Om hundre år skal ting kome for dagen...

The english version is found at the end of the page

Mange, inkludert meg, har fulgt NRK sin programserie ”Hvem tror du at du er” siste året.
Ettersom eg har hatt ein far med eit hjarte for lokalhistorie og slektsgransking har slikt vore vanlege samtaleemne over kjøkenbordet heime hos oss.

Ei av historiene eg alltid har høyrt har handla om ein oldefar som heitte Ole Jakobsen Lyshaugen og var fødd i Nord-Fron i 1853. Han var steinarbeider og gjekk, og jobba, seg oppover til Sunnmøre frå Gudbrandsdalen. Han slo seg etter kvart ned på Skodje. Der gifta han seg med mi oldemor Berthe. Tok navnet Ole Lyshaugen Midtlid etter garden (plassen) dei tok over, og fekk sju born. Johan, Petrine, Anna (mi farmor), Rikkard, Petter, Martha og Oluffa.

Oldefar-Ole døydde i 1910, av ein svulst på halsen, som til slutt stengde for luftrøret hans. Eg har aldri sett bilete av han, og veit ikkje meir enn det som er blitt fortalt.
(Biletet er av farmor-Anna (t.v) og Oluffa, og er tatt 3-4 år etter at far deira døydde)

Far min var ein dyktig slektsforskar og fann ut det han kunne finne ut. Så eg har trudd eg visste det essensielle om denne mannen eg aldri har sett. Men der tok eg feil.

For sidan far min heldt på med dette, har det skjedd noko stort og revolusjonerande.

Digitalarkivet har kome til. Her kan du søke digitalt, og brått blir ting veldig mykje meir tilgjengeleg enn det var når ein måtte bla seg gjennom handskrivne kyrkjebøker.

I vinter gjorde eg eit enkelt søk på min oldefar Ole Lyshaugen. Eg lurte på kva årstal han døydde. Men eg fann ut heilt andre ting.

Eg fann ut at oldefar Ole stod oppført som far til to gutar, fødd utanfor ekteskap, på Oppdal.

Om dette var rett var oldefar min far til ein son som heitte Ole, fødd i 1879 og ein som heitte John fødd i 1881. Mor til gutane heitte Marit Pedersdatter Skoremsplads.

Dette kan kanskje ikkje synest som så revolusjonerande opplysningar, 130 år etterpå. Men ettersom dette er ting vi ikkje har funne ut når det har blitt leita før, opplevdes det som ganske oppsiktsvekkande. Og det er heller ikkje snakk om fjern slekt. Dette er snakk om brørne til mi farmor.

Eg er heilt sikker på at far min aldri visste dette. Hadde han visst det hadde han fortalt det. Men han kom vel naturleg nok ikkje på å sjekke kyrkjebøkenen på Oppdal for å sjå om det kunne vere noko interessant å finne der. Dette er nok ting som var meint å vere gøymt og gløymt. Også 130 år etterpå.

Undersøke, undersøke
No er det sjølvsagt slik at ein alltid må dobbeltsjekke slike opplysningar. Det er fort gjort at ting blir skrive feil. Så då eg fann ut dette var det berre å sette igong med litt gravande journalistikk/ detektivarbeid/ slektsgransking. (Eg kan mest om det første, men det viste seg å ha ein del fellestrekk.)

Det viktigaste er å ikkje bli opprømt og forblinda av kva ein håpar at skal vere sant, men å halde seg til fakta. Og altså å dobbeltsjekke alle opplysningar.

Og i oldefar sitt tilfelle var det eit par ting som åpenbart var potensielle feilkjelder.

• I digitalarkivet si avskrift av dåpsoppføringa til den første Oppdal-sonen Ole er fødselsåret på barnefar oppgitt til 1851. Dette er minst eit par år før oldefar var fødd.

• I dåpsoppføringa til andre sonen John er foreldra oppgitt til å vere gifte. Om dette stemmer var oldefar bigamist då han seinare gifta seg med oldemor Berte.


