Olof William Eriksen

Olof was born on March 23rd, 1869 in Christiana, Oslo, Norway to Ole Ericksen and Karen Nilsen. He was the fourth of their five children, two boys and three girls. Ole married again after Karen died and his wife bore Olof a half sister in 1898.

He emigrated to the US from Norway with his parents and three living siblings. They arrived in New York on July 7th, 1877.

Olof married Olive Marie Drown on October 22nd, 1891 in West Jordan, UT when he was twenty two years old.

Their first child, Vernon William, was born on May 15th, 1893 in Sandy, UT.

Their second and third children, twins Irene and Orleen, were born on June 23rd, 1895 in Sandy, UT.

Orleen lived for only two days.

Little Vernon died on May 28th, 1896, only two weeks after his third birthday.

Little Irene died two weeks later on July 10th, 1896, just a couple of weeks after her first birthday.

Their fourth child, Olive Lucille was born on May 19th, 1897 in Midvale, UT. She is their only child to have lived to adulthood.

Olof's wife, Olive, died on September 6th, 1897 when young Olive was only three months old.


Olof was left alone with an infant. He took little Olive to live with her mother's family, but soon married Clara Valeria Drown (Olive's sister) on March 8th, 1899 in East Jordan, UT when he was twenty nine years old.

Their first child, Valeria, was born in 1898.

Their second child, Ruby, was born in 1900.

Olof's wife, Clara, died in 1910 when she was thirty three years old.

He married Emma Lancaster on May 21st, 1924 in Salt Lake City, UT. He was fifty four years old. There is no record of them having children together.

He was a watchman at a smelting and refining facility from 1926 until March 30th, 1936.

Olof suffered from chronic hypertension and died of kidney failure on December 21st, 1936 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah at the age of sixty seven, and was buried in the Sandy City Cemetery in Sandy, UT.

Do you know anything about Olof? Do you have any memories, photos or information to add? I would absolutely love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below to add your information. If you have photos to share, please send them to me along with any other information at tomebug (at) gmail (dot) com.