Akershus Festning

I discovered a Norwegian family tree that references Sevat Knutson of Stake, Gol, Norway. It doesn’t provide source information and I believe it may include some inaccuracies, but it does introduce some new place names and additional generations to our lineage. Especially interesting to me is a reference to Akershus Festning (Oslo Fortress) as the place of death of Sevat’s father. If, indeed, Knud Endreson died in Akershus Fortress in 1844, he may have been a prisoner.  In addition to common criminals, many socialists were imprisoned in Akershus Festning around the time of Knud's death.  So, determining how he came to be at Akershus may prove very interesting.

Knud's death may also provide a clue to the emigration of his sons.  If he was a common criminal, they may have left to escape the stigma of his circumstances.  If he was a political prisoner, they may have left for the promise of a better political climate in America.  Certainly, if he spent time in Akershus, his family would have suffered consequences and his sons' departures so soon after his death were likely among them.  Any information I can find on prisoners of Akershus festning slaveri, on the political climate of the Hallingdal region before the Knudson's left for America, and on Knud Endreson, in particular, will help in understanding the motivation behind his sons' immigration to America.

More puzzle pieces to examine ...

Min tipp oldefar

In last night's class, our Norwegian instructor gave us a handy vocabulary sheet.  It's entitled "Familiemedlemmer paa norsk" which translates to "family members in Norwegian".  So now I know the words for mother, father, grandparent, great grandparent, etc.  I was interested to discover that Norwegians use the word 'tipp' where we use the word 'great' to add a generation to a grandparent.  However, Norwegians do not use this generation-adder for great grandparents, only for great great grandparents and beyond.  The term for great grandparent/father/mother is olde-foeldre/far/mor.  The term for great great grandfather is tipp oldefar.  For great great great grandfather it's tipp tipp oldefar.  And so on.

As a learning exercise, we were asked to generate a family tree and add a description of the relationship of each individual to ourselves.  Since I already have a fairly extensive family tree developed, the challenge was to limit this tree to something manageable.  I chose to reduce it to my known Norwegian line plus a few generations of the remainder of my family.  Since I've learned only a few verbs and am not sure of the rules for conjugation in Norwegian, my descriptions below are limited, but here's a stab at describing some of my family.

min besteforeldre:
Henry Starkey -- min farfar
Nellie Schulz Starkey -- min farmor
William Kalmbach -- min morfar
Jessie Montgomery Kalmbach -- min mormor

min oldeforeldre:
Sever S. Starkey -- min oldefar
Justina Peterson Starkey -- min oldemor
William Schulz -- min oldefar
Wilhelmina Bettin Schulz -- min oldemor


min tipp oldeforeldre:
Sevat K. Starkey -- min tipp oldefar
Carrie Syverson Starkey -- min tipp oldemor
Hans Peterson -- min tipp oldefar
Kari Peterson -- min tipp oldemor


min tipp tipp oldeforeldre:
Knud Endreson -- min tipp tipp oldefar
Kirste Halvorsdatter -- min tipp tipp oldemor

Snakker de norsk?

Velkommen!

My recent discovery of Norwegian records online has made the ability to read Norwegian more appealing than ever.  So, I have enrolled in a beginner's class offered through the local Scandinavian Language Institute.  I don't expect to become conversant in the language, but do want to learn enough grammar and vocabulary to be able to make sense of Norwegian websites and historical documents.  The latter may be a bit optimistic since written documents of the 19th century have been difficult enough to read in English,  let alone a foreign language.  But, familiarity with even some of the language will be a help.  In addition to the language instruction, the class gives me an opportunity to learn more about the culture of Norway -- both past and present.  All of this helps in piecing together the puzzle of my ancestors' lives 1 1/2 centuries ago. 

Before I started the class, I was unaware there are two written Norwegian languages:  Nynorsk and Bokmaal++.  Bokmaal is a modifed version of Danish (the standard written language in the 16th - 19th centuries) while Nynorsk is based on Norwegian dialects.  All Norwegian students are taught both languages, but usage of Nynorsk is only about 15 % while Bokmaal is written by about 85% of Norwegians.  Spoken Norwegian is another matter.  Regional differences in oral dialects abound in Norway.  These variations on the language make good dictionaries a necessity in sorting out the differences.  I was fortunate to stumble onto an 1892 Dano-Norwegian/English dictionary in a used bookstore a few years ago.  Although it was published about a half century after some of my ancestors left Norway, it is useful in translating their language.  For my class, I am acquiring a modern dictionary that includes both Bokmaal and Nynorsk.  Between the two dictionaries, I hope eventually to be able to translate much of the material I encounter in my research.

As I develop my language skills and sift through the research materials I've begun to collect, my blogging is slowing down.  It's likely to be a while before I have researched the current documents on my ancestors' lives in Norway and new discoveries will be few and far between.  To provide something of possible interest in the meantime, I've added a link to photos of family tombstones.  These photos include Norwegian and non-Norwegian ancestors and are located on my SmugMug site.  (Though copyright protected, my images may be legally downloaded for personal use.  In addition, printed copies may be ordered via SmugMug.  The cost is for the lab that does the printing and for shipping.  I do not receive payment for these prints.)

Tak for i dag!

++  I don't yet have the Norwegian character set available for my blog, so am making common substitutions for the 'extra' Norwegian characters.  (aa == a with a circle over it; ae == combined ae character, etc.)