| Name | Guri (Gurine) TORBJØRNSDATTER  |
| Birth | 30 Apr 1870 |
| Father | Torbjørn (Hansson) HANSEN (1826-1908) |
| Mother | Lisbet (Elisabet) ÅMUNDSDATTER (1845-1919) |
| 1 | Johannes (John) Reintersen MELLAND |
| Birth | 2 Feb 1873, Maeland near Etne, Norway |
| Death | 1 May 1958, New Effington, SD |
| Burial | Brandvold Church, Rosholt SD |
| Occupation | Farmer in Morris, IL, 1897-1911, thereafter near New Effington, SD |
| Religion | Lutheran |
| Father | Reinert Reinertsen MAELAND (1826-1913) |
| Mother | Gunhild LØNNING (1831-1926) |
| Unmarried |
| Children | Johannes (1892-1976) |
Gurine emigrated to America when her son Johannes was very young, probably still a small child. Astrid Ulvenes says it has been impossible to find relatives of Guri in Norway. Because of a fire at the emigrant archive in Stavanger it is not even known when she left Norway. However, it can be established that she did not leave from Bergen, and therefore one supposes she must have left from Stavanger.
Most likely she never met John Melland, the father of her son Johannes, in America. Nor, most likely, did he ever know she bore him a son and named that child after his father.
The identiity of the mysterious man with Guri in the photo, identified as a wedding photo, is unknown.
John celebrated his birthday on Feb. 2 even though church records apparently list it as Feb. 3.
John Melland (as he spelled his name in America) said he was the only one of eight brothers and sisters to come to America. He left Norway for America in April of 1892 at age 19, first to work for his sponsor as a lumberjack in Wisconsin and then in 1897 to a farm near Morris in northeastern Illinois. In that community he met and married Bessie Torkelsen. Four children were born to them in Illinois. In 1911 he bought a farm two miles northeast of New Effington, South Dakota, in Lien township, and moved there with his family. He and Bessie had two more children in South Dakota.
John was active in the New Effington community, serving many years on the church council and starting in 1922 as treasurer of the school district. His home was said to be a good place for young immigrants to come. He helped them out, found them work, helped them go on their own. With his wife Bessie he established a good happy family. Both John and Bessie were very active in Brandvold church and in community activities. Two years after Bessie died Feb. 19, 1925, John married the kind Swedish-American Amalie Okerlund; she was the daughter of Lars Okerlund and Batilda Nelsen, who lived on the adjoining farm.
John always had a twinkle in his eye and a ready joke to bring fun and joy into the lives of others. In 1944 he sold the family farm to the Earl Feltons and bought a house in New Effington where he and Mollie enjoyed their retirement years.
In December of 2000 it first became known in America that John Melland had fathered a son in 1892 before leaving Norway in April of that year. That son was born eight months after Mr. Melland emigrated to the USA. He was named Johannes Ulvenes, taking his father's first name and the last name of his mother's parents, by whom he was raised. Apparently Mr. Melland never knew of this son's existence.
. . . p. 65 of the SLEKTEN REINERTSENS STAMTAVLE (1930)
"As Bessie was troubled by a lingering illness, Gladys was asked to stay home from school after finishing the 8th grade (in about 1919) and care for her mother. For doing so she was given a piano" which was still in her home some 40 years thereafter.