For å ta dette med fødselsåret til oldefar først.
Kan det vere oldefar når fødselsåret er satt til 1851?
Tja. Det er viktig å hugse at dei ikkje alltid var så etterettelege på den tida. Så når ein søker i slike gamle arkiv må ein vere litt romsleg. Somme gonger oppgav dei fødselsår, andre gonger kor gamle dei var. Og somme gonger rekna dei seg bakover etter alder, med det som resultat at sjølve årstalet kunne bli feil. Men sjeldan meir enn eit år, naturleg nok. Når ein er oppgitt som far til born fødd utanfor ekteskap er det heller ikkje sikkert at det er han sjølv som har oppgitt årstalet. Det er ikkje godt å seie kor involvert han var, og kor godt dei kjende han.

Ole, Ole og Ole
Og så, for å komplisere det ytterlegare:
Oldefar heitte Ole Jakobsen Lyshaugen. Men, han hadde ein bror, som var eit par år eldre, som også heitte Ole Jakobsen Lyshaugen.

(Dette høyrest merkeleg ut, men var ikkje så uvanleg på den tida.
Oppkalling var viktig, og barnedødelegheita var stor. Truleg har Ole den første vore sjuk når Ole den andre vart fødd, og dei har ikkje trudd han skulle overleve. Så då fekk Ole den andre same namnet, men jammen så overlevde ikkje begge gutane.)

Det naturlege var sjølvsagt å tenke at det var Ole den første som hadde fått born på Oppdal, så det første som måtte sjekkast var om det var slik det hang saman. Ikkje minst ettersom den Ole som er oppgitt som far, står oppført med fødselsår 1851 i samband med dåpen av første sonen. Og 1851 var fødselsåret til den eldste Ole Jakobsen Lyshaugen.

For å gjere historia litt kortare kan eg fortelje at 1851-Ole  trygt kunne sjekkast ut av saka. Emigrantprotokollane viser at han emigrerte med skipet Oder fra Oslo til USA 23. mai 1873. (Bilde)

Planen hans var å reise til Eau Claire i Missouri, og han betalte 50 spesiedaler for billetten. Turen gjekk via Hull i England. Og kvar han vart av er det ikkje lett å seie. Men kanskje finn vi det ut om vi leiter.

 
No er det også slik at avskrifter av handskrivne kjelder ikkje alltid er korrekte. Det er ikkje alltid lett å skjøne kva som står der. Og det er menneskeleg å gjere feil. Dermed bør ein alltid dobbeltsjekke i originaldokumentet.

I dette tilfellet er foreldra sine fødselsår oppgitt til å vere 1851 og 1853 i kyrkjeboka i samband med dåpen av første sonen. Og ein eller annan har truleg trudd at det då var far som var eldst, og fødd i 1851. Men i dette tilfellet var det motsatt. Etter å ha sjekka kyrkjebøkene frå foreldra vart fødde (i Nord-Fron og på Oppdal) viste det seg at det var mor-Marit som var fødd i ’51. (bilde) Då er det grunn til å tru at det er far til barnet som er oppgitt med fødselsår 1853. Spesielt ettersom det er dette som er oppgitt som fødselsår til far når andre sonen vert skriven inn i kyrkjeboka. (Sjå bilde litt lengre nede)

Etter å ha sjekka i avfotograferinga av originalkyrkjebøkene frå Nord-Fron har eg funne ut at oldefar faktisk var fødd 2. mai 1854. Det er ikkje 1853, men som nevnt tidligare er det (etter mi meining) nært nok til at det er sannsynleg at det er han.

Det at årstalet er eit år feil, gir kanskje grunn til å tru at det av ein eller annan grunn ikkje er han som har oppgitt fødselsåret sitt som 1853. Men at dette anten er rekna ut ved at det er rekna bakover ut frå alder han har oppgitt, eller ved at det er sagt anslagsvis av nokon som ikkje visste det godt nok. 

