A
Brief History of Norway and Norwegian Society
Before
you hit the books, it will help to know a little bit about the social history
of Norway, how the language
has
changed over time, and how surnames were determined.
Although
it’s difficult to imagine today, in the early 1800s, Norway was one of the
poorest countries in Northern Europe. Although only about 3% of Norway’s land
has ever been good for farming, Norway was an agrarian society that had changed
very little since feudal times. Norwegian society was highly stratified, and
nearly every citizen belonged to the state Lutheran church, which closely
regulated the private lives of the Norwegian people.
The
early 1800s were a time of growing unrest in Norway. For the first time since
the Black Plague of the 14th Century, the population was swelling.
Cities were becoming more crowded, and farms less able to produce food for
their inhabitants. When the Napoleonic Wars climaxed between 1807 and 1814, the
English blockade of continental Europe crippled Norwegian trade. Denmark, which
had politically dominated Norway for nearly 400 years, was so devastated by the
war that in 1814 the country went bankrupt, and was forced to forfeit control
of Norway, which soon entered into a
union with Sweden that was to last until 1905.
Norway had also experienced waves of religious
dissidence, as radicals like Hans Nilsen Hauge began traveling the country
protesting the authoritarianism of the state church. At the same time, a new
country across the ocean was growing. As the United States added more and more
territory, it badly needed people to populate its expanding borders.
The
first known group emigration from Norway left Stavanger in 1825 in the small
vessel Restaurationen.
Although
the voyage of Restaurationen is widely acknowledged as the official beginning
of Norwegian emigration, the great exodus did not truly begin until the late
1830s. From that point on until the early 20th century, social ferment in
Norway and the lure of personal opportunity abroad inspired mass waves of
emigration that would, by 1914, deprive the country of one quarter of its
population.
Patterns of
Emigration
Emigrants
did not leave Norway in a steady stream. Instead, they left home in waves, as
detailed in Ingrid
Semmingsen’s
essay Norwegian Emigration to America
During the Nineteenth Century (Norwegian-American Studies,Vol. XI, p66).
According to Semmingsen, Norwegians left Norway for America every year from
1836 on, but the movement had its first peak between 1849 and 1854. A period of
decline followed, ended by a brief and dramaticincrease between 1860 and 1862
at which point the Civil War and the Dakota Uprising abruptly curtailed
emigration.
The
first major emigration lasted from 1866 to 1873, when 110,896 Norwegians left
their homeland. Another
lull
followed until 1879, when the second enormous migration began, lasting until
1893, claiming 256,068
Norwegian
citizens. Smaller waves followed in the late 1890s, and again in the early 20th
century.
Norwegian
Society in the Nineteenth Century
Another
important key to finding your relatives is understanding the social structure
of the country they left. Depending on what class your ancestors belonged to,
you may have an easier – or harder – time tracking them down.
Most
Norwegian-Americans can trace their ancestors to one of two social classes, the
bønder or the husmenn.
Norway
has not had its own native aristocracy since the Black Plague. As such most
agricultural land in the 19th
and 18th
centuries was owned by the bondeklasse.
The bonde (farmer) class was made up
of farmers who owned the land they worked. Although they were rarely rich in
monetary terms, the bønder (that’s
the plural form) were considered wealthy inasmuch as they owned, rather than rented,
their land.
To own
one’s own property was to be guaranteed a livelihood for oneself and
dependents. It also carried with it great responsibility: the bonde was expected
to provide for everyone – wife, children and servants – who lived on his farm. To
own land was a sacred trust that was passed down from father to son. The bønder
were also important to church and local government
authorities
because property taxes collected from the bønder made up the lion’s share of
the government’s
finances.
The husmann (literally “house man,” but
often translated as “cotter”) was
one step down the social ladder. He was the head servant or foreman on a farm,
and typically rented a small acreage of his own on the estate where he was
employed. Unlike the bonde, he could be hired and fired, and so his position on
the farm – and, in turn, in society – was much less secure than the bonde.
Bønder
and husmenn ancestors are much easier to find than others for one simple
reason; they paid taxes.
Because
they were taxed the government kept detailed records about them, their families
and their property,
many of
which are widely available to this day.
Another
important social category is the leilending
or bygselmann. A leilending was a tenant farmer who
rented hisland under a contract called a bygselbrev.
