Showing posts with label Norway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Norway. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Free Webinar: "Have Nordic Ancestors? Count Yourself Lucky - Nordic Records Are Amazing" by Mike Mansfield

Do I have Nordic ancestors.  Why yes, I do!

But have I made any progress in my Nordic research?  Why no, I haven't.  And that's my own darn fault.

Mike Mansfield presents "Have Nordic Ancestors? Count Yourself Lucky - Nordic Records are Amazing":
An overview of available records in the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, & Finland) will be presented.

Runs 1 hour 29 minutes

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Limited Time Free Webinar from Legacy Family Tree Webinars: "Finding Your Nordic Parish of Birth" by Jill Morelli


I know the area where my great grandparents Mette Karine and Berdines Rasmussen come from (Nedstrand and Fister, both in Rogaland, Norway), but this webinar, "Finding Your Nordic Parish of Birth," presented by Jill Morelli on December 15, 2017, reminds me how little I've done in that direction this year.  I didn't even get a single step closer to finding out who Mette Karine's birth father was beside being a Swedish railworker.  I need inspiration! (and to be done cleaning my tree's locations...):
Is that parish of birth of your Nordic ancestor proving to be elusive? Without it, we cannot make the trip “across the pond.” Often that parish is identified in the records located in the United States and research will reveal the name or at least narrow it down. We will explore numerous US record sets where the parish could be recorded and then we will identify the international databases that can also assist in our identification of the parish of birth.

1 hour 28 minutes
Free to non-subscribers through December 22, 2017


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Researching Norwegian Ancestors

My great grandfather Ben Fister (standing), about 1890 or so, and possibly a brother.

I have been neglecting research on my Norwegian ancestors.  No more excuses!  There have never been more online resources and help than now.

The Norwegian government has digitized enormous amounts of records at Digitalarkivet, part of the National Archives of Norway.  It is free to view all of these.

Types of records available at Digitalarkivet.


FamilySearch.org added an indexed collection to the following records a while back:


FamilySearch also provides a number of videos concerning Norwegian research in their Learning Center:
How cool is this??


If you have a membership to New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), aka American Ancestors, you can now view the same collections indexed by FamilySearch using the NEHGS interface.


Blogger Kitty Cooper offers a downloadable .pdf ("Reading the Norwegian Churchbooks by Dick Larkin") and a page, "Norwegian Genealogy," with links to her previous posts and various helpful aids.




© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

52 Ancestors in 54 Weeks: Week 14: Lisbet Samuelsdotter (b. abt 1789), My Fourth Great Grandmother

Note that Sand, Saude, and Suldal parishes are all in the northeastern part of Rogaland county, Norway. Rogaland County. user NishimotoSR, 18 May 2009 Digital image. FamilySearch wikihttps://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/File:Rogaland_County.jpg 

Lisbet* Samuelsdotter, daughter of Samuel Toreson Risvold (1759-1827) and Sissel Torkjelsdotter (1765-1843), was christened on 1 January 1790 in Sand, Rogaland, Norway. She was born about 1789.

In the 1801 Folketelling Elisabet was 10 and living with her parents Samuel Torsen and Sissel Torcelsdatter, and brother Torcel (7), sister Jyri (6), and sister Ragnil (2) in Risvold, Søvde local parish, Saledahl/Suldal parish, Norway.

Unfortunately Norway did not conduct another broad census until 1865.  I don't know when she married Halvor Ingemundsen (b abt 1793).  The first record of a child for them was the birth of Mette Halvorsdatter on 8 December 1819, who was christened in Sand, Rogaland, Norway a week later on 16 December 1819, but tragically she died on the same day she was christened.  I wonder if she was christened as she was dying?  Lisbet was about 30.

Lisbet's next child was son Ingemund Halvorsen, born on 28 January 1821 and christened in Sand, Rogaland, Norway.  Lisbet was about 31.  Lisbet was about 33 when her son Samuel Halvorsen, born 15 April 1823 and christened in Sand, Rogaland, Norway on 11 May 1823.  Lisbet had her daughter, the second Mette Halvorsdotter, my 3rd great grandmother on 17 Oct 1825.  Mette was christened 6 November 1825 in Sand, Rogaland, Norway, when Lisbet was about 35.  According to family story Mette received her smallpox vaccination on 28 October 1827 (Lisbet was about 37).  In the early 1800's all couples in Norway who wished to marry had to have a smallpox vaccination certificate.  I don't know when she got hers, or when her other children were vaccinated, although each child was probably vaccinated as soon as they were 2 years old.

