1865 census for Hansstuen, Søndre Odalen shows Peder aged 12 living with his father Christen Pedersen aged 45, sister Pauline aged 20, sister Marie aged 14, sister Milla aged 9 and brother Ole aged 6. They lived at Gardsnaven Farm, Sander.

http://digitalarkivet.arkivverket.no/ft/person/pf01038037004765

Peder was baptised August 20, 1854. Norway Baptisms 1634-1927. System Origin Norway ODM, GS Film Number 307236, Indexing Project Number J42317-1.

Peder left Norway in 1872 and sailed from Germany under the name of Peder Christensen Sander. He added the name Sander after the name of the School District Sander where he lived in Norway. He arrived in New Zealand 6 December 1872 on board the 'Palmerston' which berthed in Dunedin. He worked on farms in the Canterbury region before making his way to Norsewood, the Norwegian settlement in the North Island of NZ. He changed his name to Peter Christensen Sander and became naturalised approx 1884 (have application dated May 1, 1884). Peter applied for Milla and Ole to come to NZ in 1884 but then asked for his deposit back and cancelled the application. It is believed Milla and Ole went to North Dakota in the USA. Carl Oscar Sander (Peter's son) wrote to a Mrs Sygvardt Sorensen in Reynolds, North Dakota in 1908 and also a cousin named Mina who married Carl Brodersen and lived in Kramer, North Dakota. Peter who was a carpenter married Anna Ericksen July 15, 1881 in Norsewood (have marriage certificate).

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Dear Nita ,

Thank you for your letter it was lovely to hear from you i have been waiting to write to you as i have been gathering up information re Sander & Eriksen and thought you may be interested to hear of my findings.

I will enclose a list of the families that i have found.

It is fascinating to see how methodical the Norwegians were when writing up their church records. Along side the baptisms are given the name of the child such as our Peter Sander was requested as.

PEDER Son of CHRISTEN PEDER FRITSVOLD and MARTE PEDERSDR born on the 17 july 1854 baptised 20August 1854 God parents :

KNUD E FRITSVOLD, ANNE O IB

OLE E IB

PEDER O KRYBBELSAND

OLIA O FRITSVOLD

Fritsvold was added to the name to denote the name of the farm the person was on. As they all had similar names this helped to distinguish one from the other.

I have not yet got in touch with Anna or Ray Somerville but was pleased to hear you are in touch with Stella. I remember her well & how she took me out to aunty Emma's at Rotorangi at cambridge and i remember aunty Enie with great affection. tell Stella I now have two daughters Annamarie is 27 & married with two small sons Tim nearly 4 & logan 2 & lives on a farm at Horsham Downs , Halilton.

Karen is 25 & working in labrador, qld.

I also have another two daughters " Ray's girls " They were 9 & 12 when Ray and I married in 1973

Ray retires from building end of 1990 and i will probably leave my job in the office at our local secondary school then , too.

In the meantime it has been very interesting tracing our ancestors back to county Hedmark in Norway - Anna & Peter were christened in the same church!

My mother Edna is 78 next week and she has helped by remembering the grandparents when they were still alive

Well i hope this finds you in better health Nita and our best wishes to you and your family for a happy xmas

Kind regards ( and to Stella )

Marlene & ray & family

Peter Sanders decended from Peder Olsen

Peder Olsen from Skarnes, Norway 1774 - 1843 married Eli Amundsdr (1785 - 1861) on 24 november 1804

Their children

ole - born 1805 married Kristine Nilsdatter

Amund - born 1810 married Marte Nilsdatter

Kjersti - Born 1815 married Otto Jorgensen

Peder - born 1818 married Maria Engebretsdr

Christen - Born 21/2/1821 married Marte pedersdr

Christen Peder married Marte Pedersdr on 1 dec 1846 at Sor odal, Hedmark, Norway

Their children

Andrea christened 2/7/1848 at Sol Odal

Elen Caroline christened 31/3/1850 at Strom

Peder born 17/7/1854 christened 20/8/1854 at Strom

Milla Birgitte Anette christened

Peder Christensen was given his birth certificate by the minister of Strom - Odal parish on 22 april 1872 as he intended to emmigrate to NewZealand

So you see from this Nita , that our peter Sander who was born in 1854 would have been known in Norway as PEDER CHRISTENSEN ( Son of Christen )