Salman Jenson Sortland was born in Bremnes, on the Island of Bomlo, near Bergen, Norway, in 1856. The gaard or township was called Sortland so he took this name as his legal name.
He left Norway in 1880, and came to Fargo, Dakota Territory, where he remained a short time, teaching Norwegian in the school. Realizing the opportunity to acquire farming land under the Homestead Act, he came to Barnes County, where he filed on a quarter section adjoining that of one Sam Rasmussen, in Svea Township. The two young men built a sod house on the quarter line so that half of the house sat on each quarter. Sam did not like the area and, when he had proved up his quarter, he sold it to Mr. Sortland.
In 1887, Mr. Sortland returned to Norway and married Synneva from the gaard Laurhammar and they returned to the sod house in Svea Township.
Upon their arrival in St. Paul, there was some confusion about Synneva's ticket, so she went on to Dakota alone while
Sortland remained to clear up the matter. Despite the fact that she knew no English and was in a strange land, she managed to arrive at Sanborn and awaited Mr. Sortland.
There being no post office in the Svea area, mail was received at the Griswold post office, two miles south of what is now Litchville. Here much trading was done since Griswold was a viable town. In July of 1889, a post office was established at Svea, at the home of John Applequist, a neighbor.
Born to the Sortlands were twelve children, of whom
two died in infancy.
The eldest was John, who married Hulda Teigland in 1921, and who managed the Litchville Implement Store before doing government work in California during the war. Later he worked as a sign painter in Fargo, and for about twenty years he was a carpenter in Minneapolis.
Olive married Thorvald Thompson and they farmed in Svea for many years, retiring to Valley City.
Rachel became a teacher but married Edward Klubben of Cooperstown.
Clara also became a teacher and she, too, married a man from Cooperstown, Albert Klubben.
Sam remained on the home farm but served in the army in 1917 and 1918. He married Gertrude Kluvers in 1922.
Herbert died in a rescue operation on Long's Peak in Estes Park, Colorado, in 1925.
Lillie attended business school but married Marrell Anderson in 1922.
Olaf lived on a farm and married Edith Olson in 1928.
Anne became a teacher and in 1929, she married Lyle Hill of Erie, North Dakota. Both spent years of teaching, but are now retired in Fargo, North Dakota.
Arthur married Marie Berge in 1928, and purchased the Ole Tvedt Farm which they still operate.
Salmon (S. J.) Sortland Family. Back Row: Clara (Klubben), Herbert, John, Sam, Lillie (Anderson) Olaf. Center: Rachel (Klubben), Anne (Hill). Front Row: Arthur, Synneva. Solomon, Olive (Thompson).
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 231