Born July 18, 1865 in Ness Halligdal, Norway, he was baptized and confirmed in Flaa Kirke in Norway. He came to Dakota Territory in 1883. As a young man he worked on the Cooper ranch west of Cooperstown, where so many young men worked when they first arrived in the area. He was married to Lise Stromme, January 2, 1891, the first couple to be married in the Trinity Lutheran parsonage of Cooperstown.
They lived a short time by Cooperstown, before he homesteaded on the farm in Tyrol Township - the farm on which he lived until he passed away in 1948.
He farmed with a team plus one oxen, until he acquired a black team of horses. One special use of the oxen was when they fought a prairie fire - they loaded a barrel of water on the stone boat so they could soak sacks in water. Young Mrs. Olson worried double about the fire and the small children at home.
Mrs. Olson lived on the farm with her sons, Thoralf and Edwin, until she passed away in February 1957. The farm was then sold to Frank Geiger.
There were four children, Thoralf, deceased, Edwin of Jessie, Agnes (Mrs. Selmer Jacobson) of Cooperstown, Olga (Mrs. Norman Evers) of Binford, and a foster daughter Mildred (Mrs. Milo Riste) of Richland, Washington.
Mr. and Mrs. Esten Olson Golden Wedding Anniversary - 1941
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 458