Gurina (Julia) Obe was born on December 24, 1848 in Bergen, Hordaland, Norway to Jacob Jacobson Obe (Obe was the name of the province or town which his family came from in Norway) and Gure Andersdotter. On July 9, 1877 she was married to Oliver (Halvor) Tyge (Teig). The couple emigrated to America, settling in Iowa, where she took the name “Julia.” They had five children: Julia Halverson (b. February 2, 1878), Martha Guerina (b. September 10, 1879), Josephine Ingeborg (b. February 7, 1882), Henry Halvor (b. March 28, 1883), and Oliver (b. October 4, 1884). The family resided in Story County, Iowa. They are listed on the 1880 Federal Census living in Warren, Story, Iowa with daughters Julia and Martha.
Bergen, Norway
Gurina’s Younger Brother Jacob Obe/Wife Marie and Children
Northern Lights Over Bergen
Gurina (Obe) Tyge Homestead
Halvor passed away in 1885. Gurina then married another Norwegian, John Hiram (presumably called Johannes Herheim in Norway), a year later on March 20, 1886. They had five more children together (names unknown).
John was born in 1846 and died in 1907. He was allegedly a cruel man, and Gurina’s daughter Julia Halverson Tyge ran away from home to get away from the abuse she was experiencing. Gurina most likely married him out of necessity, as she had five children with Halvor and the youngest was only around two years old when he died.
On December 14, 1914 Gurina passed away in Ruthven, Palo Alto, Iowa, suffering a ruptured gall bladder. She was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Ruthven, Iowa.
Abandoned House in Palo Alto, Iowa
