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Torsten Larson

15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
The Scandinavian Regiment

Database Record Change Request

Name at Enlist

Torsten Larson

Birth Name

Tosten Larsen Aaraas

Other Names

Tosten; Torstein; Thomas Lewison

Lived

15 Sep 1826 – 16 Jun 1884

Birth Place

Sauherad parish, Telemark

Birth Country

Norway

Resident of Muster-In

Coon Prairie, Bad Ax (Vernon) County, WI

Company at Enlistment

G

Rank at Enlistment

Private

Muster Date

9 Dec 1861

Burial Location

Kvam Cemetery, Dalton, Otter Tail Co, MN

Mother

Margit Tovsdatter

Mother Lived

1787-15 Jan 1869

Father

Lars Svendsen

Father Lived

1790-6 Apr 1864

Immigration

1856

Spouse

Gunnild Jørgensdatter Hemb

Spouse Lived

15 Dec 1826-9 May 1910

Married On

8 Dec 1850

Marriage Location

Solum parish, Telemark, Norway

Tosten Larsen was born on Aaraas, Nes parish, Sauherad, and left Solum parish in 1856 with his wife and two daughters.  They arrived in Quebec on the Sjofna. Torsten Larson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company G. The men of the company called themselves the “Rock River Rangers.” The army listed him as living in Coon Prairie, Bad Ax (Vernon) County, WI, age 38, and married. He enlisted for three years on November 12, 1861, at Coon Prairie, and mustered at Madison, WI, on December 9, 1861, as a Private (Menig). Larson was sick in the hospital in 1864. He mustered out with the company on January 13, 1865, at Chattanooga, TN.

After the war Tosten and Gunild moved to Otter Tail County, MN.   They had five children:  Karen Marie (1851-?1936), Anne Kirstine (1853-?1865), Elise Marie (1856-1926), Louis Hans (1860-1950), and Jørgen Andreas/George Andrew (1866-1944). Torsten died June 16, 1884, and is buried in Dalton, Otter Tail Co., MN.

 

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-9; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol. 20, p. 102; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett, 1894, B. Anundsen, Decorah, IA, p. 537; Nordmaendene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p. 305; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p. 312; findagrave.com; 1880 Census, Roll: 629, Family History Film: 1254629, Page: 218C, Enumeration District: 220, Image: 0037; “Norwegian Immigrants 1850 and later”, database, NAGCNL, #42758; digitalarkivet.no; ancestry.com; findagrave.com.