The Gaarder family immigrated from Norway and settled in Rock county (Plymouth Township), making the journey from Milwaukee with ox teams.

The evidence

• “H. Gaarder, came to America in 1843, located in Plymouth Township, and moved to Spring Valley in 1844 ; bought 240 acres of wild land, which he and his sons cleared and cultivated ; he died in 1875 ; 0. P.”

  1879-history-of-rock-county/29-bios-spring-valley.md, PDF p. 855

  Butterfield, C. W., et al. The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879. Cornell University Library via the Internet Archive, archive.org/details/cu31924028871585.

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

• “He is a son of Peter and Randine (Gaarder) Gaarder, who, soon after their marriage, immigrated from Norway, their native land, to this country, the ocean voyage being more than thirteen weeks. They settled in Rock county in 1843, making the journey from Milwaukee withj ox teams, and lived the first year with another family. Th^ father then bought a quarter section of land in Spring Valley township, on which he built a log cabin and made a home for himself and family, and there lived until his death at the age of seventy-five years, engaged in farming and stock raising.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/34d-biographical-4.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 539 / book p. 1024

  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