Stadsbygd og staværinger

Stadsbygd genealogy database has moved

My online genealogy database is centered on the traditional Stadsbygd parish (prestegjeld), which includes persons and expatriates from Stadsbygd, Rissa, Hasselvika, Ingdalen and Lensvik, as well as neighboring parishes such as Leksvik, Stjørna and Ørland -- plus many from there who emigrated to the U.S. and Canada.

Due to problems with the database at its former location, http://stadsbygd.relatedfamilies.com, I've moved it to  http://stadsbygd.info or http://www.stadsbygd.info.

If you're already a registered user who has logged in at least once in the past, your account has already been moved.  Of course, you can go to that address and register if you are new or have misplaced your login information.  You may have multiple accounts, but you cannot use the same email for more than one account. Please let me know when you register the person(s) to whom you are connected in the database.

Med vennlig hilsen,
Dennis

Norwegian public TV does 134-hour live broadcast from Hurtigruten

The broadcast is available on the web at http://www.nrk.no/hurtigruten/ with text available in both Norwegian and English.  And it's also available on regular television in Norway.  As this is written, it is in the middle of the night in Norway -- or, rather, what passes for night this time of year -- and hurtigruten is cruising through Lofoten -- the beautiful, otherworldly group of islands north of the Arctic Circle (and home to the traditional fishing area that involved so many men from Stadsbygd and Rissa, including my father's father).

This is truly an amazing event, with flotillas of small craft escorting the northbound ferry and crowds of people gathering on shore and in port waving flags and cheering. It seems as though the whole country has turned out.

If you missed its passage through Trondheimsfjorden coming and going from Trondheim, you can view Stadsbygd, Leksvik, Rissa, Hasselvika, Ingdalen, Lensvik, Agdenes, and Ørland along the way by scrolling down to where the red line detours to Trondheim, then clicking on the little dots to start the video playback whereever you want. It's very cool!

Enjoy!  --Dennis

Church records online

Many church records for Stadsbygd and neighboring parishes are available online as images.  For Stadsbygd, Rissa, Lensvik, Hasselvika, Stjørna, Bjugn, Ørland and other parishes in Sør-Trøndelag, click here.  For Leksvik and other parishes in Nord-Trøndelag, click here.  Older records are in Danish-Norwegian and newer ones are in Norwegian.  There is a wide variation in handwriting quality, and you may wish to Google help with Gothic handwriting for some of the older records.

Here's a guide to the sections:

Fødte og døpte = birth and christening
Konfirmerte = confirmation (usually at age 15 -- often gives birth years of parents)
Ekteviede = marriage
Døde og begravede = death and burial
Inn- og utflyttede = in and out migration from the parish
Vaksinerte = vaccination

For some parishes, records have been entered into computer databases and are searchable online.  For those in Sør-Trøndelag, click here (Stadsbygd parish not currently one of these).  For Nord-Trøndelag, click here (includes Leksvik).

Med vennlig hilsen,
Dennis

Updated 23 December 2009

Trønderlag 100th Anniversary

I received a call recently from one of the officers of Trønderlag of America, an organization for people from the Trondheim region in Norway called Trøndelag.  The caller asked if I was the grandson of Elias Haarsager.  Yes, I am, I said.  Turns out that my grandfather was one of the 120 founders of the organization back in 1908 (he lived from 1855-1926 and emigrated to America in 1880).

So this year, the organization is celebrating its 100th anniversary on August 9th in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.  For details, go to www.tronderlag.org/centennial.htm.  Sounds like a fun event and I'm tentatively planning to attend.  --Dennis Haarsager

Garrison Keillor: Isn't it good, Norwegian oil

The American humorist, writer and public radio institution, Garrison Keillor, has written a great essay about Norway.  It begins:

July 18, 2007 | This week I am traveling around the part of Norway you see in the travel brochures -- the fjords with picturesque villages on the shores, forested mountains with thousand-foot waterfalls coursing down the precipices, old wooden fishing boats anchored in the harbor, old churches. An American walks around and wonders, "Where are the auto salvage yards, the strip malls, the golden arches?" This is a country that believes in zoning and government regulation. Government trolls will not allow you to open up a Mr. Donut drive-in unless you disguise it as a shop. ...

