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

Sevat Starkey's South Dakota Homestead

The land record that revealed the story behind the name change from Sevat Knudson to Sevart K. Stake was located using the Bureau of Land Management's online land patent search at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.  Records found on the website include a legal land description, the date of issue of the patent as well as the size of the parcel and by what authority the land was acquired (homestead act, etc.)  Most important, records include an accession/serial number and Bureau of Land Management serial number.  These numbers can be used to order copies of original land documents.  These documents may contain gems of information such as were found in Sevart K. Stake's homestead documents.  Even when records only contain information about the land acquisition, they may provide a glimpse at the personality of the ancestor through his questionaire responses.  In some cases, an image of the land patent is viewable on the website, but this image will not include all file documents.  It is always preferable to obtain the entire file, if possible.

A number of Starkey famiily land records can be found using this search tool.  Here are some of them:

SEVART K STAKE:
Document number:  10330
Accession/Serial Number:  SDMTAA 140743
BLM Serial Number:  SDMTAA 140743
Date:  12/5/1890
Land Office:  Montana State Land Office
Authority:  May 20, 1862: Homestead EntryOriginal (12 Stat. 392)
State:  South Dakota
Acres:  160
Land Description:  NE Section 35, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county


SEVER K STARKEY:
Document number: 11878
Accession/Serial Number: SDMTAA 140883
BLM Serial Number: SDMTAA 140883
Date: 11/11/1898
Land Office: Montana State Land Office
Authority: May 20, 1862: Homestead EntryOriginal (12 Stat. 392)
State: South Dakota
Acres: 160
Land Description: SW Section 35, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county


SEVER S STARKEY:
Document number: 2862
Accession/Serial Number: SDMTAA 140871
BLM Serial Number: SDMTAA 140871
Date: 2/24/1898
Land Office: Montana State Land Office
Authority: March 3, 1873: Timber Culture (17 Stat. 605)
State: South Dakota
Acres: 160
Land Description: NW Section 23, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county


SEVER S STARKEY:
Document number: 9503
Accession/Serial Number: SDMTAA 140666
BLM Serial Number: SDMTAA 140666
Date: 6/9/1888
Land Office: Montana State Land Office
Authority: April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566)
State: South Dakota
Acres: 160
Land Description:
E1/2SE Section 23, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county
W1//2SW Section 24, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county


KNUT S STARKEY:
Document number: 9504
Accession/Serial Number: SDMTAA 140667
BLM Serial Number: SDMTAA 140667
Date: 6/9/1888
Land Office: Montana State Land Office
Authority: April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566)
State: South Dakota
Acres: 160
Land Description:
SE Section 35, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county


KNUT S STARKEY:
Document number: 9893
Accession/Serial Number: SDMTAA 140720
BLM Serial Number: SDMTAA 140720
Date: 8/21/1890
Land Office: Montana State Land Office
Authority: May 20, 1862: Homestead EntryOriginal (12 Stat. 392)
State: South Dakota
Acres: 160
Land Description:
SE Section 26, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county


LOUIS S STARKEY:
Document number: 3048
Accession/Serial Number: SDMTAA 140899
BLM Serial Number: SDMTAA 140899
Date: 6/28/1888
Land Office: Montana State Land Office
Authority: March 3, 1873: Timber Culture (17 Stat. 605)
State: South Dakota
Acres: 160
Land Description:
SW Section 25, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county


LOUIS S STARKEY:
Document number: 9505
Accession/Serial Number: SDMTAA 140669
BLM Serial Number: SDMTAA 140669
Date: 6/9/1888
Land Office: Montana State Land Office
Authority: April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566)
State: South Dakota
Acres: 160
Land Description:
W1/2NW Section 25, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county
E1/2NE Section 26, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county


LOUIS S STARKEY:
Document number: 9858
Accession/Serial Number: SDMTAA 140718
BLM Serial Number: SDMTAA 140718
Date: 8/21/1890
Land Office: Montana State Land Office
Authority: May 20, 1862: Homestead EntryOriginal (12 Stat. 392) 
State: South Dakota
Acres: 160
Land Description:
W1/2SE Section 23, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county
W1/2NE Section 26, Township 107-N, Range 64-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county


EVEN S STARKEY:
Document number: 8461
Accession/Serial Number: SDMTAA 136590
BLM Serial Number: SDMTAA 136590
Date: 7/26/1889
Land Office: Montana State Land Office
Authority: May 20, 1862: Homestead EntryOriginal (12 Stat. 392)
State: South Dakota
Acres: 149.19
Land Description:
E1/2NW Section 30, Township 107-N, Range 63-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county
NWNW1 /4 Section 30, Township 107-N, Range 63-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county
SWNW1 /4 Section 30, Township 107-N, Range 63-W, 5th Prime Meridian, South Dakota, Jerauld county


LEWIS E. STARKEY:
Document number: 14174
Accession/Serial Number: MV-0715-063
Date: 1/20/1908
Land Office: Minot
Authority: April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566)
State: North Dakota
Acres: 80
Land Description:
E1/2SW Section 9, Township 151-N, Range 85-W, 5th Prime Meridian, North Dakota, Ward county


SEVER KNUDSON:
Document number: 1689
Misc. Document number:  1225
Accession/Serial Number: IA2830__.129
Date: 4/1/1875
Land Office: Sioux City
Authority: May 20, 1862: Homestead EntryOriginal (12 Stat. 392)
State: Iowa
Acres: 160
Land Description:
E1/2SE Section 8, Township 93-N, Range 37-W, 5th Prime Meridian, Iowa, Buena Vista county
SWSE Section 8, Township 93-N, Range 37-W, 5th Prime Meridian, Iowa, Buena Vista county
SESW Section 8, Township 93-N, Range 37-W, 5th Prime Meridian, Iowa, Buena Vista county


KNUD KNUDSON:
Document number: 22147
Accession/Serial Number: IA1440__.054
Date: 6/15/1855
Land Office: Dubuque
Authority: April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566)
State: Iowa
Acres: 40
Land Description:
NESE Section 5, Township 99-N, Range 6-W, 5th Prime Meridian, Iowa, Allamakee county