A leilending would rent his land
often for as little as a year at a time, and there was no guarantee the lease
would be renewed. Paradoxically, the leilending
could often pass his lease to his son, and if the farm went bankrupt, the
renter could not have his property seized, as he did not own it. This category
is less common, and harder to trace in farm and community histories.
Norwegian
Names
Although
some upper class families used surnames – last names that remained the same
from generation to
generation
– as far back as the 1500s, the vast majority of Norwegians from Viking times
up until the about the
mid-nineteenth
century (and in some cases, until much later) used patronyms. A patronym is a name taken from one’s father.
Simply put, everyone’s last name was their father’s first name with the suffix
for “son” or “daughter”added on the end. For example, if Jon Olssøn has a son
named Thor, his name will be Thor Jonssøn. In
turn,
when Thor’s son Ole is born, he will take the name Ole Thorssøn. Jon’s daughter
Marie will be named
Marie
Jonsdatter. When she has children, they will take a patronymic last name from
their father.
Those
patronymic suffixes (-søn, -datter) have a number of different spellings (-sen,
-son, døtter, etc) because of
the way
the Norwegian language has changed over time. For an explanation of this, skip ahead to page 5, The
Norwegian Language.
Because
there were relatively few names in use, the patronymic system by itself could
be confusing. Therefore, in addition to the patronym, many people also took an
additional “name” from the property where they lived or worked. For example, if
Jon Olssøn works on a farm called Røen, he would go as Jon Olssøn Røen. These farm
names were more like an address than a personal identifier, so if a person moved
to a different farm, they would take a different farm name. Thus, when Jon
Olssøn Røen moves to the farm Tveitun, his name becomes Jon Olssøn Tveitun.
Norwegian
immigrants to America naturally adopted the naming conventions of their new
country. The tradition
of
changing the patronym every generation, which was already going out of style in
Norway, stopped completely in America.
Some
immigrants decided to keep their patronym as their last name, while others kept
their farm
names.
As a rule, if your last name ends in –sen or –son, your last name is a
patronym, and if you do enough
research
you will eventually find the Norwegian stamfar (arch ancestor) who gave you
your family name. On the
other
hand, if your Norwegian family name is anything else (like Heiberg or Brandjord
or Ness), it’s equally
certain
that your name refers to the farm, estate or village that your ancestors came
from. If that is the case, you will have a much easier time tracing your roots.
If you’re really lucky, your name might be the name of a place in Norway that
is still there that you can find on a map – and visit!
Here are
a few more hints about Norwegian names:
•
Sometimes people were identified by their occupation. Examples: Jon Olssøn
gårdmand (farmer), Jon
Olssøn
klokker (sexton), or Jon Olssøn lendsmann (sheriff).
• Women
did not adopt their husband’s name. Marie Jonsdatter used that name her entire
life. The suffix
–datter
is often abriveated d., dt. or dtr.
• The
first son was usually named for the father’s father. Example: Jon Olssøn will
name his son Ole, who
will
then be Ole Jossøn. The second son will be named for the mother’s father. The
same pattern follows
for
girls; the first is name for the father’s mother, the second for the mother’s
mother.
• If a
parent dies before a child of the same sex is born, the child receives the
parent’s first name. Example:
Elling
Aslesen died three weeks before his son was born, and the child was named
Elling Ellingsen.
• The
first child in a new marriage is often named for the deceased spouse.
Names of Norwegian Farms
Nearly
every Norwegian gård, or farm, has its own name. The name of a farm often
describes its location,
condition
or ownership. Ødegård would be a deserted farm, while Jonsrud mean’s “Jon’s
Clearing.” Many
contain
descriptions of direction; Østerdal means “Eastern Valley,” while Midtrevollen means
“Middle
Meadow.”
The suffix -eie is a means simply “property of ” or “belongs to,” and typically
indicates a husman’s
place.
Glesneeie is a husmann’s place on Glesne.
When
found at the end of a name, the suffixes -en, -a and –et are indicative articles,
meaning “the.” Røen means “the clearing” (rø = clearing, en = the).
The Norwegian Language
Today
Norway has two official written forms of its language, and over 80 officially
recognized spoken dialects.
Although
most of the sources you will be working with will be in one of the many forms
of Norwegian (or, if it’s old enough, Danish) you do not need to be fluent – or
even formally educated – in any of them to make progress.
With a
little practice, you will be able to recognize enough words to understand most
of what you need.