Link:  Salon.com.

The Prairie Chicken Capital

When my paternal grandfather immigrated from Stadsbygd, Norway in 1880, he took the train to the end of the line, which at the time was in western Minnesota.  From there, he and a couple of comrades hiked several miles to Rothsay, Minnesota where they found jobs with local farmers.  I'd never visited Rothsay until this afternoon when I spotted an exit for it on the Interstate between Fargo and Fergus Falls (I'd been in southeastern North Dakota at a family reunion replenishing my "Minndakota" accent).

Upon entering Rothsay (population 500), which is located in gently rolling prairie just east of the pool-table-flat Red River Valley, one is greeted by this giant prairie chicken statue.  Oh boy, by giant, I mean I could stand under the beak!

The Rothsaians claim only that it's the "Prairie Chicken Capital of Minnesota."  One wonders if it's because there are other prairie chicken capitals in, say, the two Dakotas or up in Manitoba or Saskatchewan that may have even grander prairie chicken statues which keep Rothsay from claiming it's the "Prairie Chicken Capital of the World."   Or perhaps it's just typical Minnesota modesty.  And to think this has been a family secret for 127 years!

Sadly, I saw no live prairie chickens in or near Rothsay, but the locally-made Rice Krispies bars sold at Rothsay's Tesoro truck stop are hands down the best in the world.  Man alive!  I didn't unwrap it until I got to Fergus and darn near made a u-turn to go back and get another one.  Somehow, though, I don't think a giant Rice Krispie bar statue would be much of a tourist draw.  --Dennis

When my paternal grandfather immigrated from Stadsbygd, Norway in 1880, he took the train to the end of the line, which at the time was in western Minnesota.  From there, he and a couple of comrades hiked several miles to Rothsay, Minnesota where they found jobs with local farmers.  I'd never visited Rothsay until this afternoon when I spotted an exit for it on the Interstate between Fargo and Fergus Falls (I'd been in southeastern North Dakota at a family reunion replenishing my "Minndakota" accent).

Upon entering Rothsay (population 500), which is located in gently rolling prairie just east of the pool-table-flat Red River Valley, one is greeted by this giant prairie chicken statue.  Oh boy, by giant, I mean I could stand under the beak!

The Rothsaians claim only that it's the "Prairie Chicken Capital of Minnesota."  One wonders if it's because there are other prairie chicken capitals in, say, the two Dakotas or up in Manitoba or Saskatchewan that may have even grander prairie chicken statues which keep Rothsay from claiming it's the "Prairie Chicken Capital of the World."   Or perhaps it's just typical Minnesota modesty.  And to think this has been a family secret for 127 years!

Sadly, I saw no live prairie chickens in or near Rothsay, but the locally-made Rice Krispies bars sold at Rothsay's Tesoro truck stop are hands down the best in the world.  Man alive!  I didn't unwrap it until I got to Fergus and darn near made a u-turn to go back and get another one.  Somehow, though, I don't think a giant Rice Krispie bar statue would be much of a tourist draw.  --Dennis

Johan Bojer update

I've just updated my essay on Johan Bojer (linked permanently on the left) based on links kindly provided to me by Karen Husdal Brevik of Orkanger of his 1872 christening (Orkdal parish) and 1887 confirmation records (Stadsbygd parish).  The specific page links seem to change over time, so I'm linking to the main group of kirkebok pages in each parish.  Note that you can switch languages among Bokmål, Nynorsk and English.

Bojer was a rissværing (person from Rissa) who wrote many successful novels published in both Norwegian and English.  A good library will have several of them.  His book, The Emigrants (Vor engen stamme in Norwegian), about emigrants from Stadsbygd parish to eastern North Dakota, is still available from AbeBooks, Alibris, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Powell's.  The first two are used book dealers and have several other titles of his as well.  Be sure to look for The Last of the Vikings (Den siste viking), his most famous work, about rissværing fishermen in the Lofoten islands.

