Thursday

Eidanger Kirke

Early 20th century - Eidanger kirke

The Eidanger church was an integral part of my grandmother Dagmars family for generations.
Built in the 1100's of stone with 1.5 meter thick cavity walls with carved stone corners, it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary (this was a few hundred years before Norway converted to Lutheranism). A wood addition was built in 1778. The church has a beautiful interior, an old christening font, very old and no doubt valuable silverware and a medieval painting 'The Ascension'.

Dagmars family can be traced in Eidanger to a German immigrant by the name of Maria Lukretia von Boeselager who married a Norwegian and settled in the area in the mid 1600's. Maria was Dagmar's seventh great grandmother. Maria's daughter married the high priest of Eidanger, Jon Lauritssøn-Teiste, and she was buried just outside the church entrance upon her death in 1685.*

It was at the Eidanger church that the next seven generations of our family were baptised, confirmed, married and buried. Dagmar was the last of our family line to be christened in this beautiful old church. Born 10 June 1900, she was christened 15 July 1900 at the Eidanger church. Her sponsors were Josefine Olsen (her aunt), Gunda Gundersen (her aunt), Jens Gundersen (her uncle) and Peder Hansen (a family friend).







These last two photos are of the Eidanger church today. The small village/town of Eidanger no longer exists but was incorporated into the larger town of Porsgrunn, Telemark, Norway.



*from the bygdebok "Gjerpen-Porsgrunn" by Finn C. Knudsen
  Click to direct link of this bygdebok - Porsgrund online library



Norwegian Naming Practices- there IS a method to the madness

Last week I visited a cousin I had not been in contact with for many years. We were born just two months apart and our families were close when we were children but life intervened. I happened to speak with his wife about my interest in genealogy and she offered sharing some family photos.  She expressed an interest in her family history and mentioned her grandmothers name was Jeanette Hanson. Get out of here! That's a Scandinavian name! And I was off again on the family ancestry hunt.

The search for the ancestry of her grandmother Jeanette Hanson was the perfect example of the double edged sword of Norwegian naming practices. I mean how great is it that the women of Norway kept their maiden name? Yet the patronymic names with the addition of the farm name? which could change as they moved?

The great influx of Norwegian Immigrants to America came at a time when Norwegian naming practices were in flux. Immigrants arrived in America with their patronymic name as a surname, or their fathers patronymic name as a surname, or their farm name as a surname, or a name a relative already in America had adopted as a surname, or actually they could call themselves just about anything they fancied. And spelling? Whoa. Traditionally the patronymic is sen in Danish and Norwegian and son in Sweden, but in America?

As for Jeanette Hanson? She was Norwegian! or half anyway. We had another Norwegian in our family! Her Chicago birth certificate listed Harry Hanson as her father and this was confirmed by census records. Harry Hanson's Chicago death listed his father as Peter Hanson of Skien Norway. Census records also confirmed Harry and Peters relationship. In a Norwegian census I found Peter using his fathers patronymic of Pedersen as a surname but when he emigrated to America he used his own, Hansen, which in America morphed to Hanson. Back in Norway by 1900 the remainder of his family began to use the farm name as their surname. Jeanettes cousins in Norway were now known not as Hansen or Pedersen but Kamphaug!

Confusing? Yes but there is some method to the madness. There are some really good explanations on the web of Norwegian naming but I find this one to be the best. Check it out, if you are lucky enough to have had a Norwegian ancestor!
                                           
                                                   NORWEGIAN NAMES


- Ranae




Lauritz Severin Gundersen - Louis Gunderson

When my grandma Dagmar came to Chicago in 1924 she followed her husband, my grandfather Paul. Paul chose Chicago as he had an aunt here who had immigrated many years before. The young couple lived in a small apartment in the basement of her home. Through my genealogy work I have found that Dagmar also had family in Chicago that had come before her. I do not know if she was even aware of that. Neither she or my mother ever mentioned having family in Chicago. Dagmar had an uncle Lauritz who settled in Chicago and raised a family there. It is quite likely that there are Gundersen cousins within a few miles of me today. Where are you my cousins?

Lauritz Severin Gundersen was born the 22 January 1882 in Muhle, Eidanger, Telemark, Norway. He was the younger brother of my great grandfather Nils and the uncle of my grandmother Dagmar. In the Norwegian census of 1900 he is living unmarried on the family farm Øvald in Eidanger along with his father, Gunder Andreas Nilsen, his sister Gunda Marie, his brother Nils, Nils' wife Gunhild Marie, and Nils' two daughters, Gudrun and Dagmar (my grandmother). The family farm, which was owned by the church but worked by our family since the mid 1600's had been sold. Nov of 1901 Lauritz emigrated to Chicago. There he met another Norwegian immigrant named Karin Olive Erlingsen. They married in 1902 and had the children  George, Alice Marie, Lucile, Louise, Mildred, Earl, Sylvia, Ralph, Adeline and Caroline. In America the couple was known as Louis and Carrie Gunderson.


Here he is with his wife on his 50th wedding anniversary.



Would Louis be your ancestor? We are cousins. Contact me if you would like to share information, photos or memories.

Just a shot in the dark - Ranae




Minnekirken 3rd Annual "Taste of Norway"

Looking ahead to November 21, 2015 here is a great outing to put in your calendar for those of us of Norwegian-American heritage in the Chicago area.
Minnekirken  
The Norwegian Lutheran 
Memorial Church of Chicago
presents its 3rd annual "Taste of Norway"

November 21, 2015
10:00 AM — 3:00 PM

They will have traditional Norwegian goods and sweaters, Christmas cookies, julekake (Christmas bread), lefse, waffles, ertesuppe (traditional pea soup luncheon). Docent-led tours of their neo-Gothic church's sanctuary. *

Minnekirken is the last remaining Norwegian language church in Chicago, Illinois. The church is located at 2614 N. Kedzie in Logan Square. Logan Square in the early 20th century had a large Norwegian speaking population. The area changed to Polish and then Spanish speaking population. There once was about 30 Norwegian language churches in Chicago and now Minnekirken is the last surviving one. It is however a thriving congregation although most of its members no longer even live in the Chicago area proper. Minnekirken, which means "Memorial Church" in Norwegian, is the last remaining Norwegian language church within a radius of 400 miles of the city. Minnekirken is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
* for more information *
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