Here you
will find a very brief guide to the history of the Norwegian language and a
word list of important terms
you are
likely to come across when doing genealogical research.
In the
late 1300s Norway entered into a “union” with Denmark that would last until
1814. At the time the union was instituted all the Scandinavian languages were
quite similar, and formal standards for writing the language were just
developing. Under the rule of Denmark, however, Norwegian more or less ceased
to be a written language.
Instead,
Norwegians learned to write their language according to Danish rules, although
spoken
Norwegian
continued to evolve relatively unaffected. Starting in the mid-1800s, many
Norwegians began
demanding
a new written language that more closely reflected how they spoke, especially
in the rural districts
of the
country, where the language had been much less affected by Danish domination.
Others felt that keeping
the
Danish form of the written language would preserve intellectual and commercial
connections to Denmark, which had always been the more prominent country.
From this debate, the two written standards of
Norwegian
evolved, bokmål (meaning “book language,” the Danish-influenced form) and
nynorsk (the “new
Norwegian,”
based on old dialects). To further complicate things, each of these languages
has changed its own rules over time.
For
English-speaking genealogists, what this means is that between all the
different sources out there that are
available,
there is essentially no one linguistic standard that defines them all.
Depending on what you’re looking
at, you
may come across three or more different spellings for the same word or name.
Another
important thing to know is that the Norwegian alphabet has three more letters
than the English one,
namely æ
/ Æ, ø / Ø and å / Å. In older documents, these same letters may appear as ä /
Ä, ö / Ö and aa / Aa
respectively.
Don’t try to substitute English letters for these; they are different letters
representing different sounds and changing them will often change the meaning
of the word, or, in place names, mislead the your reader; Alnes and Ålnes, for
example, are completely different places.
To
navigate this tricky situation, you are going to need a good dictionary. The
best one is Norwegian-English
Dictionary by Einar Haugen, available from
the University of Wisconsin Press. Haugen’s dictionary is widely considered to
be the best for English speakers, and unlike many other Norwegian-English
dictionaries it
includes
words from nynorsk and a few from the major dialects.
Another
good one is the Blåordbok (Blue
Dictionaries) from Kunnskapsforlaget in
Norway.
These are extremely good, but somewhat more
difficult to use if you do not speak Norwegian, as all of the reference
information is in that language.
Norwegian Word List
Here are
a few important Norwegian words you will encounter when doing your research.
Because
bygedbøker are often based on old property tax records, they frequently use
archaic terms for weights
and
measurements you may not find in modern dictionaries.
barn –
child / children
barselseng
– childbirth
bestefar,
bestefedre, bestefedrar – grandfather / grandfathers
bestemor,
bestemødre – grandmother / grandmothers
bonde,
bønder – farmer / farmers
bror,
brødre – brother / brothers
bruk –
small farm
bruker –
user / farmer
budeie –
dairy maid
bygselbrev – lease
døpt – baptized
døde – died
dreng – boy / hired man
ekte – legitimate
ektefelle- spouse
elv –
river
enke –
widow
enkemann
– widower
far,
fedre, fedrar – father / fathers
fattig –
poor
fetter –
male cousin
fjell –
mountain
flytter
– moves / moving
foreldre – parents
forpakter – caretaker
født – born
gammel, gammal, gamle, gamla – old
gård, gard – farm
gårdmann, gardmann – farmer
gift - married
gjeter – shepherd
husmann – cotter
innerst – farm laborer
kirke, kyrkja – church
kone –
wife
kusine –
female cousin
led –
generation
leiefolk – hired help
leilender – renter
mor, mødre – mother / mothers
odelsbonde
– freeholder
oldefar
- great grandfather
oldemor
– great grandmother
pike –
girl
prest –
pastor
selveier
– owner
seter –
mountain dairy
sjø –
ocean, sea, lake
skjøte –
deed of sale
slekt –
family
stue –
cottage / living room
svoger –
brother-in-law
søster –
sister
tjeneste
– service, servant
uekte –
illegitimate
ætt –
clan / lineage
alen
about 2 feet
daler,
dalar Nor. banknote or coin, approximately 1 dollar
lass
load (usually of hay)
lispund
20 settings, or about 18 pounds
mål 1000
square meters, 0.247 acres
pund 498
grams, just over a pound
riksdalar
coin used until 1875, ca 4 kroner
setting
about 9/10 of a pound
skinn
1360 riksdalars
skilling
coin, worth 1/120 of a dalar
skippund
20 lispunds, or about 350 pounds
skjeppe
1/2 bushel
spesidalar
coin, about 1 dollar
tønne
barrel, about 4 bushles
våg 39.5
lbs of dry measure
Getting Started
Whether
you’re an accomplished genealogist or just starting out for the first time, the
most important thing to
do is to
start with what you know. This means beginning with yourself and working
backward in time, writing
down
everything that you know (or think you know) about your closest relatives.
