This is a bit of a detective story, focusing on my search for a particular Norwegian ancestor. I have been working on my family tree since I was a teenager (I'm now in my fifties). I had gotten stuck on my great great grandfather (my father's mother's father's father), who was named Hans Olsen Hegge. He was married to Nicolina Haslie. His son was Olav Hansen "O.H." Hegge (my great grandfather) who had come to America from Norway and became a doctor. I knew lots of stuff about O.H.; among other things, he started both the bank and the hospital in Austin, MN. But I knew very little about his parents.
If you've thought about tracing ancestors in Norway, maybe this diary will help a bit. Or you can just come along for the ride. Follow me below the fold (the orange squiggly thing).
I had written a brief family tree for a class in high school and then worked on it a bit when I was at St. Olaf college (in the 1970s). Every once in a while I'd dig it out and organize it and add a few things here and there. I talked to relatives and did some research in some libraries. I split my family tree into four sections -- one for each grandparent. I figured my cousins and second cousins wouldn't be interested in the ancestors they weren't related to.
Somewhere around 1998 or so, I discovered that the Norwegian government had collected old records and put them on the internet (link here: Norwegian digitalarkivet). Norway had nationwide censuses in 1801, 1865, 1875, 1900, plus there are church records, emigration records, and much more. I started searching for ancestors and found quite a lot. And I learned a lot of Norwegian words.
First, a few things you might or might not know about 19th century Norway:
First, before about 1900, nobody had a proper last name -- not the way Americans would think of it. There was no such thing as "The Smith Family." Everyone had a first name and a patronymic. So if Jon had children, they would be called Jonson or Jonsdatter. Then if one of his sons was Anders Jonson, his children would be called Andersson or Andersdatter. Quite often there was a third name, for the farm where a person lived. But if you moved to a new farm, your farmname would change.
Second, the spellings were fluid. The way a name was spelled varied a lot, depending on the whims of the census taker or preacher or government official who was writing it down. One of my ancestors was baptized Olav Estensen Opeim. When he got married, he was Olaf Øystensen Oppheim. When he died, the church records called him Oluf Estensson Opheim. Three slightly different spellings for each of his three names.
Third, it was very common, but not an ironclad rule for the first boy and girl to be named after the father's parents and the second boy and girl to be named after the mother's parents. Sometimes if a child died very young, the next child would get that name.
Fourth, people didn't travel very far in the old days. As a general rule, you would marry the boy or girl next door -- someone from a nearby farm or someone from the same church. If you found the census records for a farm, quite often there would be three or four generations there.
What My Grandmother Told Me
My grandmother, Valfrid, had written an essay about her family tree in 1927. At the time she was a student at St. Olaf College. But certain branches didn't go back very far.
According to my grandmother Valfrid, her grandfather Hans Olsen had been named either Odegaard or Schrager, but changed his name to Hegge when he moved to that farm. She said he was a farmer and sold lumber (a lot of farmers cut down trees in the winter for extra income and to clear land for farming). Valfrid said he died at age 47 in 1875 (although a little later I found a more reliable record that he died at age 53 in 1875 – same year, but different age). She also said that he died while breaking a horse, when his son Olav was about three years old.
Hans was married to a woman named Nicolina Haslie (according to my grandmother). It turns out the census records call her Nicoline Hasli. Like I said, spellings could vary a bit.
I was very lucky to know the general geographical area, about ten miles south of Lillehammer (which hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics). The farm name was Hegge and the local church was called Biri, in Biri parish in Oppland.
No Luck At First
When I first looked through the Norwegian digital archive website, I tried to find some record of him in the 1865 or 1875 censuses. The first place to search was the Hegge farm and any farm named Odegaard or Schrager -- or something with a similar spelling.
He wasn't at Hegge, supposedly his home farm, in the censuses of 1865 or 1875. But he died in 1875, so it's possible he died before the census happened.
Next I tried Schrager. It sounded like a German name, not a Norwegian one. However, I found a Schjager farm (alternate spellings Schiager or Skjager or Skiaker) in Land parish in Oppland (which is right next door to Biri parish, very close to the Hasli farm, so it’s approximately in the right area). In the 1801 census, the farm is called Schjager; in the 1865 census, it’s called Skiaker. As I mentioned, spellings are fluid.