Eit viktig poeng er likevel at det fantest berre to  unge menn som heiter Ole Jakobsen Lyshaugen frå Nord-Fron på denne tida. Lyshaugen var ikkje eit vanleg namn, og var knytta til den vesle plassen som oldefar kom frå. Når den eine av dei befinn seg i USA, er det svært sannsynleg at det er den andre som er far til desse gutane. I teorien kunne sjølvsagt den eldste broren ha kome heim frå USA, men det er grunn til å tru at han var tilbake i USA nokre år seinare. I familien har det vorte sagt at han, og ein annan bror som også emigrerte, henta over foreldra til USA.

Eg synest ikkje det er sannsynleg at han i mellomtida skal ha opphalde seg 2-3 år på Oppdal.
Det er derimot svært sannsynleg at den andre broren, som vi veit var ute på leiting etter arbeid, gjorde det.

Bigamist?

Og for å ta for meg punkt to: I Digitalarkivet si oppføring  i forbindelse med barn nr 2 John, står det at Oldefar-Ole og Marit var gift. Og at det andre barnet altså ikkje er fødd utanfor ekteskap.

Men når eg har sett på originaldokumentet, altså avfotograferinga av sjølve kyrkjeboka, står også son nr 2, John, oppført som uekte barn.

Ein tok ikkje lett på slikt den tida. Det var ei eiga kolonne i kyrkjebøkene der ein gjorde det tydeleg om barnet var født i eller utanfor ekteskap. Var foreldra ikkje gifte med kvarandre skreiv ein uekte, og streka under. For å gjere det ekstra tydeleg at dette var snakk om eit born som ikkje var like bra som dei ektefødde ungane. I dag framstår det som hjarterått. (Særskilt når ein ser kor lett ein tok på andre faktaopplysningar som fødselsår...)

Men i dette tilfellet er også barn nr 2, John, fødd i 1881 oppført som uekte. det kan vere vanskeleg å lese slike handskrivne gamle kjelder, med understrekinga av ordet er tydeleg. I tillegg står far oppført med ukjent bustad, og punktet har tillegget ”Det er usikkert for meg om barnet er ekte eller uekte”.

Eg har heller ikkje funne vigselsoppføring for Ole Jakobsen Lyshaugen og Marit Skoremsplass, verken i Oppdal eller omliggande sogn. (Eit eventuelt ekteskap må jo ha blitt inngått mellom første og andre sonen, så det er ikkje stort tidsrom å leite gjennom) Dermed er det nok all grunn til å tru at også John var fødd utanfor ekteskap, og at foreldra ikkje var eller vart gifte med kvarandre. (Dette blir forsterka/bekrefta av at mor Marit, i seinare folketellinga oppgir å vere ugift)

Men det eg dermed har all grunn til å tru er at oldefar faktisk var far til to gutar, fødde i 1879 og 1881, som då er dei to eldste brødrene til mi farmor Anna.

Kva som er historia rundt dette er ikkje godt å seie. Kanskje var han der og arbeidde. Kanskje heldt han og mora saman ei stund? Kven veit?

Kvar vart han av?
Det eg derimot veit er at han reiste frå Oppdal ein eller annan gong etter at yngste sonen var på veg. Og det som står i kyrkjebøkene om at bustad er ukjent tyder jo kanskje på at han for før sonen vart døpt i mai 1881.

Grunnen til at eg veit dette er at han var på Sunnmøre i 1882. Han bygde nemleg gamle Vadset bru, som stod ferdig i 1882.

Etter det er historia hans kjent. Han gifte seg, busette seg på Skodje, skifta namn og fekk sju born. På Sunnmøre har han ei stor etterslekt. Truleg har han fleire hundre etterkomarar.

Om han fortalte kona si, eller andre, om dei som var att på Oppdal, er det ingen som veit. Men om han har fortalt det så har det vore ei godt bevart hemmelegheit.


Kva skjedde med John og Ole på Oppdal?
Men kva skjedde med gutane på Oppdal.
Det har eg funne ut litt om, og skal eg finne ut meir om.

