John O. Fossum was born in Norway.

The evidence

• “John 0. Fossum, a native of Norway, was born September 29. 1846, and is the son of Ole and Mary Johnson, both natives of Norway, where the father was engaged in farming. On April 25, 1866, the parents, with their family of four sons and two daughters, left their native land, and after a long, weary and tedious journey, on July 6, reached Rock county, Wisconsin, whence a little later they went to Richland county, where the father bought a farm of 100 acres, which he improved and where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/34d-biographical-4.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 534 / book p. 1019

  Brown, William Fiske, editor. Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History of Its Cities, Villages, Towns, Citizens and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up to Date. Chicago: C. F. Cooper & Co., 1908. 2 vols. archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon01brow, archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon02brow.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources