Melrose Cemetery Index

Melrose Cemetery

Melvin Township, Nelson County, North Dakota

Many, if not most, of the families who have burials in this cemetery can trace back their family origins to the Møre og Romsdal region of Norway. The following surnames came from communities on the island of Otterøya: Axelvold, Orseth, Opstad, Orvig (Orwick & Orvik), and Svinset (Swenseth). Others came from the adjacent mainland: Kjorsvik, Hjelseth and Rekdal. The Smaage and Heggdal families don't have burials here but lived in Melvin Township and have burials in other nearby cemeteries. The Heggdal name comes from the island of Otterøya, and the Smaage name comes from the nearby island of Aukra.

Many Norwegian immigrants took the name of the farm or community where they lived in Norway as their surname. Many others used the custom of adding 'son' to their father's first name and using that for the surname, so some of those names may also come from the same region.

Photos by Roger Elvick

Melrose Cemetery Scene Melrose Church viewed from the Cemetery
Many of the graves are associated with a monument type headstone. The monument type headstones are listed here first and footstones that are in the same cemetery lot and have the same surname as the headstone, are then listed under that headstone.
Surname	First Name	Birth Date	Date of Death	Inscription	Lot #
Anderson
Anderson	Christian	1887	1959		38S
Anderson	Anna C.	1887	1962		38S
Anderson	Leland G.	11/11/1914	5/9/1966	Pvt. US Army WW II	38S
Anderson
Anderson	Leva	1862	1951	Mother	34
Anderson	Mintie C.	1892	1964		34
Anderson	Albert G.	9/9/1889	3/19/1947	Montana PFC INF 91 Div WWI	34
Anderson	Elmer L.	1886	1939		34
Axelvold
Axelvold	Ole P.	1828	1923		12
Axelvold	Marit P.	1828	1917		12
Bales
Bales	Harvey G.	1893	1969		25
Bales	Hilda	1896	1982		25
Flem
Flem	Eda	5/2/1891	5/7/1935	Daughter	24
Flem	Sidney J.	8/15/1932	7/2/2004	1st Lt US Air Force Korea	23
Flem	Carl O.	1858	1908	Father	23
Flem	Eli E.	1858	1934	Mother	23
Hanson
Hanson	Nels	3/21/1892	9/14/1987		13
Hanson	Hans	1846	1934		13
Hanson	Hanna	1851	1922		13
Hillebrand
Hillebrand	Raymond	1913	1972		37
Hillebrand	Mary Ann	1917	2002		37
Hillebrand	Marcia Rae	1949	1950		37
				Gramma
Hoover
Hoover	John	1858	1920	Father	10
Hoover	Olina	1858	1940	Mother	10
Hoover	Lilli Mathea	11/27/1897	4/23/1904	footstone reads 1898-1904	10
Hoover	George H.	1893	1919		10
Hoover	Oscar H.	1890	1961		10
Hoover	Annie	1891	1974		10
Hoover	Minnie T.	1895	1974		10
Johnson
Johnson	Bert M.	1894	1973	Father	38N
Johnson	Mary	1896	1982	Mother	38N
Johnson	Arnold Obert	6/25/1916	12/5/1986	US Army WW II	38N
Johnson
Johnson	Mabel C.	1914	1994	Mother	32
Johnson	Harry A. N.	1908	2002	Father	32
