Just a little housekeeping today: I have eliminated the Category “Ancestral Sites in Norway,” the series on my visit to our ancestral farms last August. The original posts are still in place, but to see them in the order I posted them, you can now go to the “Page” with that title. I was unhappy with the “category,” because the posts appeared in reverse order. That is fine when the articles are posted, but for a series like that, I prefer to present it in chronological order once complete.

For my “next big thing,” I plan to update the Larson descendants to the same level as the Myers; that is, all descendants of Ole Larson. This is still in the planning stage, as it a much more gigantic project. To wit: on the Myers side, I have (at my best count) 9 first cousins and 20 second. Contacting (nearly) all of these was a pretty big job, more so because I didn’t even know of the existence of several second cousins until the project was under way.

On the Larson side, thanks to cousin Aline and her “Larsons and Slettens 1985,” I’m pretty sure I know all the names. But there are 19 first cousins, and 91 second to account for! And it is Aline who is my inspiration. She accomplished a task of similar size 27 years ago, without benefit of email, Facebook, People-finders, or anything else but snail-mail and telephone.

I will be contacting many of you in the near future for help. Expect to hear from me, and wish me luck.

After returning home, I got a link to oslobilder.no, “the official website for historic images from Oslo.” By searching the term “tukthuset,” (the prison) I got 49 photos, including the ones below:

This shows the entire south facade facing Storgata, taken about 1900.

Another 1910 photo shows the rear of the same building, with its attached wings, and a courtyard enclosed by a wooden fence.

Another view of the courtyard in 1910. Note the extra-tall garret on the right, with no glass in the windows. One can almost imagine armed guards monitoring the prisoners, including Anne. In fact, one can see something inside the garret, but not clearly enough to tell if it is human forms.

The next two photos were taken in 1938, just before the prison was torn down.

Entrance to the prison yard on Bernt Ankers gate, a cross-street to Storgata. Unknown what street is on the right, or where this in relation to the previous photos.

Another part of the same stone wall, and a building not shown in the other photos.

Unfortunately for my efforts, the entire prison was demolished. On the site today stands a modern, 9-story office block. Exploring under a drizzling rain, here is what I found at Storgata 33.

About two blocks away, on the opposite side of Storgata (#46), stands a separate but related site called Prinds Kristian Augusts Minde. This site is partly preserved (although in poor condition), thanks to a historic monument designation in the 1990′s. This is my photo of the front gate and part of one of the buildings.

Before visiting, I thought that the prison was also a part of this compound, although it was outside the area currently under protection, having already been demolished. The Minde, as it is known, was originally a lavish Medieval estate. It was purchased by a philanthropic organization in the 1810′s, for use as a workhouse, poor hospital, and insane-asylum. In theory, destitute people could come voluntarily, but in reality, it was usually forced upon them.

Another building in the preservation area is an old factory, probably for textile manufacture.

I imagined that Anne Larsdatter may have been forced to toil in such a place, but it seems she probably had it even worse. I next visited the University of Oslo, which is celebrating a historic occasion of its own.

Professor Hilde Sandvik of the Institute for History and Archaeology took time from her busy schedule to meet briefly with me, and referred me to other scholars whom I later contacted by email.

I learned that the prison, despite its close proximity, was always completely separate from the Minde, and the prisoners lived and worked under conditions worse than those of the workhouse inmates across the street. I leave you with one final photo of the prison’s interior, again from around 1910. I don’t know whether this was a living or working area. Either way, it must have been pretty grim.

More details as I learn them. Keep in mind, though, that Anne and baby Ole not only survived this ordeal, but came to America a quarter-century later, and founded the family that today numbers in the thousands.

]]> http://olelarsonsfolks.net/Blog/2011/09/29/the-prison-site/feed/ 0 http://olelarsonsfolks.net/Blog/2011/09/22/nord-fron-lars-paulsens-ancestors/ http://olelarsonsfolks.net/Blog/2011/09/22/nord-fron-lars-paulsens-ancestors/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 03:44:54 +0000 George http://olelarsonsfolks.net/Blog/?p=3937 Sødorp congregation

One of several churches in Nord-Fron parish is Sødorp. It is located on the west side of the river, just a mile from the cabin where we stayed three nights.

This was not the building’s original location, however. It was moved here in 1910 from across the river, just south of the town of Vinstra. A smaller chapel now stands at that location.

