Tombstone Tuesday -- Tanum Kirke and Cemetery



Beautiful Tanum Kirke in Baerum, Norway.  Nearly 1000 years of ancestors were baptized,
confirmed, married, and buried here.



Tombstone Tuesday -- Einar (Olausen) Jordbaerhaugen

Einar Olausen Jordbaerhaugen and wife Karoline Jordbaerhaugen.  Einar was one of my
great-grandfather Kristian Olausen Jordbaerhaugen's brothers.  He and his wife are buried
at Bryn Kirke Cemetery in Baerum, Norway.

Great-Grandfather Kristian Olausen Jordbaerhaugen

When I was in Norway this past summer, I was able to scan pictures from relatives.  Here is a pretty good one of my great-grandfather.

31/Jan/1878 - 11/Feb/1962
Picture taken in Baerum, Norway, probably at his home,
Sletta

Amanuensis Monday -- 1910 Postcard from Canada

I don't know if a postcard qualifies for this series, but here goes anyway.  I have written before about a great-uncle, Nels Olausen Jordbaerhaugen, who left Norway in 1907 and came through Ellis Island with four friends.  They were headed to his brother Kristen in North Dakota.  In 1910 he traveled with three of his friends to Saskatchewan, Canada to look for land and did indeed file for a homestead there.  In 1910 he sent his sister, Margit, a postcard which was a picture of himself with two of his friends.  He wrote the following (and this could probably be translated better):

Dear Sister,

I must congratulate you and Jenny (another sister) for your birthdays on 7-1-1910 (d/m/yr).  I think you know these faces.  Give my regards to all who know me. 
Many regards from Nels Olausen.





Nels is the one in the center



(Not so) Wordless Wednesday -- The Boys in the Forest

Click on picture for better viewing.

During WWII, Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany.  But that did not mean people were unwilling to fight the invasion.  Pictured are the Lommedalen "Boys in the Forest" also known as the "Freedom Fighters of 1945, Group 13313."  They would gather in the woods to practice military exercises and plan and carry out quiet sabotage missions against the Germans.  Among them were 8 family members pictured above: my grandmother's brothers John Bye, Trygve and Kjell Kristiansen; my grandmother's first cousins, Oddvar, Ragnar, and Ivar Jordbaerhaugen, and Hans Bakken; and my grandmother's nephew Roald Bye. 

Photo from the book, Lommedalen -- en bygd y bygda by Jacob Jacobsen.

Not So Wordless Wednesday -- Late!

It is late Wednesday evening, but I realized that I haven't posted in a while.  It has been a busy time, and I have also been working on cleaning up my tree.  This is actually quite time consuming!  I wish I knew better what I know now when I started my tree.  Anyway, I decided to go with FTM 2010 because of the ability to integrate with Ancestry.  So, I am now cleaning up my data so I can make some nice charts and other visually appealing documents of my genealogical research. 

In the meantime, I have made contact with my other great-uncle's family in Canada.  It is so exciting.  The funny thing is that by finding them in British Columbia we found new relatives who lived down the road from my grandmother in Norway.  My father and I had a chuckle about having to find relatives through Canada rather than his own family in Norway.  They are descendants of Margit Jordbaerhaugen, sister to my great-grandfather Kristian, and my great-uncles Kristen and Nels who both came to America.   

More soon!  And now for the Wordless Wednesday part:

Sletta, my grandmother's childhood home in Baerum, Norway

Found Descendants of my Great Uncle Christen

A few posts ago I wrote regarding my search for two great uncles who had come to America (http://haugenhistory.blogspot.com/2009/12/tale-of-two-great-uncles.html).  UPDATE: I was able to find the descendants of one of them and have made contact.

This has been extremely exciting.  By tracing the deceased son of my great-uncle, I was able to find records with the name of his children, and long-story-short, Google is a powerful thing!  I found the children and emailed my way to finally receiving a response from two of Christen's grandchildren.  This led me to finding out that one of Christen's children was still alive!  She was born in 1917, and I have talked and emailed with her daughter as well.  This was wonderful because I was able to find out quite a bit about Christen and his life in North Dakota.  He was a homesteader in Fertile Divide who met a widow, Inga, and they had three children.  Christen was quite the musician, and he had played for the King's band in Norway.  He continued to play his trumpet in Grenora, ND.  I also found out how harsh life could be in ND in the winter as I was told he would have to ride his horses in bitterly cold winter weather, 20 miles both ways, to buy coal to keep the home warm.