Eg har leita i kyrkjebøker, og fann ut at gutane vaks opp med mor si og besteforeldra på morsida. Då dei vart konfirmerte har begge gutane tatt namnet til mora (Skoremsplass). Også det tyder vel på at det ikkje vart inngått noko ekteskap mellom Ole og Marit. I folketellinga i 1910 bur eldste sonen Ole saman med mora på plassen, medan broren John er ute i teneste på ein stor gard på Oppdal.

Etter å ha søkt og leita mange stader, googla eg til slutt namnet til eldste sonen. Og jammen fekk eg ikkje opp eit treff. Husmannsplassen som Ole Skoremsplass budde i er no ein del av Pilgrimsleden. Og i artikkelen i Oppdalingen fann eg namnet på barnebarnet hans.

Så då kunne eg ta ein telefon, og seie at ”eg trur vi er tremenningar”.

Og ho kunne fortelje tilbake at dei visste om ein oldefar som reiste til Sunnmøre, men meir enn det visste dei ikkje. Og vips så hadde slektstreet fått eit par greiner til…

The english version

(Written for the english speaking family members) 

I have always thought that we knew all there is to know about our family. As you know, my father had a huge interest for family history, and stories about the family were everyday topics over the kitchen table at our house.

One of the stories were about great-grandfather. The father og grandmother Anna. He was called Ole Jacobsen Lyshaugen and was born in Nord-Fron in Oppland in 1854. He worked as a stone-laborer, and was said to be very skilled. He left his hometown Kbikne to find work, and worked his way all the way from his to Sunnmøre by building bridges and fundaments for barns and such things. At Sunnmøre he married great grandmother Berthe, changed his name to the name of the farm they had (Midtlid), and had seven children: Johan, Petrine, Anna (grandmother), Martha, Rikkard, Peter and Oluffa.

Great grandfather Ole died in 1910, when he was 57 years old, by a tumor that started in a mole on his throath, but eventually blocked his breathing. There is no known picture of him, and I do not know more than what I have been told. (This picture of grandmother Anna (black skirt) and her sister Oluffa is taken just 3-4 years after their father died.) My father tried to find out more about his grandfather, and his family. And we thought we knew what there is to know about them.

But last winter I did a simple search on great-grandfather Oles name on national archives, that has become digitalized. I was trying to find out witch year he died. I found out a lot more.

I found that great grandfather was named as the father of two boys, born in the mining town Oppdal before him coming to Sunnmøre.

If the information was correct great grandfather had one  son named Ole born i 1879 and another son named John born in 1881. The boys had the same mother. A woman called Marit Pedersdatter Skoremsplads.

This might not sound so shocking 130 years later. The shocking thing is that no one has known. And this is not distant relatives. They are the brothers of grandmother Anna. My fathers uncles.

I am sure that my father never knew this. And how would he have known?! Before everything were digitalized there were no reason for him to travel to Oppdal to do research in the church archives there. And since no one has known about this, I think that this was probably a secret meant to be kept hidden.

Doing research
When finding out such things it is important to crosscheck all information.
Mistakes are easily made. Things can be written down wrong, there can be misunderstandings, there can be two people bearing the same name etc. So when I found out I had to do some thorough research.

The most important thing is to be objective. It is easy to hope for a result, but important to find the facts. And check them  out all the way to the source.

In this case there are some obvious things that had to be checked out before concluding if this was great grandfather or not.

• When the digital archives (the norwegian national archives) has transcribed the christening of the first son at Oppdal. The year his father was born is reported to be 1851. This is at least two years before great grandfather was born.

• In the digital archive listing of when the second son at Oppdal was christened, the parents are reported to be married. If this is correct great grandfather were already married when marrying my great grandmother Berthe.


The year he was born…

So… can the father really be great grandfather when his birth year is wrong?.
Well. It is a fact that they were not so accurate back then. When digging through old archives one must be a bit open minded. Especially when it comes to birthyears. In the different sencuses and archives they listed the age in different ways.

