A LEIR Family from Norway to Iowa in the USA

Nicholas Olson Leir was born at Haugesund, Bergen Stift, Norway, on October 17, 1828, Died 1909 (or 1911). In 1848 he was married to Miss Jacobi Oakland. 4 children of this union. They immigrated to the United States in 1852 (or 1854) with 3 of Nicholas’ sisters and their families. Mrs. Siri Larson Leir Haukaas, Mrs. Hans Skolt (no children) and Mrs. Sjure Valen or Wallin (2 sons). While quarantined at Quebec they were stricken with Cholera. Nicholas’ wife and 3 sons died from cholera in Quebec. A girl child, Siri, survived. She was also sick, but was kept hidden by her aunts so the officers did not find her. She was about two or three years old. 

In 1857 (or 1855) he married a Miss Carrie (or Kari) Quaraqual (died 1865) in Primrose Wisconsin. He has a son, John N. Olson, born 1857, and two daughters, Mrs. Lena Brown, and Mrs. Mary (Maria) Larson, and another son, Sam.  In 1865 Nicholas moved with his children to Jackson county (Minnesota). 

In 1868 he married Miss Rebecca Lilliberg, (b. May 9^th, 1832) they has two sons, Charles (b. November 20, 1869, d. 1945), and Martin. Martin passed away at the age of 12 of scarlet fever. Charles became a physician in Des Moines, Iowa and used the name C.N.O. Leir, M.D.

Dr. Charles N.O. Leir married Mary Flanagan (b. August 06, 1880, d. Dec. 30, 1907 of tuburculosis), on October 09, 1903 in Des Moines, Iowa. Mary is the daughter of John Flanagan and Catherine Costello. They had one son, Martin Drakely Leir, (b. August 09, 1905; d. September 29, 1985)

Martin Drakely Leir was an attorney in Davenport, Iowa. He married Edith R. Lucier May 29, 1937 in Davenport, Iowa, daughter of Henry Lucier and Bertha Vogt. She was born September 15^th 1903 in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, and died May 18, 1998 in Davenport, Iowa.