Here is a synopsis of things I learned from Christen's daughter:

1. Her father said he skied a lot down the hill close to his home in Norway,  and he had to walk up the hill (makes sense since the Jordbaerhaugen farm is on a hill)
2. He played the trumpet in the King's Band in Norway (I mentioned this already)
3. He was a physical fitness advocate, and every night he would lead his children in exercises
4. He started a band in Grenora-played for barn dances, at the church, anywhere they would let him!
5. He had a beautiful singing voice and started the Haug quartet with his wife and two older children

6. They belonged to Bethany Lutheran Church

7. He liked to be called Chris

I was able to inform Christen's descendants regarding the location of Jordbaerhaugen, the farm that gave them the surname Haug.  Christen's daughter had never seen a picture of her grandparents (my great-great grandparents), so that was pretty awesome to share.  I also sent some pictures of my grandmother, her first cousin.  I am in the process of collecting some more information and things to send, and they are looking for more pictures to send me.  I am posting one picture I have received so far (see below).  Christen is on the far left with his three children.  I am also posting a picture of Christen's brother, Kristian Olausen Jordbaerhaugen -- my great-grandfather.

Far left, Christen Olausen Jordbaerhaugen (1881 - 1938) or Christen Olausen Haug, in North Dakota with his children.  Photo taken July 9, 1936.

My great-grandfather Kristian Olausen Jordbaerhaugen ( 1878 - 1962)

One of Christen's grandchildren sent me a link to help me locate Christen's grave.  He is incorrectly listed as "Christian" Haug, but his grave is still there, along with his wife, Inga, and a number of other relatives.  If you would like to find a grave, the site http://www.findagrave.com/index.html is pretty good!

Next on my to-do list is to track down the other brother, Nils.  I had traced him from Norway to Ellis Island to North Dakota where his brother Christen lived.  It looks like the family rumor that he went to Canada is true, and I am attempting to contact descendants in British Columbia.  I will let you know more once I know for sure this is the right family.

Wordless Wednesday

Jordbærhaugen farm in Lommedalen, Baerum, Akershus, Norway.  Jordbærhaugen means "strawberry hill" in English.  I love it!

 

 My great-great grandparents and their children lived here and used the surname Jordbærhaugen.

Olaus Kristensen Jordbærhaugen 1846 - 1915

Jonette Kristoffersdatter Jordbærhaugen 1853 -1921

Children: Kristian, Einar, Kristen, Anton, Nils, Paula, Gunda, Peder, Margit, and Jenny.

I would like to know how 12 people fit in this house!  

Kristian is my great-grandfather.  I have also written about Kristen (Christen) and Nils Olausen Jordbærhaugen, who both came to America in 1905 and 1907, respectively. The link is here: http://haugenhistory.blogspot.com/2009/12/tale-of-two-great-uncles.html

 

A Tale of Two Great Uncles

The first time I eyed the Baerums Verk Slekstbok on my grandmother's bookshelf, I was hooked.  Norway is wonderfully rich in its genealogical information, and they even do it for you, publishing it in volumes of bygdeboks by parish, or in this case, a slektsbok (genealogy book) for the town.  It was 1994 when I first leafed through one of these books and read the history of one of my grandmother's lines that went back to 1647.  Names, birth and death dates, farms... it was all there.  Note: I have since found some errors in the information, but who cares!  It makes the research so much easier.  I believe I have stated in a previous post how curious I was regarding the names of those who "reise til America" or left for America.  Where did they go? Who are their descendants? Where do they live today?  I hoped to find out one day, and so here I am, years later, having nearly accomplished finding all who left Norway for the land of opportunity  -- those I know about anyway. 

I have posted before on finding my great-great grandmother's brothers, and even her mother (my ggg-grandmother), who left Norway for Salt Lake City in the early 1870s.  They were converted Mormons, which was a big surprise to me, and they are all buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.  I made a connection with a descendant who sent me pictures of their graves and some information, too.  But I also had two others on my family tree who went to America that I needed to find.  They are my grandmother's two uncles, or great uncles to me.  I was stumped for a while, because they had obviously changed their names when they arrived.  One of the brothers went back to visit the family in Norway in the late 50s or early 60s.  I believe my grandmother or her siblings may have kept contact with him at one time, and they probably once had an address.  But that information has surely gone with them to their graves.  Therefore, I have been trying on my own to find the two brothers, Christen Olausen Jordbaerhaugen (b. August 6, 1881) and Nils Olausen Jordbaerhaugen (b. October 31, 1885) (shown in the picture, left). 