Her last known child was Halvard Halvardsen (or Halvorsen), born on 8 April 1828 and christened on 18 May 1828 in Sand, Rogaland, Norway.  Lisbet was about 38/39.

I have no other record on Lisbet until the 1865 Folketelling, in Rod lille, Saude, Sand, Rogaland, when she was about 76.  She was still married to Halvor, 73, a Føderaadsmand:
When a farmer gives his farm to the next generation, it is (was) usual that he gets an official contract with the next owner (usually his son) specifiying which rights he continues to have at the farm for the rest of his and his wife's life. House to live in, food, firewood, money, help in the house, right to farm some land, etc. Such a contract was called a "føerds contract", and the old farmer is then a føerdsmann". This contract was valid, even if the next owner sold the farm, i.e., the obligations followed the farm. The practice continues today, but modified by the existence of pensions. You can also find other words with the same meaning, e.g. krmann or aftegtsmand (Danish). I.e. you may translate foerdsmann to "retired farmer" but with his "pension" "paid" by the next owner of his farm. 
[info from] Per B. Lilje
 They lived with Østein Samuelsen, 40, born in Suldal, who was a farmer who owned the farm, and his family (his Ingeborg Nilsdatter and daughter Britha Østeinsdatter were both born in Roldal) .  I do not know the nature of Halvor and Lisbet's relationship/kinship to Østein, but since he was also a Samuelsen I wonder if maybe he is a (much younger) brother of Lisbet?  I have to do more research on this.

I do not know when and where she died, but it happened possibly before the 1875 Folketelling, as I can't find her in it.



*Lisbet's name changed from the early spelling of Lisbet, to Lisbeth, to Elisabet in the later record.  I don't know her the "official" spelling of name.



© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Friday, December 12, 2014

52 Ancestors in 54 Weeks: Week 7: Rasmus Pedersen Fister (1827-1876)

Rasmus Pedersen Fister, my 2nd great grandfather, was born in Fister, Rogaland, Norway on Jun 19, 1827, to Peder Faltinson (1804-1864) and Randi Pedersdottar Folsvig (1804-1871).  He was baptized seven days later on June 26 in the Lutheran church in Folsvig, Fister, Rogaland, Norway ("Norway, Baptisms, 1634-1927," index, FamilySearch).  He was the oldest of eight children.

In early 1839, when Rasmus was almost 12, one of his younger sisters, Karn Serine Pedersdottar, died at about 2 1/2 months old.

Rasmus married Anna Pedersdottar Sandvig (or Dahl?) (1830-abt 1915) sometime around 1850 when Rasmus was about 23.  They had at least 8 children:

  • Rakel Karine Fister (1851-1873), an opera singer who died of consumption.
  • Peder Fister (1856-1860)
  • Peder "Per"R Fister (1857-1913), a farmer and fisherman who stayed in Norway
  • Peder Olaus Fister (1859-1861)
  • Peder Olaus Fister (born 1861), a seaman
  • Berdines Rasmussen Fister (1864-1934), my great grandfather
  • Falentin "Frank' R Fister (1867-1938), who came to Illinois at the same time as Berdines
  • Ivar J Fister (1874-1926), who also came to Illinois originally but then settled down as a farmer in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Rasmus, 38, and his family appear in the 1865 Census ("Folketelling") in Sandvik, Hjelmeland Parish, Rogaland, Norway.  He is listed as a "Husmand med Jord":

A "husmand" or "cotter"  provided farm labor without owning the farm or having a lease.  A "husmand med jord" was a renter who also had a small plot of land where he might grow a few crops or maintain some livestock of his own.  The husmand's duties to the land owner always came before any responsibilities related to his own pursuits.  Some renters also learned a trade - lumberman, blacksmith, even tailoring - and used the additional income to purchase a few comforts, or saved in order to purchase a farm or, in later years, establish themselves in America.  http://www.hadelandlag.org/resources/resbasics.htm
Rasmus and his family were in the same place ten years later in the 1875 Folketelling, and he was still a husmand med Jord.

Rasmus died in Sandvik the following year, May 6, 1876, age 48.



© 2014 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.