1833 Confirmation of Sevald Andersen

The Digitalarkivet: Confirmed in Verdal 1817-1840

This is the transcribed record of the confirmation of my second great grandfather, Sevald Andersen of Verdal, Nord Trøndelag, Norway. Confirmed in the year 1833 Sevald was 15 and 1/2 years old, a common age for confirmation into the Norwegian State Church (Lutheran). He was born 19 Sep 1818 and lives on the farm Stubskind. As the oldest son, Sevald, after his fathers death, will take over the farm. He was married for the first time 26 Jan 1858 and widowed shortly after on 7 May 1858. He married again 28 Aug 1860 (my great X2 grandmother Karen Maria Olsdatter) and she died leaving him again widowed 16 Jun 1897. Parents Anders (Jacobsen) and Martha (Sevaldsdatter).

All Norwegian children (with the exception of the few dissenters) were baptised into the Norwegian State church and between the ages of 14-16 were confirmed. If one did not pass confirmation to the satisfaction of the parish priest they would have to study again at the age of 19 under his personal tutelage. And they did because they could not marry without first being confirmed in the church. Even if one married in a different parish they would have to provide proof of confirmation.

I am really appreciative that the Norwegian National Archives transcribed this record but it was well worth looking at a scan of the original record written by the priest of the Verdal church also. More information was available on the original record. The ORIGINAL CONFIRMATION RECORD OF SEVALD ANDERSEN also states that Sevald was innoculated for Smallpox in 1819 (a requirement for confirmation) and his grade. He did well on his tests and knowledge of the scriptures!
Way to go Great Great Grandpa!

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My "Brick Wall" - great great great grandfather Nils Jensen

Everyone researching their family history has a "brick wall". That ancestor that brings your research to a dead end. For me that ancestor is my 3X great grandfather Nils Jensen.
Much is available about Nils and his wife Johanne and their lives on the family farm Øvald. An Eidanger bygdebok (local farm history book) mentions them as famous for their entertaining on the Eidanger fjord. This is an etching of Nils and Johanne.

The rights to the farm Øvald came through Johanne's father Ole Gundersen. The first time we hear of Nils is in the Norwegian Eidanger church parish record of their marriage. The record although in Norwegian and over 150 years old is very legible and even I as an American not versed in Norwegian can read quite clearly his name (Nils Jensen) and the date of his birth (1812) and the name of his father (Jens Hansen). The record also clearly states that Nils was born in Bamble. The 1865 Norwegian National Census states Porsgrunn and bygdeboken states the same. And that is where it ends. Before his marriage to Johanne, Nils and his father Jens are nowhere to be found. I have searched the 1801 census extensively for Jens and scoured the Bamble, Porsgrunn (and surrounding area) parish birth records in a 10 year window for the birth of Nils.......................no luck. Did the marriage record of Johanne and Nils state the wrong patronymic for his father Jens? I can't believe Ole would give his wife in marriage to someone who just showed up in town, someone without family and history?

WHERE DID YOU COME FROM NILS??????

I GIVE UP! 

Well, for now anyway, but I have quit before and as the Terminator said "I'll be back".

chip chip chip chip chip....someday, somehow, someway I will find you Nils and Jens. Just you wait and see.

Leif Eriksson - The First European in North America

"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue".
He certainly did but he was about 500 years too late to "discover" the Americas.
We know Leif Eriksson was here first!

 to all my Scandinavian-American Family and Friends

Happy Leif Eriksson Day!

 

**click on the illustration to enjoy the short you-tube presentation**

A short sad little life - Karl Oskar Gundersen

March 25, 1887 my great great grandmother, Marthe Marie Andersdatter, at the age of 39 gave birth to her tenth and last child. A little boy. She and her husband Gunder Andreas Nilsen named him Karl Oskar. He was baptised at home by the family pastor Holmboe and Karl's older sister Josephine Gunderdatter on March 31. Unusual because generally only a baby who seemed sickly at birth was home baptised and then immediately, the very day of birth. He was presented in the Eidanger church on April 17, 1887. Among his sponsors were his paternal grandfather Nils Jensen Øvald, his paternal uncle Halvor Martin Nilsen and his maternal uncle Nicolai Andersen

source: Digitalarkivet SAKO, Eidanger kirkebøker, G/Ga/L0002:
Parish register (copy) no. 2, 1879-1892, birth & baptisms p. 86 

Quick link: https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/kb20061128070093

Perhaps, and I am just guessing here, he was baptised March 31 to comfort his mother who was ill. Marthe Marie died the next day, April,1, 1887. She died, as many women did in those times, of childbed fever. Her death left little Karl and his siblings, among them my 11 year old great grandfather Nils, motherless. Gunder Andreas never remarried.

source: Digitalarkivet SAKO, Eidanger kirkebøker, G/Ga/L0002:
Parish register (copy) no. 2, 1879-1892, death & burials p. 268

Quick link: https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/kb20061128080125

Unfortunately the same page of the parish record documents not only the death of Marthe Marie but the death of her baby Karl Oskar.  November 5th 1887, the 7 month old little boy died of cholera.

R.I.P.

my second great uncle

Karl Oskar Gundersen

b: 25 Mar 1887 Muhle, Eidanger, Telemark, Norway

d: 05 Nov 1887 Muhle, Eidanger, Telemark, Norway

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An Anniversary to Remember

Sixty seven years ago today my parents, 

Melvin Kallman and Grace Sevald, became husband and wife.

The happy young couple

Mr. & Mrs. Melvin Kallman

married: October 1, 1949

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