Both church documents mentioned above showed that his father (from Oslo and not married to Bojer's mother) was named as Hans Böier in the christening record and Hans Boier in the confirmation record.  Boier/Bojer is a Danish name which his father did not use in census and other records in which he is found, so I had erroneously thought that Bojer adopted it as a pseudonym after a trip to Denmark that he took his first book (for which he used the name Hansson) was published.

Fosen photos

If you'd like to take a free trip to Stadsbygd or the surrounding region, click on the "Fosen photos" link that I just added on the Stadsbygd Info list to the left.  Fosen is the name of the peninsula which includes Stadsbygd, Rissa, Leksvik, Bjugn and Ørland.  The photo sharing site, Flickr.com, permits users to assign "tags" or descriptive words to their photos to help people find them.  This Fosen photos link points to photos posted to Flickr by various people using the tag, "Fosen."

If you'd like to explore Flickr for other photos, just replace "fosen" in the link with "troendelag" or "trondheim"  which also have many interesting photos.  Since a high percentage of emigrants to the U.S. from Stadsbygd and Rissa were  involved in Lofoten fishing, you can also use the "lofoten" tag.  That one has some particularly beautiful photos.

Dennis

Gift suggestion

If you're like me and just realized that December is half over without getting your gift shopping done, then you might be interested in buying a gift from Stadsbygd (I have no financial interest in this suggestion).   

I recently learned that Tuva Tøv AS, a small Stadsbygd company that makes interesting products from heavy felt, is now taking credit card orders and today I used it to place three orders for jul gifts for delivery in Trøndelag (they can also deliver to the U.S.).  I bought some things from them the last time I was in Stadsbygd and found them of excellent quality (I especially like the Coast seating pad).

The English-language web address is <http://www.tuvatov.no/index.php?language=en> and the Norwegian-language address is <http://www.tuvatov.no/index.php?language=no>.

One important note:  When you order, the MasterCard or Visa you specify must be a debit card, not a regular credit card.

The young woman who models items on the site is Rønnaug Schei, a champion skier from Stadsbygd.

God jul, alle sammen!
Dennis

200th anniversary of lofot-drifta

If you have ancestors from Stadsbygd parish (Stadsbygd, Rissa, Lensvik, Hasselvika, Ingdalen), the chances are good that they were involved in the fishing expeditions to Lofoten -- perhaps one of the most beautiful locations on earth.  However, they did not see much of it, because these expeditions -- about which rissværing Johan Bojer wrote in what probably is his most famous book, Den siste viking -- departed in open boats (staværingsbåter) after Christmas and returned before Easter, so there was very little daylight north of the Artic Circle during those months.

The origin of these fishing expeditions has been dated to 1806, so this is the 200th anniversary.  To place this in a U.S. context, when these expeditions began, Thomas Jefferson was in the middle of his second term as president and the Lewis & Clark "Corps of Discovery" expedition he commissioned was wintering on what is now the Oregon coast.

On 13 January, the Coastal Heritage Museum in Stadsbygd is having a reception (kl. 14.00) to celebrate this anniversary.  My own grandfather, Elias Jensen Haarsager, who was born 150 years ago last March, was one of these fishermen from perhaps the age of 15 to when he emigrated at age 25.  Coincidentally, his father (my great-grandfather, Jens Jensen Haarsager) was born just as the first expedition returned in April 1806.  And in early February, my father would have celebrated his 100th birthday.  So it is a great year for "jubilees" in my family.  --Dennis

New book lists taxpayers from 1520 in Stadsbygd and Rissa

Congratulations to Audun Dybdahl, leader of the Center for Middle Ages Studies of NTNU in Trondheim, on the publication of his latest book, Tiendpengeskatten som kilde til folk og samfunn ca. 1520, Med alle skatteytere fra Sunnfjord til Namdalen.  It's about tax records from ca. 1520 for Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal counties and, of special interest to genealogists, it contains the names of each individual taxpayer (an amazing feat of deciphering archaic handwriting and obsolete spellings).  It sells for NOK 275 (about $41 USD) and is available at Bokklubben, at Tapir Akademisk Forlag (the publisher), and possibly elsewhere.

If you are in the U.S., I would strongly suggest using a credit card rather than sending a bank draft when buying books from Norway because the bank charges are very substantial.

