Peter Bekken

He was a good help to Randi and Mathias when they first arrived in Curtiss. He might have been the one who led Mathias to Curtiss in the first place. We do not know exactly who he was, or even if he came from Gausdal originally. His wife Marte sends her regards to Randi's neighbor Ingeborg Busletten, so it is likely at least she came from Gausdal. Peter Bekken might have been:

Peter Mortensen (b. 1862) from Baekken Oevre in Eastern Gausdal. He would have been 27 at the time Randi arrived in Curtiss. In the 1865 census he lived as a foster-child at Rudsveen Oevre, in 1875 at Baekken Oevre. He does not appear in the 1900 census.