Plate I · The Name
The mouth of the river
Gímnes, Old Norse — a place named for what the water does when it meets the fjord.
The point of land at the river’s mouth, on Batnfjorden — where the Gimnes farm still stands.
Proven
Plate II · The Journey
One crossing, 1904
Ole Martin Olsen Gimnes and Ingeborg Thornes leave the farm. The red line below draws their route as you scroll — each pin lights, like lamplight on parchment, when the line reaches it.
Pan to follow the line · the only glow on the page is the pins
- Gimnesthe farm
- Kristiansundthe port
- Trondheimcoastal steamer north
- Hullacross the North Sea
- Liverpoolthe Atlantic sailing
- Bostonlandfall
- St. Paulby rail · the marriage
- Seattlethe shore they stayed on
Eight stops, one ship’s manifest, and a continent crossed by rail. The American pins — San Francisco, Butte, Berkeley — belong to the other half of the family, arriving from Mexico and Germany and Ireland. Their story is below.
The paper trail
Listed together, bound for Appleton.
The protocol page that starts the crossing: Ole Martin and Ingeborg, entered one after the other. The record images are this family’s portraits — no photographs of them survive.
Proven
Plate III · The Tree
Rooted in Seattle, 1933
Gus & Anita are the hinge — Norway above him, three continents above her. The tree grows upward from them. Every name opens a dossier.
The Norwegian line
The San Francisco line
They meet in Seattle
Engraved for the family · Plate III
Plate IV · The People
The dossiers
Each name on the tree opens a page. The longer lives have more paper; the shorter ones keep their gaps in view.
Full pages
He left Norway as Ole Martin. He arrived as Oscar.
The Norwegian lineIngeborg Tornes1883 – 1963A seamstress from the Thornes farm, Kristiansund.
The Norwegian lineCarl Tornesb. 3 Dec 1855The farm servant boy who took the Tornes farm’s name.
The Norwegian lineGuri Endresdatterbap. 26 May 1839 – 9 Sep 1906Her death hid in the lower half of the page for 119 years.
The San Francisco lineBennett Hyde Horr1847 – 1927A Rochester baker’s son who crossed a continent.
The Norwegian lineGus Gimness18 Oct 1905 – 28 Jul 1988A sales manager’s son of immigrants — the hinge of this page.
The San Francisco lineAnita Mary Horr10 Aug 1911 – 24 Jan 1999Granddaughter of a Mexican-born grandmother.
Shorter pages
Born on the Gimnes farm, 1835.
The Norwegian lineSusannad. 3 Feb 1909The marriage register that would introduce her properly burned.
The San Francisco lineGeorge Fella1854 – 1933A San Francisco painter with two brothers and German parents nobody named.
The San Francisco lineMary Louisa Laytonb. California, c. 1858An English father, an Irish mother — not both Irish, as the census once said.
The San Francisco lineWilliam Bennett Horr1872 – 1950Son of Bennett and Amparo; father of Anita.
The San Francisco lineBlanche Fella—Daughter of George Fella and Mary Louisa Layton; mother of Anita.
Shared pageThe first generationFour of the oldest couplesJohannes & Gunhild · Endre & Marit · Peder & Marith · William & Serrena
Plate V · The Open File
Still unsolved
An honest family history keeps its gaps on the page. These remain open, and waiting.
Ole Johannessen’s death
Before 1900, in no indexed church book anywhere searched. One untried door: the Gjemnes local history book.
Carl & Susanna’s marriage
The register burned — Kristiansund’s late-1879 marriages survive in no copy.
Two death certificates
Bennett’s (1927) and George Fella’s (1933) might each name a set of parents. Neither is online; both are county orders away.
Amparo’s death
Alive in the 1921–22 Society Blue Book. After that — nothing. Unfound.
Oscar’s two parentages
His Washington death record names Oliver G. Gimness and Marie Olson. His baptism and patronymic name Ole Johannessen and Guri Endresdatter.
1903 or 1904
The 1930 census gives 1903 as the year Oscar and Ingeborg immigrated. The emigrant protocol dates the crossing 27 January 1904.
Serrena, or “Terena”
Bennett’s mother appears as Serrena Hyde on his 1847 Massachusetts birth record. The name Terena also enters the family — and the spelling is not settled.
The brothel story
A family story — that Anita’s people ran a brothel south of the border. No record has ever backed it: newspaper archives searched, zero hits. Its only possible home, Amparo’s parents in pre-1865 Mexico, left no records at all. The search continues.