Some times they gave the year someone was born. Other times the age. And sometimes the counted backwards to find the birthyear from a persons age. Because of this there can be errors. But they are seldom more than one year wrong.

When being named as the father of an illegitimate child one can think that he has not necessarily given this information himself. (Especially since both children are noted to have been christened at home. So the information has been given to the church later on.) It is not possible now to say something about how involved he was or how well they knew him. (He was not from Oppdal, so they would not know his age because they knew him and his family) But it is possible to say that they might not have known his birth year for sure.

Ole, Ole and Ole
To make it even more complicated. Great grandfather had a brother, born in 1851, who also was named Ole Jacobsen Lyshaugen.

This was not uncommon. It was important to give the children names from the family, and a lot of children died at early age. If a child was ill and they had reasons to believe that it would not live through the illness, they would often give a newborn child the same name as an older sibling.

Great grandfather was christened Ole, but in everyday speech they called him Ola with an “a” at the end his whole life, and this is also what his gravestone at the graveyard at Skodje says. (Both uncle Ola in Scotland and his cousin Ola at Hildre were probably named after him)  

My first thought was that it had to great grandfathers older brother Ole who was the father of these two children. So the first thing I had to find out was if this was right.

To make the story a bit shorter I can tell now that the father is definitely not the older brother.

The emigrant protocols show that he emigrated to USA with the ship Oder who left from, Oslo 23. mai 1873. This is eight years before the first child at Oppdal was born.

I have later found him in Wisconsin in USA, and there is no reason to think that he went back home at any time. In the earl 1880s he is living in Polk County Wisconsin and owns land there.

Another thing is that the original protocols were hand written by the local minister. So in the transcriptions there could both be human mistakes and mistakes due to bad handwriting. Because of this, one should always cross check with the original document.

In this case the minister has written in the original files (when the first son was christened) that the parents of the child are born in 1851 and 1853. But this is not what the transcript says. At some point someone has thought that the father was born in 1851 and the mother in 1853. But in this case it was the other way around. The mother was older than the father. I have checked the church archives in Nord-Fron and in Oppdal  for the years when Ole and Marit were born/christened, and it turns out that Marit was the one born in 1851 and Ole the youngest.

When the next son at Oppdal is born, the fathers birth year is written to be 1853.

Great grandfather was actually born 2. mai 1854.
So 1853 is not correct, but as said earlier I think that it is close enough to believe that this is him. If they “knew” he was 27 at the time it is not easy to know if he was born in 53 or 54. That would depend on them knowing his birthday.

He and his brother are the only ones whith this name from Nord-Fron at this time. Lyshaugen is not a common name. It is the name of the place were the little farm (husmannsplass) was. There is one other family with the same name, they were living across the road at Lyshaugen.

So… When one of the two Ole Jacobsen Lyshaugen are in USA, it is very likely that the other one is the father of the children.

Especially when we know that this brother (great grandfather) were out looking for work at the time. He worked with stone and Oppdal is a place known for mining, and the stonetype “slate”. Oppdal is also “on the way” from Kvikne to Skodje, so it is not unlikely that he went there.

Bigamist?

And to look into the second question. Was he already married when marrying great grandmother?!

In the national archives transcribation of the church archives from Oppdal, it is said that Ole and Marit was married. But when looking at the original files it shows that this is wrong.

In the original files both children are listed as illegitimate.
This seems to be the one fact that was important to get right at the time. There was an own column to mark if a child had married parents or not, and to make sure that there were no mistakes about this they underlined the word “uekte” (illegitimate)  Today this seems cruel.

As you can se in the next photo, John is definitely marked as to be “uekte” in the original files.

There is also a written note saying that they do not know where the father is living at the time of the christening.

I have also seen trough the lists of marriages in the area for the period, and great grandfather and Marit did not get married. (In censuses later in life Marit also says that she is unmarried, and she never changes her last name. This also supports the thought that they did not get married.)

