Olof was born on June 21, 1875 to Lars Olsson (Nyman) Ekberg and his wife Anna Larsdotter. He was one of a set of twins, his twin brother being named Alfred. Alfred died on December 31, 1876 at about eighteen months of age. In addition to the twins, the family's children included Anna Louisa, born in 1863, Bothilda born in 1866 and died in 1868, Lars born in 1869, and another Bothilda born in 1878. The older children were born in the town of Skurup, northwest of Skivarp, but the twins and the younger children were all born near Skivarp. The family lived in the village of Ormolla, south of Skivarp until 1881 when they moved to Almarod, a small village west of Skivarp, probably to a farm. This is the same village that the Almstrom family lived in.

In 1891, when he was 15 years old, Olof moved back to Ormolla, apparently to work on the farm of Hans Larsson. Most Swedish children seemed to leave home at about the age of 15 or 16, usually to work on a farm or to be an apprentice somewhere. Olof remained in Ormolla for a couple of years but then moved back to Skivarp in 1893. However, just three years later he made a move that changed his life forever.

On January 1, 1896 he became a sailor and moved to Kristianstad as a third class seaman's assistant, apparently a training position. By February 12, 1896, he was in Karlskrona and was in training both on land and at sea. His "Forhallnings-bok: (a record book) records his training and his days at sea. He carried this with his throughout his time as a sailor, from 1896 until he left the navy on December 31, 1901, a span of five years. During this time his "Sjofartsbok" (sea voyage book) records his voyages on the ships, Krona, Najaden, Hirundo and Lizzie. On these voyages he sailed to Spain and Portugal, America, England and other ports. He received letters of recommendation from at least a couple of the captains under whom he served while on board the Lizzie and the Hirundo, a Norwegian vessel. It is somewhat interesting to note that at least the last two mentioned ships were propeller driven ships, not sailing vessels like the ship which Olof's magnificent hand-made scale-model was patterned after, the Oceana.

In 1901, at the end of the year, he left the marine service and shortly thereafter he left Sweden. On March 7, 1902, he bought a ticket to America on board the White Star liner "Teutonic", a predecessor of the "Titanic". The Teutonic was at one time the fastest liner on the North Atlantic and was the pride of the White Star line. Olof's ticket specifies that he was going from Copenhagen to Petersberg, Illinois, where someone presumably had work arranged for him. The work probably was in the coal mines, as we know he worked in the mines for several years. When he emigrated, he went to Menard County, Illinois where his sister Anna Louisa was living. She had emigrated in 1889 and by the time Olof arrived was married to Magnes Nelson and had three daughters. Within a few years of coming to America Olof had married Ida, who arrived in America to be with him in 1904.

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