Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us Together Martin Gaarder and Julia Johnson Gaarder Martin Gaarder Martin Gaarder, was born in Norway with his surname being written with double "aa," but due to many interpretations of both the sound and spelling of the name by those who recorded a foreign language from the Scandinavian countries, wrote what they thought they hears phonetically. So the family surname has several spelling on American records of Gaarder - Garder - Gorder, but the individuals are all from the same family. Martin was the second oldest child of Ole Olsen Gaarder who was a native son of Norway and born about 1819. His mother, Anne Mickolsen Gaarder, of Norway, was born about 1821. They lived in Bangs Sogn, Norway and all the known children were born in this place. Ole and Anne were married sometime before the birth of their daughter, Clara, in 1841. Martin's older brother, Ole Olsen, was bom June 3, 1844, with Martin following on November 25,1849. His younger brother, Andrew, was born about 1852. There might have been other children that didn't survive or died young during birth intervals between the siblings that could be unknown. We know that when Martin was seventeen years of age during the middle 1860's, Mormon missionaries came to Ole and Anne's home and taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Church records of the Milton Ward Record #6400 states that Ole, Martin's father, was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on June 1,1866, in Norway. It is not known on exactly what date the family left Norway for America, but it can be assumed that they came by boat across the Atlantic with other saints that the early church officials and missionaries arranged for groups to come to Zion together. They crossed the American continent via railroad, wagon train and/or on foot. We do know this family came to the Littleton, Morgan County area. They settled among the other Scandinavians living in the townships of Milton and Peterson where many from their native land had come. Because no one traveled to many outlying places in those days, children married within their own area and culture. Martin met the lovely Julia, also a Norwegian who had come to America with her parents, Andrew Johnson and Maria Agusta Christiansen Johnson, who lived down the road in Milton a few miles from Littleton. They were married on a cold day on January 30,1873, in Littleton by Samuel Francis. The witnesses to this marriage were her father, Andrew Johnson, and Alfred d'Ackland. Martin and Julia at sometime during their marriage moved farther down the road to Peterson, where they and the children lived in a wooden house, probably made of logs. Martin provided for his family by working at farming and was inclined to be interested in minerals and different geological findings in the surrounding mountains and did a great deal of prospecting. He also worked in some of the mines around the area when it seemed that a valuable mineral vein might be found to make the area more productive. He was civically minded and desired that his large family had a good education, and learned to speak the English language perfectly. He served several years on the school board in this area. He and Julia had many happy and sad days together during their fourteen years of marriage. They experienced the death of three children. Their children were all bom in Milton, probably at Julia's parents' home. The children are: Laura Gilettie, born July Julia Johnson Gaarder 81