Johnson	Darlene Cabral	1935	1985	Daughter	32
Johnson	Dennis Myron	1947	1949	Son	32
			1948	Baby Boy	32
				Poem
Johnson
Johnson	Ole B.	1860	1934		17
Johnson	Anna S.	1861	1942		17
Johnson	Ada	1890	1972		17
Johnson	Olga B.	1898	1933		17
Johnson	Jennie	1893	1924		17
				S H
Johnson
Johnson	Mark S.	1888	1964		33
Johnson	Martha	1900	1991		33
Johnson	Frederick K.	1937	1944		33
Johnson	Robert J.	1933	1964		33
Kjorsvik
Kjorsvik	Gaylyn I.	4/19/1947	3/29/2008	SP4 US Army, Vietnam	27
Kjorsvik	Gena L.	1908	1998		27
Kjorsvik	Goodwin E.	1909	1983		27
Kjorsvik	Iver G.	1869	1936	Father	27
Kjorsvik	Lena	1879	1944	Mother	27
Nelson
Nelson	Jennie O.	11/6/1909	10/2/1910		7
Nelson	Inger M.	11/6/1909	10/7/1910		7
Nelson	Carl D.	11/20/1878	5/17/1923		7
Nelson	Inger Marie	1911	1996	Mother	7
Nelson	Charles O.	1905	1972	Dad	7
Opstad
Opstad	Ole A.	1863	1953		19
Opstad	Karen M.	1872	1945		19
Opstad	Trygve	4/25/1908	3/28/1947	PFC Infantry WW II	19
Opstad	Clara	1911	1946		19
Orseth
Orseth	Halvor	1864	1945		29
Orseth	Olina	1870	1944		29
Orseth
Orseth	Melvin	1919	1931		20
Orseth	Ingvald M.	1890	1961		20
Orseth	Olga	1890	1986		20
Orvik
Orvik	Goodwin J.	1899	1966	Father	26
Orvik	Robert D.	1931	1938		26
Orvik	Vilda J.	1903	1973	Mother	26
Orvik
Orvik	Adal M.	1903	1904		2
Orvik	Amanda L.	1905	1908		2
Orvik	Jennie	1895	1918		2
Orvik	Knud E.	1859	1917		2
Orvik	Marie	1864	1932		2
Orvik	Maynard Kenneth		9/4/1924	No marker; 1 day old	2
Orvik	Verna		4/30/1937	No marker	2
Orwick
Orwick	Don D.	5/22/1936	3/6/2008		43
Orwick
Orwick	Glenn	1926	2005	Father	40
Orwick
Orwick	Fred	1894	1975	Father	39
Orwick	Ansoph	1901	1989	Mother	39
Orwick
Orwick	Iver	1869	1930		28
Orwick	Oline	1870	1936		28
Orwick	Edwin	1906	1923		28
Orwick
Orwick	Idean	5/18/1934	6/7/2006		28
Orwick	Lois K.	5/3/1936
Orwick	Clara	4/25/1899	6/23/1969		28
Orwick	Albert I.	1/18/1893	11/13/1959	PFC BTRY C 345 Field ARTY WW I	28
Peterson
Peterson	Peder	1875	1951		31
Peterson	Christ	1879	1960		31
Peterson	Mary	1882	1961		31
Peterson	Paul T.	1916	1975		31
Peterson
Peterson	Hans A.	1878	1956		15
Peterson	Helen M.	1879	1956		15
Peterson	Peter A.	1906	1961		15
Peterson	Kermit	1910	1994	Son	15
Peterson	Peter E.	1876	1958	Father	15
Peterson	Anna L.	1881	1944	Loving wife	15
Peterson
Peterson	Emil	11/6/1918	11/7/1918		14
Peterson
Peterson	Ole	10/14/1853	11/2/1936	Born in Denmark	16
Peterson	Inger Marie	12/6/1854	2/8/1926		16
Peterson	Margrete Hansine	5/10/1894	9/7/1894	Buried in Melvin Twp. Cemetery
Peterson	Bornene Margrete	2/4/1889	2/13/1889	Buried in Melvin Twp. Cemetery
Peterson	Hans Christian	2/4/1889	2/13/1889	Buried in Melvin Twp. Cemetery
Peterson	Eskel	8/24/1883	4/30/1890	Buried in Melvin Twp. Cemetery