Plus, in the year 2004, the website for the Biri church mentions an organist named Inger Schiager (who could be distantly related to Hans, if his name was Schiager).
Ødegaard farms: The word øde means ‘desolate’ or ‘wasted.’ It also means ‘abandoned.’ Gaard means ‘farm’ (and incidentally is etymologically related to the words 'yard' and 'garden'). One Norwegian source on the internet said that an ødegaard was a farm abandoned during the black death/bubonic plague (or, presumably, during any other epidemic or catastrophe). If someone took over an abandoned farm, sometimes they called it Odegard – for example, there’s a Ødegaardstuen in Biri parish and there’s an Asp Ødegaarden in Land parish. There are at least 100 farms named ødegaard all over Norway. There were a lot of possibilities. But I still hadn’t found Hans.
I had looked at the censuses for particular farms. Next, I tried searching the censuses for someone named Hans Olsen.
Following Some False Leads
When was he born? Both Valfrid (my grandmother) and an official death record agree that he died in 1875. Let’s assume that that’s true. Valfrid says he was 47 when he died (born around 1828); the other, probably more reliable, death record says he was 53 when he died (born around 1822). That gives me a six-year window (plus or minus a few years). Assuming he was born in Biri parish, here are a few people named Hans Olsen, from about the right time:
#1: 1822 Baptism: The first Hans Olsen was baptized 8 Dec 1822 at Biri church. His parents were Ole Olsen and Lisbet Jensdatter, from Honneseie farm. He was a twin. I know there are twins in our family. This is a possibility.
#2: 1823 Baptism: A year later, another Hans Olsen was baptized 21 Sep 1823 at Biri church. His parents were Ole Hansen and Anne Pedersdatter from Goukstad farm.
There are about eight other people named Hans Olsen baptized a little later, from 1828 to 1835, but the following two are the most interesting:
#3: 1831 Baptism: I found a Hans Olsen who was baptized on 29 Mar 1831, the son of Ole Hansen Øvre Schiager and Mari Hansdatter. This might be him. The farm name contains the name Schiager. He's slightly too young, but I had been looking for a Schrager or Schiager.
#4: 1835 Baptism: There’s another record of a Hans Olsen, who was born on 28 Jun 1835 and baptized on 5 Jul 1835. His parents were Ole Hansen from Roli farm and Anne Hansdatter from Rolieie. His sponsors (godparents) included Daffind Hallsteinsen Heggeeie and four others. This baby has a sponsor named Heggeeie, which sounds a bit like “Hegge.” But he’s probably not the right one – born too late.
But was he born in Biri? My Hans died in Biri parish, but he wasn’t necessarily born there. If he didn’t come from Biri, the baptism records above are irrelevant. I discovered later that the father of Hans was named Ole Pedersen. So none of the baptisms above are the right Hans Olsen. Apparently, he was baptized in Land parish (which is the next parish west of Biri).
Where, oh, where is Hans Olsen in the 1865 census?
He’s not married to Nicoline in 1865: I discovered later that in 1865 his future wife, Nicoline, was still married to her first husband, Andreas Larsen. And our Hans will die before the 1875 census can count him. To make matters worse, the Biri church records from that period were destroyed in a fire (they no longer exist). So I can't find a record of the marriage of Hans and Nicoline; nor can I find a record of their son's baptism.
There were too many Hans Olsens in 1865; I was ready to give up. I couldn’t find him because I found too many people with his name. The needle in the proverbial haystack. After looking at Biri parish and two neighboring parishes I found 167 people named Hans Olsen. Of those 167, roughly 20 or 30 were the right age. Which one is the right one? Where is my Hans?
Then I hit some good luck.
GOOD LUCK #1: I discovered the death record…
While I was searching around various records in the archives, I came across Hans Olsen from Hegge farm who died at age 53 on 27 Apr 1875. He probably died just before the 1875 census official came to his farm. His son, Oluf Hansen (my great grandfather), was born at Hegge in 1872 (so they were both there at the right time – in the 1870s).
This is definitely him. Right name, right farm, right year of death (although he was a little older than what my grandmother said). I found the end of his life.
GOOD LUCK #2: On the internet, I discovered a distant cousin
Searching for the farm name and the person's name in the censuses hadn't been fruitful, so I started googling for various names of ancestors and farms.
