Johan (John) Olsen was born at Broskerud, Norway, May 24, 1828. He married Kristine Solberg in 1854. They had five children:
Sigvart, Ole, Julia, Karen and Helen.
Johan Olsen purchased the Tande place, in Norway, in 1868 and lived there until 1878. While living there they took the name of the farm, "Tande." It was a well built up place, with a large fruit orchard. Johan Tande lost the place because he engaged in timber speculation. He later learned he couldn't float the logs down the river because of several falls. It was too expensive to haul them. Knute Solberg, Mrs. Tande's brother, paid off the mortgage, so the farm is still in the family.
On July 30, 1878, John (Johan) Tande and family sailed for America. They arrived in Philadelphia on August 14, 1878, and in Grand Meadow, Minnesota, three days later.
On July 13, 1882, Mr. Tande bought 160 acres, being the E 1/4 Section 12, for $1.25 per acre, and made full payment October 4, 1884. Here John Tande, Sigvart, and later his wife and family lived in a sod shanty on the banks of the Sheyenne River.
Once during a flood in the early eighties, John and Sigvart sat on top of the sod shanty until Gunder and Louis Trostad came in a wagon box with holes stuffed with rags, to rescue them. Trostads went down there three times before John consented to leave.
John Tande filed a homestead claim of 160 acres on Section 24-148-60, Willow Township, on November 11, 1889, when Benjamin Harrison was president. They built a small house and lived there until John died in 1892.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 379