This is
important to do because the farther you go back in time, the more confusing
things will become. Many
genealogists
take pride in being able to trace their heritage further back in time than
anyone else. Although this is an accomplishment, starting from someone you
assume to be an ancestor and working forward can be
extremely
frustrating. Moreover, the further back in time you go, the more ancestors you
will discover you have,
and
tracing the correct line through their descendants down to yourself may prove
impossible.
Take a
piece of paper and write your own name near the bottom. From your name draw a
short line up; at the
top,
write your parents’ names. From them, branch out again. What were the names of
all four of your grandparents?
Where
and when were they born? Did your parents have any siblings? What were their names?
Going
step-by-step
like this, fill in as much information as you know about your family. If you
get stuck, before you go
to the
library or start searching online, talk to your relatives. Almost every family
has an unofficial historian –give Aunt Ragna a call and see if she can help you
out. If not, she may be able to point you to the right place
to start
searching.
.
Whatever
gaps in your family tree you can’t fill in from your own memory or from family
stories, that’s the
information
you want to go looking for.
There
are dozens of different documents and resources you can search for to answer
the vital questions about
an
ancestor’s life. Of all of these, the easiest to use is of course the local
bygdebok. A bygdebok is a historical work that usually focuses on the
history of the farms in a particular area. Although each bygdebok is
different, they typically list the owners of each farm, when they lived and
died, who their descendents were, and so forth. They may also contain
information about how much the farm was taxed in a given year, or even bits of
narrative history and hints on where people moved when they left their home
farms. Because of the depth and reliability of
the
information they provide, the bygdebøker are the most important resources you
will use.
Another
important resource you may want to search for is an ancestor’s utflyttingsattest, or emigration
certificate. Most emigrants had to
file an utflyttingsattest with the local authorities before leaving Norway. A
typical utflyttingsattest lists the name, birthplace and birth date of
each person that left in a family. This can be a tremendous help in
tracing your family history.
Resources and Organizations
The next
question you will have to answer is how much of the research you want to do for
yourself. Do you
need to
simply find certain materials? Would you like a little help from a librarian?
Or would you just rather
have an
expert take care of the whole thing for you? Here you will find information on
several organizations
who can
do all of these things and more.
Norwegian-American
Genealogical Center and Naeseth Library
For
anyone who needs assistance with their search, the Norwegian-American
Genealogical Center and Naeseth
Library
(www.nagcnl.org) in Madison, Wisconsin is an excellent option. They are
professionals and charge for
their
services: they also have a library that is available to the public for a fee.
Among
its services, the center will:
• Search
library and archival collections
• Help
solve genealogical problems
•
Compile bibliographies and other aids
•
Collect family histories
•
Assemble transcripts of cemeteries, census and church records
The
Naeseth library offers all the essential sources for the Norwegian-American
genealogist. Their collection
includes
Norwegian parish records (dating from the 17th century to the 20th century)
that provide information
about
baptisms, confirmations, marriages, burials, and emigration, as well as
bygdebøker (local community histories),
privately
published family histories and Norwegian census records. The Naeseth Library
also offers
American
sources, like cemetery records and obituary files, some North American port
records and American
Lutheran
church records.
Norwegian-American
Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library
415 West
Main St
Madison
WI 53703
Tel.
608-255-2224
Fax
608-255-6842
University of North
Dakota Library Family History and Genealogy Room
The
University of North Dakota (UND) Library Family History and Genealogy Room
offers a wealth of primary
and
secondary source material essential to any Norwegian genealogist. The star
attraction of their archives is their collection of more than 1000 bygdebøker
for 520 communities in Norway, which may be the largest single collection of
the books anywhere.
The
Family History and Genealogy room is available to the general public, but the
bygdebøker themselves are
non-circulating.