Google searches led me to Rolf (whose last name I'm omitting for DKos readers), who is a very distant cousin – in his family tree he has a Hegge who married a Hasli. I sent him an email and he checked the local records and replied with this information…
Nicoline and her first husband, Andreas, bought the Hegge farm in 1867 (after the 1865 census), then Andreas died a year later in 1868. Nicoline married Hans Olsen (obviously after the death of Andreas in 1868). Then Hans died a few years later (before the 1875 census).
The following is excerpted from an email from Rolf, who grew up in the Snertingdal region (near the Hasli farm). He transcribed and e-mailed the Norwegian original (from the Biri-Snertingdal bygdebok (a bygdebok is sort of a community history)). He was gracious enough to translate it into English, too.
Here’s the translated English version from Rolf. The parenthetical italicized comments are from Rolf and the bold italic comments are mine:
Email from Rolf, translated from the bygdebok:
• Hans Kristiansen sold the Hegge farm in 1867 to:
Andreas Larsen Tomter (Tomter is in the middle of Snertingdal), born 1831,who was married to Nikoline Olsdatter Hasli, born 1835.
• Andreas died the year after he came to Hegge (that means he died 1868).
• Nikoline then married Hans Olsen Brenner. (Brenner is a farm in the middle of Snertingdal, not very far from Tomter)
(Aha! This is my ancestor Hans Olsen Hegge.)
• Nikoline had two sons from her first marriage: Lars and Kristian, and in her second marriage the son Oluf.
(That means that Oluf's father must be Hans Olsen Brenner. But this also means that Hans Olsen had to be dead as soon as in 1875.)
• Kristian and Oluf went to America where they became doctors, while Lars stayed at Hegge.
[Aha! I didn’t tell Rolf that Christian or Olav later became doctors, so this has to be O.H. Hegge and his half-brother, Christian Hegge.]
• Andreas Larsen Tomter’s son, Lars Andreasen, was married, in 1884, to Bergine Midt-Hegge. They had four children.
• Lars Andreasen’s son, Andreas Larsen married Marie Sveum from Snertingdal (She's related to me actually...)
Thanks a million, Rolf! Everything fits together very nicely. And it explains why Hans isn't at Hegge farm in either 1865 or 1875.
I looked at the 1865 census, and Nicoline Olsdatter was living at Tomter farm with her first husband, Andreas Larsen Tomter. So I found Nicoline.
In 1867, according to Rolf, the two of them literally bought the Hegge farm and then Andreas figuratively bought the farm (died) in 1868.
Then, after 1868 but before 1872, Nicoline married Hans Olsen, who fathered one child (Oluf) and then the unfortunate Hans died in 1875 (just before the 1875 census).
Nicoline’s sons, Kristian and Oluf went to America and became doctors in Austin, Minnesota (and Americanized their names to Christian and Olav).
Plus, zooming ahead to the future, Nicoline (Hans’s wife, Oluf’s mother) was still living at Hegge Nordre farm in the 1900 census with her son who stayed in Norway and his wife and children. (By the way, Hegge Nordre means "North Hegge." When farms were split they often kept the original name but added words like "upper" or "lower" or "near" or "far" or "north" or "south.")
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1865 Norway census (one more try): I now knew where to look in the 1865 census. There is a Hans Olsen (age 43, which is exactly the right age) living at Brændhagen farm in Nykirken sub-parish in 0525 Birid in Oppland. According to Rolf, Brændhagen was once part of Brenner farm. The emigration record for O.H. Hegge says that his father was from Brenner. So this is the right guy. He’s my ancestor. I’ve located his whereabouts in 1865.
I looked around a bit. In the census, Brændhagen is farm #141. Next door is farm #142, Brænder Øvre, where Olave Olsdatter, Nicoline’s sister, lived with her husband. Bingo! That explains how Hans met his second wife, Nicoline – Hans and his first wife lived next door to the sister of Hans’s second wife. Then Nicoline’s first husband died and Hans’s first wife died and they married each other. Maybe Olave did some matchmaking: “Hey, Hans, your wife just died. My sister’s husband just died. Why don’t you two get together?” (Plus, I don't understand all the details, but there were legal reasons that favored leasing or selling a farm to a married couple rather than a single man or woman.)
