I’ve had this WebSite since 1997; and over the years I’ve got quite a few questions from people around the world (mostly from North America) about the Rosten name. Many of those writing me are searching for their family in Norway. So therefor I made this little page

My family comes from Otta in Gudbrandsdalen in Norway. This is where my parents live. I live now at Lillestrøm (just outside Oslo, the capital of Norway). The Rosten name comes from my father’s family.

Ole Jacob Rosten, 27.12.2005

Here’s a little info about the Rosten name

My fathers family comes from Rosten in Gudbrandsdalen. It’s a little place with a few farms, and my father’s family comes from one of them. Rosten is the place where the Gudbrandsdalen valley is at it’s smallest; some kilometres north of Otta. And my family now lives at Otta.

From what my father has told me some people from Rosten went to America in the early 1900s. Most of them went to the Stats by the Great Lakes in the USA and in Canada. Over the years I’ve got quite a few emails from people in America searching for family in Norway. I therefor made this little web page . But I’ve never met any “close” relative living in America.

For more information; or if you think you are related to me: Please send me an email at

In 2007 I got some visitors from USA: Four people from Minnesota in the USA, with Norwegian ancestors. They had been searching the net for a “Ole Rosten” from the 1850-s from the farm Rosten in Gudbrandsdalen. My ancestors come from there.  They stayed at my parents house at Otta for a week end: And we went to different parts of the Gudbrandsdalen valley: Including the Rosten farms area. It was a nice week end: And we learnt a lot. Both from Norway and the USA.  It was Chuck (originally from the Rostløkken in Rosten) and his wife Carma; with Hal og Pam.

On the image above we are eating dinner (Rømmegrøt med spekemat) at Jetta in Dovre.

More of the visit on http://www.olesverden.com/2007/08/12/amerika-besok/ (text in Norwegian only).

Here’s a little info about Otta

Otta is a small city in Gudbrandsdalen. The city is in the Sel municipality ( Sel kommune) the county of Oppland (Oppland fylke) in Norway. It’s the only city in Gudbrandsdalen except Lillehammer (Winter Olympic city in 1994..). Otta became a city on August 26. august 2000.

Otta is the Administrative centre in Sel municipality. 6088 people live there (2004). The Area of Sel municipality: 905 km². Sel is one of the more scenic and historically significant areas of the Gudbrandsdal. A large concentration of Norway’s heritage-listed farms is located in Heidal in Sel municipality (Heidal became part of Sel municipality in 1965). Otta is named after the Otta river and lies at the point where the Otta River joins the Gudbrandsdalslågen from the west. Otta is 288 meters above the sea level, in the valley of Gudbrandsdalen. Otta is next to mountains, and national parks, like Jotunheimen and Rondane.

From Wikipedia:
The Gudbrandsdalen is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian fylke of Oppland. The valley is oriented in north-westerly direction from Lillehammer at the Lake Mjøsa, extending 230 km toward Romsdal. The large river Gudbrandsdalslågen flows through the valley, starting from Lesjaskogsvatnet and ending in lake Mjøsa. Gudbrandsdalen is shaped by the recent ice age and rivers from the present glacial areas in Jotunheimen and Dovre.

Links:
www.Gudbrandsdalen.no
www.sel.kommune.no
www.otta2000.com
www.visitrondane.com

Big mess in the middle of the office…

Click here to go to the MovieQuizz

I now live at Lillestrøm. But I’m from Otta in Gudbrandsdalen, Norway. I grew up at Otta – and lived there until 1996 when I started my higher education at Hedmark University College, Faculty of Education, at Hamar. These years of my life were very interesting and educational.

But then I had to do my compulsory military service. In Norway we have one year service (for almost 40% of the men…). I was in the Army - and had the boot-camp at Jørstadmoen – outside Lillehammer. But the rest of my service I was stationed at Heggelia in Troms – in the northern part of Norway. It’s up north – and has a hostile environment. Cold – dark – snowy and windy – and literally miles, miles away from any human made city… Yep; the Norwegian version of Russian Siberia I was an assistant at the military driving school at Bardufoss (Forsvarets Kjøreskole Bardufoss). Our students were military personnel who learnt to drive trucks and busses – both for domestic and international services (KOFOR). Although I had an OK service – July 5. 2001 was a *very* nice day: I was dismissed – once again I was a free man. More about the 318-days I was in the Army (Norwegian only).

After the year in the Army I decided to study for an extra year something I really like – computers. So I started with 1-Year Program in Date Processing at Hedmark University College, Faculty of Computer Science, Rena. This was very interesting.

In 2002 I started to work as a teacher at Rud school. And it has been some ups and downs: But I must say in general I like to work as a teacher. Especially at Rud.

Interests: I like movies. My favourite director is Leone . But I also like sci-fi / fantasy-movies: And right now there are quite a few good ones: Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Fantastic Four. But the best movie I’ve seen this summer has to be Der Untergang. I also like historical movies / tv-programs. And when it comes to literature I also read alot of historical books (like “Stalingrad”, “Berlin” and “D-day”).

Comics are also one of my interests – and Calvin & Hobbes is one of my favourite. But I also like the more classic cartoons like Donald Duck (drawn by Barks or Don Rosa – or Marco Rota).

Football (Soccer): I’m a football-fan. Or that is: I was a bigger football-fan before. But I used to work as a security guard at the home games for Lillestrøm (LSK), so I got to watch a lot of Norwegian top football live. And I got paid for it also ). Liverpool FC is the international team I’m a fan of. Or was…

Technology: I’ve always been interested in computers and other technically gadgets. The boring truth is that no one at school thinks it interesting to talk about the newest mobile phones, computers, etc. Luckily I have some friends who thinks it cool when I buy myself a new mobile phone But I was also a fan of Satellite-tv. At home, when I was a younger, we had a Satellite dish (with motor). The Simpsons and Futurama is also a “MustCTv”

I have two blogs: This one (olesverden.com) that is my personal blog; and my work / school blog at ojrosten.com .

Well that was some word about me – please feel free to send me an email at