Torbjorn Erickson
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| Name at Enlist | Torbjorn Erickson |
| Birth Name | Torbjørn Eriksen Esvaag |
| Other Names | Thorbjørn |
| Lived | 15 Feb 1825 – 15 Nov 1862 |
| Birth Place | Esvaag (Eidsvaag), Valestrand parish, Stord, Hordaland |
| Birth Country | Norway |
| Resident of Muster-In | Primrose, Dane County, WI |
| Company at Enlistment | E |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Muster Date | 8 Dec 1861 |
| Cause of Death | Disease |
| Death Location | Edgefield Junction, TN |
| Burial Location | Nashville National Cemetery, Nashville, TN |
| Mother | Anna Torbjørnsdatter Berge |
| Mother Lived | 1803-28 Jul 1867 |
| Father | Eric Torbjørnsen Eidsvaag |
| Father Lived | 1796-30 Mar 1830 |
| Immigration | 1857 |
| Spouse | Anna Carine Tharaldsdatter Haugsgjerd |
| Spouse Lived | 27 Oct 1827-aft 1880 |
| Married On | 21 May 1848 |
| Marriage Location | Stord parish, Hordaland, Norway |
Torbjørn was born on the Eidsvaag farm, Valestrand, Stord parish, Hordaland fylke and left the parish for America in 1857 with his wife and three children. He joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company E. The men of the company called themselves “Odin’s Rifles.”
The army listed Erickson as living in Primrose, Dane County, WI, age 37, and married. He enlisted for three years on November 26, 1861, in Dane County, and mustered on December 8, 1861, at Madison, WI, as a Private (Menig). He was missing while on the road from Lebanon to Cave City, KY. He died of disease at Edgefield Junction, TN, on November 15, 1862, buried there, and reintered in the Nashville National Cemetery, Nashville, TN.
Anne Carine and Torbjørn had four children: Malene (1848), Erik (1850-1915), Tharald/Thomas (1854-1908) and Lars/Lewis (1860-1933). Torbjørn also had a son, Gregorius (1846), who remained in Norway with his mother, Anne Gregoriusdatter Strømøen. Anne Carine filed for a widow’s pension in 1863 and an unnamed minor filed in 1865. Anne moved to Trempealeau County, WI, where she remarried (Johannes Paulson) in 1864.
Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, boxes 76-7, 77-8; Regimental Muster and Descriptive Rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, vol. 20, p. 72; Payroll muster rolls of WI 15th Co E, saved by Captain T. A. Rossing; Nordmændene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p. 279; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett, Decorah, IA, 1894, p. 476; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Publ. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p. 303; U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934; Wisconsin Marriage Index, 1820-1907, [database on-line] Provo, Utah, USA, ancestry.com; “Norwegian Immigrants 1850 and later”, database, NAGCNL, ##44791, 44792, 44793, 44794, 44795.