But long before the 1750′s, when the larger church was built on this spot , there was a church about a kilometer to the north, high on the hill. The site was unknown in modern times, until recently, when some relics were uncovered. A simple wooden cross now marks the spot.

Lillegård

Below the cross is the Lillegård farm. This is where Ole Larson’s grandfather (Lars Paulsen’s father) Paul Svendsen was born, as well as several generations before him.

It was only weeks before our visit that my doubts about this connection were eliminated, when Pål Kjorstad found documents proving that it was solid. I had not fully processed that situation, or I would have pursued Lillegård more closely. Reviewing the definitive farm book yet again after retuning home, I found that at the time the book was compiled (1980′s?), the farm was still owned by a descendant of the same Svend Paulsen Lillegård (1702-1756) who is verifiably my 4th great-grandfather.

The gravestone below, at the Sødorp chapel, is one of the oldest readable monuments we saw in any cemetery, and very likely marks a cousin of ours (several generation removed).

The inscription is quite touching: It gives the precise times of her birth and death, referring tenderly to her lifespan of “14 years, 10 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, and 7-1/4 hours.”

I did not inquire who owns the farm today, but there are numerous folks with the Lillegård surname in the immediate area. I should have tried to make contact, as some of them are surely our biological relatives (although at 5th cousins or further). But alas, I missed the chance.

This concludes my tour of ancestral sites in Gudbrandsdalen. I hope you have enjoyed it. Next: the only stop on my “roots” agenda outside this one valley. I refer, of course, to Norway’s capital city, and the former site of Oslo prison.

We stayed one night at Glomstad Gård, a lovely B & B just a mile from the farms I was interested in.

Glomstad is high on the hillside, offering commanding views of this section of the valley.

Waiting for us at the B & B was Knut Kvernflaten, a “shirttail” relative who has guided other visitors in the area, including cousin Orrin Moen, and Lois and Myrna, on earlier visits. I can’t say enough in praise of his knowledge and generosity. Knut was our guide both in Tretten, and the next day at Fåvang (next post).

Knut told me that according to local folklore, Tretten (Norwegian for “thirteen”) got its name after the Black Death ravaged Norway in the late 1300′s, when only thirteen families survived in what had been a whole parish.

Bjerke: Anne’s birthplace

Just a kilometer down the road from Glomstad, we found the South Bjerke farm. This, I believe, is the birthplace of not only Anne Samuelsdatter (1845), but of her father, Samuel Jørgensen (1815), paternal grandfather, Jørgen Gulbrandsen (1789), and grandmother, Ombjor Samuelsdatter (1789).

 No one was home when we knocked at the door, but we took the liberty of photographing the grounds and some buildings.

One can almost imagine the family in a hussmansplass at the far end of the fields, or further into the forest, living in a rude house like the one below.

Next,a telephoto shot of Bjerke (center right), taken from across the river, at the other Tretten farm on  my short list.

Ødegaarden: Anne’s mother

Literally translated, this name means “the abandoned farm.”  There are many farms so named in Norway, again, plausibly, as a result of the Black Death. At the time of Marit Pedersdatter’s birth (1820), it was called “Glømme-Ødegaarden,” as it was a husmannsplass under the farm Glømmen, on the opposite side of the river (near Bjerke). Here is a wider photo, with Ødegaarden fields in the foreground, and Bjerke far away.I asked Knut why so many farms had subordinate plots across the river. There were surely not many bridges in the old days. For one thing, he said, there were boats, of course. But more importantly, when the river was frozen in winter, it was easily crossed on foot or other overland transport. His next comment was amusing and significant; to paraphrase, “A lot of babies were born nine months after the river was frozen.”

I neglected to photograph the buildings at the current farm compound. However, the owner, Steiner Ødegaard, was most helpful. He showed us an old photo of a woman who lived there at the same time as our ancestor, also named Marit. She was born at another location in 1810, ten years before Anne’s mother, and they were probably acquainted. There was one old building at the farm, a small house that was occupied until the 1990′s.Also the stone ruins of a barn.

Next: Fåvang, birthplace of Gunder Moen.

