When Marta Sjursdotter Bjelland was born in 1808, in Bjelland, Etne, Hordaland, Norway, her father, Sjur Torjusson, was 31 and her mother, Marta Pedersdatter, was 29. She married Peder Olsen on 6 June 1828, in Skånevik, Hordaland, Norway. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 7 daughters. She died in 1873, at the age of 65.