Thursday, March 10, 2011

I found them! Or at least a lot of them.

So it has been several months but I finally got down to St. Olaf College in Northfield to look at the Løtenboka- or book about the people that lived on farms in the town of Løten, Hedmark, Norway.

I have now traced the family back several more generations. I was telling my kids about it at dinner tonight and we figured out that I have traced one line back to their 9th Great-Grandfather! (At least if I did the math right, that is a lot of generations.)

Who is this grandfather? He is John Christianson's (our immigrant ancestor), 4th great-grandfather on his mother's side. His name is Tollef Lauritsen (Larsen) and he was born in 1594!
I will try and post more about my findings soon. I took pictures of as many pages as I could find with our ancestors on them, but as the information is all in Norwegian it may take a little while to work through everything.

I am sure there are pages that I should have copied, but I have enough to keep me busy for a while.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Bygdebok- a Norwegian Farm Book

Bygdebok- what a strange word, right?

I was working at the local Family History Center and was introduced to this wonderful resource.

According to FamilySearchWiki here is an explanation of bygdebok
Norwegians (outside of cities) lived in communities called "bygd" which really were small towns and villages. Norwegian Farm Books contain histories of these bygds, their families, and their communities. There is a surprising amount of information contained in them about families who lived in these communities, sometimes they list parishes that families have come from as well as where they move to. They have been transcribed from the original manuscripts and can be found in book form now...although they are not yet translated into English.

What is wonderful is that there is a Stange Bygdebok and a Løten Bygdebok which are the areas that I have traced the Christianson family in Norway. What is even more wonderful is that the local universities have these books. I am attempting to get them through interlibrary loan and if that doesn't work I will make some trips to get them.

I have found the Stange Bygdebok at the University of Minnesota library and the Loten Bydebok at St. Olaf.

It may take a little while to receive/view these books, but hopefully at least one will yield some good results. Guess I should have some Norwegian Language aids to help me read them. Wish me luck!

UPDATE: Unfortunately the Stange Bygdebok didn't help us in our search.  It turns out that after more researching our family came to Stange from further west and unfortunately that area does not have a Bygdebok.  On to Loten I guess and to St. Olaf where the the Bydebok is.  They don't lend it out so it will have to be a trip when the winter weather takes a break.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Reunion Photos

Cousins Come Around

When my cousins come around,
there's a smile on my face.

We laugh and play all day long,
making memories from place to place.

Friendships that will last through life
are things you can't replace.

So when my cousins come around,
my family I embrace

-author unknown






I think everyone had a good time. If you have any other photos to share let me know and I will add them to the above slide show and the online photo album.

Monday, September 13, 2010

John's Family


While using the records found on DigitalArkivet,
a free website with Norwegian census records and parish records,
I have gathered these basic facts about John's family.

John's roots are in the area of Hedmark, Norway.

John's parents were

Christian Johnsen
(born 1811 in Stange, Hedmark Norway)

and Olia Mikkelsdatter
(I am still looking for her birth date but it was around 1813).

They were married in Stange, Hedmark, Norway on 5 Nov 1841.

At this time in Norway the surnames were created from the names of the father
thus the endings of "sen" and "datter".

The children of Christian and Olia that I have found are the following -
(all were born in the Stange Hammerstad area of Hedmark, Norway)

Johan Christiansen -born 9 Nov 1841
Ann Christiandatter - born 15 Dec 1843
Mickel Christiansen - born 6 Oct 1846
Kari "Carrie Christiandatter- born 26 Jan 1849
John Christianson- born 10 Feb 1853
Martinus Christianson- 25 Feb 1855
Syverin Christianson- born 13 May 1858

Currently I am only aware of Carrie coming to the United States.
She married Brede Mikkelson and lived in Big Stone County, Minnesota.

The spelling of names at this time was flexible because it was based on phonetics. So occasionally Christian is spelled Kristian. Christianson was sometimes spelled as Christensen or Kristiansen.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

John's beginnings

Here is John Christianson's christening record
from the Stange, Hedmark, Norway church records.



It lists his birthday as 10 Feb 1853

It lists his christening as 28 Mar 1853

His parents are listed as Christian Johnsen and Olia Mikkelsdatter


I found this record on the free Norwegian website Digital Arkivet

Friday, September 3, 2010

Roots in Norway

John Christianson was born in Stange, Hedmark, Norway.

Stange Church

This is a photo of Stange Church in Norway.
It is possible that this is where John and his family attended services.

New Blog!

I have created this blog as a way for the Christianson family to keep in touch. I am more than happy to allow others to post information. If you are interested just let me know and I will get you editing rights. Everyone is free to make comments.

I will try and post news of information that turns up to fill in details about our family. And any family announcements that I am aware of (births, marriages, anniversaries, deaths, etc).

Please let me know if you would like me to post any information that you may have here.