The Skurdal area (Skurdalsgrenda) is one of the largest and most varied in Sør-Fron parish. There are at least six farms whose names contain “Skurdal,” and more than ten others that are part of the “grenda.” Of primary interest to us is the southern portion of the area. In Anne Larsdatter’s birth record (1801), the farm name was given as simply “Schurdal.” This would include the entire area above, and more. Adding to the uncertainty, Anne’s residential surname is shown in other documents as “Skurdalshaugen.” Here the confusion begins.

Skurdalshaugen, number 6 on the above photo, has been an independent farm since at least 1723. But it is not the birthplace of Anne Larsdatter, and it is unlikely that she ever lived there. My fondest thanks to Pål Kjorstad for helping me sort this out. We will come back to this Skurdalshaugen later, in connection with another line of ancestors.

As it turns out, a certain resident of Skurdalshaugen named David Jonsen (David was a very unusual name at that time) occupied a plot some 1 km to the south, in the late 1700′s. This farm is now called Davidhaugen (after its original resident), but went by other names before it separated from its “parent” farm in 1905. This was not uncommon for tenant farms, which were not officially distinguished from their ownership. Here are two of my photos of Davidhaugen (#7 in the above map).

David Jonsen had a son named Lars Davidsen, who in turn had a daughter named Anne Larsdatter, our great-great-grandmother. Moreover, after Lars Poulsen married Anne (1820), I believe that they lived on this same plot of land to raise their large family. The documents I have found are inconclusive, but suggest it in subtle ways. Finally, I got a feeling here. Not an overwhelming, knock-you-down kind of epiphany, but a definite sense of connection with this place.

Next: Tretten – birthplace of Anne Samuelsdatter, future wife of Ole Larson, and my great-grandmother.

I am deeply indebted to two individuals for the success of my “roots” tour in Gudbrandsdalen. One is Pål Kjorstad, head of the Fron Historielag. Pål had already helped my research enormously by email, as detailed in a recent post. The day before I arrived in the Fron area, I tried to telephone him, but I had copied his number incorrectly. The next morning, I luckily got the correct number and spoke with him for the first time. On a moment’s notice, he interrupted his work as a sheep farmer and agricultural consultant, spending the entire day guiding us around my sites of interest. At mid-day, he invited us to his home (Kjorstad, naturally), where his lovely wife, Signe, served us coffee and waffles, and his son Rasmus played some excellent folk fiddle for us.

Pål’s knowledge of the area’s farms and history is truly amazing. He met us first at Sør-Fron church. My photos of the church are not as brilliant as the one on my home page (taken by a German tourist), due in part to the rainy weather.

The gravestones below are not of known relatives, but do bear the names of my two top-priority farms.

Flåtå: Birthplace of Lars Poulsen (c. 1792)

Throughout this series, when I say “birthplace,” I mean the land, not any existing buildings, pictured or otherwise. I may occasionally speculate on the age of a building, but even if it were old enough, there is no way to associate it with any individual.

You may recall that Lars Poulsen (or Paulson) was the father of Ole Larson. Almost nothing was known of him until cousin Aline started her research about 20 years ago. The Flåtå farm (also spelled Flaate, or Flaade, as on the gravestone above) was occupied until a year or two ago, but is now abandoned. To reach it, we walked about a half-mile up an unused driveway.

Only two buildings remain standing.

Based on the style of building, Pål estimated that the dwelling-house (foreground) dates from around 1900, over a century after Lars Poulsen walked this ground as a child. Note the extreme steepness of the cleared land. This is not very unusual in Norway, but unheard-of for farms in America. Here is a view across Flåtå’s overgrown fields toward two larger farms below.

The second building on the property, probably a storage shed or barn, is much older than the house, and may even date from Lars Poulsen’s time.

Finally, the ruins of a root-cellar or underground barn. The earthen roof has caved in.

As you may recall from that previous post, Flåtå was lost to Lars Poulsen’s family after his father died in 1797. While Lars, his widowed mother, and two of his eight siblings were still living there in 1801, they probably left soon after.

Next: Skurdal – large and complex.

Svend Poulsen Lillegaard (1702-1756) and Marit Poulsdtr. b. Harildstad had these five children, and possibly others. Daughters: Kari, Tore and Anne. Sons: Poul and Poul.

