Collection Item of the Week - Sheepskin Scroll

Ola Andreas Tjernagel, Octogenarian April 10, 1916. Greeting seven children, seventeen grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren say God bless you. One daughter, four grandchildren, and our sainted mother in the white robed throng await you.

Our collection item this week is a unique hand painted commemorative sheepskin scroll.  This scroll was given to Ole Andreas Tjernagel on his 80th birthday in 1916.  Ole came to the U.S. in 1856 and lived in Illinois.  In 1859 he bought land in Scott Township, Hamilton County, Iowa.  After which Ole returned to Illinois and married Martha Karina Anderson Follinglo.  In 1864 Ole and Martha and their son Lewis moved to Iowa and began farming the land Ole had purchased.  Several of Ole and Martha's children attended the Sheldall School, and Lewis was also a teacher at the Sheldall.  

The second page of the scroll shows the descendants of Ole and Martha up until 1916.  For more information on the Tjernagel family, please visit http://tjernagel.org/.