Elizabeth Asbjørnsdatter Tonstad was born to Asbjørn D.Y. Erikson Virak and Martha Salvesdatter Steinberg, in Tonstad, Sirdal municipality, Vest-Agder County, Norway, on April 9, 1841. She was the fifth of eight children. She married Lauritz Endresen in Stavanger, Rogaland County, Norway, on March 24, 1865. Four children were born to them in Stavanger, three of whom died within a span of three weeks:

1) Karen Endresen, born February 14, 1865, died January 29, 1872
2) Henrik Endresen, born April 15, 1866, died of scarlet fever on February 10, 1872
3) Axel Marcelius Endresen, born November 26, 1868
4) Endrea Endresen, born January 7, 1871, died of scarlet fever on February 18, 1872.

Elizabeth and son Axel left Stavanger on May 23, 1872, aboard the S.S. Carl Johan and arrived in Quebec on July 9, according to the ship's manifest (more probably on June 9). According to this manifest Elizabeth was 31 years old, and Axel was 3 years old at the time. They left Norway only a few months after the deaths of Karen, Henrik, and Endrea. The 1900 census verifies this, showing Elizabeth and Axel immigrating in 1872, and Lauritz in 1871. They eventually settled in Cook County, Illinois.

The 1910 census for Chicago records that Elizabeth was the mother of eight children, four of whom were still living. Those children born in Illinois are:

5) Henry Endresen, born March 30, 1873
6) Laura Elisa Endresen, born December 30,1874
7) Inger Endresen, born October 11, 1876

NOTE: A son, Lauritz Endresen, Jr., was supposedly born in Chicago in 1880 and died less than a year later, but I have not yet found any documentation of his existence.

Elizabeth Asbjørnsdatter Tonstad Endresen died in Maywood, Cook County, Illinois, on May 1, 1917.
**********************************************
Elisabeth Asbjørnsdtr TONSTAD, Født: i Sirdal kommune, Vest-Agder fylke, 9 apr 1841, Død: Illinois fylke i USA