When Endre Ostensen Holmestad was born on 15 October 1732, in Fortun, Luster, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, his father, Osten Endresen, was 56 and his mother, Agatha Tollefsdotter, was 19. He married Rannei Haaversdotter about 1764. They were the parents of at least 1 son. He died on 25 September 1814, at the age of 81.