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
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source: Digitalarkivet SAKO, Eidanger kirkebøker, G/Ga/L0002:
Parish register (copy) no. 2, 1879-1892, birth & baptisms p. 86
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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.
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source: Digitalarkivet SAKO, Eidanger kirkebøker, G/Ga/L0002:
Parish register (copy) no. 2, 1879-1892, death & burials p. 268
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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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