New Norwegian music service

Tomorrow (6 juni 2005), a new music service, This is Music From Norway™, will launch at www.norway.com.  It will feature downloads of music, news, articles and biographies, an event calendar, and a Norwegian music business directory.

You can also listen to Norwegian folk music as well as many other program channels online on NRK, the Norwgian public broadcasting service.  All are in Norwegian except as noted below.  Thanks to publicradiofan.com for the listings.

NRK AF (folk)
NRK AK (classical)
NRK AN (news/international, multilingual)
NRK  Europa (international)
NRK mPetre (contemporary)
NRK P1 (full service)
NRK P2 (classical/variety)
NRK Petre (rock)
NRK Sami (Sami language)
NRK Stortinget (government)

Congratulations to Norway!

When many of us Norwegian-Americans view the citizenship records of our immigrant grandparents for the first time, we're surprised to see that our relative had to renounce loyalty to the King of Sweden when applying for citizenship.  This month marks the 100th anniversary of the declaration of full Norwegian sovereignty from Sweden, which had governed Norway since the Treaty of Kiel in January 1814.  For nearly 300 years before than, from 1536-1814, it was governed by Denmark.

So congratulations for 100 years of independence to our friends and relatives in Norway!  --Dennis

Church pictures

Many people are interested in the churches where their Norwegian ancestors were christened, confirmed, married and buried.  This is a collection of pictures of Trøndelag churches, beginning with those from the historical Stadsbygd prestegjeld (parish).  If you click on some of these pictures you'll get a larger version and if you right-click on them you can save them to your PC.

A good collection of Norwegian church pictures, including many in Sør-Trøndelag, by photographer Leif Gjerde can be found at the Bats in Churches Project, flaggermus.no.

Sør-Trøndelag, north of the Trondheimsfjord (Fosen peninsula)

Under the Stadsbygd Links section on the left, you will see a link labeled Churches showing churches in Rissa kommune (municipalilty or township).  It shows pictures for Stadsbygd (1842), in Stadsbygd sokn (subparish) of Stadsbygd parish; Rissa (1888) in Rissa subparish of Stadsbygd parish; Rein (1932), also in Rissa subparish; Hasselvika (1951), also in Rissa subparish.  Also in Rissa township, but in an area on the northwest side of the township called Stjørna or Skjørn that was not part of the historical Stadsbygd parish are two newer churches at Frengen (1972) and Ramsvik (1909).  These pictures are all posted at the official web site of Rissa township.

The website for Ørland township, to the northwest of Rissa township, has pictures of the churches at Ørland (Viklem, Brekstad), Storfosna (1913), and Austråttborgens chapel.  Storfosna is an island to the west of Ørland.

To the north of Ørland lies Bjugn township.  Its website has pictures of the churches at Bjugn, Jøssund, Nes and Hegvik.

Here are pictures of the churches at Stokksund (Revsnes) and Åfjord in Åfjord township, to the north of Rissa township, from the township web site.

To the north of Åfjord township is Roan township.  There's a very small picture of its church on the township web site.

Osen township lies to the north of Roan township, but I was unable to find a picture of the church there on its web site.

Sør-Trøndelag, south of the Trondheimsfjord

The historical Stadsbygd parish also served areas on the south side of the Trondheimsfjord because the sea was the best transportation route.  These included Lensvik (part of Rissa subparish) and Ingdal (part of Stadsbygd subparish).  Both are now part of Agdenes township.  You can find pictures of the Lensvik church (1863) here and of the chapel at Ingdal (1960) here.  Pictures of the church at Agdenes (1858), originally part of Ørlandet parish, are found here.  These pictures are all posted at the web page for Agdenes at Orkdalsmenighetene.

Southwest of Ørland township are two large island townships, Hitra and, to its north, Frøya.  On Hitra, there are churches at Dolm (the oldest), Fillan, Forsnes chapel, Hitra (1927), Kvenvær, Nordbotn chapel and Sandstad.  Pictures for all (two of them sketches) are located at the Orkdalsmenighetene web page for Hitra.  On Frøya, there are churches at Froan chapel, Hallaren, Mausund chapel, Måøy chapel, Sletta, Sula chapel and Titran chapel.  Pictures for all the Frøya churches except Mausund are located at the Orkdalsmenighetene web page for Frøya.  The Hallaren, Titran and Sandstad churches are pictured on the flaggermus.no web site.

