Lars O. Kjelland was born in 1820 at Sogndal, Norway. He married Ane Dydland in 1841 , and lived on the gaard (farm) Steinberg. When their oldest son, Ola, was 13 years old they moved to Kjelland. That gaard got its name from a deep depression in the ground resembling a cellar "Kjellar." Lars and Ane had seven children, namely: Ola A.; Karl; Olaus; Elias; Ane Lisabet; Ingeborg and Conrad.

Having read about land being offered by the railroad in America, some of Lars€™ sons decided to go to get some of this land, as the only other choice was to do fishing. Piracy was fierce and rather than having his sons lost at sea, Lars decided they would all go to America. The families first lived at Harwood, North Dakota, but floods discouraged them, and so moving further west, they settled at last in Green Township, south and west of Valley City. By 1891 the last one of the family, Ola A. had sold his farm in Norway and settled on Section 21 in Green Township.

Life was hard, winters were cold but yet they continued working with oxen for farming and driving the cattle to the lake for water. Trees were planted, a church was built and with all of their family living close by, Lars and Ane were content.

Lars died in 1908 and Ane in 1909. They were both buried in Zion Cemetery in Green Twp., beside the church their sons and grandsons had built. Strange as it was that the whole family migrated to America, the strangest was that this whole family, with their spouses, are all buried in the same cemetery.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 126