Another document Pål found was a skifte, roughly equivalent to “probate,” following the death of Poul Svendsen Flaate in late 1797. It names Lars Poulsen, then 3-1/2 years old, as one of the heirs. Even more interesting, it names several previously unknown siblings of his. Here is his name in context: (the full document can be seen at arkivverket)

The entire family is as follows, teased out from this document and other sources by Pål Kjorstad:

Poul Svendsen Lillegaard (one of the two brothers so named) bought the Flaate farm  27 June 1776, was first married to Kari Iversdtr Skaaden (my neighbour farm when I was young). With Kari he had 2 children: Svend, born before 1774 and Marit born 1775. (These 2 fit exactly with their grandparents name at Lillegaard. Poul married 2. with Mari(e) Pedersdtr. and had 7 children with her: Hans(1783), Ole (1785), Peder (1787), Poul (1791), Lars (1793), Kari (1789) and Anne (1796).

All nine children received (very paltry) inheritances, so they must have been living in 1798. The six sons each received about one percent of the auction price of the farm, while each of the three daughters received about half that amount. By the 1801 census, only Poul, Lars, and Anne were counted with their widowed mother, Mari Pedersdatter, at Flaate. I found the names of a couple others who were servants on nearby farms. The rest of them must have moved away, too.

This puts several generations of ancestors back on Lars Paulson’s branch of my family tree, along with some “brand-new” 2nd and 3rd great-grand-uncles and aunts.

16 days until we leave for Norway. Actually, 16 days, two hours, and 18 minutes … but who’s counting?

It turns out they did, ten years later. As part of my preparation for our Norway trip, I have been corresponding with our shirttail relative Knut Kvernflaten, about farm names and locations, and other details. Knut referred a question of mine to his friend Tordis Trønnes in Tretten. In addition to answering my question, Tordis sent a bunch of information on Anne Samuelsdatter’s ancestors. Besides correcting an error in my data that misidentified one set of Anne’s grandparents, Tordis had the date of Samuel Jorgenson’s immigration, 01 June 1877. Armed with the date, I easily found the pertinent record at digitalarkivet, in the emigration protocols of the Oslo police. Here is an excerpt from that record.

Note that here, as in most or all of the Norwegian sources, the first vowel is “ø” rather then “o. Also, it ends with “sen,” not “son.”

More interesting is the “Jorgensen” surname given for the entire family.  This is an early example of the modernization, one might even say “Americanization,” of the patronymic surname. However, in this case, Samuel’s children reverted to the old tradition (for themselves only), and in America were known as Samuelson.

Tusen takk to Tordis and Knut for the new info. So far, I have not been able to locate Samuel or Marit in any US census records, nor any burial info. Stay tuned.

Norway experienced a population explosion in the early 1800′s, especially among the poor, rural husmann class. This was due to several factors, and despite the fact that virtually all arable land was already being farmed. Smallpox vaccine (made mandatory for all children throughout Norway by 1810) greatly reduced infant and child (and adult) mortality. A factor often underrated was the widespread cultivation of potatoes. The potato proved easy to grow, highly productive, could be stored all winter, and provided a “fresh-vegetable” caliber of nutrition, superior to that of cereal grains. The bad news was, potatoes are even more vulnerable to crop failure than grains, which are hardly immune themselves. If both types of crop failed in a single season, starvation would loom.

This is exactly what happened in Gudbrandsdalen, not for a single season, but four years running: 1836, 37, 38, and 39. Note that this was several years prior to the Irish potato famine of 1845-46. By the winter of 1839-40 people were “grinding up birch bark and moss to make bread.” For Anne’s part, she and her husband had to feed not only themselves, but four or five growing girls. With that in mind, consider Anne’s arrest for thievery in March of 1840. This is a complete list of what she and two accomplices allegedly stole:

>Some wool and/or woolen garments, value about $2, recovered.
>A dress, value $0.50, recovered.
>”small things,” value $0.08,  recovered.
>Butter, value $0.30, “other food;” compensation waived.
>”Some foodstuffs,” old shirts, 7 yards of burlap, and some yarn, value $1.50, recovered.
>1/2 measure(?) of herring, 1 bucketful of potatoes, 5 turnips (or cabbages), and one piece of pork (bacon or ham?), value altogether $0.50, compensation waived.

It would take a Charles Dickens or a Victor Hugo to imagine that Anne received a sentence of eight months in the national prison, 150 miles from home, for such an offense. On the other hand, that her case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, albeit unsuccessfully, is itself remarkable.