Anyone over the age of 18 who is not affiliated with the University may obtain
a library card
for a
$10 annual fee.
The
Genealogy Room has its own website, through which one can browse for bygdebøker
by county. It is important
to note
these lists are arranged according to the English alphabet, rather than the Norwegian.
For example, Østfold county is listed directly after Oppland, rather than at
the end of the list where it belongs. Similarly, the letters “å” and “æ” are
both alphabetized as the English letter “a.” It is frequently more helpful to
use the online card catalog, “ODIN”, which features a simple search interface,
and supports the use of the Norwegian vowel characters.
The
University also publishes a bound list of all bygdebøker which you can obtain
by contacting the library. Besides the bygdebøker, the UND library also offers
a number of other locally-oriented resources that may well be of use. They
include; Federal Manuscript Population Census Schedules from 1840 to 1920,
Ontario and Manitoba Provincial Population Census Schedules from 1831 to 1891,
North Dakota and Western Minnesota Land Tract Books, the Ontario Computerized
Land Record Index, American Lutheran Church Records for North Dakota, and
naturalization records for several Red River Valley counties.
Chester
Fritz Library
University
Ave & Centennial Dr
P.O. Box
9000
Grand
Forks, ND 58202
Phone:
(701) 777-2617
Norwegian American Historical
Association
The
Norwegian American Historical Association at St. Olaf College in Northfield,
Minnesota also offers an
extensive
collection of interesting material. While their focus is mostly historical,
they have a wealth of
information
that would be of use to any Norwegian genealogist.
The NAHA
collection includes a great deal of academic material (articles from academic
journals, studies, theses,
etc),
which can also be useful for genealogists seeking to understand the social and
political environments their
ancestors
inhabited. The collection also features a collection of manuscripts written by
Norwegian-Americans immigrants. The manuscripts range in subject from letters
to personal memoirs to commentary on religious, political and social issues.
Using
NAHA is an excellent way to broaden your research. It’s wonderful to learn your
ancestors’ names and where they were born or when they died, but who were they
really? What were their communities like? Why did they leave? Broader questions
like this can find answers through NAHA’s important collection. The NAHA
archive contains books, letters, journals, diaries, family histories and
photographs that document and illuminate the “big picture” of
Norwegian-American life. Emigration records from major Norwegian ports are held
from 1867 to about 1900, but searching
these can be very time-consuming unless an approximate date of emigration is
known.
If you
plan on using the archives more than once, joining NAHA is an excellent idea.
NAHA members receive
the
following benefits:
•
Complimentary copy of all new publications
• 25%
discount on NAHA publications currently in print
•
Priority use of the archives, in person and by e-mail
• The
NAHA newsletter
•
Invitations to participate in educational activities
The NAHA
archives are always expanding, and most material can be searched for online via
a dedicated search, engine called Leif, available through the NAHA website.
With Leif you can perform a document search (which looks at the titles for
individual documents within the collection) or a collection search (which looks
through the descriptions of articles). A document search is best if you are
looking for a specific letter or article by a particular person, while a
collection search is best if you are looking for the writings on broad topics.
The interface is very easy to use, and includes a way to add Norwegian vowels
(ø, å, æ, etc) which have to be used in order to turn up results for a search
like, for example, “ættesaga.”
Also
online you will find a PDF document which includes complete bibliographical
information for every item in the archive. The file is rather large (566k, 244
pages) but if you save it to your hard drive, you can search it in Adobe
Acrobat Reader by using the find function (control + F).
Visitors
may use the NAHA library for a daily fee of $5 for NAHA members and $10 for
non-members. If
you
cannot visit the library in person, NAHA does have a small staff that will
assist with research at the price
of $20
an hour or more depending on the type of research needed. NAHA members receive
priority, and it
is
necessary to schedule an appointment ahead of time The staff will also scan or
photocopy most materials
from the
collection, unless their condition makes duplicating them impossible. NAHA does
not provide
translation
services, but will provide information about translators upon request.
The
Norwegian-American Historical Association
1510 St.
Olaf Avenue
Northfield,
MN 55057-1097
(507)
646-3221
Norwegian-American
Bygdelagenes Fellesraad
Another
important organization to know about is the Bygdelagenes Fellesraad and the
various bygdelag it
represents.
