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Note: Notes for Hans Olsen: The Danish State Archives Filming Centre has photographed old church parish registers, and posted them online. The November 3, 1849, birth record for Hans Olsen has been posted online and is linked to below. The photograph was taken in pure black or white, without any grayscale, so the result is a poor quality image: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/hxEckE843FTLoXAF9">Photo</a>
Hans was born in Toreby Bye (Toreby town) in Toreby Sogn (Toreby Parish) in the Musse District, in Maribo County, Denmark. After the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, that location is now the (small) town of Toreby, in Toreby Parish, in Guldborgsund Municipality, in Region Zealand, in Denmark.
Hans Olsen was still living in Toreby up until April 22, 1880, when he registered in Denmark to emigrate from the country. His stated destination was Waupaca County, Wisconsin. He doesn't seem to be listed in the 1880 U. S. census (which was taken effective June first) in Wisconsin or anywhere in the United States. He was probably still on his way to Wisconsin on June first.
Probably about that time, Hans either deliberately Americanized the spelling of his last name from Olsen to Olson, or else other people who wrote his name just spelled it Olson, and that became the spelling of his name.
The 1890 U.S. census records were accidentally burned or damaged by water in 1921. Most of the remaining records were destroyed about 1934. So it isn't known where the Hans Olson family lived in 1890, although it was almost certainly in Wisconsin.
The 1900 U.S. census had an effective date of June first. The Olson home was enumerated June sixth. The 1900 census was the only census ever to ask the month that people were born. Listed were Hans, born in November of 1849; his wife Maren K., born November of 1860; and six children, including a son listed as "Olafe L", born in August of 1887. But his name and initial were the reverse of the truth. This was actually Louis Olaf Olson. The family lived in Belmont, Portage, Wisconsin. Hans and Maren had been married for 13 years. Hans was a farmer. He and his wife were born in Denmark. Maren had immigrated to the United States in 1870, and Hans did in 1880.
A photo of part of that 1900 census page is linked to below. The handwriting is difficult to read. The Olson family is listed on the bottom of the photo: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/XjH8qGmmwevmyqat7">Photo</a>
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