Peterson	Anton	8/7/1886	4/30/1890	Buried in Melvin Twp. Cemetery
Sande
				2 small stones indecipherable
Sande	Anna Marie	6/2/1880	1/3/1939	56 years old	9
Sande	Knut O.	12/27/1874	7/10/1907		9
Sande	Olaf	5/21/1906	4/11/1909		9
Skaggs
Skaggs	Cleveland H.	1884	1969	Father	36
Skaggs	Jenny L	1895	1969	Mother	36
Skaggs	Edith	1913	1984	Daughter	36
Skaggs	Lloyd	1915	1991	Son	36
Swenseth
Swenseth	Invald	8/3/1900	1/6/1910		4
Swenseth	Iver	6/3/1896	1/6/1918		4
Swenseth	Sina	1861	1919		4
Swenseth	John	1865	1944		4
Swenseth	Jennie	1905	1992		4
Swenseth	Bert E.	1898	1972		4
Swenseth	Bergliot	1901	1979		4
The following burials were either not associated with a headstone, or have a different surname from the headstone in that particular cemetery lot.
Adamson	Baby	1959	1960	No marker	32
Anderson	John L.	1862	1913		11
Barney	George C.	1896	1942	Father	18
Barney	Nettie V.	1901	1935	Mother	18
Barney			2/10/1924	Baby	17
Cornelius				Baby	3
Flem	Cameron I.	9/4/1921	12/28/1930		23
Flem	Ole C.	11/18/1896	6/24/1927		23
Fransen	Viktor Delano		1/1933	(Baby); No marker	29
Gargrave	Ida M. Sande	9/24/1903	2/10/1980		9
Hagen	Mitchell Arlen	1952	1982		39
Hagen	Terrance	1951	1960	Son of Angeline	39
Hjelseth	Myrtle L.	1908	1934	Sister	25
Iverson				No marker; baby	1
Kerler	John G.	1858	1942		21
Kjorsvik	Curtis N.	9/25/1952	9/28/2002	L CPL US Marine Corps, Vietnam	35
Kjorsvik	Selma M.	4/3/1920	11/9/2001		35
Kjorsvik	Lorentz G.	8/3/1911	1/26/1988	PFC US Army WW II	35
Kjorsvik	Lyle		1956		35
Larsen	Jacob		11/??/1914	Father, died at age 77y	6
Larsen	Sophie Oline		10/??/1912	Mother, died at age 70y	6
Lorentzen	Tina	5/20/1875	10/25/1939	Han Hvile I Fred	27
McCrae	A. Roy	1889	1979		23
McCrae	Ella O.	8/8/1900	1/21/1955	Mother	23
Narum	Casper	1894	1970	Father	8
Narum	Lavina		1924	Daughter	8
Narum	Orpha B.	1899	1924	Mother	8
Neely	Angeline F.	1929	1960	Daughter	39
Nelson	Rangvold			No marker	29
Orvik	Kajsa L	6/30/1935	12/10/2006		30
Orvik	Maynard K.	1/14/1928
Orvik			6/20/1961	Baby Orvik	30
Ostness	Stillman O'Neil	1900	1913		12
Paupst	James Harris	1913	2006	Father	21
Paupst	Carrie	1909	1967	Mother	21
Paupst	Mary E.	1956	2007	Daughter	21
Rekdal	Bertha	1893	1965		19
Rekdal	Elias	1884	1945		19
Rekdal	Ole A.	1916	1969		19
Restad	Peter O.	1852	1938		12
Restad	Marie	1857	1921		12
Rode	Hilma L. Orseth	1919	1989		29
Skaggs	Charlotte Barney	1922	1969		18
Skaggs	George E.	1919	1986		18
Suedel	Robert A.	12/25/1934	11/25/1971	AIC US Air Force	18
Wise	L. C.	1904	1958		13
Wise	Cora E.	1901	1918		13
Cemetery Scenes
Melrose Cemetery Scene (Duck's nest--near the Nelson headstone)
Melrose Cemetery Scene (Cemetery gate)
Melrose Cemetery Scene
				4 crosses
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