Hans, J. Kolstad was born September 1880 in Gulbransdalen, Norway. He came to Minnesota with his parents and two sisters in 1882. His father, Jorgen Kolstad, homesteaded in Swift County, Minnesota. Hans attended the Willmar Seminary and the University of Minnesota before moving to Cooperstown in 1904, where he was associated with Hammer-Condy Company.
He was married to Sina Kaarboe in Cooperstown in 1914. They had two children:
1. Hazel, Mrs. Robert Finnegan of Los Angeles, California and William Kolstad of Fresno. William has two sons, Robert and William.
Hans Kolstad was well known through the implement business and had many friends throughout Griggs County and the surrounding countryside. He died in 1965.
Mrs. Kolstad was born in 1880 in Lesje, Norway, and spent her early years in Oslo, Norway. She came to Cooperstown in 1904 with her brother Olav.
Sina Kolstad was known for her many examples of exquisitely beautiful needlework and in this she perhaps had no peer. She died in 1938.
Source: Griggs County History 1879 - 1976 Page 70