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
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