Southwest of Agdenes is Snillfjord township and to its southwest is Hemne township.  Southwest of Snillfjord township is Hemne township.  There are pages for the Hemne church (1817) and Vinje church (1820) in Hemne township and for Snillfjord church in Snillfjord township posted at the web page for Hemne parish at Orkdalsmenighetene but no picture of it.  However, the same site does have pictures of the Heim church (1884) in that township.  The Hemne and Snillfjord churches are pictured on the flaggermus.no web site.

To the east of Agnenes, Snillfjord and Hemne townships is Orkdal township.  There are churches at Fjellkirka, Geitastrand, Moe, Orkanger, Orkdal, Orkland, and at Den Gode Hyrde chapel.  These are pictured on the parish's web page at Orkdalsmenighetene (click Kirkene under Hus).  Additionally, the flaggermus.no web site has pictures of Den Gode Hyrde chapel, Orkanger, Geitastrand, Orkdal, and Moe churches.

To the east of Orkdal township is Skaun township.  Skaun township has churches at Skaun, Børsa and Buvika.  These are pictured on the page for Skaun parish at Orkdalsmenighetene.  The flaggermus.no web site has pictures of Børsa, Skaun and Buvika churches.

To the south of Orkdal township is Meldal township.  Meldal township has churches at Meldal and Løkken.  A picture of Meldal church is available on the township web site.  The flaggermus.no site has pictures of both Løkken chapel and Meldal church.

To the south of Meldal township is Rennebu township.  Pictures of the churches at Innset and Rennebu are on the township web site.  At flaggermus.no, one finds pictures of the churches at Innset, Berkåk and Nerskogen chapel.

To the south of Rennebu township is Oppdal township.  A picture of the Oppdal church can be found at the Menighetene i Oppdal web site, clicking on Oppdal menighet.  A large photo of the Oppdal church, along with the churches in the township at Fagerhaug and Lønset, are at flaggermus.no.

To the southeast of Skaun township and east of Meldal township is Melhus township.  The flaggermus.no web site has pictures of the churches at Flå and Melhus.

To the east of Rennebu township and southeast of Melhus township is Midtre Gauldal township.   The flaggermus.no site has pictures of the churches at Budal, Singsås, Soknedal and Støren.

To the southeast of Midtre Gauldal township is Holtålen township.  The flaggermus.no site has pictures of the churches at Aunegrenda chapel, Hessdalen and Ålen.

To the southeast of Holtålen township is Røros township.

To the north of Røros township is Tydal township.

To the northwest of Tydal township is Selbu township.

To the northwest of Selbu township are Klæbu and Malvik townships.  The flaggermus.no site has pictures of the Klæbu church in Klæbu township and of the Hommelvik and Malvik churches in Malvik township.

To the northwest of Klæbu and Malvik townships is Trondheim township.

Nord-Trøndelag:

The web site for Leksvik township (also part of Fosen peninsula), immediately to the east of Stadsbygd, has pictures of the churches at Leksvik and Stranda (Vanvikan).  There were many intermarriages between people from Stadsbygd and Stranda subparishes.

more coming later ...

The blue doors

Back in March of 2004, I posted to the Stadsbygd mailing list a story from Adresseavisen called Mysteriet med den blå døren (The mystery of the blue door).

The reporter traveled the roads of Stadsbygd and found external doors painted blue on some 30 farms, mostly in the Rein, Fenstad, Brødreskift and Askjem groups of farms.  The reporter interviewed many people but did not come up with anything conclusive about the tradition.  One theory given was that it may have been started by fishermen from Stadsbygd who made good money during the 1800s, and when they came home they wanted to spend their money on something that showed that they had been successful.  Blue paint was expensive and therefore a way to show that you had money.

The original link provided for the story has been moved and now may be found here and the pictures may be found here.  Another short story with picture may be found here. Thanks to Inger Selven Watts for the original tip, to Arne Langmo for the new links, and to Stig Trygstad for information about the original blue color (see embedded picture above).

Mvh, Dennis