In 1865, Hans is 43 years old. The only two other people at that farm are Agneth Nielsd., age 76 – who is listed as his wife, 33 years older than him (!), and Oliana Larsd., a 16-year-old servant girl. Here’s some of what I discovered about the history of Brenner farm (with several widows and widowers getting remarried)…
Brenner/Brenden/Brænder farm:
Back in the 1801 census, Ole Thoersen is 41 years old (born in 1760) and he’s the owner of Brenden farm in Snertingsdahlen sokn in Birie in Oppland. His first wife (age 47) is Gubiør Johansd. (born around 1754) and they have a 13 year old son named Torger Olsen. And 30 other various people live at Brenden. None of these people is related to me.
Ole Thoersen Brenner’s first wife dies: According to church records, Gulbjør Johansd., from Brenner, born 1755, died on 6 October 1818 and was buried.
Ole Brenner marries his second wife, Agnethe: In the Biri/Snertingdal church records from 1818, I found an Ole Thorsen from Brenner farm (enkemand (widower), aged 58 (born in 1760) – which is the right name, right farm, and right age) – who married Agnethe Nilsdatter (age 30, born about 1788) from Kirkerudseie on 27 Dec 1818. He remarried less than two months after his first wife died. In 1818, he’s 58 years old and she is 30.
Ole and Agnethe have one child, named Ole Olsen. Two years after the marriage, Ole Thorsen and Agnete Nielsdatter, from Brenner farm, baptized a child named Ole Olsen on 6 Feb 1820 (born 30 Dec 1819). The godparents/sponsors were Ole and Ingeborg (from Brenner) and Ole and Kari (from Kirkerudeie).
Ole Thorsen Brenner (the father) died at age 79, in 1839.
Ole Olsen Brenner (the son) died at age 24, in 1844.
Three years later, Agnethe Brenner (Ole Thorsen’s widow) marries Hans Olsen. Think about it. In 1847, Agnethe’s husband is dead and her only son is dead. She needs someone to work the farm. So she marries a young Hans Olsen. The marriage happened on 7 Apr 1847 at Segaard Kirke. She is listed as Agnethe Nilsdatter, age 57, farmer’s widow from Brænder. Hans Olsen is 24 and his stilling/sted is UNGK/GRDM. SØNN, ØDEGAARDEN AF LAND. In English, his origin is “Unknown/farmer’s son, Ødegaard in Land.” His father is listed as Ole Pedersen. Hans is a couple years younger than Agnethe’s (dead) son Ole – so maybe they went to school together. When they get married, she’s 57 and he’s 24. The marriage may have been for the reason I mentioned above -- there was a legal incentive to sell or lease a farm to a married couple.
But notice one thing: the Ødegaard connection, which had been mentioned by my grandmother, Valfrid.
Agnethe died in 1867: According to the official records, she was 80 years old when she died at Brænder i Sn-dal Annex on 23 May 1867. Sn-dal is probably an abbreviation for Snertingdal. The Snertingdal church is a little west of the Biri church.
About three years later, Hans married Nicoline: Around 1870, Hans Olsen (age 49, widower from Brenner) married Nicoline Olsd. (age 36, widow from Hegge). The records were destroyed in the Biri church fire, so I don’t have any details about the marriage. But it’s obvious that they met because Hans lived next door to Nicoline’s sister. Hans and Nicoline had one child (O.H. Hegge) and then Hans died when his son, O.H., was only 3 years old.
GOOD LUCK #3: I discovered another Norwegian relative who tracked down Hans.
At this point, I knew that Hans Olsen came to Hegge from Brenner when he married Nicoline. And I knew that, before he married Nicoline, he came to Brenner when he married his first wife, Agnethe. But, before that, where exactly was he born? The record of his marriage to his first wife, Agnethe, seems to point to Ødegaard in Land.
A Norwegian named Geir (I'm omitting the last name again) has a family tree that lists lots of ancestors of Nicoline’s parents. Again, it was a lucky Google hit. And that branch goes back several hundred years. Geir is not related to Hans Olsen but he is related to Nicoline, so I sent him an email asking him to help me find Hans Olsen. Geir found the baptism record and information about Hans’s father and mother. He seems to think that Hans Olsen was baptized in Fluberg church, which is on the eastern shore of Randsfjord, approximately 15 miles due south of the Hasli farm. But that's another story.
I hope this tale of genealogical detective work kept your interest. With hard work and good luck, you can find your ancestors.