A bygdelag is a club (lag) for people whose ancestors all came from the same
community (bygd)
in
Norway. There are currently 32 lag in America with members across the country,
loosely coordinated by
the
Fellesraad (central council). The lag often attract people who are interested
in genealogy and history, so
if you
need guidance specific to your area of Norway, the right bygdelag may have just
the person to talk to.
For
complete contact for all the bygdelagene, go to www.fellesraad.com.
Norwegian-American
Genealogical Association
Practicing
Norwegian-American genealogists, professionals and amateurs alike, may want to
consider joining the Norwegian-American Genealogical Association (NAGA). NAGA
assists members with their research, and maintains a private collection of
research materials. These include Norwegian census records, the Rowberg
obituary file, regional maps of Norway, ships’ lists, and a collection of other
books and periodicals. NAGA holds monthly meetings in Golden Valley, Minnesota,
but welcomes members from all over the world. The group also publishes a
quarterly newspaper, Avisen, which explores research methods, and reviews the
latest genealogical resources.
Norwegian-American
Genealogical Association
5768
Olson Memorial Highway
Golden Valley, MN 55422
612-595-9347
http://www.norwegianamerican.org
Meetings
are held the last Wednesday of every month, beginning at 7:00 PM.
Research in Norway
Once you
are firmly established in your research you may find it necessary to start looking
for sources on the
other
side of the Atlantic.
The
Norwegian Emigration Center
The
Norwegian Emigration Center in Stavanger, Norway is the best place to start
research in Norway. The
Center’s
extensive archives contain; church records on microfilm, census information and
bygdebøker.
The
Center also offers a number of services including:
• Help
finding relatives anywhere in Norway
• Tips
for finding sources on the Internet
•
Classes on genealogical research
Located
in scenic Old Stavanger, the Emigration Center features a reading room, with
facilities for reading microfilm
and
microfiche, as well as broadband internet access. The reading room is available
to the public for no charge.
You can
also hire one of the staff genealogists to do the work for you. You can fill
out an inquiry form, in person
or
online, stating as much information as you know about your background and any
specific questions that
you
have. The cost is $70 for the first three hours of research, and $30 for each
additional hour. Due to the large
number
of requests, the average wait time for a reply is about 3 months.
Norwegian
Emigration Center
Strandkaien
31
4005
Stavanger
Norway
011 47
51 53 88 60
Statsarkivene and Riksarkivet
Another
excellent resource in Norway are Riksarkivet and Statsarkivene. Riksarkivet
(The National Archives)
preserves
historical government documents of national interest, while the Statsarkivene,
which are divided up
into
local branches, contain materials specific to the areas they serve. Both the Riksarkivet
and the Statsarkivene contain only materials that are at least 25 years old and
out of administrative use. The central web page (www.riksarkivet.no) and the
local pages (see links below) all have some basic information in English, but
most of the actual content of their pages is in Norwegian. These National
Archives will provide you with copies of birth, death, baptismal, or marriage
records, depending on what is available in their archives. Although they will not
do regular research, they will send you copies of their microfilm records if
they find information about a specific person. To be able to do this they will
need names, birth dates, and / or other vital dates, and the names of the
places your ancestors came from. Fees will vary by branch and type of research.
If your ancestors came from
Østfold, Akershus, Oslo,
Buskerud,
Vestfold or Telemark, contact:
Statsarkivet
i Oslo
Folke
Bernadottes vei 21
Postboks
4015 Ullevål stadion
0806 Oslo
NORWAY
Tel. 011 47 22 02 26 00
Fax 011 47 22 23 74 89
statsarkivet.oslo@riksarkivaren.dep.no.
