The Lowe Family Tree

Thorvald Haugen was born Torvald Hansen on 16 Dec 1864 in Sandsvær, Buskerud, Norway to parents Hans Jorgen Petersen Haugen and Anne Olsdatter.¹ The family lived at the northern end of Hedenstad, Sandsvær on the Haugen farm in what was the Saggrænden and Medheien school district.² Sandsvær has since been incorporated into the city of Kongsberg and is south of the city center.

Born to a ship's engineer in Haugesund, Norway, Thora was the youngest of seven children. She was raised by her mother while her father was regularly away at sea. At the age of 9 her mother died, prompting her father to remarry and provide another caretaker for her and her siblings. 4 step-siblings would follow in the coming years. At 16, Thora boarded the S.S. Kristianiafjord and joined her sister Anna in Cleveland, Ohio. When she turned 20 she married a Norwegian sailor and they raised 2 children together before his untimely passing 11 years later. Thora would eventually marry again, but lose her 2nd husband as well. She lived to be 94 and passed away in Cleveland.