The first records I found were from the Digitalarkivet emigration database (found in http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/WebFront.exe?slag=vis&tekst=meldingar&spraak=e).  After inputting several variations of my great-uncle's names, I found their departure records.  Christen left Norway on April 28, 1905.  He traveled on the Angelo from Kristiania/Oslo to Hull, England and then crossed over to Quebec on the Bavarian.  After more digging, I found a record showing he crossed the border into the U.S. on May 13, 1905 and was heading to Towner, North Dakota.  I believe he later lived in Fertile Valley, Divide, North Dakota, and he shortened Jordbaerhaugen to Haug (and who would blame him).  I found several records of a Christen O. Haug, and in some cases Christ O Haug or Christen Olausen Haug.  The birth dates and year of immigration match this person.  He married Inga from Minnesota and had a few children listed on different census records -- Sylvia, another sister, and Chester.  I was able to trace Chester Haug from North Dakota to Minnesota.  The North Dakota Death Index told me that Christen died December 26, 1938 at the age of 57, in Rolette County, and his son Chester died in Minnesota in 2002 (Social Security Death Index). 

The Angelo brought Christen Olausen Jordbaerhaugen to Hull, England.  It left Kristiania on April 28, 1905.  Below is a picture of the Bavarian, which he sailed on from Liverpool, England to Quebec, Canada.  Photos courtesy of www.norwayheritage.com .  Check out the site for detailed information on these and all ships Norwegian immigrants sailed toward a new life.

Chester had three children, who are living, so I will not name them here in case they don't wish to be publicized.  I have been trying to find a way to contact them to verify they are descendants.  But I am pretty sure my research is right.  I had posted this search on Ancestry, since I am still a bit wobbly searching records in the U.S.; most of my research has been in Europe.  But over the course of a week, I managed to find all the above information.  Then suddenly, someone posted a response to my query with the same exact research results (except for Christen's death record, which I had not found yet).  He/she seemed like an expert, so I feel like my conclusions are accurate and verified.  Hopefully a descendant will verify further.  Of course, I have this idea that everyone in the world is interested in their genealogy, so I am thinking of how much information I can give Christen's grandchildren about their grandfather's home in Norway.  Their father, Chester, was pretty young when Christen died, so their history in Norway may have been lost to them.  And I know a lot about that history and where their name Haug came from -- the Jordbaerhaugen farm that still exists in Lommedalen, Baerum, Norway (near Oslo).  

Another good reason for me to find a descendant to communicate with is that I have yet to find as much information about the brother, Nils Olausen Jordbaerhaugen.  He is the one who came to visit the family in the 50s or 60s, and I even have pictures of that visit (one is posted above).  I know that he left Norway on March 23, 1907, on the Montebello, and headed to where his brother was living in Towner, ND.  He departed from Liverpool on the Caronia and came through Ellis Island.  He used the surname Jordbaerhaugen, which was spelled Jordbarhauen on the ship manifest.  He also traveled with four friends from Lommedalen.  The manifest mentions him going to ND to his brother.  But after Ellis Island, he disappears.  Yet I know he was alive in the States at least through the early 60s.  So what did he change his name to?  I have tried every variation of his name that I can think of, but no cigar!  So, I hope one of Christen's descendants might know where he lived and his American name.

A picture of the Montebello in Kristiania as passengers board to start their journey to Hull, England.  Nils Olausen Jordbaerhaugen sailed on this ship, leaving March 23, 1907, on his way to meet his brother Christen who now resided in Towner, North Dakota, USA.  He sailed with 4 friends from Lommedalen, Norway.  Below is the picture of the Caronia the 5 friends sailed on from Liverpool, England to Ellis Island, New York.  He arrived on April 5, 1907.  Photos are a courtesy of www.norwayheritage.com .

Recap, in case by some miracle someone with information reads my blog: Christen Haug was born Christen (or Kristen) Olausen Jordbaerhaugen on August 6, 1881.  There is a draft registration card from WWI that says 1882, but this is incorrect.  Christen died 12/26/1938 in Rolette County, North Dakota -- correct birth date of August 6, 1881 in this record. He lived in Fertile Valley, Divide, ND through several census records with wife Inga.  Nils was born Nils Olausen Jordbaerhaugen, Oct 31, 1885.  The last record I have of him, as I mentioned earlier, is him going through Ellis Island upon arrival on April 5, 1907.  Their birth, baptism, and confirmation records are recorded in Vestre Baerum parish, Akershus, Norway.