Niels K. Luraas
Database Record Change Request
| Name at Enlist | Niels K. Luraas |
| Birth Name | Niels K. Luraas |
| Other Names | Niels; Nelson Kettelson |
| Lived | 22 Sep 1844 – 1914 |
| Birth Place | Dane County, WI |
| Resident of Muster-In | Mt. Vernon, Dane County, WI |
| Company at Enlistment | G |
| Rank at Enlistment | Private |
| Muster Date | 8 Dec 1861 |
| Death Location | Stoughton, Dane County, WI |
| Burial Location | Riverside Cemetery, Stoughton, Dane, WI |
| Mother | Joran Nielsdatter |
| Mother Lived | 14 Sep 1815- |
| Father | Halvor Kittilsen Luraas |
| Father Lived | 22 Jan 1814- |
| Spouse | Thea |
| Spouse Lived | Jan 1853- 1915 |
| Married On | ca. 1872 |
| Marriage Location | Wisconsin |
Nils Kittelsen Luraas was born in 1844 to Halvor and Jeron Kittelsen. His siblings included Kety (1840), Ingeborg (1846), Gunhild (1849), John (1853), and Caroline (1858). The family immigrated to WI in 1841. They settled first in Pleasant Springs, Dane County, WI where his father worked as a farmer. In 1860, they lived in Primrose, Dane, WI.
Luraas joined the WI 15th Infantry, Company G. The men of the company called themselves the “Rock River Rangers.” The army listed him as living in Mt. Vernon, Dane County, WI. He was aged 18 and unmarried. Luraas enlisted for three years on November 20, 1861 at Mt. Vernon, and mustered at Madison, WI on December 8, 1861 as a Private (Menig). The records state that he was “Always present and never reported sick.” He mustered out with Company G, on January 13, 1865 at Chattanooga, TN.
After the war, he returned to Dane County, WI. There, he married Thea in about 1872. Together, they had 13 children, only 4 of whom were living in 1900: Mary Bertha (1876), Joseph (1881), Clara E. (1883), and Theodore (1886). In 1880, they lived in Stoughton and he worked as a laborer. In 1900, he worked as a box maker. He died in 1914 and is buried as Nels Kittelson in Riverside Cemetery, Stoughton, Dane, WI. Thea died in 1915 and is also buried in Riverside.
Sources: Series 1200: Records of Civil War Regiments, 1861-1900, Wisconsin Adjutant General’s Office, box 76-9; Regimental muster and descriptive rolls, 1861-1865, Wisconsin; Adjutant General’s Office, vol,20, p.102; Det Femtende Regiment, Wisconsin Frivillige [The Fifteenth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers], Ole A. Buslett (Decorah, Iowa, 1894), p.538; Nordmaendene i Amerika, Martin Ulvestad, 1907, History Book Co., Minneapolis, MN, p.308; Oberst Heg og hans gutter, Waldemar Ager, 1916, Fremad Pub. Co., Eau Claire, WI, p.278, photo; p.312; 1850 Census, Roll: M432_995, Page: 348B, Image: 229; 1860 Census, Roll: M653_1404, Page: 772, Image: 117, Family History Library Film: 805404; 1880 Census, Roll: 1421, Family History Film: 1255421, Page: 49A, Enumeration District: 069; 1890 Veterans Schedules, Roll: 113, Page: 1, Enumeration District: 52; 1900 Census, Roll: 1784, Page: 9A, Enumeration District: 0068, FHL microfilm: 1241784; Civil War Pension Index, Roll #T288_259; 1910 Census, Roll: T624_1709, Page: 2B, Enumeration District: 0091, FHL microfilm: 1375722; findagrave.com; Norwegian Immigrants to the United States. A Biographical Directory, 1825-1850. Volume One 1825-1843, Gerhard B. Naeseth, 2008, Anundsen Publishing Co., Decorah, IA, p. 117, IDs 109, 110.