On the other hand, there is every reason to believe that great grandfather was the father of the two boys born in 1879 and 1881.

The story around it. Is not easy to know.  He was probably there for work, and since the children have the same mother, I suppose there is reason to believe that the couple were together for a while. But who knows.

What happened?
What I know for sure is that he left Oppdal at some point after Marit was pregnant with the second son, but probably before he was born. Because of the note in the church archives about not knowing where he was at the time of the christening, we know that he left Oppdal before mai 1881.

We do not know why he left. If he had to leave to find work. If he panicked knowing there would be one more child, and fled from his responsibility. If he made promises and then didn’t live up to them.

(The church archives of Skodje actually shows that his eldest son with great grandmother was born about six months after their marriage. I guess there is a possibility that he had intentions to go back, but then great grandmother got pregnant and he was in a difficult situation. He could not make things right both places. So then he married great grandmother and never had any contact with his two sons at Oppdal after that.But this is just speculations from my side)

What we do know for sure is that in 1882 he was at Sunnmøre. I know this because he built this bridge, “Gamle Vadset bru”, that was finished in 1882. This is written about in the local history of Skodje, and the bridge is also marked with the year 1882.

After this we know about what happened to him. He married, had seven children and lived at Skodje all his life. He was said to be a tall, strong man who was very skilled at what he did. When talking to the “oldest generation” of our family about this I was told by Evelyn (at Hildre) that she once asked grandmother Anna about who looked most like him. Grandmother said that it would have to be Kjartan. So I guess he was darkhaired and browneyed as uncle Kjartan, but he was said to be a tall man. Uncle Kjartan as my father has his built from their fathers side were people were more “square” built and very strong.

I don’t know if he ever told his wife about his two children at Oppdal. Hi might have done so, and he might not have. It might have been their secret, or a secret he kept on his own. But since no one in the family, neither on our side (grandmothers ancestors) or the ancestors of her siblings has heard of this, I am quite sure this has been a well kept secret.

What happened to the boys at Oppdal?

So what happened to the boys?
From the church archives I have found that they grew up with their mother and their maternal grandparents.
When the children were christened they had their fathers last name, but when they were confirmated they used their mothers name. In the census of 1910 the oldest, Ole, is still living at the farm together with his mother. John is working at another farm in Oppdal.

For some reason I did a google-search for the name of the oldest boy Ole. And I actually found his name in an article in a local newspaper.

His house has been restored as a “rest place” on the pilgrim-route to Trondheim. And the local newspaper wrote about this. And in the article his grandchild was interviewed.

So I found her name, Sonja.  And then I could pick up a telephone and call her and say that “I think we are second cousins”.

That was a very strange moment.

And she told that she knew of a great grandfather that went to Sunnmøre. They had tried to find out more, but since he changed his name they had not found out what happened to him. When I called and she heard my dialect she said that her first thought was “might this be about the great grandfather that went to Sunnmøre.”

She told me that both the boys lived at Oppdal their whole life. Ole (picture)  had only one child, a boy named Sverre. His wife died early and he raised his son alone and brought him with him while working at local farms. Sverre was in fights at Gratangen in the North of Norway during the war, and never fully recovered from this. He later worked building roads and railways. Sadly he died in 1971. He had two children. Sonja (born 1954) and Odd, (born in 1945). Sonja has four children and Odd has two.

Sonja is running the local  “Husfliden” shop. (This is a shop that sells all you need for Bunad, and also other traditional and high quality handicraft. They also sell yarn and knittingpatterns etc) She is also in the board of Noregs husflidslag (the Norwegian organization for traditional handicraft) 

Oles brother John also lived at Oppdal his whole life. As far as I have found out he worked at local farms, never married and has no one after him.

Sonja sent me this picture of her grandfather. When showing it to the cousins at Hildre and family they all said “He looks like uncle Richard at Skodje”. I am to young to remember him, but I have seen pictures and there certainly is a resemblance.