I was asked how I started this research. I did my first family history in 50 years ago for a 7th grade class project, my second was done while in college in 1960. After teaching Home Ec. For 4 years, I opened a fabric shop in Appleton. In 1971 I earned a trip to Sweden selling Viking Sewing Machines. I took my Mother Marion Erickson and Aunt Olga Brinkman along spending 2 weeks in Norway locating Klefstad and Teigen relatives in Kvam, Gudbrandsdal. In 1972 we were charter members of the Son's of Norway Chapter in Ortonville. We were quite active promoting our love for Norway at celebrations; on Television; and in parades. Our children attended Skogfjorden and we hosted a couple young people from Norway.
At our fabric shop I provided space for local artists in the basement and took rosemaling classes from Karen Jensen. I rosemaled a major project - an 18 foot cornice in our dining room in 1976. As a gift for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary, I decided to do their family histories. My husband, Glen served in the legislature with Gene Wenstrom from Elbow Lake. In 1979 we attended his father's funeral and met the Telelag president, Hilbert and Lillian Thompson of Fergus Falls. We hosted the Telelag reorganizational meeting in Appleton in 1980 and a family reunion in Fillmore County with 400 relatives. With a small grant from the Minnesota Historical Society and the help of Joe Gardner of the Fillmore County Historical Society, we produced a slide presentation on the Overland Family called, "Over Land Over Sea". I also produced a slide show on Knut Mevastaul - Telemark Rosemaler which I shared with a number of people and groups interested in rosemaling.
My dad's Telemark history was so interesting - I spent 6 weeks researching in Norway and doing photography in '84. I co-authored the book "The Overland Family History" and helped the Telelag write a number of books on genealogy, emigration and settlement history.

In 2002 I joined the Telemark Tour spending a month researching in Norway. I met Halvor Bringa, a relative from Gvarv who spent 3 years translating and publishing our Overland book into Norwegian. In 2003 I developed a video and DVD of our "Tour to Telemark 2002". Now I plan to share my research through presentations, exhibits and writing. Work is in progress on a book about the old oak tree on the Overland farm "Millenium Oak - Weaving the Story of 1000 Years of Life".