When Christopher Fingarsen was born on 9 August 1818, in Strand, Sigdal, Buskerud, Norway, his father, Fingar Olsen Strand, was 24 and his mother, Aase Christophersdtr Narum, was 21. He married Ingrid Knudsdatter Odegaardsplassen on 4 July 1843, in Hov, Kongsberg, Buskerud, Norway. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 4 daughters. He died on 16 February 1871, in Waseca, Waseca, Minnesota, United States, at the age of 52.