As for Grandma Anne’s inner strength, she not only survived the prison, but gave birth to Grandpa Ole during the ordeal, at age forty. A quarter-century later, she survived a squalid 50-day ocean voyage to Canada, and an overland journey to Wisconsin, where she lived to the age of nearly ninety. That is what I call grit.

She is the sister of Ole Larson who married in Norway and immigrated three years after Ole, Marit, Mari, and Anne. Her family had contact with other Larsons (especially Smith Larson) in the early days, but contact was lost for much of the 20th century. All the individuals reported here are deceased. Cousin Jan Tarbet is working on more recent info, which will eventually go into the private “Descendants” area. My deepest thanks to cousin Carmen Stifstad for this information.

Outline Descendant Report for Kari Larsdatter

….. 1 Kari Larsdatter (1830 – 1918) b: 19 Apr 1830 in Skurdal, Sør Fron, Norway, d: 21 Jan 1918 in Deer Park, St Croix, Wisconsin, USA

….. + Rasmus Knudsen Kjorstadseie

……….. 2 Ole Nesseth (1855 – 1930) b: 14 Nov 1855 in Sor Fron, Norway, d: 02 Oct 1930 in Menomonie, Dunn, WI

……….. + Agnette Everson (1859 – 1918) b: 28 Apr 1859 in Hedemarken, Norway, m: 12 Dec 1879 in Menomonie, Dunn, WI, d: 20 Dec 1918 in Menomonie, Dunn, WI

…………….. 3 Anna Charlotte Nesseth (1881 – 1969) b: 22 Feb 1881, d: 27 Feb 1969

…………….. 3 Oliver William Nesseth (1883 – 1933) b: 26 Mar 1883, d: 03 May 1933

…………….. + ess m: 11 Aug 1908

…………….. 3 Ebba Henrietta Nesseth (1888 – 1952) b: 01 Jul 1888, d: 30 May 1952

…………….. + Anton Hogstad Jr. m: 01 Jul 1920

…………….. 3 Richard Franklin Nesseth (1893 – 1917) b: 21 Jun 1893, d: 14 Oct 1917

…………….. 3 MInda Evelyn Nesseth (1897 – 1991) b: 23 Aug 1897, d: 05 Jan 1991

…………….. + James W. Dockar

…………….. 3 Agnes Ottilie Nesseth (1901 – 1990) b: 29 Jun 1901, d: 20 Nov 1990

…………….. + Albion H. Bunker m: 27 Dec 1923

….. + Ole Pedersen Nesseie (1821 – 1879) b: 30 Nov 1821 in Gausdal, Norway, m: 28 Jun 1862 in Svadsum, Østre Gausdal, Oppland, Norway, d: 10 Sep 1879 in Polk County, Wisconsin

……….. 2 Peter Nesseth (1862 – 1903) b: 27 Jul 1862 in Gausdal, Norway, d: 25 Apr 1903 in Wisconsin

……….. 2 Randine Nesseth (1866 – 1943) b: 07 May 1866 in Gausdal, Norway, d: 23 Jul 1943

……….. + Ole Erickson-Johnson

…………….. 3 Clarence Johnson (1890 – 1980) b: 15 Jan 1890, d: 20 Aug 1980

…………….. + Ida Johnson m: 24 Oct 1920

…………….. 3 Mabel Johnson (1896 – 1979) b: 10 Apr 1896, d: 16 Mar 1979

…………….. + Alvin Wenstad

……….. 2 Louis Nesseth (1870 – 1948) b: 23 Sep 1870 in Wisconsin, d: 18 Feb 1948

……….. + Alma Johnson

…………….. 3 Ina Nesseth (1900 – 1995) b: 27 Sep 1900, d: 14 Jan 1995

…………….. + Jack Kerrigan m: Sep 1930

…………….. 3 Grace Nesseth (1902 – 1958) b: 02 Feb 1902, d: 25 Apr 1958

…………….. + Elmer O Nelson m: 20 Nov 1920

…………….. 3 Clifford Nesseth (1904 – 1986) b: 20 Sep 1904, d: 19 Aug 1986

…………….. + Viola Schmidt m: 07 Apr 1941

…………….. 3 Ralph (Billy) Nesseth (1906 – 1974) b: 19 Sep 1906, d: 23 Nov 1974

…………….. + Myrtle Hofland m: 01 Oct 1941

…………….. 3 Willie Nesseth (1909 – 1912) b: 30 Jul 1909, d: Aug 1912

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