[1] Olof Ersson was born in a small hamlet of Sälja in Tärnsjö Parish in northern Uppland, Sweden.

Bishop Hill was the site of a utopian religious community founded in 1846 by Swedish pietist Eric Jansson and his followers.

During the first two winters at the colony, Krans attended school and as he got older he was an ox boy and later worked in the black smith and paint shops.

[6][7] Today most of his art belongs to the collection of the Olof Krans Museum at Bishop Hill which was dedicated in 1988 at a ceremony witnessed by Princess Christina of Sweden.

Bishop Hill Museum at Biskopskulla Prästgård, is located outside Örsundsbro, east of Enköping in Uppland, Sweden.