Bio From Ancestry:
Lars Tesdahl was born Lars Halvorsen on 10 October 1828 in Etne, Norway, to Halvor (Hallvard) Larsen and Kari Ivarsdatter, who were "Huusfolk paa Testdal" His christening was two days after his birth. A "Huusman" was a farmer who did not own the land or house where he worked and lived. Testdal refers to a farm or locality in Etne.
Martha Berg was born Martha LARSDATTER on 29 July 1826, in Etne, Norway, to Lar Pedersen and Ingeborg Svensdatte, who were "Huusfolk pa Ovre-Berge" She was christened the following day. Over-Berge also refers to a farm in Etne.
Etne is the name of both a parish and a town in the Norwegian county of Hordaland. Hordaland is Norway's largest fruit growing and fish farming County. It has the largest flock of wild reindeer in Northern Europe. The principal city of Hordaland is Bergen. Etne is south of Bergen at the head of Etnefjorden, about 25 miles inland from the Atlantic coast.
Lars and Martha were raised in the Lutheran church. Lars married her on 6 Apr 1854. They immigrated to Lisbon, Illinois shortly after their marriage. They were part of the group that founded the Palestine Church in Lisbon. A scouting party was sent to central Iowa in the Spring of 1855, and a large group moved to Story County, Iowa that summer. All nine of their children were born there.
1860 Census reported that Lars could not read or write. On 6 Sep 1878 he filed his intention to become a US citizen. Lars died on 28 Apr 1888 in Palestine, Iowa and was buried in the Palestine Church cemetery. Martha died on 25 Jan 1893.

Information for this biographical sketch was gathered from Norwegian church records, a 1992 interview with the Bergen, Norway, States Archives librarian, US Census records, William G. Allen's "History of Story County, Iowa", Theodore C. Blegen's "Norwegian Migration to America - 1825-1860, and correspondence with Ruby Christopher Johnson, granddaughter of Lars Tesdahl.
(To the best of my knowledge, Biography was originally written by Gary A. Christopher and posted on Rootsweb on 2 Apr 1999. I have edited the original eliminating information that I believed to be superfluous. Tobie Pfeiffer 25 Mar 2012)