Nils Gundersen Øvald 1875-1961 was my great grandfather. The father of my grandmother Dagmar, he was my only great grandfather still living when I was born. I was nine years old when he died, old enough to have remembered him but unfortunately I never knew him because he lived in Norway and I in Chicago. I recently was invited to a facebook group, "Gundersen Family Genealogy Group" which was started by a second cousin in Norway. Many of the grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren of Nils post photos and tell stories about Nils on Facebook. Many of those photos I had never seen and I have to admit a twinge of jealousy that I did not know him as they did. Just the fact that so many of his progeny still desire to get together and swap stories and photos of him, says something good about the man.
Nils was born in Eidanger, Telemark, Norway which was a small farming village which has long since been absorbed into the larger community of Porsgrund, Norway. His father was a poor crofter on the small Øvald* farm that had been run by his family since the mid 1600's. He was one of ten children. His mother died when he was just 11 after the birth of his youngest brother Karl Oscar.
Nils began his adult life, as many young men in Norway did at the time, as a sailor. Working up the ranks while raising his young family of 3 boys and 4 girls he eventually became a captain of a Union company boat on the Telemarken Canal. His three sons followed in his footsteps as sailors. He built a home for his family in Skien. A home now owned and lived in by one of his grandsons.
In photos he always appears well dressed and distinguished, back straight, looking you right in the eye, hand on hip. A few of the cousins referred to him as "the boss" but in an affectionate way. Of course, I realize that if his daughter, my grandmother, had not emigrated to America I would not have even been born. Still, I wish that I too had known the man. Documents, photos and family stories must suffice to tell me who was Nils Gundersen Øvald, my great grandfather.
my great grandfather
Nils Gundersen Øvald
b. 13 Sep 1875 Eidanger, Telemark, Norway
d. 02 Feb 1961 Skien, Telemark, Norway
double click on photos to enlarge for easier viewing
*the story of the family farm Övald can be found HERE
