Ole's Blog

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.

In case you are confused, Anne Samuelsdatter was Ole Larson’s first wife (and the mother of Isaac, Axel, Louise, and Smith Larson). We actually visited Tretten and Fåvang before Sør-Fron, but I wanted to start my narrative with “Ole Larson’s folks.”

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.

Skurdal – It’s Complicated

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.

A Crackerjack Guide

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.