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Edward Toreson

15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
The Scandinavian Regiment
Edward  Toreson Profile Image
Wisconsin Historical Society, Iconography, ID 87551

Database Record Change Request

Name at Enlist

Edward Toreson

Birth Name

Edvard Martinius Thoresen Selnæs

Other Names

Thorson; Thoreson; Selness

Lived

10 Oct 1835 – 4 Apr 1913

Birth Place

Selnæs, Sævig parish, Overhalla, Nord-Trøndelag fylke

Birth Country

Norway

Resident of Muster-In

Pepin, Pepin County, WI

Company at Enlistment

I

Rank at Enlistment

Private

Muster Date

20 Dec 1861

Death Location

Highland Township, Winneshiek County, IA

Burial Location

Highland Cem, Decorah, Winneshiek Co, IA

Mother

Karen Nielsdatter Selnæs

Mother Lived

1799-7 Oct 1875

Father

Thore Olsen Selnæs

Father Lived

1799-23 Dec 1863

Immigration

1861

Spouse

Anna T Thorsen/Anne Paulsdatter Hovet

Spouse Lived

15 Jul 1849-2 Oct 1927

Married On

26 Jul 1872

Marriage Location

Winneshiek Co, IA

Edvard Martinius was born on the Selnæs farm and left the parish in 1861 with his brother, John Andreas. Edward Toreson joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company I. The men of the company called themselves the “Scandinavian Mountaineers” but were also known as the “Waupaca Company” because so many of them were living in that Wisconsin county when they enlisted.

The army listed him as living in Pepin, Pepin County, WI, age 26, unmarried, and from Trøndelagen, Norway. He enlisted for three years on December 10, 1861, at Pepin and mustered at Madison, WI, on December 20, 1861, as a Private (Menig).  Thorson was sick in Division Hospital in Knoxville, TN, on 6th, 16th and 18th of December 1863. He mustered out with Company I at Chattanooga, TN, on February 10, 1865.

After the war, Edward lived in Winneshiek County, IA, and married Anna Thorsen. Their children were all born in Iowa: Thomas (1873-1959), Tilda Kristina (1875-1882), Petra Nikoline (1877-1952), Martin Albert (1879-1955), Julia (1881-1979), and Tilda Clara (1884-1941), Thea Josefine (1886-1952), Edgar Olaf (1889-1889), and Edgar Julius (1892-1941). He was a farmer. He died in Highland Township, Winneshiek County, IA, and is buried in Highland Cem, Decorah, Winneshiek Co., WI.

 

Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-11; Regimental Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol. 20, p. 134; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers] Ole A. Buslett, 1894, B. Anundsen, Decorah, IA, p. 369 photo, p. 609;  Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p. 281, photo, p. 316, e. 51; William L Alexander, List of Ex-Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, living in Iowa, Des Moines, IA, 1886, p. 705; 1880 Census, Roll: 370, Family History Film: 1254370, Page: 154B, Enumeration District: 348, Image: 0498; 1885 IA Census, p. 145; ancestry.com, findagrave.com; “Norwegian Immigrants 1850 and later”, database, NAGCNL, #64034, #19787.