historical accounts, the name of Livdalen is also spelled Livdahlen.)

(Contact Ed Shannon at ed.shannon@albertleatribune.com or call 379-3434.)