http://www.arkivverket.no/oslo
Note: Phone orders for copies of documents
will only be received Monday-Friday from
10 AM to 2PM Norwegian time.
If your
ancestors came from Hedmark and Oppland,
contact:
Statsarkivet i Hamar
Lille Strandgaten 3, 3rd floor
Postboks
533
2304
Hamar
NORWAY
Tel. 011
47 62 55 54 40
Fax 011
47 62 52 94 48
statsarkivet.hamar@riksarkivaren.dep.no
If your ancestors came from
Buskerud, Vestfold or
Telemark,
contact:
Statsarkivet
i Kongsberg
Frogsvei
44
3611
Kongsberg
NORWAY
Tel 011
47 32 86 99 00
Fax 011
47 32 86 99 10
statsarkivet.kongsberg@riksarkivaren.dep.no
http://www.arkivverket.no/kongsberg
If your
ancestors came from Aust-Agder or Vest-Agder,
contact:
Statsarkivet i Kristiansand
Märthas vei 1
Serviceboks
402
4604
Kristiansand
NORWAY
Tel 011
47 38 14 55 00
Fax 011
47 38 14 55 01
statsarkivet.kristiansand@riksarkivaren.dep.no
Norsk
Utvandrermuseum – The Norwegian Emigrant Museum
The
Norwegian Emigrant Museum in Ottestad, Norway is an independent museum
commemorating the
emigration
of the Norwegian people. The museum features an extensive open air display of
emigrant cabins,
barns
and artifacts. The museum also maintains a research center and library
including:
•
Thousands of letters from America
•
Thousands of emigrant photographs
• An
emigrant agent archive
•
Archives from Norwegian missionary activity
•
Hundreds of tape recorded interviews with emigrants
•
Microfilms of church records from Norwegian congregations in America
•
American census information
Norsk
Utvandrermuseum
Åkershagan
2312
Ottestad
Norway
Tel: 011
47 62 57 48 50
Fax: 011
47 62 57 48 51
museum@emigrant.museum.no
http://www.museumsnett.no/emigrantmuseum
If your
ancestors came from Rogaland, contact:
Statsarkivet i Stavanger
Bergelandsgata 30
4012 Stavanger
NORWAY
Tel. 011
47 51 50 12 60
Fax 011
47 51 50 12 90
statsarkivet.stavanger@riksarkivaren.dep.no
http://www.arkivverket.no/stavanger/
If your
ancestors came from Hordaland or Sogn
og Fjordane, contact:
Statsarkivet i Bergen
Årstadveien 22
5009 Bergen
NORWAY
Tel. 011 47 55 96 58 00
Fax 011 47 55 96 58 01
Statsarkivet.Bergen@riksarkivaren.dep.no
http://www.arkivverket.no/bergen
If your
ancestors came from Møre og Romsdal, Sør-
Trøndelag, Nord-Trøndelag and Nordland, contact:
Statsarkivet i Trondheim
Høgskolevegen 12
Postboks 2825 Elgesæter
7432 Trondheim
NORWAY
Tel. 011 47 73 88 45 00
Fax 011 47 73 88 45 40
statsarkivet.trondheim@riksarkivaren.dep.no
http://www.arkivverket.no/trondheim
If your
ancestors came from Troms og Finnmark, contact:
Statsarkivet i Tromsø
Huginbakken 18, Breivika
9293 Tromsø
NORWAY
Tel 011
47 77 64 72 00
Fax 011 47
77 64 72 01
statsarkivet.tromso@riksarkivaren.dep.no
Helpful Websites
Here are
a few more online resources that may be useful. Not all of these are specific
to Norway, and some of
them may
charge for their services, so be sure to review their terms of service
carefully before using them.
Ancestry.com
The
largest collection of family history records on the web.
http://www.ancestry.com
Ellis Island
Immigrant Museum
Passenger
searches, family scrapbooks and information on the immigrant experience.
Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America
The
Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are the collective
memory of the ELCA churchwide
organization,
including records of predecessor church bodies, inter-Lutheran organizations,
and certain
Family Search
The
Family History Library Catalog describes more than 3 million microfilms,
microfiche, books, and other
items
available at the Family History Library and through your local family history
center.
Genealogy Home
Page
Kirken.no
This is the homepage of the
Norwegian state church.
Through this page you can search for contact information of parishes in Norway,
who may have useful archives.
RootsWeb.com
This
Norway Genealogy website was first created in June 1997 to assist those who are
researching their ancestors from Norway. This website has grown from about 15
pages then to over 200 now.
Norwegian
Historical Data Centre
The
Norwegian Historical Data Centre (NHDC) is a national institution under the
Faculty of Social Science
at the
University of Tromsø. Their main aim is to computerize the Norwegian censuses
1865 onwards together with the parish registers and other sources from the 18th
and 19th centuries.
Acknowledgments
Sons of
Norway would like to thank the following individuals for their help composing
and editing this
guide.
Lee
Rokke, Norsota Lodge (1-602)
Knut
Djupedal, Norwegian Emigrant Museum
Jerry
Paulson, Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum
Tonja
Torgerson, Sons of Norway Fraternal Intern, Summer 2006
Mange
tusen takk!
